﻿X NOTE TO SECOND EDITION. 



eminent naturalist of Philadelphia stated that in the present condition of 

 nomenclature the commoii name of an animal was oftentimes more reli- 

 able than the scientific one ! Now, while these rectifications are in many 

 cases essential, the names themselves are of little consequence to those 

 M^ho are to learn the brief outlines of the subject, and in this work it is 

 desired to teach only a few characters of the snail, insect, spider, worm, 

 and the like. The names learned to-day would, with few exceptions, 

 be of no use ten years hence. More than this, they would be an abso- 

 lute hinderance. 



Gladiolus remains gladiolus. Verbena has been verbena for a long 

 time, and even Calla persists, when its true name is Richardia. Mya 

 is still Mya^ but Natica^ as applied to the large beach-snail, is now Lu- 

 natia. That teachers may fully appreciate how rapidly these names 

 change, the following examples are given : The shell, figured on page 23, 

 was known to the author not many years ago as Pyrula ; since then it 

 has been called Fulgar^ Buaycon^ and now it is called Sycotycus ! In 

 Gould's "Invertebrata" the author used to study the following species, 

 among others, under the genus Buccinum^ which are given in the first 

 column, the second column indicating the new generic names w^iich 

 stand for the same species at the date of going to press: 



Buccinum undatum, Buccinum undatum. 



" obsoletum, Ilyanassa obsoleta. 



" trivittatum, Tritia trivittata. 



" plicosum, Eurosalpinx cinerea. 



'' rosaceum, Astyris rosacea. 



" vibex. Nassa vibex. 



An extreme instance might be given regarding one of the most 

 common animals of our coast, the sea-urchin. This creature is still 

 known by many as Echinvs granulatits^ this name being given within 

 twelve years by Agassiz in his "Methods of Study in Natural History." 

 The following list shows the successive changes in its name since that 

 time : 



Echinus granulatus, Toxopneustes drobachiensis, 



Euryechinus granulatus, Euryechinus drobachiensis; 



and, at the date of going to press, this unfortunate creature bears the 

 name of 



Steongylocenteotus drobachiensis I ! ! 



and yet, this little animal will be known by the name of sea-urchin long 

 after the time when the systematists and their distracting nomenclature 

 shall have been forgotten. E. S. M. 



Salem, Mass., October 12, 1875. 



