Animals Before Man 



strange and seem difficult only because they 

 are unfamiliar, and are often much simpler 

 than many of the so-called "common" names. 

 How many readers know what a potto is, a 

 colugo, niulligong, scheltopusic, cacomistle, or 

 wobblygong ? And yet these are popular (?) 

 names. Then, too, these so-called " common " 

 names may have different meanings in different 

 places, so that woodcock may be a woodpecker 

 or a species of snipe, and partridge may refer to 

 a quail or a ruffed grouse, while the term 

 pheasant applied to the latter in some portions 

 of the United States is an utter niisuomer, for 

 no true pheasant is a -native of America. The 

 popular name, like the cowrie money of Africa, 

 is good only for local use ; the scientific name, 

 like a gold coin, passes current in all civilized 

 countries. 



Scientific names, like those of persons, origi- 

 nated in the attempt to define an animal in a 

 few words containing some allusion to its ap- 

 pearance or character. The names Smith, 

 White, or Strong once described the individuals 

 to whom they were applied, and this kind of 



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