ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE. 371 



if authors insist on infringing 1 the rules of good taste by intro- 

 ducing into the science, words of the same inelegant or unclassi 

 cal character in future. But that which cannot be enforced by- 

 law may, in some measure, be effected by persuasion ; and 

 with this view we submit the following propositions to natu- 

 ralists, under the title of Recommendations for the Improvement 

 of Zoological Nomenclature in future. 



[The best names are Latin or Greek characteristic words.] 

 The classical languages being selected for zoology, and 

 words being more easily remembered in proportion as they are 

 expressive, it is self-evident that 



§ A. The best zoological names are those which are derived 

 from the Latin or Greek, and express some distinguishing 

 characteristic of the object to which they are applied. 



[ Classes of objectionable names.] 



It follows from hence that the following classes of words are 

 more or less objectionable in point of taste, though, in the case 

 of genera, it is often necessary to use them, from the impossibi- 

 lity of finding characteristic words which have not before been 

 employed for other genera. We will commence with those 

 which appear the least open to objection, such as 



(a.) Geographical names. — These words being for the most part 

 adjectives, can rarely be used for genera. As designations of 

 species they have been so strongly objected to, that some 

 authors (Wagler for instance) have gone the length of sub- 

 stituting fresh names w 7 herever they occur ; others {e.g. Swain- 

 son) will only tolerate them where they apply exclusively, as 

 Lepus hibernicus, Troglodytes europceus, &c. We are by no 

 means disposed to go to this length. It is not the less true 

 that the Hirundo javanica is a Javanese bird, even though it 

 may occur in other countries also, and though other species of 

 Hirundo may occur in Java. The utmost that can be urged 

 against such words is, that they do not tell the whole truth. 

 However, as so many authors object to this class of names, it 

 is better to avoid giving them, except where there is reason 

 to believe that the species is chiefly confined to the country 

 whose name it bears. 



(b.) Barbarous names. — Some authors protest strongly against 

 the introduction of exotic words into our Latin nomenclature ; 

 others defend the practice with equal warmth. We may 

 remark, first, that the practice is not contrary to classical 

 usage, for the Greeks and Romans did occasionally, though 

 with reluctance, introduce barbarous words in a modified form 



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