Vol. XXXV.] 78 



forms with very few fundamental distinctions between tliem. 

 In the case of Reptiles or many other groups that is not the 

 case : evolution has not acted so strongly, and we have 

 not the large number of small variations, and no doubt 

 the generic characters in other groups are not of the same 

 value as those used by ornithologists. 



It may be illogical, but it seems to me a genus should 

 be a matter of convenience, as Capt. Shelley used to insist 

 and Mr. Ogilvie-Grant has just said. It is a matter of 

 convenience how wide we make our genus. It is necessary 

 to take the best characters, the most fundamental characters, 

 and the characters that show the true relation of the birds, 

 and the colour^pattern is one of these, and I think it is 

 much more valuable than many of the characters that have 

 been used, for instance, in the 'Catalogue of Birds ^ for 

 generic separation. 



Dr. Ernst Hartert : I did not intend to take part in 

 this discussion, but it interests me so much that I cannot 

 help saying a few words. I am very glad, and must express 

 my great satisfaction, that the general trend seems to my 

 own view, i. e. that genera are artificially made by ornitho- 

 logists, and that Nature does not classify its species into 

 genera. Nature made species and subspecies — genera are 

 made by man for convenience. 



I agree, on the whole, with Mr. Pycraft, that the more 

 " deep-seated " characters should be taken to distinguish 

 genera. Of course, as a rule, we have the bird-skins only, 

 and therefore we cannot always consult the internal anatomy 

 when we deal with our genera, but certainly a difierently 

 constructed bill or foot is generally a much more deep- 

 seated character than colour-pattern or mere colour. 



I do not think, as Dr. Lowe said, that colour-pattern has 

 been neglected. On the contrary, much too much has been 

 made of it. Take, for instance, the writings of Bonaparte, 

 Boie, and others, who shifted species and genera about like 

 the men on a chess-board, and made hundreds of single 

 species the types of genera, merely because of their different 

 colour-pattern or outward appearance. I think far too many 



