Orthography of Names of the Natades. 235 
ARTICLE VIII.—ORTHOGRAPHY OF NAMES OF 
THE NAIADES. 
By JosuA LINDAHL (CINCINNATI). 
The current literature on the fresh-water mussels, more 
than any other branch of zoology, is so filled with glaring 
orthographic blunders, that it seems necessary that something 
be done, without further delay, toward establishing a fixed 
basis for spelling the scientific names of the 1,200 species and 
varieties which, according to Stmpson’s Synopsis*, belong to 
the world’s fauna of the said group. More than one-fifth of 
them are now generally written wrong, in defiance of the rules 
for the orthography of such names. These rules are set down 
in a series of Canons and Recommendations in the Code of 
Nomenclature, adopted first by the American Ornithologists’ 
Union (New York, 1892). The following have a particular 
bearing on the corrections which I am going to present. 
Canon VIII.—Proper names of species, and of sub- 
species or “‘ varieties,’ are single words, simple or com- 
pound, preferably adjectival or genitival, or taken as such, 
when practicable agreeing in gender and number with 
any generic name with which they are associated in 
binominal or trinominal nomenclature, and written with 
a small initial letter. 
CaNon XXX.--Specific names when adopted as generic 
are not to be changed. 
CANON XL.—The original typography of a name is to 
be rigidly preserved, unless a typographical error is 
evident. 
*Synopsis of the Naiades, or Pearly Fresh-Water Mussels. By Charles Torrey 
Simpson, Aid, Division of Mollusks. From the Proceedings of the United States 
National Museum, Vol. XXII, Washington, 1900. 
Jour. Cin. Soc. NaT. Hist., Vou. XX, No. 5. PRINTED FEBRUARY I, 1906. 
