500 On the Nomenclature of the Groups o/Ratitas. 



then their subdivision will not involve the introduction of any 

 radically new notions of taxonomy or nomenclature. 



Leaving, then, the " Orders " of Garinatce to take care of 

 themselves, my present business is with the subdivisions of 

 Ratitce ; and accordingly I beg leave to suggest that this im- 

 portant though comparatively small group be termed a Sub- 

 class, and, following the indisputable characters assigned by 

 Prof. Huxley, that its component parts be named as follows: — 



Subclass RATIT^. 



Order I. Strdthiones. Fam. StrutJiionidce. 

 „ II. Ehe^. Fam. RTieidce. 



,, III. Megistanes. Fam. i, Dromceida', Fam. ii. Ccmiariidcp. 

 „ IV. Immanes. Fam. i. Dlnornithidce, Fam. ii. Palapterygidce*. 

 „ V. Apteryges. Fam. Apteryfjidce. 

 „ VI. ^PTOENiTHEs. Fam. uEpyornitliidce. 



Of the names above suggested there is only one {Immanes) that 

 can be called new to the literature of ornithology, since Megis- 

 tanes was used in 1816 by Vieillot (Analyse &c. p. 53) 

 for the whole group of Ratite Birds then known, while, accord- 

 ing to the received laws of nomenclature, I am strictly within 

 my right in proposing to limit the term to a portion of that 

 group. I would gladly have assigned it to the order con- 

 taining the Moas, to which its meaning would make it very 

 applicable ; but I am forbidden by the consideration that they, 

 being then undiscovered, were not included in it. It may be 

 objected that Immanes^ being an adjective, should not be used 

 as a substantive; but in anticipation thereto I may cite the 

 precedents of Ratitce and Garinatce. 



There is no need for me to dwell on the characters of these 

 Orders and families ; for they have been sufficiently set forth by 

 others, except in the case of 2Epyornith.es ^ for which (as in 

 the case of other fossil forms) we must await further inves- 

 tigation, though there can be hardly any doubt of its distinct- 

 ness from the rest. The sequence also of the several groups 

 is immaterial to the object I have now had in view, and upon 

 that I say nothing. 



Magdalene College, Cambridge, 

 31st October, 1877. 



* On tlie supposition that tbe opinions expressed by Dr. Haast (Trans, 

 and Proc. New-Zeal. Inst. vi. pp. 426, 427) can be substantiated ; but 

 they have since been disputed by Capt. Hutton (op. cit. ix. pp. 363-365_), 

 and, for tlie present, it is advisable to suspend our judgment on this 

 point. 



