96 
Prof. Newton on the Assignation 
of a type to any of his genera; and the only mode of avoid¬ 
ing errors in so doing, is by making him the interpreter of 
his own intentions. It is not that we have to put ourselves 
in his place, but to imagine him put in ours, and called on 
to show which he would consider his type species according 
to modern ideas. 
Fortunately this process is by no means so difficult to effect 
as might at first sight appear; and, after some study, I think the 
types of Linnsean genera can he determined to the satisfaction 
of any reasonable mind, accurately in more than two thirds 
of the cases, and within very narrow limits in several others. 
All naturalists have long been accustomed to look upon Lin- 
nseus as a great reformer; and so he unquestionably was; but 
he showed himself in nothing greater than in the manner of 
effecting his reforms. Wherever he could he built on ancient 
foundations. No man could be more conservative than he in 
retaining, when possible, an old name; and hence it only re¬ 
quires some degree of attention to the works of his prede¬ 
cessors, to hunt down almost every name used by him, and, 
so far as ornithology is concerned, care and common sense 
seem to be all that is wanted. When we find Linnaeus using 
an old name, we generally find him citing the author from 
whom he borrows it; and therefore the discovery of its origin 
costs but little trouble; for we all know that the amount of 
ornithological literature in his day was very small. 
Of the 78 genera which Linnaeus, in the 12th edition of 
his f Systema Naturae/ established for the class Aves , I can¬ 
not find more than twelve the name of which he can be said 
to have invented; and I will not answer for it that the use of 
some of these by prior or contemporary authors may not have 
escaped me. Howbeit these twelve seem to be :— 
Rhamphastos, Diomedea, Mycteria , Didus , 
Buceros, Phaeton, Cancroma, Numida, 
Procellaria, Palamedea, Parra , Pipra. 
All the rest are names adopted from his predecessors, by whom 
the majority were used absolutely and in a specific sense. 
When this was the case there can scarcely be a reasonable 
