CBITlCAIj llEMAKKB. NOMENCLATUBE. 
201 
are defined with great accuracy, and with that high 
degree of finishing, which leads us the more to regret 
that his genera are comparatively so few. His reform- 
ation in the nomenclature was most extensive, without 
being, in hardly one instance, uncalled for; and he 
purified the science of a host of barbarous appellations 
which were scarcely worse than those revived and in- 
vented by some modern French writers in this depart- 
ment. They are, in short, the reformations of a 
profound naturalist and an accomplished scholar ; and 
as they obviously have not proceeded from selfish 
vanity, so they have been universally adopted. I'he 
groups of M. Cuvier are in general good, but they are 
in many cases so loosely defined, that the mere student 
would never be able to detect them, were it not for the 
familiar examples under each, which he has either 
named or described, llis characters have been taken 
almost exclusively from the bill and feet, not with 
reference to the food or the habits of the bird, but 
merely as to the form of these members ; while the 
different modifications in the structure of the wings and 
tail are very rarely noticed. M. Vieillot first perceived 
the importance of these characters ; and, although no 
great praise can be given, in other respects, to his de- 
finitions, the introduction of the characters we allude to 
enables us to determine his genera,— which, for the most 
part are natural,— much better than could otherwise have 
been done. It must also be remembered that this au- 
thor’s “Analyse.’’ is in fact hut a synopsis of his 
system, which is given more at length in another work 
hereafter noticed, and where he has defined the greater 
part of his new genera much more fully, and with con- 
siderable tact and ability. To M. Temminck’s system 
we have already given due praise, so far as concerns the 
definition of the very few new genera it contains, and 
which are mostly so remarkable that they could not be 
well passed over. M. Temminck, however, does not 
attempt to grapple with the more difficult and intricate 
groups, such as the old genera 1‘icus, J’sittacus, Sylvia, 
