SCIENTIFIC XAMES — FORM. 151 



the group of aniraals to which we now restrict the name, and so far the 

 idea suggested by these terminations is apphcable to the case. It may 

 be noticed that it is customary to use -iadie for all words ending in -ia, as 

 Crania, Craniadae, and for all others to affix -id(e to the ti-ue stem, as 

 Mactra, Mactridae ; Helix, Hehcidse ; Bos, Boridae. As usual this rule is 

 sometimes, though without reason, infi-inged, as in Cerithium, Cerithiadae ; 

 Area, Arcadae. 



Something, also, must be said about specific names, which are not 

 adjectives. First among these are the so-called compHmentaiy names, 

 used in the genitive case. When the name of a modem man or woman 

 is to be Latinised, the usual plan is to add -us or -iiis, as may be most 

 euphonious, for the one, and -a or -ia for the other, with the ordinary 

 genitives. This, of course, does not apply to complimentary generic 

 names, e.g., Linnaea, Hookeria, which are always feminine. Thus, 

 Rafflesia Arnoldi means" Arnold's Eafflesia," and commemorates not only 

 Dr. Joseph Arnold, its discoverer, but also Sir Stamford Raffles, the 

 Grovemor of Sumatra at the time of its discovery ; in Lepidiian Smithii 

 two fs are used to produce a smoother sound ; NitojihyUum Hutchinsice is 

 Miss Hutchins' Nitophyllum. These should always be spelled with a 

 capital letter, as also should adjectives derived from proper names, but 

 in this latter respect practice differs. Both Silene Anglica and S. anglica 

 are found, and some have even ventured to write hookerianus. It may be 

 presumed that this hcense, so foreign to both the Enghsh and the 

 classical tongues, has been imported from the Continent, as it is in 

 accordance with the usage of the French and other languages. Still 

 another class of specific names should be written with a capital initial, 

 those which are nouns in the nominative case, which have been for the 

 most part originally the names of genera, as in Potentilla Tornientilla, 

 Poterium Sanguisorha, Hipparehia Tithonus. The last two instances show 

 pointedly that these, not being adjectives, do not necessarily agree in 

 gender with the generic name. There is, finally, the class represented 

 by Pieris brassicce, which means the Pieris " of the cabbage," because the 

 larva of that butterfly feeds upon the cabbage. These should, properly, 

 not be spelled with a capital, (though this is sometimes done.) and are in 

 the genitive case, either singular or plural. They are most common 

 among the names of Lepidoptera, as Anthocharis cardamines. Sphinx 

 convolvuli, Tliecla quercus, but are not wanting in other places. Thus 

 Rosa dumetorum means the rose " of the thickets ;" JLcidium compositarum, 

 the ^cidium " of the Compositae ;" and, to take an example from the 

 " Midland Naturahst " of March, Amphistoma hominis, the Amphistoma 

 " of man." 



In order to fmd out the meaning of a scientific term, it is necessary 

 for one not accustomed to the search to form first some idea of the kind 

 of word he has in hand, in doing which it is hoped the previous observa- 

 tions will be of use. The word should then be looked out in the 

 dictionary as a whole ; if it be not found, as will very often be the case, 

 it must next be considered what are its probable component parts. In 

 this the inserted i or o is of great assistance, nor should the help which 



