THE MAGAZINE 



OF 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



JULY, 1836. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Art. I. Remarks on the Question of the Propriety of altering 

 established Scientific Names in Natural History, should they be 

 erroneous. By C. T. Wood, Esq. 



(Continued from p. 144., and concluded.') 



W^ith regard to generic names, it is not necessary that they 

 should have any meaning at all ; but, if they have a meaning, 

 it must be consistent with truth. Some authors, as Lindley, 

 have even given preference to unmeaning generic names, both 

 in Latin and vernacular language, on the ground of the diffi- 

 culty of fixing on some exclusive character. I think, however, 

 that, if the generic name is founded on a striking peculiarity of 

 the genus, it is of little consequence whether it be exclusively 

 applicable or not. Thus, the names longspur and Plectro- 

 fanes * apply with equal truth to the genus lark (^lauda) ; 

 but no one would reject them on this account. 



Mr. Strickland continues (VIII. 38, 39.) : — " If the species 

 with which the naturalist is concerned amounted only to a few 

 hundreds, or a few thousands, then, indeed, the supposed im- 

 provement of the nomenclature might be, in some measure, 

 excusable ; but, since the profuse fecundity of nature has over- 

 whelmed her admirers with such myriads of forms, that their 

 number alone constitutes the chief difficulty with which they 

 have to contend, it is surely the height of folly to increase that 

 difficulty by bestowing a multiplicity of names on the same 

 object." The multiplicity of the objects with which nature 

 has surrounded us would, in itself, serve as a sufficient reason, 



* This name is generally written with a ph, as well as Phasianus, &c. 

 For an exposition of the erroneousness of this, see No. xv. of the Analyst, 

 vol. iv. p. 118. Silvia is likewise frequently erroneously written Sylvia: 

 see Analyst. 



Vol. IX.— No. 63. cc 



