PREFACE 



It is a complaint all too common among those 

 who are beginning the study of the biological 

 sciences that they can make little satisfactory 

 progress in the pronunciation of the numerous 

 scientific names and terms they must use. Their 

 path is made thorny by the fact that advanced 

 students and even many teachers of scientific 

 studies, to whom they look for guidance, mispro- 

 nounce, often atrociously, many of the terms. Per- 

 haps all, both students and teachers, would gladly 

 improve their pronunciation if they could find 

 ready at hand some small but adequate book of 

 reference. 



In response to the demand of these multitudes, 

 I have prepared, with some misgivings and hesita- 

 tion, this handy pronouncing guide. It includes 

 not only a host of the most commonly used and 

 often mispronounced technical terms, but also 

 the better known generic names of plants and 

 animals and numerous Latin adjectives and ad- 

 jectival compounds used as specific or trivial 

 names. As a special aid to learning, with each 

 specific name is given its original Greek or Latin 

 meaning or English equivalent. 



Acceptable pronunciation of each word is indi- 

 cated, by its division into parts (not necessarily 

 syllables) by means of hyphens, by accent, and by 

 diacritical marks. The preferred pronunciation is, 



