cl 
The inhabitants of this land were interested in many animals, 
and to distinguish them from one another they gave every 
animal not only one but even two names. If in those days 
a collector caught a hawk moth, he could be almost certain 
that it belonged to the genus Sphinx. But soon the imper- 
fections of this system became apparent. To the scientists 
of Nomenclatoria the genera appeared too large, so they were 
divided, and the divided ones subdivided, and continually 
changed, until after the lapse of several decades every second 
species had its own genus. 
Then the specific names had to be changed and new ones 
erected, so as to describe all the newly discovered aberrations 
and variations. One scientist had the ingenious idea of 
transposing the syllables, 7. e. for variations of podalirius he 
used the names lidaporius and daporilius. And all, who read 
this, marvelled at his brain. 
Soon this was also inadequate and every animal received 
three names, and after another twenty years every species 
had six names in which the specific name of the original form 
was repeated five times. Ignorant people in Nomenclatoria 
grinned vacantly at this and made stupid remarks about the 
waste of time and space. 
An old King of a neighbouring country, who had collected 
butterflies in his youth and prided himself on his knowledge, 
came on a visit. When viewing the State collections he 
stopped in front of a lime hawk moth and said proudly to 
his guide: ‘“‘ Aha, that is a Sphina tilae.” The guide was 
startled to death, but quickly pulled himself together and 
answered: “It is entirely possible, Your Majesty, that this 
specimen was so called a hundred years ago. In the course 
of time the generic name after undergoing a more and more 
glorious perfection, and passing through Smerinthus, Dilina, 
Mimas and about ten other alterations, has to-day developed 
into Caudex. But this species that Your Majesty deigned to 
point out, is not the original form Caudex tiliae, but, owing 
to the band on the fore-wing, as Your Majesty notices, being 
1/10 mm. narrower than that of the normal form as recognised 
by the State, is Caudex tiliolus tilioides tiliabundus bundilatius 
lidabuntius.” 
