442 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
Dr. Rudolph Blasius,* in which he most convincingly demon- 
strates that the resident bird of Europe is the thick-billed form, 
while the slender-billed individuals belong to the numerous 
flocks which, with short and irregular intervals, invade the 
western countries from the foreign region of Siberia, there is no 
excuse for confounding them any more. 
Before proceeding any further, it will now be necessary to 
ascertain the correct names of the two forms. While expressing 
my great appreciation of Dr. R. Blasius’s painstaking work, I 
cannot but most severely condemn that he should think it 
necessary to reject the old names for the trifling reason that they 
are unsuitable, and substitute new terms in direct violation of the 
law of priority recognized both by the code of the American 
Ornithologists’ Union and by the Stricklandian code. The new 
names are imposed in order to avoid misunderstandings and con- 
fusions, but they have only made confusion more confounded. 
It is safe to say that if Dr. Blasins and Von Tschusi had stuck 
to the old terms, they would by this time have become familiar 
to all ornithologists. As it is, the new names should be sup- 
pressed as soon as possible, before more mischief is done. 
The following is a condensed, but correct and nearly complete, 
synonymy of the two forms. It is plain that the resident form 
of Sweden, upon which Linneus bestowed the name Corvus 
caryocatactes, must stand as the typical form. The Thick-billed 
Nutcracker, therefore, is entitled to the name— 
Nucifraga caryocatactes, Linn. 
Corvus caryocatactes, Linn., Syst. Nat., 10 ed. i. p. 106. (1758.) 
Caryocutactes maculatus, Koch, Syst. Baier. Zool.,1. p. 98. (1816.) 
Nucifraga guttata, Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., v. p.354. (1816.) 
Caryocatactes nucifraga, Nilsson, Orn. Suec., i. p. 90. (1817.) 
Nucifraga brachyrhynchus, Brehm, Lehrb. Kur. Vog., p. 104. (1823.) 
N. platyrhynchus, Brehm, Isis, 1833, p. 970. (18383.) 
N. alpestris, Brehm, Vogelf., p. 66. (1855.) 
N. caryocatactes major, Brehm, Journ. f. Orn., 1860, p. 236. (1860.) 
N. caryocatactes pachyrhynchus, R. Blasius, Ornis, ii. p. 543; extr. p. 107; 
pl. ii. figs. 3, 4.; pl. iii, (1886.) 
Should it be found necessary to use a trinomial in order to 
avoid mistakes, it should be no other than Nucifraga caryocatactes 

* Der Wanderzug der Tannenheher, &c.,’ Ornis, ii., 1886, pp. 487—550, 
+ pl. i. to iii. (separate copies paged 1—114). 
