OF BUTTERFLIES 59 



cler " to atalanta, and to others not found in this 

 country such odd names as " de eike page " and 

 *' hooi-beestje." I should be sorry if old Sepp had 

 not taken this liberty. This is my warrant ard 

 my only warrant for attempting to introduce such 

 names. It seems to me that they will possibly 

 serve a useful purpose, and certainly they can do 

 no one any harm. They can be simply ignored. 

 They will only survive if fitted to do so. 



One examining for the first time the scientific 

 terminology of butterflies would be interested at 

 seeing how largely the names, and especially the 

 early ones, had been bestowed by authors who had 

 received a classical education, and how extensively 

 the Greek mythology figured in the nomenclature 

 of these creatures. The many forms of the name 

 of Venus in particidar would strike one. Much of 

 this is certainly due to the example set by the first 

 great nomenclator of zoology, Linne, who applied 

 also the names of Greek heroes in the Trojan war 

 to a very large number of swallow-tail butterflies, 

 and his example has been followed by lepidopterol- 

 ogists down to the present day. A few notable 

 exceptions will be fomid in later times when names 

 of old Scandinavian mythical heroes were intro- 

 duced into the nomenclature of European butter- 



