Ixxviii PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



a different name, and persist in so calling it, what an endless con- 

 fusion most arise ! 



" Let us examine a little what are the fundamental laws of 

 entomological nomenclature. 



" I. The name first given to an insect by printed publication is 

 always that which is to be retained. 



" As a general law this is not denied ; indeed it is the funda- 

 mental rule in all branches of Natural History ; but there are 

 certain exceptions raised to this rule by some Lepidopterologists. 



" 1st. That a name, if erroneously given or ungrammatically 

 constructed, may be amended or changed. 



" 2nd. That no two species of the same main group should 

 bear the same specific name. 



" 3rd. That the name of a Geometra must end in aria, of a 

 Pyralis in alis, of a Tortrix in ana, of a Tinea in ella. 



" We will examine these three exceptions seriatim. 



" 1st. A name, if erroneoushj given or ungrammatically con- 

 structed, may be amended or changed. 



" Thus, as the Linnaean Tinea Padella does not feed on Prunus 

 padus, and another allied species does feed on it, two eminent 

 German Lepidopterologists have conceived themselves at liberty 

 to change its name, and while one calls it agnatella, the other 

 calls it variabilis. Herein both are manifestly wrong ; and I be- 

 lieve all Entomologists will agree with me, that to change a name 

 because it is incorrect, — whether, as in this instance, from its 

 implying a habit which the insect does not possess, — whether 

 from its not possessing some peculiar termination, — or whether 

 from its being erroneously or ungrammatically constructed, — is to 

 enter an interminable waste of complexity ; for how are persons 

 to be persuaded to agree as to what constitutes an incorrectness ? 

 The meaning or formation of a name is of incomparably less im- 

 portance than the acceptance of the name itself, the change of a 

 name being a greater evil than the currency of one erroneously or 

 ungrammatically constructed. 



" 2nd. No two species in the same main group should bear the 

 same specific name. 



"I ask why? and am told it creates confusion. Are, then, 

 Lepidopterists so much more subject to be confused by repetition 

 of names than students in other branches of Natural History? In 

 Botany have we not, for instance, an alpina in numberless genera? 

 and is it not simpler for the memory to retain this name than if 

 we had a different specific name in each genus, intended to desig- 

 nate an alpine habitat for the plant? And turning to insects, how 



