258 NATURAL SCIENCE. April, 



contrivance a name may be valid and not valid at one and the same 

 time, according to the classification which different authors may- 

 prefer. The name will die when it is born, and then by a stroke of 

 luck come to life, killing some other name which has taken its 

 place. Then perhaps it will be transferred into the genus to which 

 its namesake has been earlier carried, and so perish once more. 

 Can anyone contemplate with patience the possibility of these 

 romantic adventures, when nothing is easier and simpler than to 

 abide by the precept, actually appended to rule 5 — once a synonym 

 always a synonym ? 



Whatever opinion may be held about these various details, this 

 at least should be remembered, that, however great and wise and 

 powerful may be the Association, the Society, the Congress, which 

 promulgates ordinances on this subject of zoological nomenclature, 

 the enactments can never have the irresistibility of Natural Law. 

 They are exposed to some of the weaknesses which affect Statute 

 Law and still more International Law and all codes of honour and 

 social etiquette. They must have public opinion on their side or 

 they will not work. They should be calculated to win respect, to 

 prevail, not by arbitrary power, but by deserved prestige. To those 

 who are the organising forces in this matter I earnestly make this 

 appeal. The regulation of trifles should be laid aside. Allow us to 

 use small initials or capital letters a discretion ; allow us to trans- 

 literate our Greek and to leave out our aspirates, and in general to 

 show our fancifulness or our want of scholarly education as we choose. 

 In the great essentials make the rules as logical, as simple, as 

 equitable as human wit can devise, and then stand steadfast, secure 

 that the reasonable in all nations will eventually, if not at once, 



endorse your action. 



Thomas R. R. Stebbing. 



In view of the interest at present taken in this subject, we take 

 the liberty of quoting the following weighty words from the presi- 

 dential address entitled " The Formulation of the Natural Sciences," 

 delivered to the American Society of Naturalists in Philadelphia by 

 Professor E. D. Cope, and published in the American Naturalist, 

 vol. XXX., pp. 101-112, February, 1896. The passage quoted begins 

 on p. 109 : — Ed. Nat. Sci. 



" Nomenclature is like pens, ink, and paper ; it is not science, 

 but it is essential to the pursuit of science. It is, of course, for 

 convenience that we use it, but it does not follow from that that every 

 kind of use of it is convenient. It is a rather common form of 

 apology for misuse of it to state that as it is a matter of convenience, 

 it makes no difference how many or how few names we recognise or 

 use. An illustration of this bad method is the practice of subdividing 

 a genus of many species into many genera, simply because it has 

 many species. The author who does this ignores the fact that a 

 genus has a definite valu3, no matter whether it has one or five 

 hundred species. I do not mean to maintain that the genus or any 



