■iS-t Scientific Intelligence. 



has been variously misapplied by authors to species from Europe, 

 West Indies, and East Indies. It was apparently first used under 

 the binomial system by Linne in Fauna Suecica, p. 512, 1761. In 

 that place no locality was given, except " Mari Norvegico." Its 

 size was given as that of a parsnip seed and it was said to be 

 similar to Asterias ricbens, and perhaps the young of that species. 

 There is nothing in the few words of description to show that 

 it is not the young of Asterias mbens, or some similar species, 

 and nothing to prove that it is the young of Asterina gibbosa, 

 the only European species of Asterina. Certainly the name 

 should not be used for any exotic species, although Linne him- 

 self later, in Syst. Nat., ed. xii, gave the West Indies as a locality. 

 It should be dropped as indeterminable. 



Anseropoda luna (Linne) = Palmipes rosaceus of authors. 



Asterias luna Linn., Syst. Nat., ed. x, p. 661, 1758. 



Asterias rosacea Lam., 1815; Palmipes or Anseropoda rosaceus of niost 

 recent writers. 



The brief description given by Linne applies, without any 

 reasonable doubt, to this well known East Indian species. Linne" 

 gives India as its locality. He puts it in a section destitute of 

 rays; describes it as suborbicular, large, compressed, lunate, and 

 with raised points above and below. 



Acanthaster planci (Linne), Syst. Nat., ed. x, Appendix, p. 823, 

 1758 (as Asterias). 



Linne here quotes a good figure of the Indo-Pacific species, 

 from Goa, Asia, in Columna, Phytobasamus, pi. 36, fig. A. The 

 specimen figured had fifteen rays. It is the species usually called 

 A. echinus (Ellis) or A. echinites (Lam.). The name given by 

 Linne must be adopted. It seems to have been generally over- 

 looked. A. E. VERRILL. 



4. The Birds of Connecticut, Bulletin No. 20. Connecticitt 

 State Geological and Natural History Survey ; by John H. 

 Sage, Louis B. Bishop, and Walter P. Bliss. Pp. 370. Hart- 

 ford, 1913. — The greater part of this Report consists of a cata- 

 logue of all the birds, together with abundant records of the 

 dates of arrival and departure, nesting habits, and particulars of 

 the place and dates of occurrence of the rarer species. The 

 second part (pp. 261-360) is devoted to Economic Ornithology, 

 especially with reference to the food of the birds, and their 

 utility as destroyers of insects and weeds. This part should 

 appeal to all interested in the protection of our birds. The first 

 parts show a great amount of care and time required for the 

 accumulation of such data, during many years. 



Naturally some omissions have occurred, and some additional 

 records might have been added that would have been of use. 

 Thus we notice that the Wood Ibis is omitted. Although rare, 

 there is a Connecticut specimen in the Yale Museum. One 

 interesting late occurrence of the Passenger Pigeon may be 

 added. It was shot by A. H. Verrill on Davis Island, off Stony 

 Creek, in the summer of 1889, while I was living on that island. 



