66 CODE OF NOMENCLATURE. 



possible, and in accordance with the sound indicated by the letters of the 

 Latin alphabet. This is to prevent such transliterations as yessoensis for 

 jessoensis, Chcrnik for Tschernik, y and ch having sounds in the Latin alpha- 

 bet different from those which they are intended to indicate in the above 

 words. There are two methods of transliterating the Russian alphabet. 

 One is by rendering the letters by the corresponding Latin letters, which 

 method should always be followed in geographical names, with the pro- 

 viso, however, that where the Russian name in the nominative case ends 

 with the letter a the ending Latinizing the word is to be appended to the 

 soft consonant preceding the * : e. g., nom. Orloff (ending in Russian <ra), 

 gen. Orlovi, adject. Orloviamis, and not Orloffi, Orloffianus, this being 

 in conformity with the spirit of the Russian language, which has gen. Or- 

 lova. The other method of transliterating the Russian letters, much used 

 by Russians themselves, is to render them by the corresponding letters 

 of the Polish language. The alphabet of the latter is only quasi-Roman, 

 however, though most of the letters have the same value as the Roman let- 

 ters. This method of transliteration should only be resorted to when a Rus- 

 sian author is in the habit of so transliterating his own name, and it is known 

 to the scientific world in that form : for instance, Severzowi, and not 

 Severzovi, he himself invariably spelling his name Severzow when writing 

 it in Roman letters. 



In regard to names derived from the Japanese language, it is to be re- 

 marked that the Japanese have now officially adopted a system of transliter- 

 ation according to the " Italian pronunciation," which should be followed. 



In most modern alphabets which are based upon the Roman one occur 

 a few peculiar letters which have to be transliterated, as the Spanish Ti j the 

 French /, c, a, and f/ the German a, o, it; the Scandinavian a, j the 

 Slavonian L; etc. The Spanish n may be rendered by doubling the conso- 

 nant so marked, or by /, according to circumstances ; the French /, e, and 

 d, simply by omitting the marks of accent, and q by s ; the German a, o, 

 and , by CE, a?, and ue ; the Scandinavian a and f, by ao and ce ; the Slavo- 

 nian c or cz, by tsch. However, if a name has a different but settled trans- 

 literation, this should be employed, as, for instance, Tacsanowskii, and not 

 Tatschanoi'skii, as the person using such transliteration must be content to 

 have his name mispronounced, as in the case quoted, the usual pronunciation 

 being Takzancnvski (and we have seen it Latinized by French authors into 

 Tackzanowskia /). Kut what about names like Tctrao mlokosiciviczii, named 

 after an obscure forester somewhere in Russia? The best recommendation 

 we can make is to avoid them altogether. Do not burden our nomenclature 

 with names of persons whom science does not know, or with names which 

 civilized people cannot read at sight, nor pronounce when read, nor remem- 

 ber when read and pronounced. 



