PREFACE. 



THE want of a nomenclature of colors adapted par- 

 ticularly to the use of naturalists has ever been 

 more or less an obstacle to the study of Nature; and 

 although there have been many works published on the 

 subject of color, they either pertain exclusively to the 

 purely scientific or technical aspects of the case or to 

 the manufacturing industries, or are otherwise unsuited 

 to the special purposes of the zoologist, the botanist, and 

 the mineralogist. 



According to a learned authority, who, among others, 

 has been carefully consulted in the preparation of this 

 work, " the names of colors, as usually employed, have so 

 little to do with the scientific or technical aspects of the 

 subject, that we are in reality dealing with the peculiari- 

 ties of language." 1 This is of course true as considered 

 from the stand-point of pure science; but popular and 

 even technical natural history demands a nomenclature 

 which shall fix a standard for the numerous hues, tints, 

 and shades which are currently adopted, and now form 

 part of the language of descriptive natural history. 



It has been the earnest endeavor of the author to 

 attain this object in the present work; and in order to 

 do so he has spared no pains, having for this purpose 



1 Von Bezold : Theory of Color, p. 99. 



