184/.] Further Notice of the Species of Wild Sheej). 357 



had been previously named Falco trivirgatus by Temminck, that gen- 

 tleman replied that he had been long aware of it ; but he has certainly 

 never given publicity to the information (as I hastened to do, in XI, 

 5). As Mr. Hodgson has not scrupled to refer to my unpublished 

 opinion (of which more presently), respecting Antilope gutturosa (XV, 

 335), there can surely be no occasion for my refraining to publish what 

 I have just stated of Astur trivirgatusi* 



But enough of this tu quoque style of argument : though a little 

 rebutting is fairly allowable in a contest wherein rams' horns are con- 

 cerned 1 My paper on the wild Sheep was originally published in the 

 * Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for July 28, 1 840 ; was repub- 

 lished in Taylor's * Annals and Magazine of Natural History,' Vol. VII, 

 pp. 195, 248, with a few additional notes, and a plate representing the 

 horns of some of the species ; and was again republished, with further 

 additional notes, in the Society's ' Journal,' X, 858* to which last re- 

 publication I shall refer, for the convenience of most readers in India. 

 Let us see whether " many" of the species were founded " upon an 

 inspection of the horns solely." 



1. Ovis Polii, nobis, Founded on a magnificent frdntlet and horns 

 brought by Lieutenant Wood from the Pamir steppe ; combined with 

 the notice quoted from Marco Polo, which refers undeniably to the 

 same animal. Of the distinctness of this superb species, there can be 

 no doubt whatever ; and the frontlet is figured in Taylor's plate, figs* 

 1 and 2» 



2, 3, and 4. O* ammon, Pallas ; 0. moniann^ Desniarest ; and O. 



ment of a doubtful species named by another, or the reduction of such to the rank of a 

 synonyme, should be regarded as a labour of equal or even higher merit than the promul- 

 gation of a species previously undescribed. Such a rule would furnish a criterion 

 by which' to appreciate the labours of a naturalist in this line, by enabling us to strike a 

 balance between the amount of good he may have effected by adding to the stores of 

 knowledge, and that of evil which he has introduced in the shape of confusion. It 

 would check much recklessness in the imposition of new names which now unhappily 

 prevails in several quarters. 



* It is true that the name Astur indicus was published anonymously, in the ' Bengal 

 Sporting Magazine,' and therefore the only legitimate sponsor that can be quoted for it 

 is the editor of that periodical for the time ; but it has nevertheless been repeatedly quot* 

 ed as Mr. Hodgson's species, and has been acknowledged as such by him, and therefore 

 it surely behoved Mr. Hodgson to set matters right without delay when he learned that 

 it had been described by Temminck. 



3 B 



