136 PHALAROPUS FULICARIUS. 



Sy sterna Natura* will shew that the authority for 

 tringa fulicaria is Edwards's red coot-footed tri> 

 pi. 142, and that alone, for it does not appear that 

 Linnaeus had seen the bird. The circumstance of the 

 change of the generic appellation can in nowise affect 

 the specific name ; the present improved state of the 

 science requires the former, justice demands that the 

 latter should be preserved. In this work I have pre- 

 served it ; and I flatter myself that this humble attempt 

 to vindicate the rights of Linnaeus will be approved by 

 all those who love the sciences of which he was so 

 illustrious a promoter. 



* Of all the editions of the Systema Nature, the tenth and tli<- 

 twelfth are the most valuable ; the former being the first which 

 contains the synonyma, and the latter being that which received 

 the finishing hand of its author. In the United States, Linnaeus is 

 principally known through two editors : Gmelin, whose thirteenth 

 edition of the Systema Naturae has involved the whole science in 

 almost inextricable confusion ; and Turton, whose English trans- 

 lation of Gmelin is a disgrace to science and letters. All writers 

 on zoology and botany should possess Linnaeus' s tenth and twelfth 

 editions ; they will be found to be of indispensable use in tracing 

 yy noii vinos and fixing nomenclature. 



