102 EUD^MONIA JEHOVAH. 



Eudcenumia Semiramis, Hiibner, Verzeichnisz Bekannter Schmetterlinge, 151, 1585 (1816). 



Walker, Cat. B. M., VI, p. 1265 (1855). 

 Copiopteryx Semiramis, Duncan, Naturalists' I.iibrary, VIT, 125 (1841). 

 Eudamonia Phcenix, DeyroUe, in Maassen's Beitrage zur SclimetterliagBkuiide, Heft I, fig. 5, ? 



figs. 6, 7, c^ (1869). Anu. de. la. Soc. Ent. Belg., T. XII, 1 (1869). 

 Aricia Phamix, Felder, Isovara, T. 92, 1 9. 

 Derceto, Maassen, Beitrage Schmett., figs. 13, 14, d (1872). 



Since tlie pulilicition of this sjHcies there have heen objections urged tothe fpeciiie name bywiiich I h.ive designated it, and in some 

 few instances from sources for which I )iave every lonsideration, hut in the major part from those whose good or ill opinion weighs alike 

 with me ; to the former only are my jiresent words addressed. 



One friend, in ohjecling, writes thus: " Tlie name brings up to serious and contemplative minds everything that is sacred;" if 

 such be tlie case, tlien indeed am I baiipy in my selection, for methinks anything that would lead us to think of tlie Creator, and 

 would lake our thoughts away from the contemplation of the mimes with which he has peopled the earth, cannot but be well; and what 

 better than to relied an sacred things, — on the evidences of the majesty and power of the Su])reme Being? Even as I write, thoughts 

 arise of Nineveli in her niagniticence, of her utter destruction, of the writing by an unearthly hand on the wall in the Babylonic jialace ; 

 and visions of oM Kgyjit's temples rise up — of the first-born smitten, in that awful night by the death-Angel's hand, in every liome 

 throughout the land — of tlie children of Israel guided by llie fiery pillar — of the destruction of Pharaoh's army — of the Pyramids of 

 Cheops, of Karnak, and of their desolation — of the researches of Champollion and Gliddon, of the cpiiet resting-place of the latter in 

 his vault in Laurel Hill Cemetery, where he lias meet company in Drs. Morton, Wilson and Kane. 



Why may not the Hebrew word, used t(j designate the Suiireme Being, be bestowed on a species as well as the Hindostanee, which 

 latter has several times been applied to species* and once to a genus ?f Is it because our conventional ears are more familiar with the 

 former tlian with the latter? Had 1 used the term Pay-ah-taw'yah, it is scarcely likely that much objection would have been raised, 

 and yet this is the word used by Dr. .Judson to express ".leliovah " in his translation of the siiored writings into the Burman language. 



It certainly cannot be more ofleusive to apply sacred names to animals than to persons, and in Spanish countries almost every 

 tenth person is surnamed .lesus, jironounced by them, H'ezoos ; this may sound shockingly irreverent to the fastidious ears of Americans, 

 but 1 doubt much if the Hidalgoes who bear the name of the second person of the Godhead would feel at all elated to know that their 

 sponsors had acted with irreverence, and that they themselves, on account of their names, were living oflenses against decency and good 

 taste, — and they, too, the most devout and punctilious people on the face of the earth. 



That there should be any reasonable objection to the bestowal of the Creator's name on one of the most interesting of His works, 

 1 cannot possibly surmise, and the only cause (^f ofi'ense, in scientific nomenclature, is given where the terms are orthograjihically or 

 etymologically incorrect, or where nature's noble works are degraded to the vile purpose of charioting into notice the names of obscure 

 individuals whose (miy merit in the case was in giving the det^criber a dinner or lending him money ; or what is worse still, to att.ach 

 to scientific objects the names of political demagogues; this is, without doubt, the vilest of all, es]iecially in our own country where 

 political eminence is now solely attained by the most corrupt means, and success ensured only by the sacrifice of every principle of 

 hon(^ur and honesty. 



There are names enough still left in the grand annals of past history and science, without having recourse to those of persons who, 

 however estimable, have no claims for scientific honours. 



There have been hints that, notwithstanding the claims of priority, the specific name I have used will not be accepted ; should 

 such be the case, and the name eniploye<) by me ignored, it matters nothing, as the species is now known and my work a.s regards it 

 completed in the figuring and description, as far, at least, as at present possible to me, and whether it be known hereafter by the 

 name I have used, or by another, can be of no possible moment. 



.\8 genera are each year becoming more and more divided and sub-divided, some aspirant for scientific fame may make of each 

 species, comprised at present in Eudaemcuiia, a new genus, as there is, without doubt, the diftierence of a brush-hair in the details of 

 the several species; of course, the author of the new arrangement would place his own name to the combination, and in that case the 

 present species would be the tmly instance in which the name of the compiler would be secondary to that of the object, though, of 

 course, no one could doubt that even then the great synonymist would make a mental reservation in favour of his own superiority. 



In a recent interesting jiaper on Ent. nomenclature by Dr. .T. Leconte, in that influential organ, the Canadian Entomologist, the 

 author concludes with the following: "Unfortunately, under the influence of personal peculiarities, the exriteiuent of political 

 .struggles," etc., " names are sometimes proposed which are in the highest degree oflensive."J -Vfter the word " ofl'en.sive " is an a.sterisk 

 (*) which directs us to a foot-note by Mr. Wm. Saunders, the able editor of the periodical, who doubtless fearing that the reader might 

 .suppose the author alluded to such names as Honioptera Saundersii, Leucanthiza Saundersella, and oihei-s of the same nature, gives as 

 the lienetit of his conjecture, that " the author here evidently alludes to such names as Pleocoma Stati^ P^udoemonia Jehovah, and others 

 of the same nature." 



Profes.aor Huxley somewhere says : " Hapjuly, the reputation and »eal succeas of a votary of the physical .sciences are now 

 wholly independent of the periodicals which are jdeased to call themselves " influential organs of public opinion ; " the only opinion 

 he need care about — if he care for any, and he it all the wiser and happier i/' he care for none — is that of about a dozen men ; two or three 

 in these islands, as many in America, and half a dozen on the Continent. If these think well of his work, his reputation is secure from 

 all the attacks of all the "able editors" of all the "infiuential organs" put together." 



SAM I A EURYALUS. Boisduval. 



Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. Ill, 2me Ser. xxxii (1855). 



Morris, Cat. Lep. N. Am., p. 21 (I860;. 



Walker, C. B. M., part XX-\II, p. 525 (1865). 



Samia Euryale, Packard, Prt>ceedings Ent. Soc. Phil., Vol. Ill, p. 380 (1864). 



Saturnia Cianothi, Behr, Proc. California Academy of Sciences, Vol. Ill, part IV (previous to September, 186"). 



Plalijsamia Cali/oniicu, Grote. 



*Ite>da Brahma, Moore, Cat. Lep., E. 1. C, I, p. 29, T. 1 (1857). 



Papilio Brama, (iuerin. Rev. Zool., p. 43, T. 1 (1840). 

 tBralumea, Walker, C. B. M., VI, p. 1315. 

 J I have only (pioted portions of the two concluding paragraphs of the article. 



