340 On the Propriety of altering 



would have been obviously absurd. Again, it frequently 

 happens, that naturalists cannot agree on the type of the 

 family : thus, Selby pronounces the genus Silvia to be the 

 type of its family ; Swainson says, on the other hand, JRegu- 

 lus ; and Blyth, rejecting both, adopts JPicedula as the typical 

 genus. And would it not be productive of confusion to bestow 

 the name Silvia on the genus jRegulus, even should the latter 

 be ascertained to be typical ? and would it not be preferable, 

 in this case, to call the family Ttegulidae ? and so on throughout 

 zoology. 



This may, however, be viewed in the light of a digression. 

 We will, therefore, return to Mr. Strickland, and see whether 

 he has any sounder basis on which to rest his dislike of change. 

 " A complete parallel," says he, " seems to exist between 

 the proper names of species and of men. The first discoverer 

 of a species may be regarded as its parent or god-father, who 

 bestows on it any name he thinks fit, and publishes it to the 

 scientific world in some standard work, as in a parish register; 

 and, as the laws of the land forbid men to change their names 

 without due cause, so the laws of natural history ought to be 

 equally severe against those who encumber species with a 

 number of aliases." Let us analyse these offhand assertions. 

 " A complete parallel seems to exist between the proper 

 names of species and of men !" This is a most ill-sorted and 

 unfortunate comparison. The object of the names bestowed 

 on men is to enable us to distinguish individuals by arbitrary 

 signs or sounds : for it is very clear that it would be impossible 

 to find a distinct term expressive of some peculiarity for every 

 human being; and, even were it possible, it would not be desir- 

 able. Thus, suppose a person in infancy named " Dark-hair :" 

 by the time he has gained maturity, some accident may have 

 turned his hair white, or he may have lost it altogether ; and 

 thus the name would but ill suit him ever after : the meanings 

 therefore, in these names is disregarded. The case, however, 

 is widely different with scientific nomenclature ; for, although 

 an individual of the species called the black-capped fauvet 

 (JFicedula atricapilla) may chance to be white-capped, or a 

 specimen of the genus longspur (Plectrofanes) may have 

 accidentally lost his spurs, yet this does not invalidate the 

 name for the rest of the species or genus, 



I have now briefly exposed the erroneousness of each of 

 Mr. Strickland's arguments, and should have wished to have 

 entered into that detail which so important a subject demands, 

 and which would have made it clear to every capacity. I 

 can only plead in excuse my extremely limited space. Before 

 I conclude, however, I must touch on one or two of Mr. 



