/to CoUEs, Za melodic! against Ha bin. I Jan. 



term." But in drawing the hasty inference from that fact, that 

 " Reichenbach was, therefore, fully justified in applying it [/. ^., 

 the name Habid] as he did, viz., as the name of the genus having 

 the Black-headed Grosbeak for type," my commentator proved 

 nothing but the fact that his knowledge of the case was deficient. 

 Abia 2inA Haina'^cr^^^^'^^^y ^^'^' -'^^ ^"^^ ^^^*^ P*^*- Zame/odia to sleep 

 simply a variant of "',( than to show his whole conten- 



notion of the etymo. • ,''«, Habia has displaced Zamelodia 



If Dr. Stejneger will lo. ts of 1886 and 1895, and very gen- 



find both forms in ornithoi. '^ since 1884. 



and Abia Agassiz is simply ^^l Chretien Frederic Dagobert 

 origin ; the latter is not. I sta' niblished in 18 17, and in other 

 ago, in the 'Century Dictic i^^imal Kingdom' which was pub- 

 Habia, and -^fwelodia. r ornithology of which was edited 



u ears on p. 711 in the "Index of 



scientii. ■. ns uished from the "Index of popular 



names " ; an^i. on p. 184 can be read in plain English as follows : — 



"The Finch-tanagers iyHabia N\€\\\o\.) — 



" Have a thick, bulging, conical bill, as broad as high, the 

 upper mandible of which is rounded above. 



" Such are Tan. fiamtniceps., Pr. Max., T. sitpe/ri/iosa, psittacina, 

 and atricolUs., Spix, etc." 



Now it is true, as Dr. Stejneger contended, and as nobody 

 ever denied, that all the vernacular names in certain works of 

 Vieillot and of Lesson are printed in a type which distinguishes 

 them from the Latin names. Nobody doubts that ' Habia,' as 

 used by Vieillot and Lesson, was intended as a French word (after 

 the Spanish-American '• Habia' oi Azara), and as a vernacular 

 equivalent of the genus-name Saltator; perhaps Cuvier himself so 

 intended it in 1829. But what has that to do with Cuvier's (or 

 his editor's later use of the name Habia as a systematic generic 

 term for Saltator or anything else ? Nothing, All the vernacular 

 names in the English version of 1849 ^^'^ typographically distin- 

 guished ; and in the present case the author (or editor) incon- 

 testibly adopts Vieillot's vernacular word Habia as the Latin 

 name of a genus which includes certain South American Tana- 



