THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 23 



Center ; (c) a noun in the genitive case, giving the food plant, the country 

 in which it lives, or the person in whose honor it is named, as Pyrameis 

 cardui — the Pyrameis of the Thistle, Argynnis Edwardsii — Edwards' Ar- 

 gynnis ; (d) a noun with a participle understood governing it, as Thecla 

 M album, the Thecla with a white M. 



In following these, which we believe include directly or indirectly all 

 combinations, the rules of Latin grammar must apply. Under class "a" a 

 feminine name must not be joined to a masculine noun. It is just the 

 same as saying the girl John, as to utter such a combination as Melitaea 

 phaeton or Danais archippus. Duty in the matter is simple and easy. 

 Julius and Julia are exactly the same word, with terminations to express 

 sex. A person comes to us clothed as a man, and professing to be a 

 man, and is called Julius. It transpires afterwards that this person is a 

 woman ; we must, by the compulsion of language and her sex, call her 

 Julia. We must, or ought to, write and say Melitaea phaetona, Danais 

 archippa, and so on through the list. 



Under class " b " the adjective must be Latin, and must agree in 

 gender with the generic noun. A w ; ord is not necessarily Latin because 

 it ends in us or a. Combinations to express specific points are important 

 and to be sought after, but should be made according to law, and in all 

 cases the gender of the adjective should agree with the gender of the 

 noun — e. g., we should write — we must write, if our worthy Editor will 

 allow me so to say — Papilla brevicaud//i Saun., not P. brevicaudtf Saun. 

 This error is a wonderfully common.one, but can be very easily remedied. 



Under classes "c" and "d" mistakes are not often made. But 

 while it may be Latin, it is not always the best Latin, to make a proper 

 name by adding us or ius to what is English. It certainly is curious that 

 the vast majority of modern Latin names are of the second declension. 

 One can look through a catalogue and not find an example of the third. 

 Still, as long as it is grammatically correct, no fault can be found with a 

 proper name, though it be an anomaly like Pap. Coon, or a curiosity like 

 H'ezoitsonius, in place of Hewitson, genitive Hetvitsonis. 



Authors are not always to blame for the bad Latin. Their species are 

 tossed from genus to genus, as systematising goes on ; but we have about 

 reached the possible limit of genera, and species are probably settled in 

 the places they will occupy, and, as a rule, all new genera are feminine. 

 Our catalogues ought to give, so far as possible, an end to these errors. It 



