46 REVIEWS. 



Upon the 11th rule of the British Committee, namely, that 

 " a name may be changed when it implies a false proposition 

 which is likely to propagate important errors," Professor 

 Agassiz remarks that the less this liberty is used the better, 

 lest it should lead to licentiousness. 



The 12th rule ordains that " a name which has never been 

 clearly defined in some published work should be changed for 

 the earliest by which the object shall have been so defined." 

 This law, our author remarks, " has become very necessary, 

 since dealers in natural objects have begun to arrogate the 

 authorship of books collected from catalogues, and demand 

 that authors shall receive their names for dividing species. It 

 is the same with names which remain unpublished in public 

 or private collections, and to which the proprietors or cura- 

 tors sometimes lay claim. But priority is to be conceded 

 only to publication in a work which is accessible to the learned 

 throughout the world. Yet while we strictly press the obser- 

 vance of this law in respect to the publication by learned men 

 of the results of their observations, so much the more must 

 we brand with infamy those impudent jDarasites who prowl 

 about museums to pick materials for their opuscula^ without 

 mentioning the sources whence they have derived their spoil, 

 and sometimes even furtively describing the species, the 

 names of which they claim." The people alluded to well de- 

 serve this censure. On the other hand, not less blameworthy 

 are those who purposely pass by, instead of courteously adopt- 

 ing, appropriate names under which naturalists often distri- 

 bute their species in advance of publication. This felony is 

 the more atrocious because remediless, and to be prevented 

 by no rule except that of courtesy ; for the public good re- 

 quires that priority should be conceded to actual publication 

 alone. 



The two remaining laws (13th and 14th) are agreeable to, 

 or identical with, Linnaean canons, and are approved by all 

 good naturalists. 



The rules recommended by the British Committee for the 

 future improvement of nomenclature are next considered ; 

 and as they are far the most commendable and in general use 



