Mr. G. Newport on a@ new genus of Parasitic Insects. 517 
would this entitle him to claim priority of nomenclature while the 
chief characters I have given (the stemmatous eyes, and the great 
dilatation and excavation of the basilar and the enlargement of 
the middle joints of the antenne in the male) remain for the 
identification of the insect? As well might I pretend that the 
discovery of external branchiz, in the imago Pteronarcys, which 
had been overlooked, entitles me to sink Mr. Newman’s name of 
that genus, and substitute one of my own. 
_ The great object of nomenclature and structural description of 
external form, if 1 rightly apprehend, is identification. Now it 
happens that Mr. Westwood’s name is attached in assent to a 
printed Report on Zoological Nomenclature adopted and pub- 
hshed by a Committee of the British Association in 1842, and in 
which the following rules are announced :—“ No person can sub- 
sequently claim an authority equal to that possessed by the person 
who is the first to define a new genus or describe a new species.” 
“Unless a species or group is intelligibly defined when the 
name is given, it cannot be recognised by others, and the signi- 
fication of the name is consequently lost. Two things are 
necessary before a zoological term can acquire any authority, 
viz. definition and publication. Definition properly implies a 
distinct exposition of essential characters, and in all cases we 
conceive this to be indispensable, &c.” “To constitute publi- 
cation, nothing short of the insertion of the above particulars in 
a printed book can be held sufficient.” 1 have now but to ask 
whether Mr. Westwood has complied with the rules which he 
has thus assisted to establish, before attempting to supersede 
others ; or whether he has not been one of the readiest to infringe 
them, as in the present instance, when they have not suited his 
convenience ? It matters but little to me whether the name which 
I have given, or the one which he proposes for an insect, be ulti- 
mately adopted, as I can assure him that I have but little ambi- 
tion to be regarded as a describer of species. 
But I resist his encroachment on the principle of right, and I 
repudiate his unfounded assertions and assumptions as being 
equally derogatory to science and unfair to myself and others. 
I am content to travel over what he may regard as humbler 
ground, to watch and experiment on function, and quietly en- 
deavour to trace the connexion of this with anatomy, and to 
examine and compare internal as well as external organization, 
without aspiring to what the entomologist may look upon as an 
all-important consideration, the honour and dignity attached to 
the rare achievement of being the earliest to name and describe 
an insect,—an event equivalent in his mind, perhaps, to the dis- 
covery of a planet and the calculation of its orbit. 
I remain, Gentlemen, yours very truly, 
Georce Newrorr. 
