I.] INTRODUCTION. Xxiii 



unfortunate state of things certainly retarded scientific 

 progress in Great Britain to a very great extent; and 

 the friendly sympathy which now exists between the 

 naturalists of all countries cannot be sufficiently ap- 

 preciated. In one sense the multiplication of species 

 and addition of synonyms are convertible terms ; and 

 that is, where local varieties have been described and 

 raised to the rank of species. This evil it is impossible 

 to prevent; but as science does not march "joet/e claudo,' 

 but regularly and steadily, it is to be hoped that each 

 succeeding year will bring with further discoveries the 

 occasional publication of monographs by experienced na- 

 turalists, so as gradually to rectify this crying evil. The 

 introduction to the ' Flora Indica/ by Drs. Hooker and 

 Thomson, contains a valuable remark which deserves the 

 attention of zoologists as well as botanists, \'iz., "The 

 discovery of a form uniting two others, pre\iously thought 

 distinct, is much more important than that of a totally 

 new species, inasmuch as the correction of an error is a 

 greater boon to science than a step in advance.^^ 



Nomenclature. — Very often the longest and most un- 

 pronounceable names have been bestowed on minute 

 and almost microscopic species. When the student meets 

 with such names as Cerithiopsis tuber cularis and Omalo- 

 gyra nitidisslma, he is scarcely prepared to find that one 

 of the objects designated by these more than sesqui- 

 pedalian words is scarcely more than a quarter of an 

 inch in length, and that the other is only about one- 

 fifteenth of an inch in diameter ! There is, however, no 

 way of preventing this abuse of language for scientific 

 purposes, except by making a new coinage; and this 

 would be attended with more inconvenience to naturalists 

 in the substitution of new for old and famihar names, 

 than in the retention of a few long words. 



