JOUR N AIv 



OF THE 



Uciu Wioxlx Entomological Society; 



Publishes articles relating to any class of the subkingdom Arthropoda, subject 

 to the acceptance of the Publication Committee. Original communications in this 

 field are solicited. 



Editorial. 



The following contribution to the discussion of the subject of 

 generic types has been sent to us by Mr. Louis B. Prout, of London, 

 England, and refers to the discussion in the June, 1904, number of 

 this Journal : 



" Permit me to suggest that if the editor's views and those of 

 Prof. J. B. Smith, as there set forth, be combined, with the elimina- 

 tion of all elements of personal preference, etc. (which you will agree 

 with me, are the causes of instability and of discord), we shall have an 

 almost perfect system, and one that — as it would work well-nigh 

 automatically — we should all do well to adopt. Evidently adherence 

 to an original spelling would be undoubtedly ' automatic '; I rejoice to 

 see that you very nearly advocate this, and if I read you aright you 

 are not even hopelessly antagonistic to the non-Latin ' w ' in dedica- 

 tory names. Why should Walkeria or Walsinghamia be disguised by 

 an initial U or V ? Surely we in England must not advocate such a 

 proceeding, when our national coinage is perpetuating the barbarous 

 ' Edwardus ' ! As to the 'k,' you are of course right, and Sir 

 George Hampson's change to ' c ' indefensible. Better reject dedica- 

 tory names in toto than mutilate them beyond recognition. 



"The inconsistency of demanding verbal definition you have ad- 

 mirably exposed, as also previously in Trans. Am. ent. soc, xxiv, 

 6. Rothschild and Jordan have made a pretty business of it in 



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