THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 279 



This excellent paper treats, in a masterly way, a most interesting subject. 

 It is marred solely by inaccurate or incomplete taxonomy The taxonomic 

 faults may be summarized as follows: 



A cridiidcE = A crididce . 



Rhomalea = Romalea. 



TettigidcB = A crydiin <2 . 



Tettix granulatits ^ Acryditim granulatum. 



The references in this paper to Acrydium are correctly referable to that 

 genus, of which granulatum is a member. 



Locus tidcB = Tettigoniidce. 



Conocephalus ~ Neoconocephalus, a genus including but few North American 

 species. It has been recently revised and the specific determination would, in 

 consequence, have been easily made' 



Xiphidiutn = Conocephalus. 



Microcentrum. As there are but two, widely distributed, North American 

 species of this genus, laurifolinm. and retinerve, the specific assignment could 

 have been readily made. 



Gryllus pennsylvanicus — Gryllus assimilis. 



The taxonomy in this paper could have been corrected by a systematist 

 in a few minutes. Would it not be desirable to have all such papers correct 

 throughout, rather than satisfactory as far as the subject being studied is con- 

 cerned, but full of inexcusable taxonomic flaws? 



NOTE ON MR. HEBARD S ARTICLE. 



The Editor, having given some attention to the taxonomy of the Orthoptera, 

 was aware that the nomenclature followed in Mr. Du Porte's paper was not up 

 to- date, but considered it inadvisable to alter it, since the names employed 

 have long been in common use, and are more or less familiar to the general 

 student, for whom the paper is intended. The nomenclature of Orthoptera 

 has undergone numerous changes in late years, and some of these changes, 

 though doubtless necessary, if the law of priority is to be followed, are of a 

 most unfortunate character. Many old familiar generic terms have been 

 abandoned, cr what is more confusing, transferred to other forms. For example, 

 the little "grouse- locusts," generally known as Tettix are now Acrydium, 

 while the large locusts formerly called Acridium are now LocM5/a, a name which 

 used to 1 :e employed for insects of another family. Again, the name Cono- 

 cephalus, so long and appropriately given to the large "cone- headed grass 

 hoppers" must now be shifted to the little meadow grasshoppers familiar to all 

 as Xiphidiutn, the cone-heads becoming Neoconocephalus. Such changes as 

 these are, of course, very confusing to all but the specialist. Were they realK- 

 permanent, it would indeed be desirable to promote their use as rapidly as 

 possible, but what guarantee have we that they will remain more than a few 

 \'ears? They are not even universally accepted by specialists. 



Is there such a thing as "correct taxonomy?" We think, at least, that 

 systematists are inclined to overestimate its importance; and while we agree 

 with Mr. Hebard's contention that morphologists are too apt to be careless in 

 regard to taxonomic matters, we think that the converse is equally true, that the 

 systematist is usually verv inaccurate in the use of morphological terms, and 

 indifferent as to the morphological significance of the structures he describes. 



