Recent Literature . 
231 
rious special papers devoted to particular genera, or to the species of spe- 
cial localities, the literature of the subject is so difficult of access to the 
general student that Mr. Elliot’s concise and comprehensive “ Synopsis,” * 
forming No. 31 7 of the “ Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge,” forms a 
most welcome aid to the student of this intricate group. In respect to the 
classification of the Trochilidce, Mr. Elliot states that he has not seen his 
way clear to the recognition of any subfamilies, as has been done by other 
writers, although he finds the family to contain a certain number of groups 
of species having more or less relationship. He also considerably reduces 
the number of genera heretofore more or less commonly recognized, and 
many of the species of other authors here take the rank of synonymes, and 
expresses his belief that further information will show this to be the true 
status of others to which he here accords specific rank. Four hundred 
and twenty-six species are admitted as valid, distributed among one hun- 
dred and twenty genera. Three hundred and eight of the species are 
represented in the author’s own collection, which is probably the largest 
in existence, and on which the present monograph is based. The leading 
characters of very nearly all the genera are represented by outline figures 
of the head, wing, and tail, and the species are described in sufficient de- 
tail for their easy recognition, the short descriptions being generally re- 
stricted to distinctive features. The synonymy, the author tells us, he has 
“ not endeavored to make 1 exhaustive,’ as the term is used now-a-days in 
many instances,” only such works being cited as give “ some desirable 
information regarding the species.” Neither are reasons given for the 
changes in nomenclature adopted, nor for the synonymy presented, but a 
discussion of many of these determinations may be found in the series of 
papers published by Mr. Elliot, either alone or in conjunction with Mr. 
Salvin, in the “ Ibis,” during the last six or seven years. The only 
changes we note in the currently accepted names of North American spe- 
cies are the following: the substitution of the generic name Basilinna 
(Boie, 1831), for Heliopcedica (Gould, 1861), and of the name henshawi 
for the species claimed by Mr. Hensliaw to be the true Selasphorus rufus , 
and the reference of Hen shaw’s S. alleni to what Mr. Elliot takes to be 
S. rufus. There is, however, no discussion of the point at issue, nor any 
allusion to Mr. Henshaw’s defence of his interpretation of this peculiar 
case. (See this Bulletin, Vol. II, pp. 54, 97, Yol. Ill, p. 11.) The work 
closes with an appendix, giving an analytical key to the genera, and sepa- 
rate indexes to the generic and specific names adopted, and to all those 
mentioned in the work. From these it appears that 339 generic and 880 
specific names have been used by different authors for the birds of this 
group. 
* A Classification and Synopsis of the Trochilid®. By Daniel Giraud 
Elliot, F. R. S. E., etc. Washington City : Published by the Smithsonian 
Institution. March, 1879. 4to, pp. xii, 277, figg. 127 (wood-cuts in the text). 
