2 28 Recent Li/eratrtre. [April 



Classification followed in this Work (pj^, 26-29) ; 'Remarks on Systematic 

 Nomenclature' (pp. 30-42). Then comes the main body of liie work, en- 

 titled 'An Exposition of a Method of a Classification of Birds' (pp. 43- 

 252). Three pages. then follow devoted to observations on certain genera 

 of doubtful position in the system, and a page of corrections and additions. 

 An 'Index to the Generic Names' mentioned in the work occupies pages 

 260-286; they number about 2400, of which 900 are considered as superflu- 

 ous and 300 as synonyms. A list of 'Generic Names added or altered in this 

 Work' follows. All this is followed by an 'Appendix' (pp. 291-305) de- 

 voted to 'Ornithographic Terms; or the names of the external parts of 

 Birds,' illustrated with a plate. The translator has added various foot 

 notes, ''giving references to recent publications, in the hope that they 

 may assist the student"; he has also added two appendices, the first giv- 

 ing a summary of Sundevall's system (by Mr. R. B. Sharpe, from the 

 'Zoological Record' for 1872), the second giving the outlines of Sunde- 

 vall's later arrangement of the Accipitres and the Thrushes, both pub- 

 lished in 1S74, almost SLindevall's last work, his death occurring the fol- 

 lowing year. 



The work thus contains much that the student of todaj' may consult 

 with profit, aside from the ^listoric interest of the essay as one of the 

 leading attempts at a natural classification of birds. 



In the 'Remarks on Classification' are many passages of special inter- 

 est, particularly his discussion of "the time from which the use of bino- 

 mial nomenclature in Zoology ought to date." He says : "Generally the 

 year 1766 is taken, being the date of publication of the twelfth edition of 

 the 'Systema Naturae,' which is also the one best known. . . . This is 

 nevertheless an entirely false notion. This nomenclature is brought for- 

 ward as a principle, and followed out through the whole Animal King- 

 dom, in the tenth edition of the same work, that published in 1758, and 

 it really dates from that time This observation is the more important, 

 because in this edition many species are a great deal better characterized 

 than in the twelfth, where incorrect synonymy and other mistakes are 

 often introduced, and where some species are entirely omitted. . . ." This 

 in reference to specific names. Generic names in Zoology commence 

 '■with the firstedition of Linnreus's 'Systema Natura*,' published in 1735, 

 this being the first work where genera form an essential part of a systCTn 

 of Zoology," etc. 



As already said, we believe Mr. Nicholson has done good work in mak- 

 ing Sundevall's important essay readily accessible to a large class of stu- 

 dents who would be unable to make use of the original edition. The 

 work is admirable in t^'pographical execution. — ^J. A. A. 



Goss's 'History of the Birds of Kansas.'* — As a handbook or manual of 

 the birds of a definite area. Colonel Goss's 'History of the Birds of Kan- 



* History | of the | Birds of Kansas | — | By N. S. Goss. | — | Illustraiing 529 

 Birds. I — I Topeka, Kansas: | Geo. W. Crane & Co., Printers and Binders. \ 1891. 

 — Royal 8vo. pp. 692 + i I., and 35 photogravure full-page plates. 



