iSs.t.J S'l'KjNK.fJii-.K. AiKtlcitit Oniitlioloi^rica. 2 2Q 



their creation ; others a<i[ain have had a varying fate, now being 

 rejected, now again accepted, e. g.^ Bartra7nia {■=i Act/'dur?iii 

 Bp.), Drymophila {=Myrmeciza Gray, 1841) Llnaria (r= Caii- 

 nahuia)^ Passerlna {=■ Cyanospiza Baird, 1858), Petrophila 

 {=^ Orocctes Gray, 1840), Wihonia (m Myiodioctcs Audub., 

 1839), ^^^- ' ■^^■li'l'-' '•• f'-'w have not been revived since first (h'oj)ped 

 on acconnt of having been preoccupied in botany, three of tiiem 

 having even received new names from their original dcscriber, 

 when he l)ecame aware of the fact, viz., Microp?is^ Cyanocepha- 

 lus^ and CorypJia. In endeavoring to find means for creating a 

 stable nomenclature, our rules must be as free as possible from 

 exceptions, and in the present case we have only the choice between 

 two methods ; either to accept or to reject all the names preoccu- 

 pied in botanv. 



A glance at the above list will show at once that the changes 

 resulting from a rejection of the names already applied in botany 

 would be so radical and aR'ect so many current names, that a 

 choice in that direction must be considered very undesirable. 



If we carry the rule out in the other direction, the changes will 

 be less serious. 



The first name to be considered then, is 



Arenaria Briss. 



which antedates both ]\Iorinella Meyer and Strepsilas Illiger by 

 fifty years (see my paper in Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1S82, p. 34). 

 The two North American species would stand as 



1. Arenaria i/ite?'pres (Linn.) Vieill. — Turnstone. 



2. Arenaria melanocephala (Vig.). — Bhick Turnstone. 



Corypha Gray, 1840, 



was changed by the author liimself in the following year to JMe- 

 gaJophoniis. 



Cyanocephalus Bonap., 1S42. 



is eight years older than the same author's Gymnokitta. the 

 svnonymv of which stands as follows : — 



1841. — Gymnorhiiia Wied, Reise Nord. Amer. II (p. 21) (//cc Gray, 

 1840). 



1842. — Cyanocephalus Bonap., Oss. Stat. Zool. Eur. Vert. iS40-"4r. p. 

 17 {^nec Botan.). 

 ■ 1850. — Gy}n?iokitf(i Bonap., Consp. Av., I, p. 382. 



18S0.— Gymnocitta Coues, Bull. Nutt. Orn. CI.. iSSo, p. 98. 



