June, 1909.] Dow : Origin of Entomological Names. 51 



that are thrown away by the owls are much appreciated by the species 

 of Trox, which find therein just the food to their liking. Trox eri- 

 naceus is most commonly found in the pellets on Staten Island, Mr. 

 Chapin and I having secured forty-nine specimens ranging in date from 

 February 25 to May 10. A single Trox scaber was collected in a 

 pellet on May 16. Unless one is on the lookout these little beetles 

 easily escape notice when the pellets are collected, for usually they are 

 to be found beneath them and lie for some time motionless on the 

 ground. 



At the meeting of the New York Entomological Society, held 

 May 19, 1903, Rev. J. L. Zabriskie exhibited the snipped-off butt 

 ends of hairs taken from the stomach of Trox unistriatus collected 

 some years before about a dead horse. The hairs were placed under 

 a microscope, and all were found to have been cut off in the same 

 oblique manner. 



ON THE ORIGIN OF ENTOMOLOGICAL NAMES. 



By Robert Percy Dow, B.A., 



New York City. 



When Linne began his work of classifying all nature his primary 

 source of information was the existing classification made by Aristotle. 

 In the middle of the eighteenth century almost all so-called learning 

 was classical. The new school of science had awakened in Europe in 

 mathematics and mechanics, but the great chemical awakening was to 

 come half a century later and the development of knowledge of elec- 

 tricity came a few years later still. Linne's first effort was to identify 

 all plants and animals mentioned in classic authors and to apply these 

 names correctly in his new system. There is ample evidence that he 

 made many gross blunders of translation, but there is no indisputable 

 evidence that he altered or suppressed any existing classic names. 

 Following him, the students of entomology plunged eagerly into the 

 task of identifying Aristotelian species. Years later there was a re- 

 vival of this line of study especially in Germany, but of late it has 

 been neglected. A partial list of the important works on the origin of 

 entomological terms is appended to this article. There does not seem, 

 however, to be any bibliography on the subject of the derivation of 

 names of insects mentioned in classic authors, their true meaning and 



