Mar., 1905.] 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



53 



substitute criitatus, a far better distinction based on a 

 familiar character of the bird. Although, as has been 

 said, our criticism must not be strained in respect of the 

 cosmopolitan vulgaris, it may be permissible to point 

 out that the objection would, so far as only British seas 

 are concerned, equally apply to all but four of the twenty- 

 nine fishes. Leuciscus, Liparis, Piigrus, and Solea alone 

 have more than one British species, and of these it is 

 doubtful whether the dace is more abundant over any 

 considerable region than the roach or minnow, while the 

 sole — also known to naturalists, though not to those who 

 sell and buy fish, as the "common" sole — is not only 

 yearly growing rarer from the operations of the trawler, 

 but is practically absent from the more northern waters 

 of Europe, being replaced on the Scotch coast by the 

 very inferior lemon-sole (S. lascaris). Professor Mcintosh 

 once attempted to acclimatise the true sole on the east 

 coast of that country, but with what success is not accu- 

 rately determined. 



Leaving, however, these two Latin terms as the lesser 

 offenders in one respect, though often the more serious 

 in another, I revert to the use of " common," the /o«s et 

 origo of my discontent. By a number of eminent writers 

 it is used of the following British vertebrates : — 



Where not absolutely inaccurate, the use of " common " 

 is in many cases so clearly superfluous that its mere 

 suppression with no substitute would answer the pur- 

 pose. By superfluous, I mean that, as in the case of 

 several of the fishes previously indicated as specifically 

 termed " vulgaris," no other animal of the name occurs 

 within the British region. Five of the mammals, with 

 the sandgrouse among birds and the viper among rep- 

 tiles, come under this head. In the case of the cuckoo 

 and swift, the others of the same name are such rare 

 stragglers that it is hardly worth distinguishing our 

 familiar forms as "common." Only a little more than 

 thirty occurrences (in two cases " several ') of the alpine 

 swift and three of the needle-tailed species are admitted 

 in the last edition of Harting's "Handbook" (igoi), 

 while of the three rare cuckoos that have visited us the 

 same reliable authority gives twelve records of one, three 

 of another, and one only of the third. Surely, then, to 

 write of the common cuckoo or the common swift is a 

 waste of si.x letters. 



The objections, apart from this one of specific isola- 

 tion, to the use of " common " are two. The word, taken 

 in its everyday significance, makes no allowance for 

 gradual approach to e.xtermination. This is perhaps the 

 more serious blemish of the tw'o. Thus, it is ridiculous 



to write today of the buzzard {Biileo vulgaris) as common 

 anywhere in these islands. The zeal of keepers and the 

 greed of pothunters have conspired to reduce the remnant 

 of this handsome bird to almost that irreducible minimum 

 that immediately precedes virtual extinction. Though 

 the hare cannot be admitted to the same category, yet 

 without doubt the operation of the Ground Game Act 

 has in many districts at any rate all but eliminated it 

 from the fauna. But the hare comes under the second 

 objection by reason of its absence from the northern- 

 most portions of Scotland and Ireland, where it is re- 

 placed by the blue form. It is, therefore, inaccurate to 

 retain a specific designation, applicable to the whole 

 kingdom, which ignores the predominance — if not, in- 

 deed, exclusive occurrence — of a vicarious form over 

 considerable tracts. 



This second objection applies in the case of the so- 

 called Common Seal, Dolphin, Gull, Snake, Sole, and Skate. 

 Correct as it may be to regard these several forms as the 

 prevalent species in some parts of the territories or seas, 

 or at certain seasons of the year, strong exception must 

 be taken to such arbitrary distinction as of general appli- 

 cation in point of both place and season. As regards, 

 for instance, the Common Seal {Plicia vituUna), apart from 

 the increasing rarity and secretiveness of our British 

 seals, this species is by no means so common in the 

 Scilly Islands and on the Cornish coast generally as the 

 Grey Sea.\ {Halicliarns grypiis). This is pointed out by 

 Mr. Millais in the opening \olume of his splendid work 

 on our mammals, and incidentally he gives much other 

 information on the distribution of our various seals. Nor 

 is the Common Gull (Lams canns) by any means so 

 familiar at most of our seaside resorts, at any rate in 

 summer, as either the Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) or 

 Herring Gull (Lanis argentatus), to the latter of which 

 the term "common" mi^ht be applied with far less 

 ground of complaint. The objection to applying the 

 term " common " to the ringed snake is its danger rather 

 than any error of fact, though the greater abundance of 

 the viper [Pclias) over most of the island renders the use 

 of the word in respect of the ringed snake {Tropidonotiis) 

 inaccurate as well as tending to inspire misplaced confi- 

 dence in the more plentiful venomous serpent. With 

 regard to the sole, something has already been said, and 

 the Common Skate {Haia halis) is certainly less common 

 on some parts of the coast than the Thornback \R. 

 clavata) and elsewhere than the Homelyn {R. maculata). 



It would be easy to extend the application of these ob- 

 jections, but sufficient has perhaps been said in support 

 of a plea for revision of a term unsatisfactory on more 

 grounds than one. Not all the objections which have 

 been raised against any and every proposal for renaming 

 animals, in view of priority or otherwise, can be regarded 

 as having the same force as that which contends that the 

 criticised term is absolutely inaccurate. 



Electrical Teaching Model. 



A NEW piece of apparatus has just been brought out by the 

 West London Scientific .A.pparatus Co. for demonstrating and 

 explaining in a simple way the various actions in the electric 

 circuit. It consists of a series of glass tubes, through which 

 coloured water is driven by a small centrifugal pump. By 

 this means, current strength, electromotive force, internal and 

 external resistance, and fall in potential down a conductor, 

 may be clearly illustrated. 



