U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Ecology Research Center, National Museum of Natural History,
Washington, D.C. 20560 USA
William Swainson published descriptions and il-
lustrations of many new forms of New World birds.
In some of his earlier papers, Swainson cited his own
works (of which only some parts had been published)
as well as some manuscripts that were never pub-
lished (see McMillan 1970). Swainson also referred
to works that were published later under different
titles. For example, Swainson (1827a) listed several
names of birds and cited his "Mexican Zoology," a
work that was never published. Later he (Swainson
1831-1832) referred to the "Cat. of Mex. Mus. App.
p. 4 (1824)," in which he claimed to have described
the taxa he had listed in Swainson (1827a).
Modern authorities (e.g. Greenway 1960: 371;
American Ornithologists' Union [AOU] 1983: 582) re-
fer to the 1824 source as the original publication for
the genus they render as Ptilogonys and (AOU 1983)
for the species Ptilogonys cinereus. However, there is
no evidence that the 1824 work was ever seen as a
manuscript or published. In this paper, I review the
use of "Swainson, 1824," as a citation and discuss the
actual publication, spelling of the names Ptiliogonys
and Ptiliogonys cinereus, and type locality of the species.
SWAINSON'S 1824 APPENDIX
William Bullock St. exhibited in London a collec-
tion of specimens and artifacts from Mexico in 1824
(Whitehead 1970, 1971) or 1825 (Honour 1954) and
published a catalogue (Bullock 1824a) of the exhibit.
The catalogue (see Literature Cited for complete title)
was variously cited by earlier authors as "Cat. of Mex.
Mus." and "Cat. Bullock's Mex. Mus." until Sherborn
(1922) cited it as "Cat. of Exhib. called Modern Mex-
ico."
Swainson studied the collection in 1823 (Strese-
mann 1975) and probably had an opportunity for fur-
ther study during the exhibition in 1824-1825. Swain-
son also had received specimens from William Bullock
St. that were collected in Mexico by his son, William
Bullock Jr., from 1823 to 1827 (Stresemann 1954). Bul-
lock St. was mentioned only briefly in Swainson's
(1825, 1826) early papers. Swainson (1827a: 364) pro-
vided "a short synopsis of those birds [from Bullock]
which have reached me up to this time; indulging
the hope of giving a more detailed account hereafter
of the zoology of Mexico, accompanied by coloured
figures." In July 1827, Swainson (1827b) stated that
the specimens he was describing were available from
"the Ornithological discoveries of Mr. Bullock .... "
It should be noted that, when Swainson (1827a: 368)
first proposed Ptiliogonys and described the species P.
cinereus (May 1827), he indicated that this was first
described in "Swainson in Zool. Journ. [article] No.
10." This (Swainson 1827b) appeared as article num-
ber 15 in July 1827. Although Swainson had written
and submitted the July paper prior to that of May,
the former's publication was delayed. The difference
in the issue dates of the two 1827 papers was appar-
ently ignored by Swainson (1832-1833, 1837, 1838),
who continued to refer to the July paper (Swainson
1827b) as the source for the name Ptiliogonys.
Swainson's first and only mention of Bullock's
(1824a) catalogue was made in 1831 when Parts 11-
18 (plates 45-85) of his Zoological illustrations were
issued (Zimmer 1926). There, Swainson (1831-1832,
accompanying text to pl. 62) listed "Ptiliogonys cine-
reus. Cat. of Mex. Mus. App. p. 4 (1824)" [referred to
here henceforth as the Appendix] and stated that the
birds he described in July 1827 (i.e. Swainson 1827b)
"... were long ago named and characterized by us.
Our list, indeed, of all those brought over by Mr.
Bullock, was printed with the catalogue, in 1824 .... "
Swainson (1832-1833: 102) also stated that the de-
scription of Ptiliogonys was based on a female "sent
to us from Mexico, by the late Mr. Bullock." No ref-
erence to the Appendix to Bullock's catalogue was
made by Swainson in his papers after 1831-1832.
Audubon (1839) was the first author after Swainson
to use Ptiliogonys (in combination as Ptiliogonys town-
sendi [=Myadestes townsendi]). He attributed the ge-
neric name to Swainson but did not provide a ref-
erence for its source. The earliest references to
Swainson's supposed Appendix were by Gray (1841),
Tschudi (1844), Bonaparte (1850), and Cabanis (1850),
all of whom listed the name Ptiliogonys (or Ptilogonys)
followed by "Swainson, 1824." With the exception of
Sclater (1862) and Sharpe (1885), both of whom in-
correctly cited Swainson 1827 (i.e. 1827b, not 1827a),
authors have consistently given the Appendix as the
original citation for Ptiliogonys and P. cinereus.
The only basis for the existence of the Appendix
to Bullock's catalogue is Swainson's (1831-1832) ref-
erence to it. Compilations by the Royal Society of
London (1871) and Coues (1878) did not list the Ap-
pendix as a publication. Waterhouse (1889), librarian
to the Zoological Society of London (of which Swain-
son was a charter member in 1825 [Bastin 1970]), listed
the genus as "Ptiliogonys Swains. Cat. of Bullock's
Mexican Mus., Appendix, p. 4 (1824)," but indicated
that he did not personally verify the reference. The
mention of the Appendix in a copy of Waterhouse's
work at the Smithsonian Institution is followed by a
penciled question mark, possibly by R. RidAway or
C. W. Richmond. Sherborn (1922), who examined four
variant copies of Bullock's (1824a) catalogue, did not
find an Appendix. Furthermore, neither Zimmer (1926)
nor Wood (1931) listed SwainsoWs Appendix to Bul-
lock's (1824a) catalogue. Ridgway (1904: 114, 115) re-
ferred to the Appendix in quotation marks, and Hell-
mayr (1935) and Greenway (1960) doubted the
Appendix as the valid source for Ptiliogonys. Modern
bibliographic studies by McMillan (1970, 1976), Jack-
son (1975), and Knight (1986) did not include the
Appendix as a publication by Swainson. Furthermore,
Swainson published on birds only once in 182,1
(Swainson 1824), but he did not discuss silky-flycatch-
ers.
A copy of Bullock's (1824a) catalogue in the Smith-
son Collection, Smithsonian Institution Library, con-
tains general descriptions of the birds exhibited by
Bullock. None of the brief descriptions, which lack
scientific names, can be construed to refer to a silky-
flycatcher. Unlike the other sections of the catalogue,
the section on birds contains several references to
"Mr. Bullock," which suggests that someone other
than Bullock, perhaps Swainson, wrote the descrip-
tion of the exhibited birds. The section on the birds
ends with an announcement that "Mr. Swainson has
been some time engaged in preparing a work on the
Zoology of Mexico, wherein these birds will be more
particularly described." There is no appendix to the
Smithsonian copy of Bullock's (1824a) catalogue.
In conclusion, I found no evidence that Swainsoh's
Appendix to Bullock's (1824a) catalogue ever existed
as a manuscript or that it was published. Therefore,
the names Ptiliogonys and Ptiliogonys cinereus based on
"Swainson, 1824" are not available (International
Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 1985, Art.
8), because there is no evidence that the work was
published.
CORRECT SPELLING AND CITATION OF THE GENERIC NAME
Of several names available to represent the genus
of silky-flycatchers, the earliest is Ptiliogonys Swain-
son, 1827. Swainson used this and variant spellings
in his later publications, usually in combination with
the specific name cinereus, as follows:
Ptiliogonys Swainson, (May) 1827, Philos. Mag., n.
s. 1 (fasc. 5), p. 368
Ptilio$onatus Swainson, (July) 1827, Zool. Journ. 3
(Art. 15), p. 164
Ptiliogonys Swainson, 1831, Zool. Illus., p1.62
Ptiliogonys Swainson, 1833, Zool. Illus., p1. 102
Ptilo$onys Swainson, 1837, Nat. Hist. and Classif.,
Vol. 2, p. 224, index (spelled Ptiliogonys on p. 6)
Ptilo$onys Swainson, 1838, Animals Menag., p. 285
Strickland (1841), who reviewed Gray (1840), re-
marked that the spelling of the genus should be Pti-
logonys. Gray (1841) followed the suggested correc-
tion, but authors since then have spelled the name
either as Ptiliogonys or Ptilogonys. Ridgway (1887) was
the last author to use the original spelling, Ptiliogonys.
Swainson, who never provided an etymology for the
name of this genus, gave "knees feathered" as a char-
acter (Swainson 1827b). Thus, the generic name would
seem to be from the Greek ptilon, feather, and the
Greek, gonys, knee (see Brown 1956, Woods 1966).
When these roots are used in combination, the word
is correctly spelled ptilogonys. Nonetheless, the names
used by Swainson after the first publication (1827a)
are incorrect subsequent spellings and have no no-
menclatural standing (I.C.Z.N. 1985: art. 32).
The correct citation of the genus is as follows: Pti-
liogonys Swainson, (May) 1827, Philos. Mag., n. s. 1
(fasc. 5), p. 368. Type by monotypy, Ptiliogonys cinereus
Swainson, 1827.
The publication for the source of Ptiliogonys cinereus
was incorrectly given by Greenway (1960) as "1827,
London, Edinb. Dubl. Phil. Mag., n. s., 1, p. 368." That
journal title refers to the London, Edinburgh, and Dublin
Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, which was
published only from 1840 to 1850 (see Bolton 1897).
The first description of P. cinereus was published in
the journal known simply as The Philosophical Maga-
zine. Therefore, the species should have the same ci-
tation as the genus.
THE TYPE LOCALITY OF P. CINEREUS
The range of P. cinereus was given by Swainson
(1827a) as "Table land of Mexico. Real del Monte."
Ridgway (1904) considered the "Table Land" of
Mexico as the type locality, and Hellmayr (1935) gave
it only as Mexico. The locality Real del Monte, in the
state of Hidalgo (given as Rio del Monte in Sharpe
[1906]) was, perhaps, not considered as the type lo-
cality by those authors. This is because it was known
that William Bullock Sr. (1824b) never visited there,
contra Brodkorb (1944). However, William Bullock Jr.,
who remained in Mexico until at least 1827 and col-
lected with Ferdinand Deppe in the table lands of
Mexico (Stresemann 1954), did visit Real del Monte
(Swainson 1827b). Either of the Bullocks also may
have received specimens from Real del Monte sent
by a Mr. Morgan or a geologist named John Taylor.
Taylor visited Real del Monte sometime between 1822
and 1823 (Dahlgren 1887: 204-205), and he is known
to have communicated later with the mining com-
panies there for several years (Taylor 1838). Swainson
(in Swainson and Richardson 1832) had access to spec-
imens from John Taylor's Mexican collection, which
consisted of at least 21 birds that "were examined and
said to be described by Mr. Swainson" (Sharpe 1906:
497). Swainson (1832-1833, opposite P1. 102) de-
scribed a male of P. cinereus received from John Taylor
that Mr. Morgan collected at Real del Monte.
Nonetheless, Moore (1935) stated that "It is quite
probable that my fresh specimens [of P. cinereus] from
Temascaltepec (an old locality of Swainson) are to-
potypical and I suggest that the 'table lands of Mexico'
of the original description be restricted to Temascal-
tepec." Both Bullocks visited Temascaltepec (Strese-
mann 1954) as well as other localities of the table
land. Miller et al. (1957), Greenway (1960), and the
AOU (1983) followed Moore's (1935) restriction of the
type locality of cinereus. On the other hand, Phillips
(1966) gave the type locality as "'Mexico' [=Distrito
Federal?]."
According to Brodkorb (1944), Sibley (1950), and
Pitelka (1961), there are reasons to doubt some of the
type localities given by Swainson. However, several
names proposed by Swainson have Real del Monte
as their presently accepted type locality. Furthermore,
it is quite clear that Swainson and Bullock (1824b)
used the term "table land" as a region of Mexico
rather than as a specific locality. Moore's (1935) re-
jection of the general locality of "table land of Mex-
ico" is reasonable; however, to restrict a type locality
on the basis of specimens on hand and ignore more
specific locality information is hardly justified. Moore's
statement does not negate the fact that Swainson gave
a specific locality for cinereus in the original descrip-
tion (Swainson 1827a). The indefinite locality given
by Phillips (1966) is likewise unacceptable. The type
locality of Ptiliogonys cinereus should be Real (some-
times rendered Mineral) del Monte, Hidalgo [20ø08'N,
98ø40'W], Mexico.
I thank the staff of the Smithsonian Institution li-
braries for making available the many rare works I
consulted. I also thank Storrs L. Olson for technical
advice. Leslie K. Overstreet and Robert W. Storer read
an earlier version of this paper. I am grateful to Rich-
ard C. Banks, who offered many valuable suggestions,
and to John P. Hubbard, and Burr L. Monroe Jr., who
read the present version.
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