224 Letters, Announcements , ^c. 



1858 (B. N. Am. p. 660). On my speaking about it to him 

 today _, lie informs me that the coinage he intended was from 

 vhoi)p and avaao-a, the idea being that expressed by Audubon 

 in caUing the beautiful Louisiana Heron the '^ Lady of the 

 Waters/' or words to that effect. So far^ so good ; but now 

 for Dichromanassa. I am myself responsible for that word ; 

 and the etymology is as given in the ' Check-List.' In con- 

 versation with me Mr. Ridgway was casting about for a suit- 

 able word to express the dichromatism of these Herons^ and 

 to also agree in termination with Baird's Hydranassa, which 

 he proposed to adopt. On the spur of the moment I coined 

 Dichromanassa, in the sense of " two-coloured Water-fowl/' 

 using the Doric vaa-aa for the alliteration, in preference to 

 Attic vrjrra, or the usual vrjaaa (cf. Dendronessa, Pelionetta) . 

 My wits were certainly wool-gathering when I failed to recog- 

 nize dvaa-aa in the combination Hydranassa ; but the curious 

 facts are as I give them ! If I may be permitted to revoke 

 the intended and afterwards expressed etymology of Dichro- 

 manassa (contracted from Dichromatonassa) in favour of that 

 derivation of the word which your reviewer very properly in- 

 dicates, it will bring about the real agreement with Hydra- 

 nassa which I had in mind and desired to express, as well as 

 obviate any orthographic change in either of the two words 

 in question. 



Yours &c., 



Elliott Coues. 



Ohualey Vicarage, Aylesbury, 

 February 22, 1883. 



Sirs, — I have to ask you to correct in your next number 

 an error in my paper on Chinese birds (Ibis, 1882, p. 433), 

 by substituting Monticola solitarius (Miill.) for M. saxatilis 

 (Linn.). It is such a very obvious error, and will appear such 

 to every reader of your pages, that I feel it almost needs an 

 apology from me for troubling you to make the correction. 



Might I mention that the paper has, in the General Index, 

 been put down under the name of my illustrious namesake. 



V 



