1892-] Rccr//f Literature. 279 



genus lu- rejects KuliTs " S^'itio \'I. Probo<( I'i^cr , ' wliieli hasjust lliesair.e 

 hUiLu^, ■■ Liociiut>e Prol)oscigcr is not a generic name, bill a term used by 

 Kuhl for his sect, vi, of the genus Pslliacus" ! (p. 102). In seeking a 

 substitute iov Probosci'oer he passes .over Soleno^lossus Ranz, 182 1, for 

 Alicroi^lossus Vieill., 1821-23, after admitting the former has priority, 

 because Solcnofflossus "conveys quite a false idea of tiie structure of the 

 tongue " ! 



Micropsi^tta Lesson, 1S31, and N(isiter?Ki Wagler, 1832, is a case parallel 

 with Atnazoiia and C/iry.^otis, where for no good reason a later name is 

 taken for an earlier. Ognorhyuchus Bon., 1857, clearly has priority over 

 Gnatkosittaca Cab., 1864, even if the former be taken from Gra^s as used 

 for a subgenus in 1859. 



As our author adheres to the principle that erroneously constructed 

 names should be corrected, it is not surprising that he should reject names 

 that, in his opinion, are too barbarous to be tolerated, as for example, 

 Psittrichas Lesson, G raydidascalm Bon., etc. 



In palliation it should be said that tiic practices here criticized are not 

 innovations; his nomenclatural usages in the present work are in the 

 main consistent not only with those of his former works, but with those 

 of many other veterans of the science ; and it is perhaps too soon to expect 

 any great swerving from long established methods, out of deference to a set 

 of new-fangled rules recently adopted by a large number of ornithologists 

 in behalf of stability of nomenclature. Aside from a few faults of nomen- 

 clature (as we view the case), the work is entitled to the highest appro- 

 bation, antl must win for its renowned author the deep gratitude of 

 systematic ornithologists everywhere. — ^J. A. A. 



Mrs. Miller's 'Little Brothers of the Air.'* — The frequent appearance 

 nowadays of books and magazine articles on natural history is undeniable 

 evidence of a growing class of readers who in these smaller volumes ap- 

 proach that larger book to which the eyes of the world are gradually 

 opening. We wisli we might accord to all these aids the hearty welcome 

 Mrs. Miller's latest book deserves. But alas! natural history 'copy 

 readers' are as yet an unknown adjunct of publishing houses. If they 

 were we should be spared some of the unwitting mistakes or deliberate 

 falsehoods which unchallenged pass their presses. After reading recently 

 in a leading monthly that there are ten thousand species of water-birds, 

 or learning from a book issued by one of our large educational publishing 

 firms, that the Grebe paddles its nest to safety by stretching one leg over 

 the edge, it is a relief to take up a popular work based on original, 

 accurate, painstaking observation. Mrs. Miller is an enthusiast. Her 

 patience is untiring, and her reward is not a ' skin,' or a ' full-clutch,' but a 

 new fact in the life, if not of the species, at least of the individual bird she 



* Little Brothers of | the Air | By | Olive Thorne Miller | [seal and motto] | 

 Boston and New York j Houghton, Mifflin and Company | The Riverside Press, 

 Cambridge | 1892. 12°, pp. vii, 271. 



