“ Authorities ” to Scientific Names. 349 
to convert the binomial system of Linnaeus into a trinomial 
system. 
In the case of the non-scientific or ordinary reader it 
seems to me that this practice is of very little advantage or 
rather of no use at all. It is probably quite as much as the 
ordinary reader can do to recollect the two terms of which 
a scientific name is composed, without having to carry in his 
memory also the name of the author who first published 
the specific name. Moreover, the author’s name is fre¬ 
quently stated only in such an abbreviated or symbolical 
form as to be quite unintelligible except to the expert 
zoologist. Thus, “ Bp./’ Gm.,” &c., which often occur 
in zoological literature, are terms well understood by the 
zoologist, but are undecipherable enigmas to the outsider, 
and, so far as he is concerned, may be advantageously 
omitted. 
To the expert also, that the name of the authority for the 
species should be added to the generic and specific name seems 
to be of very little advantage. In the case of all familiar animals 
(such as Felis leo, Turdus musicus, Bufo calamita , &c.), it 
may safely be omitted, as conveying no additional information 
whatever. In the case of the less-known species it would be 
much better to give, when it is considered necessary, a 
reference to the original description of the species or to 
some standard work (such as the f Catalogue of the Birds in 
the British Musenm ’) in which it has been described. In 
the case of “ British Birds ” it is obviously unnecessary to 
give more than the generic and specific names under which 
the species is designated in the List of the B.O.U. This 
List was specially prepared for the use of writers in ‘ The 
Ibis ’ by a Committee of experts. Saunders used the same 
names in his excellent ‘ Manual,’ and, with very few ex¬ 
ceptions, they remain valid at the present time. 
I will not on the present occasion go into the vexed 
question of “ subspecies ” and how to call them, but merely 
repeat the cod elusions which I have come to on this subject 
as follows :— 
(1) That the “ authority ” (as it is usually called) does 
