142 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. [Proc. 3D Ser. 



the rule, leaving the abnormal to take care of itself. As I 

 have given the rule and ignored the exceptions for the most 

 part, even where exceptions are numerous, the laws laid 

 down may be called " Draconian," and censured as being 

 "tinctured with more than Roman severity." But the 

 " frequent laments over the instability of our systematic 

 nomenclature" and the "bitter complaints against those 

 who change names " are called forth in nearly every case 

 by some one's having rebelled against some " Draconian " 

 law. Consistency and correctness can be secured only by 

 following out what is recognized as rule, and will surely be 

 thwarted by adopting strange forms even when sanctioned 

 by sporadic use on the pages of a Pliny. Nothing is good 

 enough but the best, whether in science or language or 

 Latin form for scientific nomenclature ; and Pliny, for the 

 last, is not good enough so long as we have something bet- 

 ter. I cannot refrain from concluding with the rest of Dr. 

 Gill's paragraph, alluded to above, in which, after objecting 

 so vigorously to what he calls "Draconian" laws and 

 "laws tinctured with more than Roman severity" and 

 urging that " the language of nomenclature should not be 

 bound by rules of strict philology," he declares so unequi- 

 vocally for humble obedience to the higher law of priority 

 as the only way out of utter confusion: " Frequent are the 

 laments over the instability of our systematic nomenclature; 

 bitter the complaints against those who change names. But 

 surely such complaints are unjust when urged against 

 those who range themselves under laws. We are forci- 

 bly reminded by such complaints of the ancient apologue 

 of the wolf and the lamb. The stream of nomencla- 

 ture has indeed been muddied, but it is due to the acts of 

 those who refuse to be bound by laws or reason. The only 

 way to purify the stream is to clear out all the disturbing 

 elements. In doing so, mud that has settled for a time may 

 be disturbed, but that is at worst anticipating what would 

 have inevitably happened sooner or later. We are suffer- 

 ing from the ignorance or misdeeds of the past. In opposing 

 the necessary rectifications and the enforcement of the 



