COMMON LINNET. 551 
Tue propriety of advancing the Linnets, of which there 
are many species, to generic distinction among the Finches, 
appears to be admitted by many of the naturalists of the 
present day; but the term Zinaria, which has latterly 
been applied to them, has been considered objectionable and 
even inadmissible, from the circumstance of this word 
having been employed in botany more than two hundred 
years.* 
From the great changes which our Common Linnet un- 
dergoes at different periods of the year, it was long sup- 
posed that there were two species included under this 
name, and the specific terms Jinota and cannabina were 
applied to them, as a reference to the synonymes of Pen- 
nant, Montagu, and Bewick, here quoted, will show. 
These seasonal changes and appearances are now better 
understood, and in the case of our Common Linnet, under 
consideration, are known to constitute only the summer 
and winter plumage of the same individual species. It is 
obviously an advantage to combine the two specific words 
by which the Linnet has hitherto been systematically 
known, and I therefore adopt the term ZLinota for the 
generic term, as proposed by Charles Lucian Bonaparte, 
Prince of Musignano, in his Geographical and Compara- 
tive List of the Birds of Europe and North America. 
One other additional advantage is also gained ;—our Lesser 
* The term Linaria was employed in Botany to distinguish certain species 
of toadflax, by Fabius Columna, who published in 1616, and this word was 
probably so used even before that date. It was again made use of by Caspar 
Bauhim in his Pinax, published in 1671. In 1699 this word was adopted by 
Tournefort, in his Institutiones Rei Herbari@, and the characters of the genus 
are beautifully illustrated in Tab. 76 of that work ; seyen species were then de- 
scribed as belonging to this genus, and the name was continued by Jussieu in 
his Genera Plantarum, published in 1789. Linnzeus did not adopt the genus 
Linaria, but included the species in his genus Antirrhinum ; in this arrange- 
ment, however, the example of Linnzus has not been followed by systematic 
botanists, who still continue to use and refer to the generic term Lenaria. 
