24 SOME SOUTH INDIAN INS] [CHAP. II. 



Russia, . ti . But it will readily be seen how little useful would be 

 a knowledge of only one or a few of such names to an inquirer 



desirous of ascertaining the distribution, lifehistory, or control of 

 such an insert. So-called "popular" names are generally merely 

 sops to ignorance and their use often serves to conceal a want of 

 exact knowledge. Whilst of very limited and inexact application, 

 thej are no easier to learn or remember than the proper scientific 

 names, which should always be employed, when known, in refer- 

 ring to any one particular insect. 



Not infrequently it happens that a previous description is 

 overlooked, with the result that an insect, which has already 

 been described and named, is regarded as a novelty and 

 described and renamed as such- Such eases are dealt with by tin- 

 Law of Priority which provides that the name which was pub- 

 lished first in point of time, if valid, shall be used and that the 

 later-published names shall be sunk as sj nonyms- As an example 

 of this rule we may quote the i ase oi the common Indian Bedbug 

 which was first described in 1803 under the name of hemipterus 

 and redescribed in 1852 and again in 1861 respectively under the 

 names rotundatus and macrocephalus ; the name liemipterus, having 



irity, must be used, the other names becoming synonyms. 



A generic name may not be used more than once in Zoology 

 and a specific name may not be used more than once within the 

 genus. If names are given contrary to this rule, the later- 

 given names are invalid. Thus, the name Arbela was given to a 

 genus of Rhynchota in 1865 and was again used for a genus of 

 ninths in 1879; the latter Use was invalid, the name being 

 preoccupied. 



• Tin: follow ii mes in California is so apropos that I 



have ii" hesitation in transcribing it here : — 



" At first glance they may appear rather formidable to a ur readers, but 



in at once, will oln pular term, and 



1 learning the scientific term for many of the intri I species : 



it will also avoid confu- . i example, when the South African hymen- 



■, was first presented to the growers of thi> State a 



immediately, suggesting that this species simp!) lie called "scutes." This, 



. met with considerable objections from entomological sources, and the use of 



I'aitea, became general, and now the State [nsectary is in 



inds ol letur^ 1 rs over the Sla 



/. The same rule also applies to the names 



average layman to embrace the 

 lely, as it is sol which actually means nothing 



I later \cars." 

 hi be adopted so easily in tin I lurry." where English 



iinon language, it should be still easier to introduce their use into India where 

 11 " name is as much an alien as the Latin one. 



