156 PHILOSOPHY OF ZOOLOGY. 



advancement of these sciences, while the generic titles of 

 animals are never derived from the same source, nor simi- 

 lar honours bestowed on zoological observers. We have 

 never heard a satisfactory reason assigned for this adopted 

 course of nomenclature, though the practice of Linn.eus 

 has been quoted by the slaves of authority in its justifica- 

 tion. In perusing the work of Lamouiioux, " Histoire 

 des Polypiers CoraJligcnes Flexibles,'" we could not avoid 

 being struck with the absurdity of commemorating the 

 Mythology of Greece and Rome, by bestowing upon his 

 new-formed genera, the titles of the Nymphs of the Springs 

 and of the Sea, instead of the names of Peyssonnel, 

 Tkembley, Ellis, and Pallas, and a host of other ob- 

 servers, whose labours did honour to the age in which they 

 lived. 



That the author had no particular dislike to the use of 

 proper names as generic titles, appears obvious from his 

 genera Elzerina and Cauda, in which, however, they are 

 applied without judgment *. 



When a generic name has once been bestowed on a well 

 defined group, it ought not to be changed, even although a 



• " J'ai donne a ce genre le nom agreable D'Elzerine, parce que celle qui 

 le portait, fiUe de Neas, Roi de Tile de Timor ou ae trouve ce Polypier, est 

 citee honorablement dans le voj'age aux terres Australes, de Peron et Lk- 

 suEUR," p. 122. — " J'ai donne a ce genre le nom de Canda ; ainsi, s'appelait 

 une jeune Malaise citee dans le voyage de Peron et Lesueur ; ces naturalistes 

 ont raporte cette elegante cellariee des cotes de Timor," p. 131. Did it not 

 4sccur to this author, that the claims of the two French naturalists Peron 

 AndLESDEUR, the discoverers of the species, for the reception of which these 

 genera were formed, were preferable to the two Asiatic girls whom he has 

 attempted to immortalize in science ? Why are none of the new species die- 

 covered by these observers, named in honour of them, but employed to cele- 

 brate the author's living friends ? The names of species which have survi- 

 ved half a century, arc, in some cases, wantonly changed, and Pallas is roV-- 

 bcd-to flatter SAyicNv,— See p. 212. 



