107 



practically to revert to pre-Linnean methods (though I confess 

 I cannot sec how or why this is the case) is realh' begging the 

 question. There is no imaginable reason against reverting to a 

 pre-Linnean, or an antediluvian, or even a pre-Adamite plan, 

 if it can be shown to be a good or useful one. The possible 

 abuses of the system are obvious on the surface, but of the two 

 most glaring objections, one. whi( h may be called the mercenary 

 one, has already been met by the rejection of sale-catalogue 

 names, and the other, the synonymic, can be as effectually met 

 by the National and International Committees now suggested. 

 If collectors regard the multiplication of such names as a nui- 

 sance, the simple reply is that they are not intended to be used 

 by them. It is to the student of variation and to the biologist 

 alone that thc\' are of value ; ver\' small differences will some- 

 times show the " directions of variation " in a species, and those 

 variations occasionally point out quite unexpected affinities : 

 all these are registered hv aberrational names. It would re- 

 quire another (and perha})s even more tedious) paper to work 

 this matter out in detail, and I do not propose now to do more 

 than enter a plea for the fullest recognition of the purjiosc and 

 utility of such names. 



The second point I would urge is one much more likely to 

 meet with popular approval. It is that, as far as possible, parallel 

 variation in related species should be known by the same varietal 

 or aberrational name. The objection that a man cannot de- 

 scribe what he has not seen appears to me absolutely childish. 

 Many parallel variations are known to occur, and if the\' have 

 as yet only been observed in certain species, why should not a 

 name already given to some form of \'ariation in those species 

 be automatically applied to the same form in related species, if 

 found in them at a date later than that of the name ? CouR- 

 VOISIER's names for tht' man\- jxirallel aberration^ of tht' L\-ca'nid> 

 are a case in point, but my meaning will prrhajis he be ttrr 

 illustrated by another instance In the Bulletin dc la Société 

 lépidoptérologique de Genève (vol. i., p. 262), Rinn'oi's describid 

 and figured an aberration í)f Mclitcva athalia in whii h the grountl 

 colour was white instead of fulvous. This he ajitlx nanud ah. 

 alba, and stated that hr u>r(l tin- name to apjily not ti> tlii> 

 species onl\', but to similar wiiiatinn in othrr >jic( ii> as wtli. 



