50 
IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE Vor,. XXVII, 1920 
front of the head around to the mid-occipital region, where the 
two white bands fused.^ In the next issue of the same journal a 
writer reported that a duck of the same supposed subspecies, 
which had been kept in captivity in a public park, had molted a 
splendid example of the species.^® 
Finally, and in summary, the preceding remarks may be inter- 
preted as a protest against the substitution of the subspecies for 
the species as a taxonomic unit. It seems unnecessary to offer 
evidence that there is a strong tendency in this direction. 
Simple binomial nomenclature permits the designation of sub- 
specific forms (i.e., varieties) where necessary in biological inves- 
tigation, by the use of the term “variety” (usually abbreviated) 
followed by the varietal name. By this method no attempt is 
made to establish a new unit, and yet it provides a means of dis- 
tinction where such is needed. By it incipient species may be 
recognized without jeopardizing the usefulness of the specific 
unit. In other words we would return to the status quo prior 
to the use of the trinomial system. 
9 The Auk, XXXVI, pp. 455-460, 1919. 
10 The Auk, XXXVII, pp. 126-127, 1920. 
