Vol 'l906 :i11 ] Recent Literature. 475 



become, respectively, Ectopistes macroura (Linn.), Zenaidura carolinensis 

 (Linn.), and Z. c. marginata (Linn.). Unfortunate as is this transposition 

 of names, it seems to be a clear case, based on the correct application of 

 sound and generally accepted rules of nomenclature. As the first citation 

 by Linnajus under Columba macroura was Edwards's figure and account 

 of the West Indian form of the Mourning Dove, it was natural, in less 

 exacting times, to fix the name on the Mourning Dove, as being the first 

 species mentioned, rather than on the Passenger Pigeon; but of late, 

 in delimiting an early composite species, it is proper, and has become 

 customary, to restrict the name to that part of the composite most clearly 

 indicated by the diagnosis, which in this case is beyond question the 

 Passenger Pigeon. — J. A. A. 



Howell on 'Birds that Eat the Cotton Boll Weevil.' — Investigations 

 conducted by the U. S. Department of Agriculture in an effort to control 

 the ravages of the cotton boll weevil include the relation of birds to the 

 weevil. This work was begun in Texas in the autumn of 1904, and con- 

 tinued during the summer of 1905. A recently issued Biological Survey 

 ' Bulletin ' contains a further report of progress (for notice of the first report 

 seeantea, p. 119) by Mr. Howell, 1 based on the examination of the stomachs 

 of birds collected in Texas during July to October, 1905. Of the 62 

 species examined, 12 were found to have eaten boll weevils. In all 28 

 species have been found to feed on the weevil, of which the orioles, black- 

 birds, meadowlarks, and the killdeer are among the most important. 

 "Birds," it is said, "are not the least important of the boll weevil's natural 

 enemies and every species ascertained to feed on it should be protected 

 at all times and places, not only in the cotton-producing area, but along 

 their migration routes." Attention is called to the fact that a number 

 of species that prey upon the weevil are not at the present time protected 

 in Texas. — J. A. A. 



Palmer on Federal Game Protection. — Dr. T. S. Palmer, Assistant 

 in Charge of Game Protection, Biological Survey, has given a concise 

 history of Federal Game Protection in the United States, 2 with especial 

 reference to the first five years of the twentieth century. Prior to the 

 year 1900 the Federal Government had done comparatively little for the 

 protection of game, and nothing for the prevention of the introduction 

 of noxious animals and birds from foreign countries, nor for the regulation 

 of interstate commerce in game, and very little for the protection of game 

 in national parks and reservations. Many of the individual States had 



1 Birds that Eat the Cotton Boll Weevil — a Report of Progress. By Arthur H. 

 Howell. U. S. Department of Agriculture. Biological Survey, No. 25, Washington, 

 Government Printing Office, 190b. — 8vo, pp. 22. 



2 Federal Game Protection — A Five Years' Retrospect. Yearbook of Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture for 1905, pp. 541-562. 



