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. Linnaeus 

 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 minutiae 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 Linnaean 

 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. 



