84 THE WOMBAT. 



show the stability or instability of a species its range and 

 all the many points connected with it. Unfortunately 

 systematists, as a rule, do but very little collecting, relying 

 for supplies of specimens chiefly upon the outside public and 

 field naturalists ; and it is regrettable that two or three 

 specimens should be considered sufficient to form the type 

 of a new species, as has been the case with many Coccids. 

 It is this pernicious habit of erecting a new species to receive the 

 slightest variation that has already made the list of synonymy 

 so long. When examining an insect it is always advisable 

 to endeavour to find something which will agree with some 

 known species, in preference to fossicking up some trivial 

 variation, for it is this apparently endless " new species " 

 craze that has brought about so much unnecessary confusion 

 and no corresponding advantage. The diagnosis of a species 

 should be so framed as to embrace all the cardinal points, 

 and also admit of any variations to which under various 

 geologic and climatic conditions a species may be subject. 

 The habit of naming "varieties" is also unnecessary and 

 confusing. The characters which separate distinct species are 

 at the best very minute, and not always readily discernible, 

 but to make the line of demarcation narrower by introducing 

 varietal " forms," or " types," is surely not aiming at clear- 

 ness and convenience, still less so if mere colour and host 

 plants be taken as a basis. The publication of M.S. names 

 has also proved to be alien to clearness, and should be 

 sternly repressed. Mr. T. S. Hall, M.A., in a lecture before 

 the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, lately spoke very 

 clearly as to the inconvenience occasioned by the publication 

 of M.S. names. 



I also think it necessary to point out to those who have 

 the responsibility of naming new species, or of classification 

 in general the wanton way in which individual names are 

 used for specific, and even generic purposes. Mr. D. 

 McAlpine in a paper on " Botanical Nomenclature with 

 special reference to Fungi," published by the Australasian 

 Association, 1893, speaks very plainly on this subject, and 

 his remarks are so applicable to the family Coccidae that I 

 take the following extract from it. " If a new form is worthy 

 of a distinctive name, then surely there is something distinct- 

 ive about it which can be expressed in the specific name 



Speaking as a teacher and in the interests of science, I would 

 appeal to those who have the responsibility of naming new 

 forms, to give us such names as will linger in the memory, 

 and serve to recall some important feature of form, or habit, 

 or use." 



At this juncture I think all students of Coccids will join 

 in deploring the loss of Mr. W. M. Maskell, of the Wellington 



