ole PRACTICAL AND SCIENTIFIC ZOOLOGY. 
not a very essential acquirement; and less so to the prac- 
tical than to the scientific naturalist. The former relies 
upon his common-place book for facts, and troubles 
himself very little about names. But the scientific student 
has great need of a good memory, and should not only 
be well versed in the terminology of his science, but 
also in its nomenclature, that is, in remembering scien- 
tific names. He must not, however, be frightened by 
the formidable lists of those now in use, as they appear 
marshalled in an index, nor must he suppose that it is a 
necessary part of his studies to remember them by 
rote: such an exertion of memory, even were it pos- 
sible, is not called for. An ornithologist or an ento- 
mologist of the old school, commenced, indeed, with 
learning the names and characters of every genus of 
birds or of insects then established ; and if, in process 
of time, he could get those which designated the prin- 
cipal species also by heart, every thing was thought to 
have been accomplished. At present, however, no natu- 
ralist attempts to learn more than the names and essential 
characters of those minor divisions, or genera, which 
belong to the particular group he may be actually study- 
ing. It is expedient, nevertheless, that a general know- 
ledge should also be gained of the greater divisions —as 
the orders, tribes, families, and sub-families —tof the 
class of animals to which the former belongs. The 
systematic student will be materially assisted in this 
task by the plan of affixing labels to his specimens, im- 
mediately upon ascertaining their names; while, to im- 
press upon his memory the essential characters of the 
larger groups, short synoptical tables may be copied into 
his common-place book, similar to those which will be 
occasionally inserted in our subsequent volumes. 
(378.) Collecting specimens, in any department of 
zoology, for mere private collections, should be con- 
ducted upon some fixed plan; not only on the score of 
expense, and the space they require, but from their 
tendency to distract the attention of the student from 
those subjects he is more particularly desirous of under- 
