

95 



including Australia, Papua, Celebes, and Lombok, and neigh- 

 boring islands in the Pacific Ocean. It seems to have been 

 isolated from the other land masses for a considerable period ; 

 it is singularly deficient in the highest forms of life. Each of 

 the great faunal divisions is capable of subdivision, but into 

 the details of this we need not go. 



Nomenclature and Classification of Insects. In order to 

 write intelligently about animals, it is necessary that natural- 

 ists should have some uniform system of naming, or nomen- 

 clature, since the common names of animals vary not only in 

 the different countries and languages but even in different 

 parts of the same country. It will be noticed that each insect, 

 when first spoken of in these chapters, is accompanied by a 

 scientific name printed in italics. Thus the Rocky Mountain 

 locust is Melanoplus spretus ; the common red-legged locust, 

 Melanoplus femur-rubrum ; the lesser locust, Melanoplus at- 

 lanis. These different kinds or species of locust differ in size, 

 color, and habitat, and they each receive a different specific 

 name, as spretus, femur-rubrum, and atlanis. They agree in other 

 characteristics, such as the general structure, size, and propor- 

 tion of their parts, and they are therefore placed in the same 

 group or genus, Melanoplus. The word " genus " is thus seen 

 to be a term of wider application than the word "species." 

 A genus may include one or several species. The generic and 

 specific names make up the complete scientific name of an 

 animal. The names are always taken from the Latin or Greek, 

 or are Latinized in form, so that they are understood by all 

 scientific men. They often refer to some striking character- 

 istic of the animal ; thus, Melanoplus means " black armor," in 

 allusion to the dark-colored exoskeleton. Sometimes the refer- 

 ence is to the locality where the animal is found, as atlanis, 

 referring to the Atlantic states ; sometimes the name is given 

 in honor of some student of animals, as Darwin'ii (see p. 343), 

 named after the naturalist, Charles Darwin. The scientific 



