400 Dr. E. Loiinberg on the L'mnean Names 



' Systema Naturae/ 1758, viz., Striw fanerea. The plates 

 are quite easily recoguizable in both sets, and they prove 

 that no. 50 as well as no. 51 of the 'Fauna Svecica ^ 

 represent Tengraalm's Owl according to Rudbeck's plates^ in 

 spite o£ the differeuce in size of the figures. E-udbeck's 

 plate 170 is the type of species 51 in ' Fauna Svecica/ 1746, 

 as the quotation there proves, and to this species the name 

 fmierea was given in 1758. Seeing that the plate, as stated 

 above, very distinctly displays a coloured figure of Teng- 

 malm's Owl, it is quite plain that this species must have the 

 specific name funerea attatched to it, even if Linnaeus has 

 exaggerated the size of the bird by saying "Magnitudo corvi.'^ 

 But, supposing that, in spite of everything, this was not 

 evident enough, the description in the ' Fauna Svecica ' can- 

 not be applied to any other Swedish Owl. Linnaeus writes, 

 " Corpns totuni supra sordido-cinereum, maculis pisiformibus 

 albis." These round white spots which are so characteristic 

 of Tengmalm's Owl, and which have given it its modern 

 Swedish name, '^ Piirluggla ''=" Pearl-Owl/' are not to be 

 found in any other Swedish Owl. It is true that Surnia 

 ulula also has white spots, but that Owl was very v/ell known 

 to Linnaeus, and when he describes it as no. 52 in ' Fauna 

 Svecica ' he writes, " Corpus supra fuscum, maculis albis 

 majusculis adspersum ^' (not to mention several other 

 characteristics, as the undulated pattern of the breast, the 

 long tail, &c.). He thus correctly points out that the white 

 spots of the Hawk-Owl are larger than in the species which 

 he later called funerea. From this, I hope, it will be con- 

 cluded that the specific name funerea is the first and 

 cori-ect one for Tengmalm's Owl, because a good and easily 

 recognizable coloured plate must be as good a type as a skin. 



The name " Anas erythropus " was given in the ' Systema 

 Naturae,' 1758, by Liunseus to the Goose described in 174G 

 in the 'Fauna Svecica' as no. 92. In this latter work we 

 find a quotation, " Rudb. pict. Anser cinereus ferns, torque 

 inter oculos & rostrum albo, erythropes.'' This proves 

 that Linnaeus originally based this species on one of 

 Rudbeck's coloured plates, which had such an inscription 



