II. 



OF THE IGNORANCE AND NEGLECT OF AMERICAN LABORS 

 IN ZOOLOGY EXHIBITED BY EUROPEAN NATURALISTS. 



The discovery and description of animals before 

 unknown, is one of the evidences of the zeal and in- 

 dustry of a naturalist ; and to be known among the 

 few persons engaged in tliis branch of science as pos- 

 sessing these qualifications, is unfortunately, in tliis 

 country at least, his only reward. To perpetuate tliis 

 evidence, the right of naming the species has been 

 conceded to the discoverer by common consent; and 

 in all systematic and descriptive works on Natural 

 History, his name is, by universal practice, appended to 

 that of the species, and in this manner becomes as 

 extensively known as the animal itself. He who omits 

 the name of the discoverer, and still more, he who 

 substitutes the name of another in its place, does the 

 former a manifest injustice, as it deprives him of a right 

 which is the only recompense of his labor. He also 

 does an injury to science by adding a new name to an 

 object already named, thus increasing the multitude of 



