312 PRACTICAL AND SCIENTIFIC ZOOLOGY. 



not a very essential acquirement ; and less so to the prac- 

 tical than to the scientific naturalist. The former relies 

 upon his common-place book for facts, and troubles 

 himself very little about names. But the scientific student 

 has great need of a good memory^ and should not only 

 be well versed in the terminology of his science^ but 

 also in its nomenclature, that is^ in remembering scien- 

 tific names. He must not, however, be frightened by 

 the formidable lists of those now in use, as they appear 

 marshalled in an index, nor must he suppose that it is a 

 necessary part of his studies to remember them by 

 rote : such an exertion of memory, even were it pos- 

 sible, is not called for. An ornithologist or an ento- 

 mologist of the old school, commenced, indeed, with 

 learning the names and characters of every genus of 

 birds or of insects then established ; and if, in process 

 of time, he could get those which designated the prin- 

 cipal species also by heart, every thing was thought to 

 have been accomplished. At present, however, no natu- 

 raUst attempts to learn more than the names and essential 

 characters of those minor divisions^ or genera, which 

 belong to the particular group he may be actually study- 

 ing. It is expedient, nevertheless, that a general know- 

 ledge should also be gained of the greater divisions — as 

 the orders, tribes, families, and sub-families — lof the 

 class of animals to which the former belongs. The 

 systematic student will be materially assisted in this 

 task by the plan of affixing labels to his specimens, im- 

 mediately upon ascertaining their names; while, to im- 

 press upon his memory the essential characters of the 

 larger groups, short synoptical tables may be copied into 

 bis common-place book, similar to those which wiU be 

 occasionally inserted in our subsequent volumes. 



(378.) Collecting specimens, in any department of 

 zoology, for mere private collections, should be con- 

 ducted upon some fixed plan ; not only on the score of 

 expense, and the space they require, but from their 

 tendency to distract the attention of the student from 

 those subjects he is more particularly desirous of under- 



