26 Occasional JVotes. 



To attempt a detailed criticism of the list^ which extends 

 to 237 pages, is not possible in the space here available ; it 

 mast suffice to state a few of the more serious objections 

 which call for protest. As examples of the revolutionary 

 changes of name for familiar species take Dandalus ruhecula 

 melop/tiliis for the robin, which has been known from the 

 time of Cuvier (1800) as Erithacus ruhecula ; Turdus pldlo- 

 melus clarkei for the common song thrush ; Tyto alha alba 

 for the common barn owl; Strepto-pelia turtur ^ov i\ie connnon 

 turtledove, instead of Turtur commuuis, in general use for 

 seventy-five years. As examples of the triple repetition of 

 generic names take Orlolus oriolus oi'iolus for the golden 

 oriole, known since the days of Linnajus as Oriolus (jalbula; 

 Chlor'is c. c. for the greenfinch, substituting Chloris of 13oie 

 (182G) for Fringilla of Linnaeus (17G(J) ; Coccotliraustes c. c. 

 for the hawfinch ; Pica p. p. for the magpie ; Apus a. a. for 

 the swift ; Perdix p. p. for the common partridge. As 

 examples of unnecessary trinomials take Fringilla ccelehs 

 ccelehs, and Alauda arvensis arvensis, so named to distinguish 

 it from a single pale-coloured skylark obtained in Scotland 

 and unnecessarily named Alauda arvensis cinerea. Direct 

 contravention of a rule which the authors of the list quote 

 with a])proval (Introd. p. ix. art. 19) : " The original ortho- 

 graphy of a name is to be preserved unless an error of 

 transcription, a lapsus calami, or a typographical error is 

 evident." Nevertheless, they perpetuate such errors as 

 Spermologus galuc^otes^ bosc/ms, rusticola, ochropAus, and 

 others. 



A propos the name boschas (rectius boscas) the height of 

 absurdity is reached by giving priority to the name ]>laf//- 

 rliyncha for the common wild duck on the ground that in 

 Linnajus's ' Systenui Naturae ' it happened to be printed two 

 pages earlier. S.irely both names were published simul- 

 taneously. Moreover, in his twelfth edition Linna3us himself 

 admitted that by platyrliynclia he meant the female shoveler, 

 as would naturally be surmised, for he was not in the habit 

 of bestowing inappropriate descriptive names. 



The separation of so-called " British forms " of well-known 



