124 SCIENTIFIC NAMES FORM. 



the stem, as in library. The knowledge and application of these 



few facts alone woiold save many a blunder which now appears even 



in print. For instance, one of the commonest mistakes, so common 



that the Kev. M. J. Berkeley mentions it expressly in his " Outhnes 



of British Fungology," is to say " a Fungi." By what has been said, it 



will be seen that Fungi is the Latin plural of, Fungiis ; it is as correct, 



therefore, to say " a Fungi," as it would be to say " a Funguses." One 



great source of error is the fact, that the singular of the first declension 



and the neuter plural of the second have the same ending -a. But to 



decide to which of these a word ending in -a belongs, it is only necessary 



to consider whether it is singular or plural. This would prevent such 



mistakes as to use cilioe as the plural of cilia ; so with septum and septa, 



infusorium and infusoria, phytozoon and phytozoa. The non-existent 



words infusoricB and i)'hytozo(e may be seen in weU-known chemical and 



botanical handbooks respectively. 



Generic names are always nouns, and their gender, consequently, is 



invariable ; specific names are mostly adjectives, and can then vary in 



gender, but otherwise they resemble nouns. 



Adjectives. 



Singular. 



m. /. n. 



-us -a -um 



-er -ra -ruin 



In the classical languages it was the rvile that an adjective must 

 agree in gender, number, and case with the noun to which it refers. 

 Compare Baplianus maritimus, Crambe maritima, and Alyssum marUimuvi. 

 Consequently, when a species is transferred from one genus to another of 

 different gender, an adjectival specific name must be altered, if neces- 

 sary, to correspond. Thus there is a plant called Leontodon hirtus. From 

 this we see at once that Leontodon is masculine ; but the plant is some- 

 times placed in the genus Thrincia, which is feminine ; its name must 

 then be Thrincia hirta. Some of the first men of science have occa- 

 sionally neglected this, and produced monstrosities, by the side of 

 which the botanist's pet name for a common roadside weed, Dockia 

 roadHidtim, would not appear utterly disreputable. It will be 

 noticed that adjectives ending in -er generally di-op the e in the other 

 genders, as Orohus niger, Samhucus nigra, (because the elder is a tree,) 

 Solarium nignim ; but those ending in -fer and -ger, as well as asper and 

 lacer, retain the e, as Sonchus asper, Chara aspera, and Gaatridiinn 

 lendigerum. Most of the names of the large divisions of the animal and 

 vegetable kingdoms are adjectives, agi-eeing with some noun understood. 

 Thus, nearly aU the names of the Natural Orders of plants are feminine 

 plural, agreeing with planttc, plants, and those of animals, (except fishes,) 

 neuter plural, agreeing with animalia, animals. Examples are Cruciferse, 

 cross-bearing plants, and Eotifera, wheel-bearing animals. Young students 

 almost always forget the fact that these are plural, and talk of " a 

 Kanunculacea;," " a Polyzoa," &c., which are as bad as " a Fungi." 

 There is sometimes a dilficulty in finding a suitable English singular 

 for these words, but it must be done, and can be done in various ways, 

 as a ranunculuccous plant, a crucifer, a polyzoou, a rotifer, and so on. 



[to be continuep.] 



