THE OOLOGIST. 



155 



At date of going to press, the Ethno- 

 logical Building is unfinished and on 

 this account we shall be unable to in- 

 stall our exhibit until May 15th, and 

 we would not be much surprised if it 

 was pretty close to June 1st, before we 

 had everything "ship-shape." Iu our 

 exchange columns we give a list of A. O. 

 U. numbers, showing the sets of species 

 which we have already accepted for the 

 exhibit. Our own stock of eggs is so 

 extensive that we can readily rill up 

 many gaps and put up a magnificent 

 collection but as we are hearing from 

 subscribers daily, wishing to add some- 

 thing of their collecting or from their 

 collections, we have concluded to hold 

 the offer open until May 20th for the 

 benefit of those who have not already 

 added their "mite" to the "scheme". 

 If you have any fine sets not now repre- 

 sented, and you wish to have them ex- 

 hibited at Chicago, send a list of them 

 at once, and we will select what we can 

 use, giving you further information, 

 and full pai'ticulars about shipping, etc, 

 Do not send eggs without instructions 

 from us. 



As intimated in our "Scheme" in 

 March Oologist we will hold our- 

 selves responsible for all eggs loaned, 

 and we have been fortunate in securing 

 space on the side of the building, where 

 the eggs will be best protected from 

 bright light. We shall issue a Souve- 

 nir Catalogue of the exhibit, giving a 

 complete descriptive list of same, with 

 names of contributors, etc., which will 

 be distributed gratuitously to all inter- 

 ested. 



This "Scheme" has advanced so far 

 already that it is sure to be a grand 

 success, and it now rests with you to aid 

 in making it doubly so. Our only de- 

 sire in extending the offer, is to give all 

 a chanc to exhibit sets that may wish 

 knowing full well that "numbers count" 

 in making an egg exhibit, and that the 

 more that enter into it, the greater will 

 be the ultimate success. Remember 



you must write at once, if you wish to 

 be "in it." It is barely possible that 

 after May 2Dth we can include a few 

 extra rare sets that may be taken this 

 season, or that are offered, but it will 

 depend entirely on space, and the rarity 

 of the species. 



Trinominal Nomenclature. 



Trinominal nomenclature consists in 

 applying to every individual organism, 

 and to the aggregate of such organisms 

 now known to intergrade in physical 

 characters, three names. One of these 

 expresses the sub-specific distinctness of 

 the organism from all other organisms. 

 The other two express respectively its 

 specific indistinctness from, or generic 

 identity with certain other organisms. * 

 The three, written consecutively con- 

 stitute the technical name of any sub- 

 specifically distinct organism. 



The system proceeds upon a sound, 

 scientific principle, underlying one of 

 the most important problems of the 

 present time, namely that of tue varia- 

 tions of animals under different physi- 

 cal conditions of environment and thus 

 of the origin of species itself. The sys- 

 tem is also connected with the subject 

 of geographical distribution of animals. 



As the study of Zoology progressed 

 and the study of animals of large areas 

 became better known, it was found 

 that often different ones of the same 

 species varied so much in color, hab- 

 its, size, etc., that a person not well ac- 

 quainted with these variations would 

 be almost certain to class the speci- 

 mens as different species. It also be- 

 came evident that^ individuals of the 

 same species were often greatly modi- 

 fied through the intiuence of latitude, 

 longitude, elevation, temperature and 

 certain other climatic conditions, etc. 

 Such local forms were often extremely 



* Melospiza (generic) fasciata (specific) f'al- 

 lax (sub-specific). 



