184 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [June, '04 



It happened occasionally that a peculiarly fitting term was 

 applied in different orders of the insects, in a different class of 

 the Animal Kingdom and even in the Plant Kingdom. When 

 that was the case the term stood for its earliest use, and the 

 later or preoccupied name fell ; anybody could propose a sub- 

 stitute. As descriptions multiplied, this became a troublesome 

 matter, and it was finally agreed that a term might be used in 

 both Animal and Plant Kingdoms ; but only once in each. 



As specialization increased, men confined their studies to 

 one class and, in the insects, to single orders ; the literature 

 increasing in proportion to the number of students. Further- 

 more, as new territories were settled and explored, investigators 

 limited their work often of necessity to one faunal region, 

 and the entomologist in central North America had little chance 

 of knowing what was done by the conchologist in central India. 

 So further duplications took place, and the same name was 

 used in different classes and in different orders. It is techni- 

 cally allowable for anyone who discovers that a generic name 

 is preoccupied anywhere in the Animal Kingdom to propose a 

 new one, and it is a cheap way of satisfying a mi hi itch at the 

 expense of one who has done real work, but has not had access 

 to literature. Personally I never change a name unless it is 

 preoccupied in another order, and I have been slow in recog- 

 nizing changes made because a name was preoccupied in another 

 class. Practice varies, too, as to what names may be changed : 

 whether they must merely sound alike, have only the same 

 derivation, or must be literally alike. L,ord Walsingham, for 

 instance, would consider Sesia and Setia alike, because he pro- 

 nounces them so ; but to one who gives the / its value this 

 seems absurd. Some claim that the hard C and K are the 

 same, and that Cobalos and Kobalos are duplicates, though with 

 a differing initial, 



All these points are factors which afford opportunities for 

 disagreement, resulting in differences of generic or specific 

 names used. To some the letter is of more importance than 

 the spirit, and that a change made on a technicality upsets a 

 century of general acceptance and use matters not in the least ; 

 in fact it seems rather a delight to them to replace a name in 



