44 REVIEWS. 



worthy who do not. The third, fourth, and fifth of the 

 British canons are accordant with Linn^an rules, and are 

 regularly followed in botany. The next four relate to mat- 

 ters which follow as a consequence of the law of priority ; 

 but as to what relates to the use of synonymous names Pro- 

 fessor Agassiz intimates that their rule is perhaps too ab- 

 solute, and even contradictory to the Linnsean canon, § 244 : 

 "Nomina generica, quamdiu synonyma digna in promptu 

 sunt, nova non effingenda." 



The tenth rule, namely, " A name should be changed 

 which has before been proposed for some other genus in 

 zoology or botany, or for some other species in the same 

 genus, when still retained for such genus or species," is not as 

 well worded as the equivalent Linnaean canon, § 217, " Nomen 

 genericum unum idemque ad diversa designanda genera as- 

 sumptum, altero loco, excludendum erit." Mr. Agassiz re- 

 marks, greatly to our surprise, that the enforcement of this 

 rule would demand the sacrifice of almost half the generic 

 names made in recent times. In our opinion, while the same 

 names ought not to be given both in zoology and botany, 

 the time is passed when received names are to be changed on 

 this account. While writers in the different departments of 

 zoology alone have doubly employed the same name " in ten 

 thousand instances," we must see that cases of this sort be- 

 tween zoologists and botanists, occupying such widely sepa- 

 rated fields, are inevitable, at least until as perfect lists of 

 zoological names shall be compiled and kept up as is done in 

 botany. Besides, it is now utterly impossible for any single 

 naturalist, or any joint committee of botanists and zoolo- 

 gists, to determine, in half the cases that arise, whether a par- 

 ticular genus is to be suppressed or retained in one depart- 

 ment, so as to require or forbid a change of the posterior 

 homonymous name in the other ; hence the practical applica- 

 tion of the Linngean rule would now create tenfold more con- 

 fusion than it can relieve. Each well-founded change of the 

 sort does no more than obviate a possible inconvenience, 

 while every needless one, in a genus of numerous species, 

 draws after it a load of useless synonyms, which do not 



