i 4 4 



Lucas, Tongue of the Cape May Warbler. 



r Auk 

 [_ April 



with 3 and 5 (same work) their structural resemblance will be 

 evident, and the conclusion is unavoidable that, as at Babel, there 

 has been a confusion of tongues, and that the principal character 

 of the genus Perissoglossa has originated in a mistake. Granting, 

 however, that the tongue had been as figured, it hardly seems 

 that the characters would have been sufficiently solid to form the 

 foundation for a genus. 



A 



Enlarged Figures of Tongues of I'irds : 1. Detidroica tigriiia; 2. D. 



maculosa] 3. Glossoptila ca?npestri$ ; 4. Acanthorhynchus tenuiros- 



tris ; 5 and 6. Cccreba cyanea ; 'j. C. ccerulea. 



It may be said further that the tongue of Certhiola is also 

 wrongly figured in the 'Review of North American Birds,' for it 

 is not fimbriated, but brushy and twisted. Unfortunately such 

 errors are bound to occur, and we must ever be on the watch for 

 them ; and I will only say in conclusion that if any one thinks 

 them inexcusable, let him try to dissect and figure a dozen similar 

 specimens and the crime will perhaps seem to have some exten- 

 uating circumstances. 



