Letters, Announcements, ^c. 231 



It may seem very ungracious to say so, but we must confess 

 we regret to find Mr. Cassin continuing his " Fasti Ornitho- 

 logige/' We would far rather see hnn occupied in revising 

 with his wonted skill and diligence obscure groups of birds. 

 His last labour is that of galvanizing the dead body of names 

 applied by a nameless author in the ' Encyclopaedia Londi- 

 nensis.' There is no doubt that our good friend has, to a certain 

 extent, the law of priority on his side ; but we would ask him to 

 have some compassion upon human infirmity ; if, however, he will 

 not listen to an appeal for mercy, we will meet him on his own 

 ground. Can the names bestowed by a nameless author stand ? 

 Mr. Cassin, we think, is bound to show us who his author was. 

 As it is, he has only told us who he was not. Mr. John Wilkes, 

 the Editor of the ' Encyclopsedia Londinensis,' was not the 

 Mr. John Wilkes of ' North Briton ' notoriety ! But we entirely 

 refuse admission among the ranks of ornithologists even to the 

 editor of the aforenamed Encyclopaedia, and we must regard the 

 ornithological articles therein as the work of an anonymous 

 authority. Now an anonymous authority is in scientific matters 

 justly regarded as no authority at all. When we have somebody 

 tangible to deal with, then we shall be in a position to consider 

 the question Mr. Cassin has raised ; and then, if need be, we may 

 possibly allow the validity of the names bestowed by this some- 

 body on the thirty-two species to which he was apparently the 

 first to affix Latin appellations*. 



XX. — Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



The following letters, addressed " To the Editor of ' The Ibis,' '* 



have been received : — 



Dobroyde, Aug. 23, 1867. 



Sir,— During my rambles in search of specimens in the 



Clarence-River district, and especially in the neighbourhood of 



* It would seem as if there must ha^e been more than one edition of 

 this Encyclopsedia. In the copy we have consulted, though the pagi- 

 nation, date, and other particulars agree with those given by Mr. Cassin, 

 we do not find any mention, imder Latin names, of the various species of 

 Buceros, for example, the uomeuclature of which is said by him to be 

 thereby affected. 



X. S. VOL. IV. R 



