150 CHAPTER OF CRITICISM. 



the history of any order or class of British insects so far as that invaluable 

 work has proceeded ; for it is absolutely necessary to be possessed by every 

 entomologist who wishes to study the subject scientifically or thoroughly. The 

 species described by Mr. Duncan are the following : — Oxycera pulchella, 0. tri- 

 lineata, 0. muscaria, O.formosa, O.terminata, and O. analis ; those which he 

 has omitted are O. pardalina (? )■, 0. leonina, 0. Morrisii, and the 0. affinis, 

 alluded to above. Are we " ex uno (genere) discere omnes" or not ? 



In the number of the Magazine of Natural History for April 1837, my friend 

 Mr. H. E. Strickland propounds some rules for zoological nomenclature which 

 appear to have been rather hastily put together. Rule 1 says, " The Latin 

 nomenclature forms the only legitimate language of Zoology (Swainson). Latin 

 names are adopted by naturalists of all nations, and are therefore preferable to 

 any other. Where one language is sufficient for the purpose, all others are super- 

 fluous." Rule 10 states, that " names should be taken either from the Latin or 

 Greek languages ;" and rule 1 9, that " generic names should in general be com- 

 pounded of Greek words, and specific of Latin." This latter rule, though 

 heretofore, as Mr. Strickland also observes, partially and faintly acted upon, 

 was, I believe, first distinctly laid down by me in a late number of The 

 Naturalist ; yet no mention is made of this, although the names of the authors 

 of the other rules are attached to each. Perhaps, however, Mr. Strickland had 

 not seen the paper alluded to. — In rule 21 it is stated, that specific names may 

 be taken from the size of the species; yet in rule 14 we are told that "the 

 meaning of names should be founded on absolute characters, not on relative or 

 comparative ones." Now size is only affected by relation or comparison. — 

 Lastly, rules 6 and 11 appear to me to be coextensive in meaning, though 

 differently expressed. The one is in fact merely a repetition of the other, being 

 tantamount to it. From the former we leam that " a name may be expunged 

 whose meaning is false, as applied to the object or group which it represents." 

 The latter says, that " the meaning of a name must imply some proposition 

 which is true as applied to the object which it represents." The "Rules for 

 Zoological Nomenclature" appear, therefore, to require considerable revision. 



I am, sir, 



Your obedient servant, 



Francis Orpen Morris. 

 Doneaster, April 4, 1837. 



