504 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



be changed from its orginal spelling. The language of entomological 

 nomenclature is Latin, a language which is used by common consent as a 

 kind of neutral ground whereon entomologists of every race or dialect may 

 meet on equal terms ; entomological Latin (in common with the Latin of 

 other branches of science) is often bad, we readily admit, and may often 

 and does often degenerate into the school boy or canine variety — we re- 

 collect a recent case in the Transactions of a leading Society where an 

 author wrote a paper on the early stages of certain moths and called their 

 eggs "ovse " throughout his paper ! — but it fulfils its object by providing a 

 vehicle of expression which is mutually understood by all who use it, 

 and it appears unnecessarily pedantic to insist too much on the strict letter 

 of the law and to claim that Latin of the Augustan epoch, and of no other 

 period, is to be accepted. Latin may be technically a " dead " language, 

 but we submit that it is capable of expansion — nay, more, it has expanded 

 — in its vocabulary since the days of Augustus. This being so, it is an 

 unnecessary source of confusion to alter the spelling of well-known names 

 merely because they contain a letter which Horace might not have recognised. 

 In this volume, however, a name such as " jankowskii " becomes "jancousci " 

 and " howardi " becomes " houardi " (this latter a particularly objection- 

 able change), whilst names like " hilzingeri" and " schlumbergeri" are allowed 

 to persist unchanged ; we wonder which Horace would rather have had to 

 pronounce ! If Cephonodes kingi is to be changed to C. cingi why not go 

 further and alter its name to C. regis ? 



Another point to which we can only refer very briefly is the instability of 

 nomenclature caused by the alteration of well-known names under a system 

 by which the Law of Priority is invoked to sanction the resuscitation of 

 some unfamiliar name unearthed from the musty records of the past. We 

 are glad to note that the Zoological Society is taking steps to protect well- 

 recognised names in general use. The student will note in the present 

 volume that the familiar Nonagria has become Sesamia, the well-known 

 Nonagria uniformis being now called Sesamia uniformis. 



As regards the genera and species with which we are more immediately 

 concerned, the following list gives all those occurring within the limits of 

 the Indian Region. 



t Means figured by text-block. 



| , figured in atlas of coloured plates. 



* „ new genus or species. 



