iSS.,.l 



Rrcpiit Literature. ^^I 



but just wluit species arc used, how tlicy are ohtaiiied, and to what extent 

 employed, are matters respecting wiiich we have hitherto had very little, 

 definite information. Captain CoUins's 'Notes' are therefore particularly 

 welcome, not only for the information they convey on these points, but 

 also respecting the relative abundance of the sea birds met with on the 

 Fishing Banks, their habits, seasons of occurrence, and migrations. It 

 appears that any species that can be easily captured by the fishermen is 

 used as bait, the larger kinds, as the Shearwaters, Gulls, and Ja;gers 

 being preferred. The species captured in largest numbers is the Greater 

 Shearwater {Pujftiius major), of which hundreds are sometimes taken in 

 a few hours. Nearly half of the paper is devoted to a vei"y interesting and 

 detailed account of the habits of this bird and the manner of its capture, 

 the latter being illustrated with a plate entitled 'Hag fishing.' — ^J. A. A. 



Stejneger on Trinomials in American Ornithology.* — The object here 

 in view seems to be to show (i) that trinomials "are neither an American 

 invention nor were they first applied in America to the extent which they 

 are now occupying in this country," and (2) that "the trinomials of present 

 American ornithology can with great propriety be said to date from 

 185S" (rather than later), when a small number were emploj'ed by Pro- 

 fessor Baird in his great work on North American birds, to which epoch- 

 making volume is attributed the origin of the 'American School.' In 

 regard to the first proposition, it is claimed that the Swedish ornithol- 

 ogist. Carl Sundevall, is the "father of modern trinomialism in orni- 

 thology," who in 1840 began to "treat systematically the ill-defined 

 species as geographical varieties, which he provided with a third name in 

 addition to the specific appellation." "He was followed closely by Her- 

 man Schlegel, who, in 1844, applied the system to all the European birds 

 in his 'Revue critique des oiseaux d'Europe ;'" who not only adopted the 

 subspecific name without the intervention of any connecting word or 

 letter, but also acknowledged the applicability of the law of priority to tri- 

 nomials. "Forevery 18 binomials this first trinomialistic list [Schlegel's] 

 of the birds of Europe contained i trinomial." He was soon also followed 

 more or less freely by other prominent European ornithologists. J. H. 

 Blasius, in 1861, in a list of European birds, designated 92 subspecies by 

 trinomials or quadrinomials ; "in other words, for every 5I binomials Ave 

 find I tri- or quadrinomial." In 1871 Alph. Dubois, in his 'Conspectus 

 systematicus et geographicus Avium Europsearum,' used trinomials for 

 the designation of 'climatic varieties.' of which there were 125 in a list of 

 475 species. 



As regards the second proposition, attention is called to the fact that 

 Cassin employed, as early as 1854, trinomials for the geographical races 

 oi Bubo virgi}iianus ; that Baird sparingly made use of trinomials in simi- 

 lar cases in 1858, and quite frequently in 1S64-1866; that Bryant, in 1865 

 and 18C6, used them freely, and fairly committed himself to their adoption 



* On the Use of Trinomials in American Ornithology. By Leonhard Stejneger, 

 Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1884, pp. 70-81, July i, 1884. 



