312 Mr. H. Seebohm on the Genus Sylvia. 



that liis name of Motacilla rufa was applied to " la Grisette.^' 

 Boddaert's unambitious object was to apply the binomial 

 system of nomenclature introduced by Linnseus to the birds 

 figured in the ' Planches Enluminees ' of D'Aubenton^ which 

 Buffon and Montbeillard had neglected to do. Referring to 

 the work of the latter gentleman, he finds that the '' Fauvette 

 rousse " is the Curruca rufa of Brisson ; and turning over his 

 ' Systema Naturae," he finds that all the Fauvettes are in- 

 cluded by Linnaeus in his genus Motacilla ; so he modestly 

 names " La Fauvette rousse " of D'Aubenton Motacilla rufa, 

 instead of Curruca rufa. But had there been no doubt what- 

 ever attaching to Boddaert's name, it must have been rejected 

 on other grounds. The object of nomenclature being to attain 

 absolute scientific precision, it is obvious that the name of 

 Sylvia rufa having been in general use for more than half a 

 century for the Chiff'chafi*, could under no circumstances 

 be transferred to any other species of the genus Sylvia. 

 To do so would be to violate the spirit of the British- Asso- 

 ciation rules in the endeavour to follow the letter of the law 

 too blindly. 



It i^ unfortunate that the familiar name Sylvia cinerea, 

 inappropriate as it is, cannot stand -, but Latham himself had 

 previously (in 1787) given the appropriate name Sylvia 

 communis (Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 287) to the Whitethroat, 

 The species is " clearly defined '^ beyond all cavil; and orni- 

 thologists have only their own neglect to blame if the name 

 appears a novel one to them. 



The Blackcap stands undisputed as /S^?//vm«/nca/?e7/fl (Linn,, 

 Syst. Nat. i. 332, 1766). 



It is unfortunate that the Garden-Warbler cannot retain 

 its familiar name of Sylvia hortensis. We have already seen 

 that Gmelin's name applies to the female Orphean Warbler. 

 It might probably be possible to argue that Gmelin confounded 

 the male Orphean Warbler with the Blackcap and the female 

 Orphean Warbler with the Garden-Warbler, so that his name 

 might stand by stretching the law a little as " partini •" but all 

 discussion of the subject is rendered useless by the fact that 

 Gmelin's name is superseded by Latham's Sylvia simplex [Gen. 



