372 REVIEWS. > i 
evidence of the utility of this could be desired than is afforded by 1 
the advance of our knowledge of American birds within the last a 
ten or fifteen years; for it is undeniable that the searching seru- t 
tiny to which they have been subjected has been facilitated by the : 
custom of Prof. Baird and others of naming all recognizable 
“ forms,” without the least reference, even by implication, to the — 
abstract question of species. Mr. Allen himself admits that these j 
geographical binomials ‘‘ have furnished stepping-stones to later — 
generalizations ;” a very proper admission, for the road he has — 
just travelled with signal success was first opened, and afterward 
smoothed by them. The present is no time to discard such useful — 
adjuncts: let the scaffolding stand till the building is finished. j 
= We hold that the whole matter at issue between Mr. Allen and 
most of the rest of us is a war of words—a mere difference of 
opinion as to what a binomial may properly be used to express. 
To illustrate : Assume that Sturnella magna, neglecta, Mexicana, 
hippocrepis and meridionalis are climatic differentiations, and that 
very likely they all came from one pair of birds. Mr. Allen would 
of course be the first to disclaim any more information than Dr. 
Sclater, for instance, possesses. Both these gentlemen know ey- 
actly how the case stands; but one of them chooses to predicate 
Sturnella magna upon a diagnosis wide enough to include without — 
specifying the five forms; while the other chooses to sort out the — 
five lots and label each of them with a different name. We repeat 
Mr. Allen’s own words; it does ‘depend entirely upon individual 
predilection whether two, three or four ‘species’ or ‘binomial — 
forms’” shall be recognized ; and to argue the point, under color — 
of discussing the origin and nature of species, is to saw the air. 
A species, as far as naming it is concerned, is quite as much an 
opinion as a genus or a family is; for it is certain that genera 4 and 
proposes for species be applied to higher groups, our nomenda 
falls to the ground; and if it be not thus applicable, it is equally | 
inapplicable to species. By what rule would Mr. Allen 7 
Trupialis militaris trom Sturnella magna? In spite of the fact that 
these are not known, at present, to intergrade, there is no eet” 
the sign ' # var. ~ that shall stamp the form we wish to signalize. Perhaps this 
ble to the present state of the 
if use of a regular binomial for geographical oo be oo Ai Jumping them all under 
one name, as re oe onyms, with no hint of the reaper hades of meaning they tep- 
ter evil, and one that seriously 'militates against the wor 
ress of etarsen if, indeed, it does not tend to thro ack. 
