xii ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE 169 



for one which, if not strictly legitimate, has been universally 

 accepted, or the retention of a name when already applied to 

 a different genus, instead of the institution of another in its 

 place. For instance, should the name Echidna, by which the 

 well - known Monotrematous Mammal is known in every 

 text-book and catalogue in every language, be superseded 

 by Tachyglossus, because the former name had previously been 

 applied to a genus of snakes ? or should the chimpanzee be 

 no longer called Troglodytes lest it should be confounded with 

 a wren ? Should Chiromys be discarded for Daulentonia, 

 Trichechus for Odolenus, and Tapirus for HydrocTicerus? 

 Should the Java slow lemur be called Loris, Stenops, or 

 Nycticebus ? Should Sowerby's whale be placed in the 

 genus Physeter, Delpliinus, DelpJiinorhynchus, Heterodon, 

 Diodon, Aodon, Nodus, Ziphius, Micropterus, Micropteron, 

 Mesodiodon, Dioplodon, or Mesoplodon, in all of which it may 

 be found in various systematic lists ? Should one of the 

 largest and best known of the Cetaceans of our seas be called 

 Balcenoptera musculus, Physalus antiquorum, or Pterobalcena 

 communis, all names used for it by authors of high authority ? 

 Should the smallest British seal be called Phoca hispida, 

 fcetida, or anellata ? 



I might go on indefinitely multiplying instances which 

 will be answered differently by different naturalists, the 

 arguments for one or the other name being often nicely 

 balanced. "What Us wanted, therefore, is some kind of 

 judicial authority for deciding which should in future be 

 used. If a committee of eminent naturalists, selected from 

 various nations, and divided into several sections, according to 

 the subjects with which each member is most familiar, could 

 be prevailed upon to take up the task of revising the whole 

 of our existing nomenclature upon the basis of the laws issued 

 by the Association in 1842, occasionally tempering their 

 strictly legal decisions with a little discretion and common 

 sense, and with a view, as much as possible, of avoiding 

 confusion and promoting general convenience, and if the 

 working zoologists of the world generally would agree to 

 accept the decisions of such a committee as final, we should 

 dispose of many of the difficulties with which we are now 



