184 GENERIC NAME OF THE SNOW-BUNTINGS. 
NOTE XVI. 
ON THE GENERIC NAME OF THE SNOW-BUNTINGS 
BY 
Dr. ERNST HARTERT. 
In the “Notes from the Leyden Museum” Vol. XXXII, 
n°. 1, p. 32, Dr. E. D. van Oort published a note about 
the generic name of the “Snow-Buntings”, and came to 
the conclusion, that Plectrophenaz of Stejneger (1882) had 
to be accepted as the name for this genus. This conclusion, 
I am sorry to say, is erroneous, in my opinion. Dr. van 
Oort rejects the name Passerina Vieillot (Analyse d’une 
nouvelle Ornithol. élément., 1816, p. 30) for two reasons. 
First, because it had been employed in Botany previous 
to 1816. This, however, is no reason for its rejection, 
because all modern codes of nomenclature in Zoology have 
agreed not to consider botanical nomenclature and only 
to reject generic names if they have been preoccupied in 
Zoology. Second, because the type of Vieillot’s generic ~ 
name would be Tanagra cyanea L. This is also wrong, 
because the type of Passerina, by elimination, is Emberiza 
nivalis L. 
Vieillot included in his genus three species: “Ministre” 
(= Tanagra cyanea L., type of Cyanospiza Baird, 1858), 
“Ortolan de riz” (= Fringilla oryzivora L., type of Doli- 
chonyx Swainson, 1827) and “Ortolan de neige” = Emberiza 
nivalis L. The last, not having received another name, 
thus becomes the type of Passerina, and there was no need 
to create a new name for it in 1882, and Stejneger’s name 
Plectrophenax is therefore a synonym of Passerina Vieill. 
Tring, March 1910. 
Notes from the Leyden Museum, Vol. XX XIT. 
