mean nothing. I have to teach my students the 'binomial' system 

 of nomenclature and after they have worked with animals a short time, 

 I am forced to admit that the system is not binomial and the so-called 

 scientific name is not as permanent as the common name. The whole 

 situation is so outrageous, that I feel like annihilating certain offend- 

 ing systematists." 



The Royal Academy of Belgium has just issued a volume of over 

 800 pages entitled Les variations et leur heredite chez les mollusques, by 

 Dr. Paul Pelseneer. The author is one of the world's leading 

 authorities on mollusca. He is the author of moUusca in Lankaster's 

 "Treatise on Zoology." In glancing through Pelseneer's ponderous 

 work one finds the general use of old generic names. Helix is the 

 leading term with twenty-two modern generic names in brackets and 

 many others whose modern generic names are suppressed. Lamelli- 

 branchs is good enough for him, the awkward name Pekcypoda does 

 not appear. A glance at the exhaustive indices indicates the con- 

 servative attitude of this distinguished malacologist. 



29 



