Recently published Ornithological Works. 497 



one, now in Paris, obtained by Neboux (who accompanied the 

 French frigate ' Venus '), it is said, at Monterey, on the Cali- 

 fornian coast ; tlie other, now in the British Museum, by 

 Capt. Kcllett and Lieut. Wood, it is said, off Dab-ymplc 

 Rock, Chatham Island, one of the Galapagos archipelago. 

 Now it is somewhat rcmarkaljle that, of all the naturalists 

 who have collected on the western shores of North America, 

 only those who have also visited the Galapagos Islands (for 

 Neboux was there) have obtained this Gull. The suggestion 

 seems inevitable that the continental locality, Monterey, is 

 erroneous, and that the bird is probably exclusively found in 

 the Galapagos Islands. This is further borne out by the fact 

 of several of Neboux^'s other localities for the birds collected 

 by him having proved to be wrong— such as Calliste 7'uficervix, 

 which is said to have been obtained from Guatemala, instead 

 of Columbia or Ecuador. Mr. Saunders's suggestion, as 

 quoted by Dr. Coues, that the bird is of arctic origin, must 

 be taken for what it is worth, seeing that the bird has not 

 yet been obtained in the far north. Still, even were its arctic 

 characters established, it may yet be an inhabitant of the 

 Galapagos Islands, where an Otaria belonging to a northern 

 species exists and formerly abounded. 



Dr. Coues, following several American ornithologists, takes 

 the tenth instead of the twelfth edition of the ' Systema Na- 

 turae ' of Linnaeus as the proper commencement of the pre- 

 sent system of nomenclature, and on this basis makes several 

 changes in old-established names. He holds that no good 

 reason was ever given for adhering to the twelfth edition as 

 the starting-point. To consider the latter as the perfected 

 work of the promulgator of the binominal system, and as 

 such to be a fitting point from which subsequent work should 

 be added, seems a sufficient reason in itself; but it is strength- 

 ened in no small degree, since it discountenances some at 

 least of those changes of old names which are so disheartening 

 to those who aim at the study of higher branches of the 

 science than its mere alphabet, synonymy. What possible 

 advantage can accrue from calling the Black Tern Hydroche- 

 lidon luriformis (Linn.), Coues, instead of simply Hydroche- 



