I05 



will henceforth reform his ways and modestly follow the usage 

 of the fathers. W. H. Edwards. Coalburgh, W. Va., April 

 20, 1883. 



With the permission of the editor of "Papilio" I wish to 

 make a few remarks in reference to the question raised by my 

 friend, Mr. Riley. 



Formerly many writers used capital letters for specific names, 

 at least in the case of proper names or adjectives derived from 

 them ; but lately the practice has generally been to write every 

 specific name, without exception, with a small letter, and to this 

 rule I am obliged to conform in much of my own work. 



Personally, however, I always prefer to commence specific 

 names with a capital letter, and in independent work (such as my 

 Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera, for example) I use capitals for 

 all specific names. It is a matter of convenience, not of principle, 

 although, as regards the latter, a specific name is as much part of 

 the name of the species as the generic name, and equally well 

 entitled to be printed with a capital letter; but in lists of species 

 capital initial letters catch the eye so much more readily than 

 small letters, that I would never advocate the use of the latter. 

 On the other hand, except in columns or series, no specific name 

 should ever stand by itself without, at least, the initial letter of 

 its genus before it. W. F. KiRBY, Zoological Dept. British 

 Museum, April 30, 1883. 



Staudinger spells the species with a capital, and it seems to 

 be the practice in England. I am like the old man with the ass 

 in the fable. When I quoted the author of the combinations, 

 like Le Conte and Packard, Prof Riley called my Hst " immoral." 

 Now, I have a "vicious habit," though I have abandoned the 

 custom first complained of. Mr. W. H. Edwards spells the specific 

 names of the butterflies with a capital. I suppose what holds for 

 the one does for the other. Is there anything else? A. R. Grote. 



ERRATA. 



The following sentence in my communication on the capital- 

 izing of specific names (p. 62) was written with the bracket portions 

 and should be so read. ''The capitalizing of specific names is 

 almost as bad and fully as unnecessary and confusing as the use 

 of the lower-case letters [for generic names] which has come into 

 vogue among some catalogue[r]s." C. V. RiLEY. 



