Ornithological Nomenclature. 435 



Association codes not withstanding, unless the study of orni- 

 thology is to be allowed to drift into a popular amusement, 

 in which scientific accuracy is of minor importance. 



The name arundinaceus having ceased to be a scientific 

 term in the genus Acrocephalus, the strict letter of the law 

 requires us to adopt that ofjunco of Pallas. This appears to 

 me to be a case in which ornithological law may fairly be 

 overridden by ornithological equity. Pallas had no right to 

 substitute the prelinnsean name of junco for the Linnaean , 

 name of arundinaceus , since he quotes the latter as a synonym, 

 and retains the species in the genus Turdus. I submit there- 

 fore that the Great Sedge-Warbler ought to be known by 

 its time-honoured name of Acrocephalus turdoides (Meyer) ; 

 and I propose to justify the proceeding by adding the follow- 

 ing rider to Rule 12 : 



" Names which have been in general use for many 

 years, and which have been clearly defined, ought not 

 to be superseded by the discovery of earlier names, com- 

 paratively unknown, except in cases where the newly 

 discovered name accompanies the earliest clear definition 

 of the species." 



Graculus graculus, Sharpe, Cat. of Birds, p. 146. 



Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax, Sharpe, Cat. of Birds, iii. p. 148. 



Corone corone, Sharpe, Cat. of Birds, iii. p. 36. 



Pica pica, Sharpe, Cat. of Birds, iii. p. 62. 



It is a thousand pities that ornithologists did not retain 

 the excellent practice commenced by Brisson of giving to the 

 type of each genus the same specific and generic name. To 

 revert to the practice now would, I fear, involve too much 

 change in our nomenclature, though it would undoubtedly give 

 to it a system and simplicity which it does not at present 

 possess. But be this as it may, it is obviously absurd to apply 

 the system in a few isolated cases. In the original Strick- 

 landian code it was provided that wherever a specific name was 

 elevated to generic rank, a new specific name must be found. 

 At the Meeting of the British Association in 1865, this rule 

 was reversed, and it was enacted that the specific name so pro- 



