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But the scientific names are ia perfect and satis- 

 factory order in comparison with the so called com- 

 mon names of animals and plants. In every country, 

 in each locality even, there is a different name for 

 the common animals, the flowers and the trees. And 

 what is more confusing, not only is the same tree 

 known by a dozen different names in as many places, 

 as we travel through the region of its distribution, 

 but the name of one tree is frequently given to an 

 entirely different one, as we pass from the region 

 where it grows abundantly to another where it is rare 

 or altogether absent. And yet its name is given to 

 some other species which may or even may not resemble 

 it. 



In coming to this country, the early settlers brought 

 with them the names of the common animals and plants 

 with which they were familiar at home, and they at 

 once applied them to other animals and plants in 

 which they saw real or fancied resemblances. Thus 

 it is, for instance, we have misnamed a pole-cat, a 

 robin, a cowslip, a Mayweed, a sycamore, and many 

 other animals and plants. 



Local names add to this confusion. For the Acer 

 pennsylvanicum, we have : striped-maple, moose-wood, 

 striped-dogwood, false-dogwood, goose-foot maple, and 

 whistle-wood, names given to one tree between the St. 

 Lawrence and the mountains of Greorgia. Some of 

 these same names, too, are in turn given to still differ- 

 ent trees and shrubs. 



The walnuts and hickories are always confounded, 

 and the species of both genera are usually called wal- 

 nuts, indiscriminately. The fruit of the walnuts, as seen 

 by examining the butternuts, and so called English 



