118 Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



Substantives as Specific Names. — It appears not to be un- 

 derstood by some naturalists that specific names may be sub- 

 stantives. Linnaeus used many such, e. ff. Turdus merula, 

 Emberiza cirlus, and Fringilla spinus, in each of which cases, 

 will be observed, the specific name is of a different gender 

 from the generic, the two terms being placed in apposition. 

 In the face of this, certain naturalists do not hesitate to violate 

 the plainest rules .of Latinity, in order to bring their specific 

 and" generic names to the same termination. Not to speak 

 of Mr. Sharpe's Cerchneis tinnuncula (!), Mr. Dresser has 

 lately attempted to turn agricola into an adjectival form'^, 

 not considering that it is a masculine noun, although ending 

 in a. Surely no one who has been to school can forget 



*' fortunat^ niniium sua si l>oua norint 

 Agricola ! " 



In the new number of ' Stray Feathers,^ Mr. Hume, in a 

 similar frame of mind, proposes to convert " eremita " — 

 another masculine noun — into an adjective, and tries to per- 

 suade us to call our old friend Fregilus graculus, Graculus 

 eremitusf. 



New British Bird. — An addition has just been made to the 

 British list by a record of the occurrence of the Black-throated 

 Wheatear of Southern Europe [Saxicola stapazina, Linn., 

 nee Dresser) in Lancashire. The occurrence of this bird was 

 first stated in an article in ' Science Gossip,^ of October 1st, 

 1878. The specimen in question has since been exhibited at 

 the Meetings of the Zoological Society in November and 

 December last, and unquestionable evidence given as to the 

 authenticity of the occurrence. 



The Breeding-places of the Black Stork. — I have been try- 

 ing, for some time unsuccessfully, to get some Black Storks 

 [Ciconia nigra) for the Zoological Society's collection. On 

 turning to Mr. Dresser's ' Birds of Europe ' for information 



* Acrocephalus agricohis, Dresser, B. of Eur. pt. 5.'i. 

 t ' Stray Feathers,' vii. p. 149. 



