7S76 



Quadrupeds. 



Secondly, of the substitution of new for old names. In the bats the 

 words Pteropodida, Grant, Noctilionida, Grant, Vespertilionida, 

 Grant, Phyllostomida, Grant, Rhinolophida, Grant, are employed 

 for groups long since characterised and familiarly known under prior 

 names: the Marsupialia or Marsupiata, described by numberless 

 authors under these names, are now the Dimetroa, Grant. Lepido- 

 siren constitutes the order Nematopteri, Grant. Similar instances 

 occur in almost every page, and, what seems greatly to be regretted, the 

 new names are rarely so appropriate, and never so pronounceable, as the 

 old, and are therefore most unlikely ever to be adopted. 



Tliirdly, of inattention to modern discoveries and improvements. 

 The Carnivora follow instead of precede the less perfectly formed 

 Insectivora, and the rodents take precedence of the pachyderms. In 

 birds no reference whatever is made to physiological characters. 



Fourthly, of the unsatisfactory way in which groups are associated 

 or divided. The genera Psophia and Gypogeranus, the raptorial Gypo- 

 geranus ! form the new order Alectorides ; the genera Grus and Chionis, 

 the pigeon-like Chionis 1 are combined in order Grallatores ; Columba 

 stands as the type of Gallinae ; yet these are described as " large, 

 heavy ; " the woodpeckers stand at the head of the order Zygodactyly 

 characterised as " coarse or hard vegetable-feeders ; " but it is inex- 

 pressibly painful to point out the innumerable errors or oversights of 

 this kind. It would seem that the Professor, satisfied with the laurels 

 earned in early life, is now standing still while a crowd of competitors 

 are passing him in the race. He appears complacently to have placed 

 his chair and to have said u thus far and no farther," and to have believed 

 that the advancing waves of human research will never venture to over- 

 take him. This is a fatal mistake ; let no man who presumes to teach, 

 think that he is too old to learn. 



Edward Newman. 



Birth of Polar Bears in the Zoological Gardens. 

 By E. W. H. Holdsworth, Esq., F.L.S., &c. 



The reproduction of polar bears in captivity, amid scenes and 

 under circumstances so different from those to which these truly 

 northern animals are accustomed, is perhaps of sufficient importance 

 and general interest to deserve a notice in the ' Zoologist,' especially 

 as the case to which I am about to refer is the jirst which has ever 

 been recorded. I will begin by saying something about the ursine 



