38 report — 1865. 



Emberizoides, Pseudoluscinia, rubeculoides, maximus, minor, minimus, &c, are 

 examples of this objectionable practice. 



f. Generic names compounded from other genera. — These are in some degree 

 open to the same imputation as comparative words ; but as they often serve 

 to express the position of a genus as intermediate to, or allied with, two other 

 genera, they may occasionally be used with advantage. Care must be taken 

 not to adopt such compound words as are of too great length, and not to cor- 

 rupt them in trying to render them shorter. The names Gallopavo, Tetrao- 

 gallus, Gypaetos, are examples of the appropriate use of compound words. 



g. Specific names derived from persons. — So long as these complimentary 

 designations are used with moderation, and are restricted to persons of emi- 

 nence as scientific zoologists, they may be employed with propriety in cases 

 where expressive or characteristic words are not to be found. But we fully 

 concur with those who censure the practice of naming species after persons 

 of no scientific reputation, as curiosity dealers (e.g. Caniveti, Boissoneauti), 

 Peruvian priestesses (Cora, Amazilia), or Hottentots (Klassi). 



h. Generic names derived from persons. — Words of this class have been ex- 

 tensively used in botany, and therefore it would have been «'cll to have 

 excluded them wholly from zoology, for the sake of obtaining a memoria 

 technica by which the name of a genus would at once tell us to which of the 

 kingdoms of nature it belonged. Some personal generic names have, how- 

 ever, crept into zoology, as L'uvieria, Mulleria, Rossia, Lessonia, &c, but they 

 are rare in comparison with those of botany, and it is perhaps desirable not 

 to add to their number. 



i. Names of harsh and inelegant />ronuneiation. — These words are grating to 

 the ear, either from inelegance of form, as Hidma, Yuhina, Oraxirex, Esch- 

 scholtzi, or from too great length, as chirostrongylosti nus, Opetiorhynchus, bra,- 

 chypodioides, Thecodontosaurus. It is needless to enlarge on the advantage of 

 consulting euphony in the construction of our language. As a general rule it 

 may be recommended to avoid introducing words of more than live .syllables. 



Tc. Ancient names of animals applied in << wrong sense. — If has been cus- 

 tomary, in numerous cases, to apply the names of animals found in clas.-ic 

 authors at random to exotic genera or species which arc wholly unknown to 

 tbe ancients. The names Cebus, Callithrix, Spiza, Kitta, Struthus, ave ex- 

 amples. This practice ought by no means to be encouragi d. The usual 

 defence for it is, that it is impossible now to identify the species to which 

 the name was anciently applied. But it is certain that if any traveller will 

 take the trouble to collect the vernacular names used by the modern Greeks 

 and Italians for the Ycrtebrata and Mollusca of southern Europe, the mean- 

 ing of the ancient names may in most cases lie determined with the greatest 

 precision. It has been well remarked that a Cretan fisher-boy is a far better 

 commentator on Aristotle's ' History of Animals' than a British or German 

 scholar. The use, however, of ancient names, when comvctly applied, is most 

 desirable, for " in framing scientific terms, the appropriation of old words is 

 preferable to the formation of new ones"*. 



1. Adjective g> n> rie mimes. — The names of genera are in all cases essen- 

 tially substantive, and hence adjective terms cannot be employed for them 

 without doing violence to grammar. The generic names Hians, Oriniger, 

 Cursorius, Nitidula, &c, arc examples of this incorrect usage. 



m. Hybrid names. — Compound words, whose component parts are taken 

 from two different languages, are great deformities in nomenclature, and 

 naturalists should be especially guarded not to introduce any more such terms 

 * Whewell, Phil. Ind. Sc. vol. i. p. lxvii ; Nov. Org. Ken. iv. iii. 



