ADVANTAGE OF TECHNICAL NAMES. 21 



cause of the scientific language and names they were obliged 

 to employ. Entomology, or the science that treats of insects, 

 abounds in such names more than any other branch of natu- 

 ral history ; for the different kinds of insects very far out- 

 number the species in every class of the animal, vegetable, 

 and mineral kingdoms. It is owing to this excessive number 



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of species, and to the small size and unobtrusive character 

 of many insects, that comparatively very few have received 

 any common names, either in our own, or in other modern 

 tongues : and hence most of those that have been described 



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in works of natural history are known only by their scientific 

 names. The latter have the advantage over other names in 

 being intelligible to all well-educated persons in all parts of 

 the world ; while the common names of animals and plants 

 in our own and other modern languages are very limited in 

 their application, and moreover are often misapplied. 



For example, the name weevil is given, in this country, to 

 at least six different kinds of insects, two of which are moths, 

 two are flies, and two are beetles. Moreover, since nearly 

 four thousand species of weevils have actually been scientifi- 

 cally named and described, when mention is made of " the 

 weevil," it may well be a subject of doubt to which of these 

 four thousand species the speaker or writer intends to refer ; 

 whereas, if the scientific name of the species in question were 

 made known, this doubt would at once be removed. To give 

 each of these weevils a short, appropriate, significant, and 

 purely English name, would be very difficult, if not impos- 

 sible, and there would be great danger of overburdening the 

 memory with such a number of names ; but, by means of the 

 ingenious and simple method of nomenclature invented by 

 Linnaaus, these weevils are all arranged under three hundred 

 and fifty-five generical, or surnames, requiring in addition 

 only a small number of different words, like Christian names, 

 to indicate the various species or kinds. There is oftentimes 

 a great convenience in the use of single collective terms for 

 groups of animals and plants, whereby the necessity for enu- 



