1884.1 CoUES OH OrntthofJiilologicaUties. A(\ 



recommendation to some. If the word is from the Greek or 

 Latin the analogue must be adducible from those hinguagcs. 

 Something has ah^eady been said upon such cases. To j^roceed. 



Rafinesque is said (96) to have written Hehnitherjis^ which 

 is asserted to be inadmissible since it must come from the stem 

 e\(j[.iv9- from the nom. e'Xjxivs. Accordingly, Hebnmtherus has 

 been written, with a longing for still further change, to Hehnin- 

 theras. But there is another stem, e'Xfxi-, used by Aristotle, which, 

 with the addition of -the7-us from Otj'p, would give the word of 

 Rafinesque exactly and legitimately. For the form of the sec- 

 ond component we have a large number of models, as Xe^iOiipos. 



Pelasgia of Linnaeus is objected to (405), and Pelasgica 

 substituted in its place. The former is as good a form for the 

 feminine of the adjective in Greek as the latter, and occurs in 

 .^schylus. 



Before accepting ^/a^'rt'/a for plagiata (527) it would be well 

 to weigh the fact that plagiare was used in mediaeval Latin in 

 the same sense as -plagai'e. 



In closing, it may not be amiss to offer the suggestion^ that a 

 rule be established that hereafter whenever an ornithological name 

 may be coined the inventor shall publish, along with the descrip- 

 tion of the bird, the derivation of the name and the model upon 

 which it has been constructed, somewhat in this form : — 



Castanogastris (Kao-rava, -yao-Tpis, " chestnut-bellied") ; model, 

 twyd-yacTTpis ( H esy ch ius ) . 



This would serve a four-fold purpose. It would preclude 

 all criticism if properly done, secure more accui'ate and legiti- 

 mate words, insure to the inventor the exact form which he has 

 preferred, and save future lexicographers a deal of trouble and 

 vexation of spirit. 



ORNITHOPHILOLOGICALITIES. 



BY PROFESSOR ELLIOTT COUES. 



Professor Merriam may imagine with what mixed amusement and 

 consternation we find ourselves sent down to the foot of the class for 

 missing our lesson and kept in after school to learn it. Twenty-five years 

 ago, when Latin grammars and Greek dictionaries looked bigger to us 

 than they do now, the Professor's attitude would have seemed to us 



