154 Miscellaneous. 



April 25, 1894.— Dr. Henry Woodward, F.R.S., 

 Presideut, in the Chair. 



The following communication was read : — 



' On a new Goniatite from the Lower Coal Measures.' By 

 Herbert Bolton, Esq., F.E.S.E. 



Sowerby in his ' Mineral Conchology ' figures two fossils under 

 the name of Goniatites Listen, of which the left-hand figure is 

 clearly G. Listeri, whilst the right-hand one diflfers considerably 

 from it. The Author gives diagnoses of Goniatites Listeri and of a 

 new species, which agrees with the form represented in Sowerby"s 

 right-hand figure. This species is limited to the shales forming 

 the roof of the ' Bullion ' or Upper Foot seam of the Lower Coal 

 Measures, whilst G. Listeri ranges from the Lower Limestone 

 Shales to the ' Bullion ' seam. 



MISCELLA]S"EOUS. 

 The Ornitliological Writings of Victor Lopez Seoatu. 

 To the Editors of the '•Annals and Magazine of Natural History.' 

 Gextlehex, — The following three pamplilets by this author have 

 fallen into my hands : — (1) " Sur deux nouvelles formes de Perdrix 

 d'Espagne," Mem. Soc. Zool. France, vii. 1894, p. 92 &c. ; (2) ' Aves 

 nuevas de Galicia ' [8vo], La Coruiia, 1870, 10 pp. ; (3) 'Revision 

 del Catalogo de las Aves de Andalucia' [8vo], La Coruiia, 1870, 

 18 pp. The last two bear the imprint — La Coruna (Imprenta y 

 estereotipia de Vicento Abad (7 — Plaza de Maria Pita— 7) 1870. 



With the first of these I have no quarrel, but the dates of the 

 last two are open to grave suspicion. Indeed, when they reached 

 me the ink in which they were printed was apparently fresh and 

 easily smeared. The most awkward point, however, is the fact that 

 M. Seoane refers in one of them to the ' Catalogue of the Birds in the 

 British Museum ' as " con preciosas [sic'\ descripciones, completa 

 siuonimia, y algunas admirables laminas." The first volume of this 

 work did not appear until 1874, or four years after the supposed 

 date of M. Seoane's pamphlet. 



The point at issue seems to be this : Mr. Howard Saunders 

 published in 1872 (Proc. Zool. Soc. p. 153) a new species of Green 

 Woodpecker from Spain (Gecinus Sharpii), and on seeing this 

 description, presumably for the first time, M. Seoane has published 

 at least one pre-dated pamphlet, in which he calls the bird G. viridis 

 galliciensis, in order to gain priority. Curiously enough, the fact 

 that M. Seoane has decided to describe these as new is noted in the 

 French pamphlet (1) of 1894, and therein he refers to a Spanish 

 pamphlet of 1891 — 'Examen critico de las Perdices de Europa y 

 particularmente de las des Esparia ' : Coruna, 1891. Is this the 

 first intended title for ' Aves nuevas,' or shall we receive the 

 ' Examen critico ' when the ink is dry ? 



A similar example of this pre-dating is seen in the case of 

 Beichenow's Perdicc hispanien-sis, a species which Seoane includes in 

 his 1 870 pamphlet ' Aves nuevas ' under the name of Perdix cinerea 

 charrela ; and a still earlier example was pointed out by Boulenger 

 (Zool. Record, 1885, Rept. p. 2), in which it is shown that Seoane 



