6 Allen, The A. O. U. Check-Lhi. Tf"'' 



LJan. 



familiar names, if the present activity in bibliographical research 

 continues at its present pace. That there will be an end is cer- 

 tain and the more intense the temporary inconvenience thus occa- 

 sioned the sooner will stability be attained. 



There is one element of disturbance that is imminent, and 

 should be early met, and which is unfortunately the result of a 

 little misguided conservatism, or lack of foresight, on the part of 

 the original Check-List Committee. This is the long list of sub- 

 genera which, to conform to the usages of the day in such matters, 

 should be raised to genera, and thereby entail a long list of changes 

 in the Check-List as regards the generic element in the names of 

 species and subspecies. Thirty-six such cases were listed at the 

 end of the Tenth Supplement, action on which has already been 

 twice deferred by the Committee, in view partly of the great 

 temporary inconvenience their adoption would incur, and partly 

 to make these changes at one time. Probably two thirds of these 

 subgenera are well entitled to recognition as genera and are so 

 recognized by a large part of ornithologists. 



A few other changes in generic names are pending, and — if 

 we are to follow not only the A. O. U. Code, but also the hitherto 

 uniform ruling of the Committee — should be adopted. Over 

 these there is trouble brewing, due to a proposed new departure 

 in reference to such names. This is the new so-called ' one letter 

 rule,' which has not as yet received the sanction of any body of 

 code makers but which will soon have to be officially faced by 

 the Union as well as by the A. O. U. Committee. It is not my 

 purpose to discuss the merits or demerits of the proposed new rule 

 in this connection, but simply to state that while to adopt it would 

 save three or four impending changes of generic names, its adop- 

 tion would also require the changing of a greater number of other 

 generic names which now form a part of the Check-List. Under 

 present rules, names which are etymologically the same, but which 

 vary slightly in construction, only that form of the word having 

 priority can be used in zoological nomenclature. The new rule 

 proposes that any number of variants of the same name are avail- 

 able, if they vary by only a single letter, even if the letter be 

 merely a connectent vowel, or depend on gender, as indicated by 

 the terminal syllable. 



