June— July 1SS4.] 



PSYCHE. 



185 



PSYCHE. 



CAMBRIDGE, MASS., JUNE-JULY 1S84. 



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REVIEW. 



More than two years ago we received, by 

 the courtesy of Professor J : H : Comstock, a 

 copy of his "(A fragment of a) Guide to 

 practical work in elementai-y entomology" 

 [Rec, 350S]. We were then disposed to 

 write a critical review of the pamphlet, as re- 

 gards its orismology, but did not publish 

 it. We are now favored with a contribution 

 from one of Mr. Comstock's pupils, in which 

 this orismology is used. We notice, how- 

 ever, two deviations, in this article, from tlic 

 terms recommended b^' Mr. Comstock, and 

 thereby the most serious objections to the 

 nomenclature are obviated. These deviations 

 are in the use of the adverbial forms cephalad 

 and caudad with also an adjectival signifi- 

 cance. It seemed to us too absurd for tolera- 

 tion to be required by this orismology to 

 "speak of the caudal part of the head or of 

 the cephalic portion of the tail." If however, 

 we speak of the caudad part of the head and 

 the cephalad portion of the tail, we only in- 

 troduce new words into the language, which 

 is always permissible and cannot cause con- 

 fusion. Otherwise the introduction of the 

 proposed terms cannot cause harm, and maj' 

 do good; indeed, if it is found that in any 

 way terms may be introduced which are more 

 "brief, simple, exact, significant," and more 



widely applicable than former terms, good is 

 certainly accomplished. It is proper to say 

 that these terms are adopted by Mr. Com- 

 stock from a more comprehensive series pro- 

 posed by Professors Wilder and Gage, and 

 are not original with him. We have looked 

 through the article by Mr. Krauss, to which 

 we have referred, with the idea of determining 

 the necessity for the new nomenclature. We 

 do not find any passage where terms formerly 

 in use, such as above, below, before, behind, 

 would not be as intelligible as the new terms ; 

 but, on the other hand, they would not be 

 more intelligible except that they are more 

 familiar, a difference which disappears with 

 use. We do not imagine that any entomolo- 

 gist would lay an insect on its back or stand it 

 on its head to describe it, using corresponding 

 terms descriptive of position, and Mr. Com- 

 stock admits that with any system of nomen- 

 clature we must first agree what to consider 

 the normal position of the parts of an insect: 

 that being admitted, the choice is mainly a 

 verbal one. The use of the term meson, 

 however, and its derivatives, we find to be a 

 valuable addition to entomological orismo- 

 logy. 



The second chapter of the work is taken up 

 with a description of Caloptcnus fcmuyru- 

 hrum, unfortunately called a "grasshopper," 

 and described as having a "caudal leg" and 

 "cephalic wings." The idea of using a 

 locust for this illustrative chapter is borrowed 

 from Dr. W. K. Brooks. The description 

 is excellent; we commend it to teachers 

 and students, but think older forms of ex- 

 pression could be substituted with advan- 

 tage in a sentence like the following, whose 

 peculiar terms are based upon the very nat- 

 ural assumption that the locust is standing 

 on his legs and holding his head in the 

 only position it can then assume without 

 being pulled oft": — 



"Upon eiicli side joining the pseudo-ventral [lower] 

 end nf the suture just described and the pseudo-ventral 

 [lower] end of the one which extends pseudo-ventrad 

 [downwards] from the compound eye is a well marked 

 suture, which forms the pseudo-ventral [lower] border 

 of the lateral part of the epicranium."— p. 20. 



B: P. M. 



