368 The American Naturalist. [April, 
the Linnean Societys Journal, Vol. xx (London), pp. 303, 304, where 
he will find that I had the following material for my “extensive dis- 
sections,” namely, spirit specimens of Celigena clemencie, Trochilus 
colubris, T. alexandri, T. anna, T. platycercus, T. rufus, T. calliope and 
Jache latirostris—in all 3 genera, 8 species, and 62 specimens. When 
this material was presented by me to the collections of the U.S. 
National Museum, Mr. Lucas remarked that it was the largest and 
best collection of spirit specimens of North American humming-birds 
ever donated to the institution by one individual. It naturally seems 
to me that the further Mr. Ridgway goes into this subject the greater 
is the display of his ignorance of the literature of it. Now when I 
charge a writer with being ignorant of the literature of a subject I 
take the pains, as I have done above, to point out wherein his ignor- 
ance lies, and do not resort to the remarkable method adopted by Mr. 
Ridgway—thus, and alluding in bis reply to myself, he continues: 
“ Apparently he is not familiar with the literature of the subject, for, 
if he were posted, he would know that leading authorities on avian 
comparative anatomy are overwhelmingly if not unanimously against 
his side of the question.” Rather remarkable logic—especially to be 
immediately followed up in the very next sentence by, “ I would there- 
fore suggest that he consult Fürbringer, Parker, Garrod and Gadow, 
and thus learn regarding the matter which he handles with so much 
urance. Even a careful perusal of Huxley (whom, by some strange 
hallucination, he imagines his abettor), may also prove instructive to 
him (p. 1040).” To this I would simply reply that in so far as Pro- 
fessor Fürbringer is concerned, I can say that, thanks to his generosity, 
I am the fortunate possessor, not only of many of his works upon 
comparative avian anatomy, but also his two massive and superb vol- 
umes so familiar to us all, and while I can thank him for his numer- 
ous and courteous references to my memoirs in that great work, I 
must dissent from his views in the matter of the taxonomy, of the 
Cypseli and Trochili. Apparently Professor Fiirbringer had not seen 
my Linnean memoir, which was defended for me by Professor Par- 
ker before the London Linnean Society a number of years ago. There 
is a reason for that, however, as both works appeared early in 1888.‘ 
*‘Shufeldt, R. W., Studies of the Macrochirem morphological and otherwise, vih jsi 
view of indicating their relationships and d 
Linn. Soc. Jour.—Zool., Vol. xx, pp. 299-394, Pls. Meira (Communicated by wW. 
K. Parker, F. R. S., F. L. S., 19th Jan., 1888). When I spoke of my extensive dis- 
sections this was the work I had reference to, fern not to the brief note in Forest and 
Stream, as Mr. Ridgway seems to think. It stands to-day as the most extensive 
paper on the entire structure of the Humming-birds ever published by a single indi- 
vidual. 
