On attaching "Authorities " to Scientific Names. 347 



HOLOQUISCALUS CAYMANEXSIS (Coi'y). 



Quiscalus caymanensis Cory, Auk, iii. pp. 499-502; Ridgw. 

 Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 1887, p. 574. 



Holoquiscalus caymanensis Ridgw. Proc. Wash. Ac. Sci. 

 iii. p. 151 (1901). 



Three males and two females. 



This is a smaller bird than H. gundlachi, which is found in 

 Cuba, and the contour-feathers in the male exhibit a bluish 

 or violet-blue gloss as compared with a more purely violet 

 gloss in Cuban birds. The quill-feathers have a beautiful 

 bluish purple sheen, while the wing-coverts are shiny bluish 

 green. 



Female (previously undescribed). Similar to the male, 

 but distinctly smaller and duller and lacking the rich bluish 

 pnrple gloss ; the black of the upper parts has a greenish 

 hue, while the lower parts have a dull brownish tint, with 

 hardly any gloss. 



Female examples of this genus which hail from the 

 Greater Antillean Islands do not exhibit the brown coloration 

 which obtains in those from the Lesser Antilles and fui'ther 

 south. 



J append measurements of four males and two females. 



Wing. Tail. ^^P^^^*^ Tarsus. 



° culmen. 



XIV. — Remarks on the Practice of attaching " Authorities " 

 to the Scientific Names of Animals. By P. L. Sclater, 

 D.Sc, F.R.S. 

 LiNNiEUS, as we all know, was the founder of the Binomial 

 System of nomenclature for animals and plants. Before his 

 time authors had invented " Genera," but had generally 



