301 
Letters, Announcements, fyc. 
found throughout Southern India, and has constantly a black 
back ; and T. cambayensis, just as common in Northern India, 
and having always a brown back. But near Ellose, where 
the two races meet, I could only find intermediate forms; and 
Hume has noticed Stray Feathers/ i. p. 182) that precisely 
similar birds are found in Sind, Gujerat, and Rajpatana. Other 
well-known cases are those of the Indian and Burmese Rollers, 
and the black-and-white-crested Kalij Pheasants; and I could 
name some other instances. 
Are we to give up the British-Association rules of zoolo¬ 
gical nomenclature as hopeless ? I am quite willing to admit 
that their success amongst zoologists in general, at home and 
abroad, has not been remarkable. Still they are the best we 
have: if they are objectionable in any way, let them be re¬ 
formed, but let ornithologists at least abide by them till we 
have something better in their place. In the last number of 
f The Ibis/ p. 173, Dr. Sclater takes Mr. Dresser to task for 
“ falling a victim to the prevailing epidemic for discovering 
antiquated names and giving them precedence over those 
generally in use/ - ’ because Mr. Dresser, in accordance with 
the British-Association rules, uses the names given by Lin¬ 
naeus, Pallas, Guldenstadt, and Ehrenberg for various species 
of Saocicolce, in place of the later names applied by Vieillot, 
Temminck, and others. I dare say the rules might be altered 
with advantage; for instance, I think it would be very de¬ 
sirable to draw up a list of the works which should be recog¬ 
nized amongst those published prior to some given date, say 
1800, and to agree to ignore all others. Thus we should get 
rid of pamphlets like that of Boddaert. The difficulty of 
course is to induce individuals to agree to any rules. 
This, however, is by the way. I only wish to point out 
how discouraging it is, to those who wish to render zoological 
nomenclature rather less chaotic than it is at present (orni¬ 
thologists have but a faint idea of the confusion which exists 
in some departments, e.g. malacology), to find so eminent a 
naturalist as Dr. Sclater, one who has done good work him¬ 
self in the cause, turning against those who are endeavouring 
to uphold law and order. What has possessed our worthy 
ser. hi.—VOL. IV. Y 
