BA RD WICKE' S S CIENCE-G OS SI P. 



ns 



to which he has, but a few minutes ago, given a 

 variety-name ; and while fondly imagining that by 

 giving variety-names he is doing something for 

 Science, he is but leading her to confusion and 

 making himself like the man in the ' Lobgesang,' a 

 wanderer in night and foulest darkness. Fondly 

 imagining that he has to seek the cause of variation 

 in the shell itself, he has foolishly stared at a shell 

 and asked that shell to render unto him a full account 

 as to how it became white, yellow, or red. The 

 shell is the a// to him because it is a very pretty 

 object to stare at in a collection, and to show visiting 

 friends, perhaps ; he forgets the excessively plastic 

 nature of the ovum and of the spermatozoon, or, 

 perhaps, he has never heard or read of such things, 

 since, as far as his natural history goes, he has kept 

 in his * one narrow specialised circle — the plates at 

 the end of a shell-book.' 



I will not say that the modern variety-monger has 

 not had a precedent for all that he has done in his 

 blind and unintelligent manner — a precedent trace- 

 able to the French schools of Moquin-Tandon, 

 Locard, Dumont, Mortillet, and others ; which, 

 however, a Bacon or a Zimmermann would, for the 

 most part, have declared to be a dubious or even an 

 erroneous one. I am glad to see, however, that the 

 Coryphrei of the Leeds school, to whom attaches 

 assuredly some of the blame for all this in relation 

 with British collectors, are turning their backs upon 

 an ill-usage of latinised terms in variety-naming, 

 which, in the end, would lead us along the broad 

 way to a confusion and subvertency of our science. 

 With them it remains to turn the stream into a 

 securer channel, and, until they publicly unveil their 

 advertence to this subject of too promiscuous variety- 

 naming, and pronounce at first hand their veto, the 

 banks of the present course of the stream will still 

 give way and lead to utter ruin and desolation. 



To consider some of the already named varieties 

 seriatim. Let us take the following postulates, under 

 which all variations will fall, and which the unpreju- 

 diced reader will readily concede to at first sight ; 

 by these a variety-name may be judged by the same 

 parity of reasoning as to whether it be good or bad. 



Postulate A. — That it would be absurd and tend to 

 no good end to call O'Brien, the Irish giant, whose 

 skeleton is in the museum of the Royal College of 

 Surgeons, in London, Homo sapiens, var. 7najor, or 

 var. maxima, or to call Tom Thumb Homo sapiens, 

 var. minor, or var. parva, when their greatness or 

 littleness may be alone expressed accurately in terms 

 of measurement. 



Postulate B. — That it would be just as absurd to 

 call a blonde, brunette, or black human being Homo 

 sapiens, var. alba, or albida. Homo sapiens, var. 

 bruftnea, or Homo sapiens, var. nigra, as the case 

 may be, when our common speech provides terms 

 equally and as accurately — scientifically considered — 

 expressive. 



Postulate C. — That it would be just as absurd to 

 call a human being with pale whitish lips Homo 

 sapiens, var. albolabiata, or one with rosy lips Homo 

 sapiens, var. roseolabiata, when our common speech 

 provides terms equally and as accurately expressive. 



Postulate D. — That it would be absurd to name 

 minor changes of form in a human being by special 

 variety-names ; for example, such as Homo sapiens, 

 var. nasoarcuata, or Homo sapiens, var, frontalis- 

 prominentia (for a man whose frontal sinuses are 

 larger and butt out more prominently than ordinary), 

 when our common speech provides terms equally and 

 as accurately expressive. 



On the other hand — 



Postulate E. — That it is not absurd to give special 

 names to colour-variation when the colours are many 

 and well defined in any one form, since the name 

 subserves the purpose of a kind of shorthand and 

 cannot be as shortly and as conveniently expressed in 

 terms of common speech. 



Postulate F. — That it is not absurd to give special 

 names (for the same reason as in E) to structural 

 modifications when they are well defined. Such, for 

 example, are given in human teratology as acrania, 

 labium leporinum, ectopia, anencephalus, acormia, etc. 



To postulate A belong : — Sphceriutn corneum, var. 

 minor (Gray) ; Pisidium pusillum, var. grandis 

 (Adams) ; Unio pictorum, var. latior(]e{f.) ; Anodonta 

 cygnea, vars. radiata (Miill.), Zellensis (Gmel.), ventri- 

 fcij-fl (Pfeiff.), ////^^/rt (Yoldi, Monch); Anodonta anatina, 

 vars. ventricosa (Pfr.), minima (Mill), crassiuscula 

 (Drouet) ; Bit/iynia tentaculata, var. major (Locard) ; 

 Valvata piscinalis, var. depressa (Pfr.); Planorbis 

 lineatus, var. major (Locard) ; Planorbis nitidus, var. 

 minor (Jeff.) ; Planorbis albus, van major (Locard) ; 

 Physa hypnorum, var. major (Charp.), Physa fontin- 

 alis, vars. curta (Jeff.) and oblonga (Jeff.); Litnneea 

 peregra, var. rivalis (Stud.) ; Limncea auricularia, vars. 

 magna (Colb.), minor (Moq.) ; Limnaa stagnalis, 

 vars. major (Moq.), pumila (Moq.), ttiinor (Dumont 

 and Mortillet) ; Limncea palustris, vars. mitior 

 (Taylor), obcsa (Taylor) ; Limncea truncatula, vars. 

 major (Moq.), minor (Moq.) ; Limncea glabra, var. 

 major (Gassies) ; Succineaputris, va.rs. grandis (Haz.), 

 major (Cooper), subglobosa (Jeff.) ; Succinea Pfeifferi, 

 yzxs. pai-vula (Pasc), minor (Kossra.) ; Hyalina fulva, 

 var. major ; Helix pomatia, vars. minor (Westrl.), 

 grandis ; Helix aspersa, vars. minor {M.0(\.'), maxima 

 (Taylor) ; Helix nemoralis, vars. major (Fer.), minor 

 (Moq.) ; Helix hortensis, vars. minor (Moq.), major ; 

 Helix arbustorum, vars. major (Jeff.), ;«?«t7r (Westrl.) ; 

 Helix cantiana, var. minor (Moq.) ; Helix rufescens, 

 vars. minor (Jeff.), ccclata (Stud.); and so on. 



To postulate B belong ■.—Sphcerium corneum, var. 

 Scaldiana, sub. var. citrina ; Pisidium nitidum, var. 

 Jlavcscens (Moq.) ; Pisidium nitidum, var. splendens 

 ( Baud on ; MSS. Moq.); Unio margaritifer, var. 

 olivacea (Brown) ; Neritina fluviatilis, vars. cerina 

 (Colb.), nigrescens (Colb.); Paludina contecta, var. 



