350 Mr. P. L. Sclater on the 



Mr. Sharpe (Cat. B. ii. p. 14) gives Bubo microcephalus of 

 Leach as a synonym of the Great Horned Owl, which, if 

 correct, would be the next term in point of date. But this is 

 likewise a mistake, into which Mr. Sharpe has doubtless fallen 

 by following Stephens (Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. i. p. 55). Otus 

 microcephalus is Leaches name (Syst. Cat. Mamm. & Birds, 

 p. 11) for what he calls the "Small-headed Horn-Owl," 

 and is correctly referred by G. R. Gray (Cat. B. B. p. 27) 

 to the Short-eared Owl. This is quite evident, because 

 Leach includes the ''Great Horned Owl" in his supple- 

 mentary list of " Indigenous Mammals and Birds that are 

 wanting to the British Museum." 



Under these circumstances it would seem that we must be 

 content to adopt for the Great Horned Owl the excellent name 

 of Bubo maxiimis given to it by Fleming in 1828, arranging 

 our synonyms as follows : — 



Bubo maximus. 



Strix bubo, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 131 (1766). 

 " Bubo microcephalus, Leach," apud Stephens, Gen. Zool. 

 xiii. pt. ii. p. 55 (1826) (err.). 



Bubo maximus, Fleming, Brit. An. p. 57 (1828). 



One remaining point in which I cannot agree with Prof. 

 Newton is in discarding the generic term Athene of Boie for 

 the Little Owl and its congeners. The ground on which this 

 has been done is, I suppose, because Athena was proposed by 

 Hiibner in 181 S* as the name of a genus of Lcpidoptera of 

 the family Nymphalidse. Even if this term had met with 

 general adoption, it is, to my mind, very doubtful whether 

 we should be thereupon justified in cancelling "Athene" as 

 a genus of birds. If we use Pious and Pica in the same class 

 of zoology, it seems hard to say that Athene and Athena can- 

 not be employed in two different classes. But, so far as I 

 can make out, Athena is not even in actual use as a generic 

 term of Lepidopteraf ; and I think, therefore, we are not jus- 



* Yerz. iDek. Sjlimetterl. p. 36. 



t Cf. Kirby, Syn. Cat. Diurn. Lepidopt. p. 220. 



