A.o6 Corresponde7ice. Tjul^ 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



A Method of Obtaining a Temporary Stability of Names. 



To THE Editors of 'The Auk': 



Dear Sirs: — It is within the power of the A. O. U. Committee on 

 Nomenclature to mitigate, temporarily at least, the inconvenience of fre- 

 quent changing of names and by a simple method to which the most 

 hardened nomenclatural sinner can hardlj object. It is by issuing a 

 Check-List once every ten years Avithout the intervening supplements 

 which now so soon make it a thing of shreds and patches even for those 

 who find time to post up their copies. The Check-List mirrors the Com- 

 mittee's approval of certain names and there are many earnest workers 

 who have use for them, but workmen obliged to change their tools too 

 often are not likely to do the best work, especially when the new tools are 

 no better than the old. The latest name is a matter of concern to a very 

 few, an available name is of great use to many. The proposed periods of 

 quiet v^^ith distinct times of changes are not incompatible with advance, 

 for facts do not alter with the years and too much change only creates 

 confusion and clogs advance. If, then, a species has for fifty years rested 

 in one genus nobody except the disturber of its rest need be in a hurry to 

 put it in another, nor does a name buried a hundred years in an old vol- 

 ume suffer impairment if allowed to slumber a few years longer, more or 

 less. So to, in the matter of new races, prompt ruling seems undesirable, 

 for it makes them neither better nor worse, and time alone, with further 

 investigation, is required to bring out their real value. 



This is no reflection on the good work the Committee has done, but I 

 believe all its judicial thunder might better be saved up for big periodical 

 explosions rather than for small frequent ones. A Check-List in 1910 

 and at the end of each succeeding decade would disturb no vital principle 

 and such a course might add further dignity and force to the decisions. 

 It seems to me that this is often enough to furnish a new set of tools and 

 I think that there would be less complaint of the instability of nomencla- 

 ture if the Committee would not rule out or adopt a Check-List name 

 except at stated intervals. 



I remain. 



Yours very truly, 



Jonathan Dwight, Jr. 



