744 Letters, Extracts, and Notes, [Ibis, 



Mr. Jourdain and Nomenclature. 



Dear Sir, — I have no wish to enter into any controversy 

 on the subject of Nomenclature, But T would like to record 

 my protest against the offensive and insulting style of 

 Mr. Jourdain's letter in the July number of 'The Ibis' 

 in which he gratuitously insults an old and valued member, 

 Mr. J. E. Harting. No one objects to fair criticism, but 

 the style adopted in tliis case cannot be passed by without 

 protest from all the old friends of the late Editor of the 

 * Zoologist ' and the Natural History Editor o£ the ' Field.'' 



Yours sincerely, 

 Hever Warren, E. G. B. M BADE- Waldo. 



Hever, Kent. 

 15 August, 1918. 



Dear Sir, — The impressive warning given by the Rev. F. 

 C. R. Jourdain in the concluding paragraph of his letter 

 published in ' The Ibis,' 1918, p. 528, ought not to be 

 lightly set aside. It would be a lamentable result if the 

 friendship between the two English-speaking peoples were 

 jeopardised by the use or misuse of a synonym. 



Allow me to mention my own experiences. Some months 

 ago I was staying at the Planter's Hotel, Charleston, South 

 Carolina. Coming in rather late for dinner, my old ac- 

 quaintance Samuel the coloured head-waiter set me down 

 at a side table. Wild Duck was on the menu. " Sam," 

 said I, "what kind of duck, canvas-back eh?" "No sah, 

 mallard, same as you used to shoot with Colonel Stoney on 

 the Ogeeche." '' Capital ! our old friend Anas boschas, 

 bring me some." 



Sam looked very grave, and coming to me on tiptoe said 

 in my ear : " Sah, dat word bosky is contraband ; de ole 

 Colonel Stoney, not young Colonel who is gone to France, 

 dine here last week, and he eat some mallard duck ; den he 

 say Sara, de President give order at de White House dat 

 dis duck be called Flatterinky, not Bosky, when put on de 

 table ; so, sah, Bosky is contraband ! " 



