60 THE entomologist's RECORD. 



A large number of gynandromorphs of the Heterocera are catalogued 

 in the lists referred to, but no summary has been made. Casual 

 inspection of odd chapters have supported the contentions (1) that 

 no predominance exists in the side of the insect which assumes the 

 male secondary sexual characters, and (2) that the number of each sex 

 in a species is approximately the same. 



A " Priority " Note. 



By GEORGE WHEELER, M.A., F.Z.S., F.E.S. 

 On the last page of the December number of the Ent. Ilecord we 

 find the following observation : — " As the term ' falces ' was introduced 

 so long ago as 1905, it liaa prioritij over the term ' gnathos,' uJiich will 

 fall " ! ! (The italics and notes of exclamation are mine.) I express 

 no opinion as to the greater suitability of one term or the other, but 

 the implication contained in this phrase that the Law of Priority has 

 any reference whatever to the names of anatomical sections, or indeed to 

 anything at all except classification, cannot be too soon exposed or too 

 emphatically contradicted, especially since the same monstrous 

 doctrine seems to be accepted, and almost taken for granted, in the 

 subsequent papers on the same subject by Mr. Bethune-Baker and 

 the Rev. C. R. N. Burrows. Fortunately not even the maddest of 

 Priority fanatics has yet succeeded in reducing us to this condition of 

 helplessness, and we are still absolutely at liberty to choose the most 

 suitable and descriptive nomenclature in all such cases, without giving 

 a thought to the question which was the first in use. In point of fact 

 it is quite unlikely that the first name used Avill in most cases meet 

 with general acceptance, since later nomenclature generally means- 

 further research, and the wisdom of yesterday will often be the ignor- 

 ance of to-morrow. At the same time there are two principles which 

 should (in my opinion at least) be generally recognised : first, a word 

 used in any branch of science by one author to designate a particular 

 object, or part of an object {('.</., '^ scaphiiim "), should not be available 

 for use by another author to designate some other object, or some other 

 part of the same object, in the same branch of science ; and secondly, 

 an author changing his nomenclature should be expected to draw 

 attention to, and explain, the change, in such a way as to leave no 

 doubt as to his meaning in the minds of his readers. A general regard 

 for these two principles will obviate any probability of misunderstand- 

 ing, without dragging the hateful Priority question into matters for 

 which it was never intended, and where it could only become a bar to 

 any rational progress even more effectively than it has already done in 

 the domain of Classification. 



The Butterflies of Lower Egypt. 



By Colonel N. MANDERS, D.D.M.S. Egypt, F.E.S. 



I had intended to publish nothing on the above subject until I had 

 completed my tour of service in Egypt, but tenure of appointment is 

 so uncertain m these troublous times that I think it better to put on 

 record the few observations 1 have made, and if opportunity occurs to 

 extend them afterwards. 



The most useful paper I know on Egyptian butterflies is one 



