( ^28 ) 



whether Lncas wrote Papilio orbignijanus or papilio orhigmjanus or Papilio 

 Orbignyanus. Snch ontside matter does not in the least affect the natural history 

 of the insect thus designated. Papilio oi-ljigivjanus is the most convenient form of 

 spelling, and is therefore here adopted in every case. We have also simplified, as in 

 former essays, the spelling of dedication-names standing in the genitive form ending 

 in i. The authors of such names are very inconsistent in the spelling of the names. 

 We find birchdllii and dunali, blumci and latrcillii, tcallacei and tcallacii, buinlii and 

 brucii, lorquiiti and lorquinii, kirhii and kirbi/i, etc. One cannot possibh' remember 

 what in each case the original spelling of such a name was. If one has to write 

 the name, one has to look up the original description. But is it really necessary 

 to stick to this inconsistency and this burdensome variety in spelling ? We think 

 not, since uniformity can be arrived at without the slightest difficulty. However, 

 what is an unnecessary burden in nomenclature should certainly be dropped. We 

 write these dedication-names with one i added to the name of the person, wallacii, 

 WaUarii, icallacci and Wallacci lieing all reduced to one form, ivallacri. That 

 snch a simplifying principle is really opportune is best shown by the fact that, in 

 consequence of the geueral arbitrariness in s]>elling the ending of dedication-names, 

 the name of a new form spelt dnicei will invariably be written by some later author 

 drucii ; or if the name was written originally drucii, the spelling drucei will surely 

 also crop up. As we treat names like androgeos and androgeus, pobjdnmns and 

 polidamas as being different, brucei and brucii, or icestwoodi and tcesttcoodii, or 

 Idrbii and kirhji would be rather embarrassing without the foregoing principle of 

 simijlification which renders such names uniform. For similar reasons the German 

 a, (V, and il (which were originally ae = a, oe, tic,) have been changed into ae, or, and 

 tee in all names. 



About the naming of forms below species there are many different opinions. 

 All agree that what an author considers to be a " species " should bear a name. 

 But one may very well ask, is it necessary to give names also to the various categories 

 of varieties ? The answer depends on what is the object of naming. Liune invented 

 his binominal formula for the species with the purpose of reducing chaos to order. 

 However, if we agree that for the sake of lucidity in studying the species of each 

 genus it is necessary to have a special name for each species contained therein, it 

 follows that in researches on the varieties which compose each species names are 

 likewise required for these varieties. Now, is the study of these varieties essential 

 enough for systematics to warrant the introduction of names for the enormous host 

 of varieties ? With many authors systematics have been and are essentially a 

 description of the differences of " species." The knowledge of these differences 

 is certainly in each case essential ; one cannot do without it. But it is not the 

 final aim of systematics as part of the science of life. A collector learns to 

 know the various "species" by handling them, just as a child learns to know a 

 language by practice. AV'lien once a candidate who sjiuke and wrote French and 

 English fluently, having resided in these countries for a number of years, presented 

 himself for examination pro facultate docendi at a German University, the professor 

 of modern languages gave him the advice to become foreign correspondent in a 

 mercantile house, since he had no philological kiidwledgc at all. And similarly 

 a professor of zoology once said to a candidate for the degree of rii.IJ. who could 

 and did boast of knowing by heart practically all the vertebrates and a large 

 proportion of the invertebrates of (.entral Europe : " That is very good ; if you now 

 study Zoology for a couple of years I shall be pleased to accept you as a candidate." 



