666 Letters, Extracts, and Notices. 



applies to tlie Redwing and Tardus iliacus to the Song- 

 Thrush, thus transposing the scientific names that had been 

 in use for these two birds not only since the time of Linnaeus, 

 but long previously. 



The facts, so far as they are of importance, appear to be 

 the following : — 



The ' Fauna Suecica,' 1st edition (1746), No. 189, p. 72, 

 on which the Turdus music us of the tenth edition of the Syst. 

 Nat. was founded, includes both birds : the brief description 

 belongs to the Redwing, the references, which are of at least 

 as great importance, relate chiefly to the Song-Thrush, as do 

 the vernacular names Klera and Kledra. The two birds 

 were evidently confounded by Linnaeus, as was noticed in 

 1817 by Nilsson (Orn. Suec. i. p. 177, note) and in Newton's 

 ' Dictionary of Birds/ p. 778. In no other edition of the 

 ' Fauna Suecica' does there appear to be any reference to the 

 Song-Thrush or Redwing. 



In the tenth edition of the ' Sy sterna Naturae ' (1758) the 

 names Turdus musicus and T. iliacus were first used by 

 Linnaeus, binomials not having been employed in the first 

 editions of the ' Fauna Suecica.' The brief descriptive 

 notice under T. musicus applies, as has been pointed out by 

 Mr. Hartert (/. c), to the Redwing, while that under T. iliacus 

 agrees better with the Song-Thrush. But all the synonymy 

 under T, musicus belongs to the Song-Thrush and all that 

 under T. iliacus to the Redwing. 



In the edition of the ' Fauna Suecica' of 1761 (p. 79) the 

 " diagnoses " of T. musicus and T. iliacus printed in the 

 tenth edition of the ' Systema ' are transposed, the principal 

 references remaining as before, and this arrangement is 

 preserved in the twelfth edition of the ' Systema Naturae ' 

 (1766). 



The only possible conclusion is that the " diagnoses " 

 of T. musicus and T. iliacus in the tenth edition of the 

 ' Systema ' were interchanged owing to some mistake 

 (possibly occasioned by the printer), and that Linnaeus 

 corrected the mistake in his next subsequent publications. 

 As the diagnoses were thus recognised as erroneous by 



