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fall l)y their description, as that is the only true puV)lication of 

 the species ; if the description is inadequate the species must 

 fall, and it should be merely a matter of curiosity to seai'ch 

 for an author's original specimen in order to find out what he 

 meant by his imperfect description. Rewards should be given 

 for good work and Punishments for bad work. 



In the " Canadian Entomologist " of last month Mr. William 

 Ashmead is responsible for the following announcement : — - 



"The following generic names in the Hymenoptera, alpha- 

 betically arranged, being pre-occupied in other groups of 

 zoology, must be changed, and I propose for them the following 

 names." Then follow sixteen names in seventeen lines with 

 a bare proposition of sixteen other names. These sixteen 

 names -proposed — ^I purposely emphasise the word "proposed" 

 — are at the utmost " Catalogue Names." Mr. Ashmead has 

 not described a single one of those genera, nor has he shewn 

 how any genus is distinguished from its allies, nor does he 

 in any way prove that his supposed pre-existing genus ever 

 had any sound position, nor does he give any clue as to what 

 species might be considered typical for his new generic names, 

 cor, above all, does he shew that he knows anything at 

 all what he is writing about more than anybody who is abso- 

 lutely ignorant of any knowledge concerning Hymenoptera. 

 I have dignified his names as "Catalogue Names," but in my 

 opinion they are not worthy of even that rank, but are simply 

 paper or rubbish names, and as such they possess no priority 

 rank or status of any kind. I am not a Hymenopterist, but 

 I could have suggested all such names in Hymenoptera by 

 picking up Scudder's " Nomenclator," or if I caught sight of 

 names which were said — -mind, which were said — to have been 

 otherwise previously used. If any Hymenopterist when 

 dealing with the descriptions chooses to use any of those 

 "proposed" generic names he may do so, but he ought to 

 take the name as a simple suggestion, and if he omitted to 

 notice the proposal it could not possibly affect any name 

 which he might impose on such a genus, because he could 

 most clearly state that he had never found any description 

 of (say) the genus Br acliy cranium, and even if he accepted 

 the designation it would simply be accepted from a proposed 



