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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. Xo. 818 



about (by the use of the added letter) without 

 losing identity. 



How wiU this proposal affect future prog- 

 ress ? It should lighten the " burden of nom- 

 enclature " for every one who is not born with 

 unusual ability in dealing with names: it 

 should facilitate the work of the morphologist, 

 the ecologist, the physiologist, the comparative 

 psychologist, the field naturalist and the lay- 

 man. And while the demand for simplifica- 

 tion of terminology has not arisen from among 

 those who are most actively engaged in de- 

 scribing new forms, this proposal will interfere 

 in no way with the work of the systematist. 

 Let the grinding of new species go merrily on : 

 it is desirable that the fauna of the whole 

 world be made known. Let genera and species 

 be described and named as now. Let them be 

 named in anagrams or in dithyrambs. Let 

 them bear the name of Mr. Wollingstone-Pren- 

 dergast or of Satan: no 'matter: after the 

 group name and serial number has been at- 

 tached no one will be inconvenienced or 

 offended. Let the splitter split and let the 

 lumper lump : each species once entered under 

 its proper designation, under that designation 

 it will ever remain: only the appended letter 

 is changed by later shifting to another posi- 

 tion in the group. 



For the inauguration of such a system the 

 machinery is already provided in the Literna- 

 tional Commission, and the preliminary work 

 has already been done. Owing to the long 

 search for priority the dates of names have 

 been determined already with great conscien- 

 tiousness throughout nearly the whole field of 

 biology." It were better that zoological and 

 botanical congresses should unite in this and 

 that a complete standard name list for the 

 fauna and flora of the world should be issued, 

 giving the old names and their modem equiva- 

 lents. Let additional designations be made 

 (by the same commission: never by the de- 



' I was able with the aid of' an annotated copy 

 of Kii'by's " Catalogue of the Odonata " to arrange 

 a complete name list for the subfamily Lestinse in 

 about an hour. With two copies and a pair of 

 shears, I think it might have been done in fifteen 

 minutes. 



scriber, who merely names as now) in annual 

 lists, such as are now announced in the Zoolog- 

 ical Becord. A few very recent species would 

 thus have to be designated in the old way for 

 a time. Let the international congresses in 

 order to insure the success of the plan make 

 one new rule: that new genera and species, to 

 be valid must be issued in a publication which 

 adopts and uses the standard list. Then we 

 should have again a set of names fit for our 

 general intellectual currency. No one who 

 chose still to use all the subgeneric names 

 would be restrained from so doing. Many in 

 the present generation, inured to the long 

 names, might prefer to go on using them all; 

 but a new generation would regard them as 

 we now regard the huge eonchs and scraps of 

 metal that were used for barter in primitive 

 times. 



James G. Needham 



THE NATIONAL CONSERVATION CONGRESS 

 The program of the congress to be held at 

 St. Paul next week includes the following 

 addresses : 



September 5 — Morning: Addresses of wel- 

 come ; an address by President Taft ; " Our 

 Public Land Laws," Senator Knute Nelson, 

 of Minnesota. Afternoon : Conference of the 

 governors of the states; addresses by gover- 

 nors. 



September 6 — Morning: Reports by the 

 State Conservation Commissions; address, 

 " National Efficiency," ex-President Eoose- 

 velt; appointment of committees. Afternoon: 

 " Conservation — the Principle of the Red 

 Cross," Miss Mabel Boardman, of Washing- 

 ton, president of the American Red Cross; 

 " Safeguarding the Property of the People," 

 Francis J. Heney, of California ; " The Pre- 

 vention of Power Monopoly," Herbert K. 

 Smith, United States Commissioner of Cor- 

 porations ; '■ The Franchise as a Public 

 Right," Herbert Hadley, Governor of Mis- 

 souri ; " Water as a Natural Resource," E. A. 

 Fowler, of Phcenix, Ariz., president of the 

 National Irrigation Congress ; " The Develop- 

 ment of Water Power in the Interest of the 

 People," George C. Pardee, of Oakland, Cal. 



