108 MEAGRE DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME NEW SPECIES, .<4c. 



contemporarv penus, C'olias; so we have also Colias Argante, Hiibner, and as his genera Phoebis and Mnrtia are also contemporary with 

 ■ the above, arid embrace insects structurally the same as in his (atopsilia and Colias, we then also have Phahis Arr/anle, Hubner, ami 

 Mtirtia ArgaiiU; Ilubner, and later Dr. Boisduval placed ^riya>i/e in his genus C'allidryas, where we have Catlidryns- Argante of that 

 author. Again, of Pararge .l/«era, Linnceus' species: During tlie lime that has elapsed since Linnseus tirst described it as Pupilio 

 Maera, it has been Dira Maera, Pararge Maera, Satgrus Maera, Lasivmmata Maera, llipparehia Mncra and ,l»i<w/o Maera. Is this not 

 enon<;li to condemn a system which could only have had its foundation on personal vanity? It is a very convenient thing for the 

 author of a new genus founded, in most instances, on some intinitesimal jioint, to place in it the species of Linna?us, Kabricius, Hubner, 

 etc., etc., and then to allach his own name to each species so pirated, or else to re.surrect some obsolete or fortioiten genus and to crowd 

 into it the specie-s of various authors, living and ilead, and behind each such combination to jilace the name of the industrious researcher 

 who e.xluimed from the dust on the top shelfof some library the doubtful genus. This procedure is i)recisely analogous to that of a sign- 

 painter ]ila(ing a picture of Rembrandt's in a frame of somebody or other's make, and erasing the artist's name from the picture and 

 the maker's from the back of the frame, and then imtling his own more important name across the face of both picture and frame, and 

 of course rendering both valueless by the liiileous defacement. 



The specific name is and always will be the abiding caic, always standing intact, the one by which we designate the object, though 

 banilied from genus to genus ; the generic luime is eplunieral, — a thing, as it were, of today — therefore it is of the utmost consequence 

 that the authority for liie species be given, diiubly necessary on the account of the hosts of synonyms which, with frightful recklessness, 

 ambitious aspirants are continually overloading science. 



.Vs regards the " catalogues which are always at hand," that may be so in large cities blessed with such Entomological Libraries as 

 that of the Acad. Nat. .Sc. of riiiladelpliia, or the Peabody Institute of Haliimore, etc., or where the student fortmuitely pos-esses ample 

 means to enable him to obtain all the requisite literature; but to the less fortunate, but perhaps e<|ually zealous student, who neither 

 lives in a large city nor is ble.'scd lor cursed, as demagogues preach,) with wealth, it would be in the highest degree inconvenient, for 

 when we see the species' name wo want to know something about it, why so named, where founil, etc., — facts which generally are only 

 fully recorded in the original ilcscription, ami which we like to sec ourselves and not depend entirely on otliers, however reliable. 



As the iearneil Dr. says, " whether the author's name remains connected permanently with his oliservation, or not, is a 

 matter of small importance. " Infortunately, were that same name not to the species many and many an error now rectified would be 

 still undetected ; the ill with the good we must lake, and tolerate the jiitifnl vanity that inthiences some to consider that the- name placed 

 behind their species should be printed in golden i brazen I letters, in order to eventually arrive at the truth. Finally, 1 would add that 

 not only should the author of the .specific name be added, but also the work, vol. and page in which his species was first described should 

 be cited ; this would save many precious hours to those who, too often, are obliged to encroach on time that should be devoted to lucra- 

 tive pursuits, in order to pursue their unremunerative but beloved and fascinating studies. 



Feb. :22, 187o. 



