Zool— Vol. I.] MILLER— CREEK AND LATIN DERIVATIVES. 143 



laws, extremes may meet ; conservatives and anarchists 

 agree. But the majority may be depended upon in time to 

 subscribe to the laws, and the perturbed condition will then 

 cease to be." 



We may recognize the law of priority as absolute, and 

 retain the many monstrous and misspelled names to be 

 found on the records of natural history, just as their makers 

 left them. They are historic facts and serve to mark the 

 group of animals or plants to which they apply, but these 

 misshapen forms of words are not ornamental and they are 

 unworthy of scholars. It is to be hoped that, in future, 

 greater care maybe taken to make words that give correctly 

 the idea the author may have intended. Such words as 

 Felichthys, Lefiomis, Semotiliis demand the constant apology 

 of those who use them, while words like Zalophus, Eri- 

 cymba, Hylocichla are a pleasure in themselves to those who 

 understand their meaning. It costs no more to frame a 

 name properly than to leave it a monstrosity. 



If this paper shall serve as a stepping-stone toward the 

 attainment of correctness and uniformity in the framing of 

 names of classical origin, its purpose will be fully met. 



