198 [November 



individuals of each diflfer constantly by the characters given in the fol- 

 lowing Table. The very young larvae, i. e. .15 — .20 inch long, are 

 scarcely distinguishable, being each of them without any pencils, and 

 each of them having the head yellowish-white, but rather yellower in 

 the former than in the latter, and the dorsal integument yellowish-white, 

 with the warts brown-black as in the mature ILirrisii. But so soon as 

 ever they obtain pencils, which is probably after the first moult, the 

 two middle pencils on segment 3 are invariably black in tessellaris and 

 invariably orange-color in Barn'sii, although occasionally in individuals, 

 which are less than half grown, the other colored pencils incline more 

 or less towards white. The color of the hair is, as I formerly supposed, 

 normally white in Har7'isn,h\it a few individuals occur with the hair of 

 a dirty white like that of the normal tessellaris. On the second seg- 

 ment there is in Harrisii but a single distinct white pencil under each 

 orange one, the second white one, which is very distinct in tessellaris, 

 being confounded with the long hairs overhanging the head. (See 

 Proc. &c. III. p. 414.) And the white pencil on segment 12 is much 

 less obvious in Harrisii than in tessellaris, and generally almost obsolete, 

 being confounded with the long hairs overhanging the anus. 



something like a grammatical form. Some years ago the Editors of Silliman's 

 Journal, having occasion to rectify the orthography of one of Prof. Owen's sci- 

 entific terms, whicli was manifestly intended for Greek, observed that it was 

 right and projier to do so, however long and universally the term had been in 

 use. 



Even authors who maintain, that under no circumstances is it allowable to 

 change a single letter in a published name, unless that name be preoccupied, 

 do not always practice what they preach. For example, Osten Sacken, who 

 avows this doctrine as the true scientific faith, has recently omitted the letter q 

 {quercus) in the specific names of a whole host of the Cynipidoe of the Oak, pro- 

 fessedly "because this addition seems perfectly useless." {Proc. &c. IV. p. 344.) 

 It may perhaps be useless, as apjilied to the insect, but as applied to the gall, 

 which is usually designated by the sj^ecific name of the gall-maker, it seems 

 to me to answer a very useful and desirable purpose, i. e. to specify on what 

 genus of plants the gall grows. Otherwise who is to distinguish between the 

 Cynipidous gall '' [Q.] tubicola 0. S.,'' which grows on an Oak, and the Cecido- 

 myidous gall "Tubicola 0. S.," which grows on a Hickory? But be this as it 

 may, if we have no right to change Ampli/pterus, which is impure and barbar- 

 ous Greek, into Amblypierus, which is pure Greek and means "obtuse-wings," 

 we certainly have no right to change Cj/nips q. forticornis, which is neither pre- 

 occupied nor grammatically objectionable, into Cy nips forticornis. We might 

 just as reasonably change such elegant specific names as acerifoliella (maple- 

 leafiiug) and rhoi/ructella (sumach-fruitling) into/oliella and fruciclla. 



