DESCRIPTION OF A DAPANOPTERA FROM AUSTRALIA — SKUSE. 107 



It is frequently asked "Why do you naturalists put long-winded 

 Latin or Greek names to your specimens?" "Why not do so in 

 plain English 1 " This is, however, not so easily complied with 

 as may be imagined, and where done, it is in many cases, only 

 calculated to mislead. Popular names are usually bestowed upon 

 objects existing in nature by local consent and usage ; that is 

 by the folk inhabiting the particular district or region where the 

 animals, plants, or whatever else they may be, exist ; and these 

 names convey to them, only, perhaps, an idea of what is meant. 

 Professor Bell, a celebrated authority on British Crustacea, visiting 

 a seajDort town, enquired at a fishmonger's stall, on which was a plate 

 of crabs for sale, whether that particular kind of crabs was eaten 

 in the locality 1 With great surprise at his apparent ignorance, the 

 reply came, " They ben't crabs, sir ; them's sjnders I " But to 

 come nearer home. What is ordinai'ily known in Sydney as the 

 " lobster " or " crayfish " is really a crawfish, recognised in science 

 as Palinur^is Huegeli and throughout the world as such. So that 

 what is called a "lobster" by many people, will be known by 

 the name of "crawfish "or " crayfish " by some, and maybe a 

 dozen other local appellations by as many others to whom the 

 identical animal may be familiar. But lobsters, crawfish, and 

 crayfish are totally distinct from each other in structure and with 

 diff'erent habits. And thus it is that mistakes happen in giving 

 names to animals which to the popular eye exhibit a more or less 

 fanciful resemblance ; but in many other cases there is not the 

 slightest likeness or even aflinity. What are commonly styled 

 " locusts " in this country are really Cicadce, belonging to a 

 totally distinct and widely separated order of insects. And, 

 moreover, the same kind of Cicada is known by different names 

 in different localities, such as " Miller," " Mealy-back," etc. The 

 true locusts belong to the grasshoppers, whilst the Homopterous 

 CicadidfX3 have been known as " Cicadas " from times of remote 

 antiquity. Instances such as these may be multiplied, but those 

 cited should be sufficient to demonstrate the uselessness of the 

 adoption of local names for the purpose of general informa- 

 tion. 



Popular names, if general, would be of great advantage in assist- 

 ing to gain a scientific knowledge of the objects themselves, but 

 they rarely can be said to assist specialists in their investigations 

 for the public weal in this respect. And herein lies the secret. 

 Specialists of all nationalities must compare notes as to the affinities 

 and geographical distribution of the objects under investigation, in 

 discussing their properties and utility. In order to attain this 

 end, it is absolutely necessary to adopt an universal language as 

 the medium for exchanging ideas before the result of their com- 

 bined researches can eventually be made popularly intelligible in 

 different languages. To this end Greek and Latin are employed, 



