56 Suggested Terms in Crinotd Morphology. 
place, there should be some means of expressing the facts ina 
simple manner. Ceterts paribus, the names employed should 
at once convey to the mind the idea denoted by them, and 
should involve as little change as possible from terms that 
previous naturalists have been accustomed to use. It will 
also be advantageous if the system of terminology is capable 
of extension both along its own lines and to parallel struc- 
tures, and if it can be readily expressed by intelligible symbols 
such as can be utilized in formule. 
It is bélieved that the system about to be detailed does 
fulfil these conditions as far as possible, and since not one of 
those conditions has been adequately fulfilled by previous 
Sees, it may claim to be their superior in these respects at 
east. 
Examination of the Carpenter-Wachsmuth system brings 
to light one term, and one only, that has a meaning, viz. the 
Miillerian term “ distichals.” At first, therefore, it seemed 
natural to suggest that the successive orders of brachials 
should be designated monostichals, distichals, tetrastichals, 
octastichals, and soon. ‘This plan would inform us how man 
corresponding branches there ought to be at the level alluded 
to; but as this number would only be complete in a regu- 
larly dichotomous arm, such information would in many cases 
be merely misleading. Another objection to the system, so 
far as Paleozoic forms were concerned, lay in the words “ so 
on.” For instance, such a term as “ eikosinoctokaihekato- 
stichals’ would not commend itself to the gentlemen who are 
so anxious to eliminate Greek from the education of a man 
of science, and even a mathematician might take some time 
in discovering that ‘ 128 stichals”’ signified the fifth post- 
palmars. 
This suggestion may therefore be set aside for the present. 
Instead, recourse may be had to the Latin language and to 
the method of simple enumeration. ‘The term “ Brachialia ” 
may be simply combined with the Latin ordinal numbers. 
Since, however, this plan would produce rather lengthy words, 
even in their anglicized form, it seems advisable to shorten 
“ brachialia ” to “brachs.” ‘The terms thus formed are easily 
represented symbolically by the respective Roman numerals 
preceding ‘ Br,” e. g. LV Br., while the actual ossicle alluded 
to may be represented by an arabic numeral placed below the 
line after Br,” e. g. 1V Bre. When it is desired to indicate 
the fact that the ossicle alluded to is an axillary, the suffix 
“axil” may be combined with the appropriate numeral ; 
while in the symbols “ ax ” will supplant “ Br” (see Table, 
p- 57). 
