568 Correspondence. [ 



Auk 

 Oct. 



of pleasing both the amateur and the speciaUst. In this the writer thinks 

 he is mistaken. The Committee has tried to decide each subspecies 

 case upon its merits regardless of how its opinion might affect any individual 

 or class. Such inconsistencies as have resulted were unintentional and 

 due to the lack of any standard in such matters — not to any feeling of 

 obligation to anyone. 



The only instance where the Committee has acted in deference to the 

 views of amateur ornithologists — and scientific ones too as it happens — 

 was in the withholding of nomenclatural opinions from the Sixteenth 

 Supplement. This was done in view of the widespread disgust at 'name 

 shuffling' and the diverse interpretation of Article 30 of the International 

 Code, pending an opinion by the International Commission. It was 

 thought far better to temporarily withhold decisions which might have to 

 be reversed in a year or two. 



Further on Mr. Grinnell adopts a rather unfortunate simile in discussing 

 the Committee's work. He rightly contends that his judgment upon the 

 validity of proposed new forms in a group of Middle American Humming- 

 birds with which he was quite unfamiliar would not be worth much if 

 based upon but a few days study. In the case of the Committee however 

 he seems to forget that the members are fairly familiar with North Ameri- 

 can birds and that many of the races which modern 'speciation specialists' 

 have honored with names were worked out but not named by members 

 of the Committee years ago. Furthermore what knowledge one member 

 of the Commitee lacks another may possess so that the efforts of the Com- 

 mittee are certainly not seven times as ridiculous as the efforts of any one 

 of them individually. In not a few cases moreover the Committee has 

 had more material before it than had the describer of the proposed new 

 race. 



The writer welcomes Mr. Grinnell's communication because it shows 

 the proper spirit of cooperation. Everyone will have different opinions 

 on such matters as he has discussed and only by bringing them forward 

 can we achieve results approximately satisfactory to all. The Committee 

 certainly desires to produce satisfactory results and to raise the Check-List 

 to the highest efficiency and if its methods are wrong the sooner the fact 

 is demonstrated the better. 



Wttmer Stone.] 



Aves in the International Catalogue of Scientific Literature. 



The Editor of 'The Auk': 



Dear Sir: It has occurred to me that the accompanying table may be of 

 some interest to your readers and may also incidentally be of assistance 

 to the writer who is engaged in the task of compiling the 'Aves' portion 

 of the Zoological Record and the International Catalogue of Scientific 

 Literature. The Zoological Record which was founded nearly 50 years 



