120 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Thalassidroma bulwerii ; and Sabine's snipe, Scolopax sahini, 

 Vigors ; or turn round and see Richardson's skua, Bonaparte's 

 gull {Larus honapartii, Audubon), &c. : all of which remind me 

 of many a pleasant day's collecting. 



Were I to take Botany or Conchology these individual names 

 would be so numerous that your readers would soon say — hold, 

 enough. 



Linnseus, the inventor of the binominal system, had few 

 preceding or contemporaneous entomologists to honour ; but 

 what he had he utilised, — Reaumur, Swammerdara, Leuwenhoeck, 

 Frisch, Roesel, DeGeer, Clerck, Geoffroy, &c. ; all appear, as 

 named by him, in our lists to-day. 



I think that even the objectors to this system of nomenclature 

 have enough before them to show precedent for giving names in 

 honour of those fellow- workers in science whom we may admire. 



Rose Bank, Fletcher Grove, Edge Lane, Liverpool, Feb. 10, 1885. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES, CAPTURES, &c. 



Scientific Nomenclature. — As Mr. Chitty says, the custom 

 of naming new species and varieties after individuals is a most 

 objectionable one, and gives infinite trouble and annoyance to 

 those who come after. It is difficult enough to remember 

 reasonable names, without having one's memory taxed with a 

 lot of names which are difficult to spell, difficult to remember, 

 and in the case of some of the Russian names, at any rate, 

 western entomogists find, almost impossible to pronounce. Nor 

 is the malady confined to entomologists ; every branch of Natural 

 History is infested with these objectionable names. I take up, 

 for instance, a copy of Kobelt's list of European shells, and at 

 once I am met with such names as Forchthammeri, Kickxii, 

 Krynickii, Karplnskyi, Erjavecl, Pals ky ana, and so on ad 

 infinitum. And since these foreign names are so difficult for us 

 to remember and so hard to pronounce, we must not forget that 

 the English names are very likely equally annoying to foreigners. 

 — T. D. A. Cockerell; 51, Woodstock Road, Bedford Park, W., 

 February, 1855. 



