Greek and Latin in Biological Nomenclature 5 



plication of each name or term should be absolutely fixed, alter- 

 native forms of words and alternative methods of composition 

 lead mevitably to grave confusion. The nomenclator must in 

 consequence outdo the philologist in his own field. When it is 

 possible to obtain essentially the same derivative in several 

 slightly different forms by varying the stem of the first term, 

 the connecting vowel, or the form of the last term, or by pro- 

 ceeding from alternative forms of the same word or stem, then 

 the nomenclator must make the most intelligent choice possible 

 in the selection of the best form to use, or the best principle to 

 govern. In so doing, he will often strengthen the hands of the 

 philologist, since it is a well-known fact that many alternative 

 forms are merely the bungling creations of the decadent period 

 of a language. 



In choosing a principle for guidance in dealing with alterna- 

 tive forms and methods of derivation, several courses have been 

 considered. The first plan was to follow the usage in the case 

 of each particular word, but it soon became evident that no one 

 but a specialist in philology would be able to make derivatives 

 at all, since the usage varied repeatedly in words of the same 

 group. A similar attempt was made with regard to the best 

 usage, but, while this led to somewhat greater uniformity, the 

 results were not much more satisfactory, and the labor involved 

 was enormous. From the first it was seen that, while an occa- 

 sional word would deviate more or less regularly from the for- 

 mation typical for its group, as in the case of the imparisyllabic 

 neuter, a-Tofxa, o-TOfiaros (mouth), which regularly enters into compo- 

 sition in its shortened stem form, the philologically correct stem, 

 or the correct connective, was overwhelmingly predominant. 

 Furthermore, since such usage includes the best usage in all 

 cases, it was concluded that uniformity and purity could best be 

 obtained by making this the invariable usage for all the stems 

 of any group, as well as for all combinations of each stem. 



The justification of such a rule may be readily found in a con- 

 sideration of imparisyllabic stems, which have constituted the 

 most fertile source of alternatives. The Greek neuters in -fia, 

 gen. -/xaro?, furnish a large number of examples in which the 



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