Occasional A\)tes. 25 



first laid down by a commiltee of the British Association iu 1842, wish 

 to protest ai>aiiist the abuse to which it has been put as a result of the 

 most recent codes of nomenclature, and consider that names which have 

 had currency for a great number of j'ears should, unless preoccupied, be 

 retained in the sense in which they have been universally used. Con- 

 sidering the confusion that must result from the strict application of the 

 rule of pi-iority, they would welcome action leading to the adoption of a 

 scheme by which such names as have received the sanction of general 

 usage, and have been invariably employed by the masters of zoology in 

 the past century, would be scheduled as unremovable. 



(Signed) E, Ray Lankestek, A. Skdgwick, P. Chalmers 

 Mitchell, Sydney J. Hickson, E,. Bowdler Sharps, 

 J.Arthur Thompson, Gilbert C. Bourne, E. S. Goodrich, 

 J. J. Lister, W. C. McIntosh, F. Jeffery Bell, W. 

 T, Calman, W. E. Hoyle, A. M. Norman, J. Graham 

 Kerr, Albert Gunthkr, J. Cossar Ewart, D'Aroy W. 

 Thompson, Henry Woodward, E. A. Minchin, P. L. 

 Sclater, W. N. Parker, W. J. Sollas, Edward B. 

 PouLTt)N, C. O. Waterhouse, A. Smith Woodward, S. E. 

 IIarmer, W. Bateson, D. Sharp, J. Stanley Gardiner, and 

 G. A. Boulenger. 



In view of this strong expression of opinion from leading 

 zoologists it would be supposed that due deference would be 

 paid to it, and that even those m-Iio could not bring them- 

 selves entirely to agree with it, would at least refrain from 

 acting in direct opposition to the wishes of so many distin- 

 guished biologists. What is the result so far as British 

 ornithology is concerned ? The recent publication of a new 

 ' List of British Birds ' *, in which the authors, so far from 

 deferring to the expressed wishes of much better judges than 

 themselves, act in direct opposition to their views, and pro- 

 pose a complete revolution in nomenclature. That they have 

 so acted in perfect good faith and honesty of purj)Ose we 

 have no doubt whatever, but we consider their action to be 

 not only injudicious, but calculated to defeat its object — 

 uniformity and finality iu the nomenclature of British birds. 



* ' A Hand-list of British Birds.' With an Account of the Distri- 

 bution of each Species in the British Isles and Abroad. By Ernst Harlert, 

 r. C. ii. Jourdain, N. E. Ticehurst, and H. F. Witherby. 8vo, pp. 237. 

 London : Witherby & Co. 



