1884.] Allen on Zoological Notncnclalure. 343 



chain wliicli binds ns will give our ideas scope enough. Their 

 theory is that tlie judicious ornithologist will be able to select from 

 the infinite number of steps which form the scries of intermediate 

 races which lie between two intergrading species, one, two, three, 

 or even in some cases more local or climatic races which are 

 worthy of being dignified by a name. This theory is on the face of 

 it somewhat illogical. It credits ornithologists with an amount 

 of discretion which their past history does not justify, and totally 

 ignores the inordinate desire to introduce new names which is 

 unfortunately too conspicuous in most if not all ornithological 

 writers, culminating in the absurdities of a Brehm. That orni- 

 thology should be preserved from being Brehmised must be the 

 devout prayer of every well-wisher of the science. On the other 

 hand, the recognition of subspecies by a sentence would be to 

 revert to the customs of the prae-Linnaean dark ages of nomencla- 

 ture, a retrograde step from which all zoologists would instinct- 

 ively shrink. Members of the British Ornithologists' Union are 

 probably all prepared to admit that a medium course is safest at 

 least for an Ibis {medio tutissimus ibis)^ and, with a very slight 

 modification I, for one, am prepared to adopt the American sys- 

 tem in spite of its dangers. If no paths are to be trodden in 

 which the indiscreet may err, there is an end at once to all pro- 

 gress. 



" To point out the modifications which I propose to introduce 

 into the American system of nomenclature to change it from an 

 empirical system to a logical or scientific system, I will take as 

 an example the Common Nuthatch ( Sitta etiropced) , and show 

 how the nomenclature of its various races may be made exhaust- 

 ive, so that the temptation to introduce new names, which appears 

 to be irresistible to the indiscreet ornithologist, may be minimised. 



'■'•Sitta uraleusis^ with white under parts, is found in Siberia; 

 Sitta ccesia, with chestnut under parts, is found in England ; 

 intermediate forms connecting these species together are found in 

 the Baltic provinces. What can be more simple than to call the 

 intermediate forms by both names, Sitta ccesia-ui-alensis? But 

 there is a third species which turns up in China, Sitta sinensis^ 

 and which is also connected with Sitta ?iralensis by intermediate 

 forms. Never mind ; they too can be called by both names, and 

 our series of Nuthatches runs geographically in an unbroken 

 series : — 



