ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE. 375 



generic names have been lately introduced which run counter 

 to this rule, and form most unsightly objects to all who are 

 conversant with the spirit of the Latin language. A name 

 made up of the first half of one word and the last half of ano- 

 ther, is as deformed a monster in nomenclature as a Mermaid 

 or a Centaur would be in zoology ; yet we find examples in 

 the names Corcorax (from Corvus and Pyrrhocorax) , Cypsnagra 

 (from Cypselus and Tanagra), Merulaxis (Merula and Synal- 

 laxis), Loxigilla (Loxia and Fringilla), &c. In other cases, 

 where the commencement of both the simple words is retained 

 in the compound, a fault is still committed by cutting off too 

 much of the radical and vital portions, as is the case in Bucor- 

 vus (from Buceros and Corvus) , Ninox (Nisus and Noctua) , &c. 



(p.) Nonsense names. — Some authors having found difficulty 

 in selecting generic names which have not been used before, 

 have adopted the plan of coining words at random without any 

 derivation or meaning whatever. The following are examples ; 

 Viralva, Xema, Azeca, Assiminia, Quedius, Spisula. To the 

 same class we may refer anagrams of other generic names, as 

 Dacelo and Cedola of Alcedo, Zapornia of Porzana, &c. Such 

 verbal trifling as this is in very bad taste, and is especially cal- 

 culated to bring the science into contempt. It finds no prece- 

 dent in the Augustan age of Latin, but can be compared only 

 to the puerile quibblings of the middle ages. It is contrary to 

 the genius of all languages, which appear never to produce new 

 words by spontaneous generation, but always to derive them from 

 some other source, however distant or obscure. And it is pe- 

 culiarly annoying to the etymologist, who, after seeking in vain 

 through the vast stoi'e-houses of human language for the 

 parentage of such words, discovers at last that he has been pur- 

 suing an ignis fatuus. 



(g.) Names previously cancelled by the operation of§ 6. — Some 

 authors consider that, when a name has been reduced to a 

 synonym by the operations of the laws of priority, they are 

 then at liberty to apply it at pleasure to any new group which 

 may be in want of a name. We consider, however, that when 

 a word has once been proposed in a given sense, and has after- 

 wards sunk into a synonym, it is far better to lay it aside for 

 ever than to run the risk of making confusion by re-issuing it 

 with a new meaning attached. 



(»•.) Specific names raised into generic. — It has sometimes been 

 the practice in sub-dividing an old genus, to give to the lesser 

 genera so formed, the names of their respective typical species. 

 Our Rule 13 authorizes the forming a new specific name in such 

 cases ; but we further wish to state our objections to the prac- 

 tice altogether. Considering as we do that the original specific 



