RISE AND PROGRESS OF ZOOLOGY. 63 
but the vast accession of new species, which now 
required systematic arrangement, pointed out the 
necessity of a general work on this subject. Linnzus 
had now ceased from his labours, for he closed his 
bright career in 1778; but his system was still para- 
mount in this and most other countries ; and in 1782, 
our celebrated countryman, Dr. Latham, adopted it 
in his General Synopsis of Birds, save only in 
the primary divisions. This great and laborious 
undertaking was brought to a close in 1790, and it 
remained, for many years, the best descriptive cata- 
logue of birds extant. Several new genera were pro- 
posed ; but it was not the practice, at this time, to 
pay much attention to the minutiz of structure. It 
was thought sufficient, for instance, for the purposes 
of arrangement, to refer all flat-billed perching birds 
to the genus Muscicapa, and that of Sylvia contained 
all those with slender straight bills. As no effort 
was made to improve the definitions of the Linnean 
genera, or to restrict them within due limits, it 
necessarily followed that the same species was not 
unfrequently described two or even three times, 
under as many different names, and in different 
genera; while the desire of the author to include 
all the species of birds then known, induced him to 
transcribe from other authors the accounts of such 
as he had not seen himself; and to introduce as 
distinct species numberless others, whose existence 

* Dr. Latham. (1.) A General Synopsis of Birds. By Dr. J. 
Latham. 3 vols. and 2 Supplements. 4to. London, 1782, 
&c. (2.) Index Ornithologicus. London, 1790. 2 vols. 4to. — 
(3.) A General History of Birds. Winchester, 1821—1824. 
10 vols. 4to. 
