TRINOMIALS 219 



them " sub-species " and giving each a special name. 

 Again, too, if sub-species why not sub-sub-species, any 

 number of subs, in fact ? 



I suppose you are committed to use " Vole," but I 

 hope you will give due prominence to the fact that it is 

 only the Orkneyan way of pronouncing and spelHng what 

 in most parts of England is called Fell, and comes from 

 the Old Norsk f joll — modern fjeld. Its first use is " Vole- 

 Maus," i.e. Fell-Mouse, and in England the beast's 

 common name is Field-Mouse, It was some learned 

 donkey who thought of dropping the essential Mouse, 

 and leaving the bare Vole, not knowing, of course, what 

 the latter really stood for.* 



Already a year later he admitted that there were 

 worse things even than trinomials, trifles though they 

 were. 



I thought you might appreciate that reproduction of 

 WoUey's sketch, and I am glad you do so, trifle as it is 

 — but then the world is made up of trifles, and from 

 some the more we can free ourselves the better. Of this 

 kind are trinomials, motor-cars, hymns, and cats — the 

 last perhaps the worst of all, for there is no avoiding 

 them. Until I am run down by a motor-car I shan't 

 much mind, and when I am run down I suppose I shall 

 be finished and so mind still less.f 



* Letter to G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton, April 21, 1904. 

 t Letter to J. A. Harvie-Brown, April 5, 1905. 



