176 BIOLOGY FOR BEGINNERS 



of each successive group are known, a complete description is 

 obtained. 



If a person in Africa were addressing a letter to this country, and 

 gave a full and exact address, it would cover as many items, as the 

 following comparison- shows. 



Grasshopper 



Letter 



Kingdom: Animal 

 Branch: Arthropoda 

 Class: Insecta 

 Order: Orthoptera 

 Family Acrididae 

 Genus: Melanoplus 

 Species: Femur-rubrum 



Nation : United States of America 



State: Illinois 



City: Chicago 



Street: Madison 



Number: 3561 



Surname: Smith 



First name: John J. 



In the case of the letter as many items have been mentioned as 

 with the scientific classification, and for the same purpose, namely, 

 that both shall be absolutely definite and apply to one only. If, 

 in addition, we could so address our letters that the appearance 

 and relationship of the addressee were included, it would cor- 

 respond to the very remarkable system of classification used in all 

 biologic work. 



Scientific Names. When speaking of a plant or animal the genus 

 and species names are usually all that are given, assuming that the 

 relationship to the larger groups will be known. The genus is 

 placed first and begins with a capital letter, the species follows, 

 and begins with a small letter unless it be from a proper name. 

 The genus name is usually a noun and the species name an adjec- 

 tive; the genus name precedes the species name, as is the regular 

 Latin order. We follow it in our lists of names in all formal records 

 where John J. Smith would appear as Smith, John J. Thus, 

 Melanoplus femur-rubrum is the scientific name of the common 

 grasshopper. It is a long name, even for a scientific one, and was 

 chosen on that account, but how much more convenient and ac- 

 curate than saying " the black-armored grasshopper with red legs." 



Another advantage of scientific names is that they are uniform 



