282 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Nov., 'o2 



" two Striped sweet potato beetle," and many others, with all 

 their combinations, the mind is overwhelmed in chaos. Besides, 

 questions relating to good use in language are not settled by mere 

 majorities, but by the majority of the best speakers and writers. 

 Moreover, the compounding of the names of insects is a question 

 pertaining to the correct use of English, and need not be settled 

 by entomologists alone, unless they are also authorities on Eng- 

 lish. Unfortunately many are not. Word-forms must be de- 

 termined by language principles. 



The following general principles are quoted from the "Stand- 

 ard Dictionary," and are applicable to insect names. 



" I St. That all words should be separate when used in regular 

 grammatical relation and construction, unless they are jointly 

 applied in some arbitrary wa3\ 



"2d. That abnormal association of words generally indicates 

 unification in sense, and hence compounding in form. 



"3d. That no expression in the language should ever be 

 changed from two or more words into one (either hyphened 

 or solid) without change of sense." 



From these ' * principles' ' we may deduce the ioMov^xv^^ general 

 rnles specifyng the conditions under which the names of insects 

 should be written in compound form : 



1. A general name used with that of a plant or a host or 

 prey prefixed for specification ; as, potato-beetle , onio7i-fly. 



2. A general name used with any other name prefixed for 

 .specification denoting similarity, habit, or characteristic; as, 

 buffalo-gnat, arniy-itvrm, blister-beetle. 



3. Any pair of names in joint arbitrary use ; as, 7val king-stick, 

 cu rra nt- borer, leaf- roller 



4. A phrase consisting of an adjective and a noun used as a 

 mere name ; as, bluebottle, graybcuk, longsting. These are more 

 often writen solid without the hyphen. 



Names like leaf -cr ampler, leaf-folder, and leafrollet , are un- 

 questioned compounds, and the weight of u.sage and authority 

 favors their preservation as such in specific i)hrases like apple 

 Uaf-cmmpler, etc. Grammatical reasoning might be made 

 strongly to prescribe such forms as apple-leaf cnimpler, but 

 that would give an unnecessary separation of two jiarts of a 



