604 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 1456 



for short) that has such a precisely descriptive 

 and stable system of nomenclature as chemistry. 



The chemist, if diligent, can make at least 

 one new compound every day or so and in his 

 spare moments give it a name. Often it is 

 easier than deciding what to call a mew baby. 

 The name he gives will generally stick, because 

 only on rare occasions does some other chemist 

 come along and show that the harness got twist- 

 ed when the radicals were hitched up. Then 

 all that is needed is to rearrange the component 

 parts of the name or to substitute "ortho" for 

 "para" or "meta." 



The name tells what the substance is. Doubt 

 arises when a short and easy name is applied. 

 For the chemist a good tname is rather to be 

 chosen than great wealth of description, be- 

 cause it is self-contained. The naturalist must 

 have detailed descriptions, preferably with 

 plates, and is happiest when he can make com- 

 parison with "type specimens." 



In his spare moments the botanist or zoologist 

 digs around in old books and journals with 

 the hope of resurrecting an old name for some 

 familiar plant or animal. This is called stabi- 

 lizing the nomenclature. It is done because 

 such and such a congress decided that the race 

 for supremacy and final adoption shall be won, 

 not 'by a name that has come swiftly down the 

 yeai-s and is known by all, but by one that 

 stayed at scratch, hidden in some dusty volume. 



Shuffling the cards for a new deal is another 



delightful diversion. For such names as X 



a (Smith) Jones comb. nov. special honors 



are awarded, particularly to Jones. The pity 

 of it is that somebody else may come along and 



soon the specimen becomes Y b 



(BroAvn) White comb, noviss. In this way the 

 nomenclatui"e becomes fixed. 



What is queer about a chemical spelling 

 match? To name a compound for which the 

 formula is given, or to do the reverse, is good 

 training for the memory. Can one imagine a 

 botanical or an entomological spelling match? 

 Could "aster" or "grasshopper" be drawn in 

 recognizable detail by the contestants? The 

 optioiistie chemist will concede that the respec- 

 tive drawings could with some confidence be 

 labelled "flower" or "bug," but could an ex- 

 pert name the species? Yet the pitifully un- 



scientific chemist who uses long words to cloak 



his ignorance can at once tell the coiTect names 



of two such closely related species as H2SO3 



and H2SO4. 



,,r „ _ „ C. E. Waters 



Wa.shington, D. C. 



OCTOBEK 27, 1922 



MUSCINA PASCUORUM MEIGEN IN NEW 

 ENGLAND 



This Euix>pean fly has made its appearance 

 in considerable num'bere this year in Massa- 

 chusetts and Connecticut. The fii-st specimen 

 was collected in Connecticut, August 6, and it 

 is still (November 14) quite common in the 

 vicinity of Boston. The muscid is about three 

 times the size of the house fly, bluish black, 

 with a whitish, pruinose covering. A detailed 

 account is in preparation and any information 

 as to its further dishibution will be greatly ap- 

 preciated. 



Chaeles W. Johnson 



Boston Society or Natural History 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



The Minds and Manners of Wild Animals. By 



William T. Hoenadat, Sc.D., A.M. New 



York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1922. Pp. 



s + 328. 



If every man devoted to his affairs, and to tlie 

 affairs of his city and state, the same measure of 

 intelligence and honest industry that every warm- 

 blooded wild animal devotes to its affairs, the 

 jjeople of this world would abound in good health, 

 prosperity, peace and happiaess. 



To assume that every wOd beast and bird is a 

 sacred creature, peacefully dwelling in an earthly 

 paradise, is a mistake. They have their wisdom 

 and their folly, their joys and their sorrows, their 

 trials and tribulations. 



As the alleged lord of creation, it is man's 

 duty to know the wild animals truly as they are, 

 in order to enjoy them to the utmost, to utilize 

 them sensibly and fairly, and to give them a 

 square deal. 



With these reflections, the dean of scientific 

 directoi-s of American zoological parks pre- 

 sents his volume on the minds and manners of 

 wild animals. And with the following picture 

 — reproduced here only in part — the curtain 

 falls : 



On one side of the heights above the River of 



