=_Thrasaetos_ versus _Harpia_.=—The generic name currently used for the Harpy Eagle is _Thrasaetos_ Gray, because _Harpyia_ Vieillot is preoccupied by _Harpyia_ Illiger (Prod. Syst. Mamm. et Avium, 1811, pp. 118-119) for a mammal. Vieillot’s name, however, was first spelled _Harpia_ (Analyse Nouv. Ornith. Elém., 1816, p. 24; type by monotypy, _Vultur harpyja_ Linnæus), in which form, with one less syllable, it is according to the International Code of Nomenclature, not invalidated by _Harpyia_. Furthermore, the original spelling of the specific name of this species is _harpyja_ (_Vultur harpyja_ Linnæus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, I, 1758, p. 86; Mexico); and the Harpy Eagle should, therefore, now stand as _Harpia harpyja_ (Linnæus).
It may be worth while also to call attention to the fact that Swainson in 1827 spelled this generic name _Harpya_ (Philos. Mag., new ser. I, No. V, May, 1827, p. 366); and that the generic name _Thrasaetos_, commonly attributed to G. R. Gray, is merely a manuscript name of Gray’s, originally published by Bonaparte (_Thrasaetos_ Bonaparte, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1837 (June 14, 1838), p. 108 [ex G. R. Gray MS.], type by monotypy, _Vultur harpyja_ Linnæus).—HARRY C. OBERHOLSER, _Washington, D. C._
=The Status of the Generic Name= _Archibuteo_.—The generic name _Archibuteo_ Brehm has for long been in use for the Rough-legged Hawks. This name, proposed in 1828 by Brehm (Isis, XXI, No. 12, December, 1828, col. 1269), was based solely on the “Rauchfussbussard” and two nomina nuda, _Archibuteo planiceps_ Brehm and _Archibuteo alticeps_ Brehm; hence _Falco lagopus_ Brünnich, to which from Brehm’s later publications all these evidently must be referred, has been commonly considered the type of _Archibuteo_. In the original description, however, aside from the two pure nomina nuda, only the vernacular name without citation of authority or anything else that would serve to identify it, is given. The generic term _Archibuteo_ is, therefore, certainly a nomen nudum at this place, as is clearly indicated by the International Code of Nomenclature and current practice. The earliest tenable citation for _Archibuteo_ is in 1831 (Brehm, Handb. Naturg. Vog. Deutschlands, 1831, p. 38), when Brehm gives as the two included species, _Archibuteo planiceps_ Brehm and _Archibuteo alticeps_ Brehm, here fully described, both of which are synonyms of _Falco lagopus_ Brünnich. Meanwhile, however, two other names were introduced for the group—_Triorchis_ Kaup (Skizz. Entw.-Gesch. Natürl. Syst. Eur. Thierw., 1829, p. 84; type by monotypy, _Falco lagopus_ Brünnich); and _Butaetes_ Lesson (Traité d’Ornith., May 8, 1830, p. 83; type, by monotypy, _Falco lagopus_ Gmelin). The first of these becomes, therefore, the tenable name for the Rough-legged Hawks, since it is not preoccupied by _Triorches_ Leach (Syst. Cat. Indig. Mamm. and Birds Brit. Mus., 1816, p. 10; type, by monotypy, _Pandion fluvialis_ Savigny = _Falco haliaetus_ Linnæus), for the latter must be regarded as a different word from a nomenclatural standpoint because of its different classical ending. By reason of this the two forms of the Rough-legged Hawk will stand as follows: