Dec.,i9i6 Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society 95 



It is immaterial which system of pronunciation be adopted by 

 the American entomologist and the following illustrations may be 

 sounded to suit his pleasure. The careful student, however, will 

 endeavor to place the accent on the proper syllable and to assign 

 to the vowels their proper quantity. The following remarks are 

 directed mainly toward the accentuation of generic names. Spe- 

 cific names are mostly pure Latin and can be found. in any Latin 

 dictionary, but the names of genera, being compounded usually 

 from several roots, are less familiarly available. 



Syllabication. As many syllables are required as there are 

 vowels and diphthongs, the consonants being distributed as far 

 as possible so that each syllable ends in a vowel. Should this 

 result in unpronounceable combinations or interfere with the 

 proper sounding of the vowels the consonents may require shift- 

 ing. Ci-cin-de-la, ChcB-top-sis, Ge-o-tru-pes, Po-da-hrus, SphcE- 

 roph-thdl-ma; but Ol-i-hrus, not 0-li-hrus. 



The Roman and Continental methods divide compounded words 

 into their constituent parts when the first part ends in a consonant, 

 but this is not followed in English pronunciation. Chcet-opsis, 

 Sphcer-ophthalma, Pod-urus, Sphec-odes. 



The family termination -i-dse is treated as an independent suf- 

 fix even though such isolation sometimes modifies the sound of 

 the preceding vowel. Psy-che, Psych-idse; Pi-e-ris, Pi-er-idse ; 

 Chry-so-me-la, Chry-so-mel-idse ; A-pis, Ap-idae. However, there 

 is abundant, though not consistent, sanction for such pronuncia- 

 tions as Psy-chidse, Pie-ridse, Chrysome-lidse, A-pidse. 



Accent. . Polysyllabic names are accented on the penult if that 

 syllable is long in quantity, otherwise on the antepenult. Dissyl- 

 labic names are always accented on the first syllable. Ar-gyn-nis, 

 Ba-si-ldr-chi-a, Mor-pho. 



Quantity. The quantity of a syllable, and of a vowel also, 

 measures the time occupied in pronunciation. A syllable, irre- 

 spective of its vowel, is long in quantity if its vowel is followed 

 by two consonants, excepting a mute (b, c, d, g, k, p, q, t) plus a 

 liquid (1, r) or by the double consonants x or z. In this case the 

 syllable is long by position, but its vowel is properly pronounced 

 short. Coccinella, CyUster, Brydxis, Platypeza. A syllable is 



