Geographic Nomenclature. 263 
One of the most singular perversions is found in “ Bering Sea ;” 
the explorer wrote his name “Bering,” and yet we find it is 
customary, almost everywhere, to spell it “ Behring.” 
In the second class of cases, where we have different names for 
the same place, we may cite Bangs Island, at the entrance to 
Portland harbor; an effort was made not long ago to change 
this name on the Coast Survey charts to Cushing’s Island, the 
evidence was so strong that an order was issued to effect the 
change, when the supporters of “ Bangs” produced additional 
evidence and secured the retention of that name. On the coast 
of Florida we had two Saint Joseph’s Bays, and a comparatively 
modern name, “ Anclote Anchorage,” was presented to take the 
place of a part of one of them, which led to designating the rest 
of the bay “ Saint Joseph’s Sound,” Sound being more appropri- 
ate for the locality. We have also some notable instances on the 
Pacific coast, as “Cape Orford ” or “ Blanco ;” “ Cape Gregory ” 
or “ Arago ;” “South Farallon” or “Southeast Farallon ;” and 
in Alaska there are instances too numerous to mention. 
In the third class of cases, the locality to which the name 
applies, we may cite “ Isle-au-Haut ” Bay and “ East Penobscot ” 
Bay, on the coast of Maine ; “ Hempstead ” Bay, on the coast of 
Long Island, a bay which is almost filled with small islands, ren- 
dering it most difficult to satisfactorily define the limits; “ Chinco- 
teague” Bay, on the Jersey coast, is an instance of growth ; it 
was at one time called “ Assateague,” and although “ Assa- 
teague ” was retained for many years as applicable to the upper 
part of the bay, it has finally been restricted to a very small cove 
in Assateague Island. On the Pacific coast there are a great 
many instances, possibly one of the most difficult relates to the 
limits of Admiralty Inlet, how far it extends into Puget sound ? 
Again, to the northward, is what for years has been called 
“ Washington” Sound, an effort is being made to change it to 
“ Possession” Sound, the latter name, I believe, was once applied 
to a portion of the area; perhaps we shall eventually see both 
names on the chart. The difficulty of defining the limits to 
which a name applies may be experienced in dealing with 
“Hampton Roads,” or “Tybee Roads ;” apparently simple 
problems, but who will undertake to define the exact limits of 
these famous roadsteads ? ; 
These questions, even when stated in their simplest form, are 
oftentimes very complex, for several of the general classes I have 
