BRITISH STALK-EYED CRUSTACEA. 19 



of severe weather ; but perhaps it was merely the result of the 

 previous warm and dry summer which had been exceptionally 

 favourable for the young broods. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



The use of the word " feral."— The Rev. H. H. Slater exhibits much 

 indignation (Zool. 1887, p. 461) against the growing use of this word, as 

 signifying that the auimal so designated occurs in a wild state. He is right 

 in saying that " feral " is not a classical word, in this sense. But why should 

 naturalists, of all people, restrict their vocabulary to purely "classical" 

 words ? Language must grow with knowledge. If Mr. Slater will consult 

 the last edition of Du Cauge he will fiud the word feraliter given ou the 

 authority of three writers, and explained as meaning ferarum more, " in the 

 manner of wild beasts." Now I maintain that this adverb could never have 

 been formed without a pre-existing adjective, feralis. The well-known 

 classical word feralis, "funereal" (from fero), has nothing to do, etymo- 

 logically, with ferus, " wild " (from /mo) ; and it is from the latter that the 

 modern usage of the word has arisen. "Feral" is a very useful variant 

 from " wild," especially in that its connotation is more restricted and 

 definite ; and I can see no reason why it should be gainsaid. Words pass 

 out of use for centuries, and turn up again, times out of number, when 

 occasion requires them. Surely scientiBc nomenclature is sufficient evidence 

 of this.— Henby T. Wharton (39, St. George's Road, Kilburn, N.W.). 



The word "feral."— In reference to Mr. Slater's remarks, I would 

 point out that "feral" is regularly used by Darwin in the sense of "ran 

 wild," and in the Glossary of Scientific Terms (' Origin of Species,* p. 433) 

 is described as " having become wild from a state of cultivation or domesti- 

 cation." Mr. Slater says, "the adjective derived from ferus is ferintu." 

 But ferus is itself an adjective, and, granting the necessity to coin a new 

 word, I cannot see why we should be restricted to ferinus, with its awkward 

 rendering " ferine," instead of the equally available and more euphonious 

 "feral." The latter has, it is true, an old-time meaning of "funereal" 

 (from feralis), but that is now quite obsolete.— Abel Chapman (Roker, 

 Sunderland). 



MAMMALIA. 



Monkeys opening Oysters. — On this subject our contemporary 

 'Nature' prints the following letter:— "So many people have expressed 

 their surprise at hearing that I constantly saw Monkeys breaking open 

 vsters with a stone on the islands off South Burmah, that it may be of 



03 



