SOCIETIES. 6l 



bridge scientists hold to the Continental pronunciation the latter does 

 not gain ground ; we may accordingly set it down as ttii fait accompli 

 that naturalists throughout the United Kingdom give the vowels the 

 same sound when speaking Latin words that they do when speaking 

 Englisli. It is sometimes maintained that the adoption by us of the 

 Continental method would secure uniformity of pronunciation amongst 

 Europeans, and that tlms an ideal '' International pronunciation " would 

 Ijecome a reality. Strictly speaking, however, tliere is no " Conti- 

 nental " method, for, as a matter of fact, each nation 2)ronounces Latin 

 after the analogy of its own tongue. In the sound of the vowels, it is 

 true, there is a general sort of agreement, but as regards the consonants 

 there is the greatest diversity of usage. If the Continental nations had 

 attained to an approxiuiate uniformity among themselves there would 

 be reason in the suggestion, but as the matter stands it cannot be 

 logically supported. As an example of the diversity in Continental 

 pronunciation we will take the word Cicero ; the French pronounce 

 this Seeaaijro, the Grermans Tseesai/ro, the Italians Tcheechai/ro, and 

 the Spaniards Theethai/ro. 



The result of the correspondence in the laielliijeacer, to which I 

 have already referred, was that the task of compiling, editing and 

 publishing an Accentuated List of the names of the British licpidoptera 

 was undertaken jointly l)y the Councils of the Entomological Societies 

 of the two Universities ; the President of the Cambridge Society at 

 that time was Cliarles Cardale Babington, and of the Oxford Society 

 Kev. H. Adair Picard. In tliis work, which was published in 1^59, 

 every name then in use for Species or Genus is dealt with both as 

 regards pronunciation and accentuation, and its derivation given. 



The first fact that is patent on looking through the work is that 

 the generic names are mostly derived from Greek words, the trivial 

 names from Latin. In the preface the following table of vowel sounds 

 is given, with tlie intimation that " every vowel in the List is to be 

 pronounced short, unless marked long, thus e " : 



" a, is to be pronounced as in 

 ^ f} )) » 



'■ >) }) jj 



^ )5 JJ 5) 



"' „ ^, „ ■ . ■■ . 



nr and oc arc to be pronounced as long e, ei as long /, and 

 au as in naiighti/." 



From this it will be seen that the sounds are to be exactly tlie 

 same as they are in English. The mind of the student need not be 

 unduly exercised as to whether a name is derived from a Greek root or 

 from a Latin one, because from whatever language it has been derived, 

 it becomes a Latin word when inserted in a list of Lepidoptera as 

 applied to an insect. Having adopted the English method of i)ro- 

 nouncing Latin words, the vowels and consonants whicli they contain 

 must be sounded as they are in our own language. Tlie English arc 

 accused not only of dei)artiiig from the genuine sound of the (rreek 

 and Latin vowels, but also of violating tlie qnantiticn of these lan- 

 guages more than any other nation in Europe ; but if the quautit// be 

 violated, it is not as chance may direct, but regularly and in accordance 

 with the analogy of the English tongue, which, if not so well adaptcil 

 to the pronunciation of Greek and Latin as some other modern tongues, 



