172 Letters, Eoctrads, and Notes. 



Committee. It would be as well^ if the Committee hope to 

 get their recommendations and lists of genera universally 

 adopted, to add a few more representatives of other comitries 

 to their numbers. 



If we now examine the list of genera, we shall find that in 

 most cases the names given are those generally accepted. 

 Tiie list is quite a haphazard one of names arranged in 

 alphabetical order, and apparently only those are included 

 about which most ornithologists are agi-eed. Generic names 

 in regard to which there has been some controversy, such as 

 Accentor, Cinchis, Erithacus , Saxicola, and Ajms, do not 

 appear in it. 



The genus Charadrius, however, which has usually been 

 associated with the Golden Plover, must be transferred to 

 the Little Einged Plover, while the Golden Plover becomes 

 Pluvialis. Another change adopted some years ago by the 

 American ornithologists and long resisted on this side of 

 the Atlantic, is here laid down. This is the question of the 

 type of the genus Colymbus of Linnaeus. In England 

 Colymhus has been almost universally used for the Divers or 

 Loons, while in America since about 1882 it has been used 

 for the Grebes. 



If we turn to the 10th edition of Linnaeus where the genus 

 is originally described, we shall find that it includes four 

 species — arcticus (Black-chroated Diver}, cristatus (Great 

 Crested Grebe), auritus (Slavonian Grebe), and j^odiceps 

 (American Pied-billed Grebe). Linnaeus does not designate 

 any type, nor does an examination of his descriptions, 

 synonyms, or quotations throw any light on his opinions or 

 ideas as it so often does in other cases. 



The American argument for malsing " arcticus" the type 

 is that Brisson in 1760 used Colymbus for the Grebes and 

 Meryus for the Loons, and is thus the first reviser of the 

 genus; but in the first place Brisson was not a binomialist 

 nor did he recognize or quote from Linnaeus' work. He 

 adopted the genus Colymbus from the pre-Linnaean writer 

 Moehring, not from Linnaeus, and in no sense can he be 



