452 Mr. H. T. Wharton on the Orthography 



initial to the specific name is enough to show that he intends 

 to use a substantive, not an adjective. Certainly Thaumatias 

 is a nonsense- word ; but Thaumantias is perfectly classical. 

 ®av/jia<i was the mythical father of Iris, or the rainbow ; hence 

 Ovid (Metam. iv. 480) calls Iris ''^ Thaumantias/' i.e. the 

 daughter of Thaumas. A line in Virgil {Mn. ix. 5) is fami- 

 liar to all : — 



" Ad quern sic roseo Thaumantias ore locuta est." 



The name of the genus must therefore stand as Thau- 

 mantias, if it is to be quoted as " Bp. ex L." (Bonap. Consp. 

 Av. i. p. 78). Whether, however, it can be accepted at all I 

 leave to others to decide. From Mr. Elliot's remarks, {' Ibis,' 

 1878, p. 35), there seems some doubt about the applicability 

 of the name : and it is certain that Eschscholtz long ago 

 {' System der Acalephen,' 1829) proposed Thaumantias as a 

 genus of "jelly-fishes "" (Medusae) . To me it seems more than 

 probable that Mr. Sclater's Thaumasius must ultimately su- 

 persede, and not merely correct, Bonaparte's Thaumantias 

 for this genus of Humming-birds*. 



It seems almost like sacrilege to attempt to disturb the 

 spelling of any names used by Linnseus in his last edition of 

 the ^ Systema Naturae' (1766); but the fact of his having 

 spelt certain names in various ways in his different works and 

 editions, even apart from such obvious misprints as Scopolax 

 (S. N. 12th edit. i. p. 244), makes it possible that he did not 

 set so much store by uniformity of spelling as the multi- 

 plicity of names employed at the present day necessitates. 

 If, then, some of his names can be rectified on a really satis- 

 factory basis, it becomes almost a duty to set about it on the 

 earliest possible occasion. 



Every writer subsequent to Linnaeus appears to have spelt 

 the name of our common Wild Duck Anas boschas. There 

 seems to have been no reason for following Willughby and Ray 



1878, p. 24) allows us to do so, but because I think an author should be 

 quoted literally, and not as we should prefer to write a name if we were 

 using it at our own instance. 



* [Failing Thaumantias, Agyrtria, Reichenbach (1854), can be used 

 for this genus. — Edd.] 



