iSS6.] Recc7it Literature. 



397 



will tell us what he is talking about, we can form a better idea of his 

 meaning than we shall have if we listen to his statements. Possibly the 

 line must be drawn somewhere between the 'tjponym' and the ttomen 

 nudum, but it is a pity that science should be obliged to notice either. 



Canons XLIV and XLV, requiring absolute identification to secure 

 priority, will oft'er some difficulties in practice, and it is in this regard 

 that most fluctuations in nomenclature in the future are likely to occur. 

 Absolute identification is often difficult among birds, and in more obscure 

 groups it becomes less and less easy of attainment. 



With these slight exceptions, the rules of the 'Code' seem to the present 

 writer above cavil, and they fill the needs of other naturalists quite as well 

 as they do those of ornithologists. With the possible exceptions of Canons 

 XVII and XVIII, which do not seem to him wise, and which in fact he 

 cannot use at all, the entire 'Code' will certainly be adopted by workers in 

 ichthyology, [hope and believe that other branches of science will find 

 these rules equally satisfactory, and that this may soon become in all impor- 

 tant respects the Code of nomenclature forzodlogj' andbotanj-as well as for 

 American ornithology. — David S. Jordan. 



[The preceding review being confined mainly to a critical notice of the 

 'Code,' the foUovving descriptive remarks are added respecting the 'Check- 

 List.' 



The A. O. U. 'Check-List,' compared with previous check-lists of 

 North American birds, presents several distinctive peculiarities, the first of 

 which is the order of arrangement adopted, the present list beginning 

 with the 'lowest' or 'most specialized' forms and ending with the 'highest' 

 or 'most generalized.' This, however, is in accordance with a sound and 

 well-approved principle of classification, which has been for a consider- 

 able period carried into effect in other departments of zoology, and needs 

 no defense or further explanation. 



The second distinctive feature is the introduction of the names of all 

 the higher groups, making the list a classified one, giving due prominence 

 to the various 'rounds of the ladder' in systematic ornithology, from sub- 

 species to 'orders.' Aside from the inverted order of arrangement, there 

 are few departures from the systems of late in vogue in the standard works 

 on North American ornithology. 



A third distinctive feature is the introduction of references to the works 

 where the genera, species, and subspecies were first named, and to the 

 works where the names of the species and subspecies as here adopted 

 were first used. 



A fourth innovation is the introduction of a brief statement of the 

 geographical range, or 'habitat,' of the species and subspecies, with 

 special reference to their distribution in North America. 



The geographical scope of the list is North America north of Mexico, 

 and Greenland, and the peninsula of Lower California, with its dependent 

 islands. This gives a 'hard and fast' geographical line, thus rendering it 

 possible to decide the propriety of including any given species in the list, 



