Recenthj published Ornit//o/ogical Works. 567 



and Garrulus — tlie four eminently natural genera which 

 make up the remaining British Corvidse. 



The inconvenient discoveries of Mr, Stejneger (for whose 

 talents and learning we have, however, a sincere admiration) 

 seem to have a great attraction for Dr. Sharpe. How unsafe 

 a guide Mr. Stejneger is we have ourselves shown in the 

 case of " Acanthis" (as Dr. Sharpe, see p. 42, now admits). 

 Prof. Collett has proved the same fact as regards the fabulous 

 Parifs colletti (see Ibis, 1893, p. 474). Yet Dr. Sharpe 

 maintains " Parus dresseri, Stejneger,^^ as distinct from 

 P. palustris, and folloAvs him in using j^githalus for the 

 Long-tailed Tits ■^. "Chloj'is" has been in use since 1788 

 as the name of a well-known genus of grasses, and was in 

 consequence rejected by the B. O. U. Committee, as a name 

 for the Greenfinches, in favour oiLigurinus. Yet Dr. Sharpe 

 has revived it, although he allows (see p. 42) that the same 

 generic names should not be employed in zoology and 

 botany. 



Under these circumstances it is not surprising to find that, 

 out of 130 names of British birds used in the present volume, 

 38 are different from those employed in the B. O. U. List 

 and in Saunders^s ' Manual.^ In a work confessedly intended 

 for popular use it would be wiser, in our opinion, to adhere 

 to the ordinary nomenclature and to avoid an unnecessary 

 multiplicity of genera. 



98. Stone on the Genus Anous. 



[A Revision of the Genus Anous. By Witmer Stone. Proc. Ac. Nat. 

 Sci. riiilad. 1894, p. llo.] 



" With the object of straightening out the synonymy of 

 the group,^' says Mr. Stone, "I have made a careful study of 

 the literature bearing upon the subject.'^ Mr. Stone proceeds 

 to express his surprise that Mr. Saunders, in his paper on the 



* Hermann's postliuuiously-published description of bis Vipra^ europaa 

 is, in our opinion, mucli too indefinite to necessitate its identification with 

 Acredida caudata, and may be consigned to the oblivion in vrhich it has 

 until lately remained. Moreover, the generic term " ^githahis '' was only 

 proposed by Hermann tentatively for this supposed European Pipra. 



