2A.O Allen o« Zoological Noine7iclature. [October 



The birds in question were the Astiir badius group of Goshawks. 

 'In Southern Africa is a small form called Astur polyzonoides^ 

 which inhabits the whole of the South African subregion, but 

 does not, so far as my knowledge goes, extend beyond the Zam- 

 besi. In Senegambia and Northeast Africa it is replaced by a 

 race called Astur sphenurtis ^ in which the color of the under 

 surface is much more delicate than in Astur polyzonoides. 

 From Central Russia, throughout Turkej^, Asia Minor, Persia, 

 and Syria, a large race called Astur brevipes replaces the 

 two foregoing subspecies, and forms a third. From Balu- 

 chistan, throughout India, and Ceylon, a somewhat smaller 

 form, Astur badhis, takes up the running, and throughout 

 the Burmese countries, extending to Formosa and Hainan, 

 we have yet another race, Astur poliopsis^ which is a purer 

 and more elegant edition of Astur badius. This little group 

 of Goshawks has been well worked out, and we may fairly 

 presume that we have the facts before us. Now I should like to 

 know if this is a case where we might adopt the trinomial system, 

 and call these birds 



Asttir badius^i 



Astur badius poUopsis^ 



Astzir badius brevipes., 



Astur badius sphenurus , 



Astur baditis polyzonoides. 

 "At present, were I writing about the South African bird or the 

 Abyssinian bird, I should never speak of them as Astur badius., 

 which is the name belonging to the Indian bird exclusively, and I 

 am not quite sure that we gain in this case anything whatever by 

 adopting trinomial nomenclature. The same parallel may be 

 drawn with some of the species of Scops among the Owls, as 

 may be seen by the series now exhibited, and here trinomial 

 nomenclature might perhaps be employed. Thus the represen- 

 tative races of Scops giu would be 6^. giu capensis in Africa, 

 S. giu pe?tnatus from the Himalayas, 6". gitt jninutus from 

 Ceylon, S. giu stictotiottis from China, S. giu, japonicus from 

 Japan, S. giu malayanus from Malacca, S. giu rujipennis 

 from Madras, and 6". giu brucii from North-Western India." 



In further illustration he adduced a group of Asiatic Crows, 

 where he believed trinomial nomenclature could be employed to 

 advantage. A case of a different kind was presented by several 

 species of Chibia from the Malay Archipelago, where the 



