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IV. On the naming of Local Races. Subspecies, Aberrations, 

 Seasonal Forms, etc. By Lord Rothschild. F. I { .S., 

 etc. 



[Read February 6th, 1918.] 



In the " Entomological News," vol. xxviii, pp. 463-67, 

 Sir George Hampson has an article on "The Determina- 

 tion of Generic Types in the Lepidoptera." In the last 

 paragraph he protests against what he calls the " insidious 

 German specific polynomial nomenclature," and says 

 it is unnecessary to name local, seasonal, sexual, poly- 

 morphic and other forms. Nevertheless, he proceeds to 

 say that when dealing with a species they must all be 

 described. He further adds that no such thing as a 

 "" Subspecies " exists in nature, and if the term is used, 

 it is only a proof of ignorance. 



These statements only prove that Sir George Hampson 

 has utterly failed to grasp the meaning of the term " Sub- 

 species," and also has misunderstood the main objects of 

 Zoological Nomenclature. 



I will deal with the last question first. In my opinion 

 and that of the bulk of my zoological acquaintances " Zoo- 

 logical Nomenclature " has been established to enable 

 the students of this branch of knowledge to communicate 

 their ideas in speech and writing in the most concise. 

 clearest and most orderly manner. 



Now we all, I think, take our starting-point from 

 Linnaeus, and he was the first to name local races, invent- 

 ing for them the term varietas. If this were the end of 

 (!n' question, I would be the first to range myself under 

 the Linnean Banner, but subsequent writers have used 

 the term " variety," " varietas," to mean indiscrimin- 

 ately local race, and individual aberration, and therefore 

 I and most other zoologists have determined, backed up 

 by the International Commission on Nomenclature, to 

 reject the term " varietas " altogether and to substitute 

 the term aberration for an individual variation or mon- 

 strosity, and subspecies for local = geographical 

 hack. Thus Sir George Hampson himself acknowledges, 

 in spite of his denial quoted above, that SUBSPECIES no 

 exist in Nature, for he acknowledges the existence of 

 local races but proves himself unable to grasp that 

 subspecies and local race are one and the same thing. 



TRANS. ENT. SOC LOND. 1918. — PARTS I, II. (DEC.) 



