70 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 
SPECIFIC NOMENCLATURE. 
BY H. KE. MOKRISON, OLD CAMBRIDGE, MASS. 
The publication of Mr. Scudder’s Revision has caused much dismay 
among amateurs, on account of the numerous specific changes and minute 
generic sub-divisions which it proposes. 
To students of Lepidoptera the novel, and in many cases, original 
views advanced afford a fertile field for discussion. Mr. Scudder has 
attempted to study the order by the same methods, and to correct its 
tangled specific nomenclature by the same principles which govern all 
other departments of Zoology. 
| very difficult from the fact that their beauty and 
the readiness with which they can be captured and preserved, has made 
them from the time of Linnæus a favorite order with colléctors. Thus it 
was that many of the specics have been described not by naturalists, but 
by amateurs ; and genera founded on the most casual and unimportant 
characters. The confusion caused by the publication of superficial and 
carelessly written works, or of works in which the labors of preceding 
Entomologists have been neglected, it will take years to undo. Mr. 
Kirby, in his invaluable catalogue, has combined the results of the labors 
of European students in this direction, and adopted, although he did not 
fully carry out, the principies which Mr. Scudder followed strictly in his 
Revision. 
This work is rendered 
Unless some definite law is laid down and universally observed, in regard 
to Entomologicalnomenclature,the Science will always remain in the chaotic 
condition in which it now is. ‘lime will only increase the confusion ; and 
now that a good remedy has been proposed, it would be folly to reject it, 
because of the temporary inconvenience it would occasion. The con- 
demnation with which Mr. Scucder’s book has been received seems to be 
founded, not on an intelligent rejection of his deductions, but simply on 
account of the trouble which a partial change of names would cause the 
present generation of studenis. 
But is it not better to endure « slight and constantly diminishing evil 
for the sake of a future and permanent good ? 
There are two laws by which the nomenclature of a science may be 
governed, that of priority and the so-called law of convenience. The 
