118 THE REPORT OF THE No. 19 



that they will know it when they see it, without having learned it — an impossibility in any 

 language, especially where there is such a multitude of slightly differing forms as there is in 

 entomology. 



Great diversity has been, and is being displayed by d^fecribers in giving names to insects. 

 Some have had the faculty of choosing names for their species that are short, pretty and 

 appropriate. Others have so multiplied syllables in their names, as to make it difficult even 

 for an expert to pronounce them ; yet even with these a little familiarity makes it easy. 

 Visiting at a friend's one evening, a lady and her daughter were present. The Walking-stick 

 insect, Diapheromera femorata, was brought up in conversation. For their amusement, I went 

 over the encyclopedic description of the creature. " Filiform and linear, entirely apterous, 

 without elytra and destitute of stridulation." "Dutch," said the daughter. " Not at all ; 

 excellent English," said I. The mother, who had been attentively listening, and who under- 

 stood German, remarked : "I knew it wasn't Dutch, but I didn't think it was English." So 

 the trouble is really in unfamiliarity with the terms used, rather than in the language in 

 which they are given. Some of the older heads in entomology are at present sujQfering great 

 inconvenience from the changing of scientific names, in obeditnce to the demands of the law 

 of priority, which is causing so much confusion, as to make them think that permanence in 

 nomenclature, which gives opportunity for becoming familiar, is of far more importance than 

 the names themselves. In this connection I copy the following paragraph from " The Intro- 

 duction to the Report on Ophiuroidea," by Theodore Lyman. In the voyage of H. M. S. 

 Challenger. (Vol. V, Page 5). 



" In the description of this monograph, I have tried to use simple words as often as 

 possible, and not to add to the jargon in which zoology is now smothering. In addition to a 

 gigantic classification, to form which the dead languages have been torn up and recomposed, 

 there is an ever-growing crop of anatomical and embryological terms. No callow privat docent 

 but thinks he does good service in adding a score of obscure words to dedne his ephemeral 

 theory. Doubtless he is not aware that his work has two faces. First, as regards himself, 

 these new words of his have become familiar and convenient in a subject he has long studied. 

 Secondly, as it regards his readers, not onlj' have they never heard the new words, but have 

 perhaps known the parts referred to by other names. They must therefore, go through 

 three painful processes : - (a) Commit to memory, with dreary labour, like sawdust- 

 swallowing, the novel words, (b) Learn to what parts they apply, (c) Carefully forget 

 the old terms." 



"The result of this system has been, not a language, but a jargon, such as Moliere would 

 scarcely have ventured to put in the mouths of the medical faculty in his Malade Imaginaire." 



There are more than two hundred thousand different kinds of insects known, described 

 and named even now, and the work is not yet nearly complete, so there are many new names 

 yet to be got for new species. Then there are the varieties to cognominate ; and in some in- 

 stances these are numerous. In one case it takes sixty-two distinct names to label the species. 

 And when we consider that duplicating of names is to be avoided, we get some insight to the 

 difficulty of providing suitable names for such an host. The effect produced by those long and 

 mysteriously high-sounding appellations upon people with vigorous imaginations is often quite 

 surprising. They are inclined to picture to themselves a creature proportionately formidable 

 to the name as it appears to them. Many amusing instances of this might be given. 



On one occasion when exhibiting my collection at a fair, a young man with his female 

 friend came along ; but their tastes appeared to run in opposite directions. lie called her at- 

 tention to the butterflies, she said she could see butterflies any day. Then look at this grass- 

 hopper he persi-ted hmiself scrutinizing it closely. Seeing that he was an interested observer 



