250 



PRION. 



the decided Linnean followers of Ornithology are 

 disposed to proceed in their favourite scheme of genus 

 sinking, on the plea of the new names being not only 

 unnecessary, but burthensome to the memory, I shall 

 transcribe the remarks of that celebrated ornitholo- 

 gist, Dr. Latham, in the tenth vol. (p. 395) of his Ge- 

 neral History of Birds, published in 1824, appended 

 to his Apterous Penguin, and then ask who has con- 

 tinued a new name ? and I think the Doctor will 

 prove to have invented one which, according to his 

 views, 7niist cause an additional burthen to the me- 

 mory ; as Dr. Shaw has not called his bird the 

 Apterous Fenguin, but the Southern Aptery:Vy or 

 Apteryx Australis. — Speaking of this bird with re- 

 ference to Shaw's account. Dr. L. says, The Doctor 

 (S.), it is true, has made this bird the basis of a new 

 genus, and it certainty differs from the general tribe 

 of Penguins ; yet it coincides with them in so many, 

 as to render this separation less needful : and the 

 reader cannot fail to observe, that, not only in the 

 present instance, but in several others in the course 

 of this work, the great desire of the author to accom- 

 modate many new species to some genus already 

 fixed, so as to give the least violence possible to the 

 general system ; being of opinion, that creating a 

 single new genus, when it can possibly be avoided, 

 will serve only unnecessarily to burthen the memory, 

 as well as to disturb the mind." 



