NOMENCLATURE. 27 



synonymy will always give us the proper place of reference of the special 

 combination adopted, while placing the first name under this, in place of all 

 quotations, will show exactly what we mean. We have therefore adopted 

 the principle of separating from the text all questions of bibliography and of 

 history, which seem to find their natural place together, but which certainly 

 are not to be considered Natural History, much as they may serve to clear 

 our ideas and prevent confusion. By writing, therefore, 



Amblypneustes ovum 



Echinus ovum Lam., 181G, A. s. V. 



Amblypneustes ovum Agass., 1841, Int. Anat. g. Euh., 



I refer the reader at once to the place where the species was first described, 

 and to the place in the synonymy where he will find the necessary historical 

 information relating to the adoption of the name Amblypneustes ovum. If 

 I have occasion to speak of this species, I shall most certainly speak of it as 

 Aniblf/pneustes ovum Agass., as a mere matter of registration of Agassiz's opin- 

 ion, which would be accompanied by no special glory to Agassiz, but be 

 stating my agreement with his views of the affinities of Echinus ovum Lam. 



All attempts to discriminate between the baptiser and the describer have 

 proved futile. The gradations between what we can call a good description 

 or a bad one, and a mere name recognizable from its connection, make it 

 useless to draw any invidious distinctions in favor of the describer. 



In works written by two authors, they are both quoted as the authority, 

 unless in the body of the work itself a particular author is specified for cer- 

 tain species or genera. It is but justice to recognize catalogue names, or 

 other information, sent to authors writing on a particular subject and pub- 

 lished by them as manuscript names ; it is furnishing finished material which 

 would naturally fall under the head of joint authorship as soon as pub- 

 lished, and due credit should be given to the author of this work, and not 

 to the author of the volume alone. Free scientific relations must cease if 

 the imparting information, freely given when asked, is, on account of its 

 irregular mode of dependent publication, to be ascribed to the recipient 

 of such information. 



When names are changed in the transfer of a species from one genus to 

 another, to avoid having two species of the same name in one genus, great 

 care must be taken afterwards, if either of these species undergo a further 

 change, to restore the original names, when confusion is no longer possible. 

 The original name is frequently lost sight of in these generic transfers, and 

 great care must be taken never to obliterate it. 



