28 
it seems to me, in the description of new species, is that the de- 
finition of each shall be satisfactorily diagnostic, so that the 
distinguishing peculiarities of the species shall be recognised 
by others with as much certainty and as little trouble as possi- 
ble. In my experience one of the most mischievous defects.in 
systematic work is vaguenes of description, and the habit of 
mentioning diagnostic characters only in the course of a des- 
eription of which a great part applies to several species. 
3.—1Í suppose the cause of the excessive synonymy is the 
fact that many naturalists describe the same species under a 
new name, either in ignorance of the descriptions of their pre- 
decessors, or because they failed to recognise these descrip- 
tions. The remedies, 16 seems to me, must be greater care in 
consulting literature, and greater precision in diagnosis. 1t of- 
ten happens that a writer places a name givent by some prede- 
cessor in the synonymy of one species while actually describing 
the form the name really belongs to under a new name. 
3.—1 do not think it would be an improvement to place £ho 
date of publication fortho authors name after a species namo. 
It seems to me that without an author's name the specific name 
has no meaning, because the same name has been applied by 
different authors to different species. On the other hand, the 
addition of an author's name fixes the species refered to, and 
1t does not matter whether it was the first name given to the- 
species or not. For practical porposes it seems to me most con- 
yenient to use the whole name (both generic and specific) em- 
ployed by the most authoritative writer, whether it was correct 
according to priority or not. Thus Homarus vulgaris Milne Ed- 
wards in Europe means the lobster, and I fail to see the advan- 
tage of substituting Astacus gammarus Leach, although it has 
priority. Priority in generic names lead to even more inconve- 
nience. Rhombus maximus Cuvier or Giinther means the hor- 
bat, but American ichthyologists have writen Pleuronectes ma- 
wimus Fleming for the same species, although in Europe Plew- 
ronectes is used for plaice, dab, etc. I hold that a name com. 
