14 McAhPi'NB, Smuts of Australia [^'^Ma^^*' 



Beauty and utility combined is the great quest of our modern 

 civilization, and if you disassociate from your minds the mischief 

 caused by the smuts to our cereal crops, and regard them as 

 organisms which play a very important part in the economy of 

 nature, working out their life-histories so as to survive in the 

 struggle for existence, you will come to the conclusion, with me, 

 that utilitarianism and ugliness are not necessarily associated. 



If, as Goethe has said, " the best sign of originality lies in 

 taking up a subject, and then developing it so fully as to make 

 everyone confess that he would hardly have found so much in it," 

 then there is plenty of original work to be done in connection 

 with the fungi of Australia. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



VERNACULAR NAMES FOR BIRDS. 



To the Editor of the Victorian Naturalist. 



Sir, — I notice in the April Emu, just to hand, that my near 

 relation, the Western Australian honey-eater described by Mr. 

 North in the January Naturalist {Vict. Nat., xxvi., 138), and 

 named by him Lacuslroica ivhitei, appears wiih the vernacular 

 name " the Alfred Honey-eater," though Mr. North had already 

 spoken of it as White's Honey-eater. Surely using surnames 

 should be sufficient compliment in the way of naming species, 

 without resorting to Christian names. The proceeding would not 

 be so questionable if the person commemorated were one who 

 had done good work and deserved recognition, but when it 

 comes to commemorating a boy of seven or eight years of age 

 (vide plate ix.. Emu, January, 1910, page 112), who is said to be 

 " worthily following his father's footsteps " (vide Mr. North), well, 

 really, it seems to be making a farce of ornithological nomen- 

 clature. I am aware that we already have Malurus elizabethce, 

 and perhaps my next new sister may be Acanthiza mary-anncp, 

 " the Mary Ann Tom-tit " ; still, I like my own style of name best. 

 When the A.O.U. next revises its vernacular list I hope such 

 examples of toadyism as " the Alfred Honey-eater " will be 

 expunged. Apologizing for the length of my complaint, and 

 trusting it will not be thought frivolous, I am, yours, &c., 



ACANTHIZA NANA. 



[Though the appropriate naming of natural history specimens 

 is becoming more difficult every year, owing to the pre-occupa- 

 tion of suitable names, we quite agree with our correspondent 

 that Christian names are undesirable either for specific or ver- 

 nacular use. — Ed. Vict. Nat.'\ 



