CONSTRUCTION OF SYSTEMATIC NAMES IN PALEONTOLOGY. 



By PROF. E. W. CLAYPOLE, B. A., B. Sc, (London), Antioeh College, Yellow Springs, Ohio. 



The Latin language is universally adopted in the scientific world for 

 naming species, fossil and recent, in both the Animal and Vegetable 

 Kingdoms. Linnaeus introduced the plan of limiting the name of a species 

 to two words, the former of which was generic and the latter specific, and 

 of making these terms in their formation comply with the rules of the 

 Latin tongue. Since his time, this plan has become the rule. At first, 

 terms were chosen expressing the character or characters which define 

 the genus or species, and such names constitute the perfection of 

 scientific nomenclature. But even Linnaeus soon found it impossible to 

 maintain this standard, and himself resorted to Homer's Iliad to find 

 names with which to christen the butterflies that thronged in upon him. 

 Hence we have Troilus, Danaus, Philenor, <fec. Such names are mere arbi- 

 trary, meaningless counters attached to the objects and only tenable by 

 an act of memory. They recall no character and are recalled by none. 

 Hence they are inferior to the former class of names. But if in Linnaeus' 

 day their necessity was evident, much more so is it to-day, when almost 

 every language and lexicon have been ransacked to find unpreoccupied 

 names for the hosts of natural objects for which they are required. In some 

 large genera, such for instance as Orthoceras, Orthis and Rhynchonella, 

 it has become exceedingly difficult to coin descriptive names which have 

 not been already thrown into circulation by some other author. This 

 will be evident to any reader in the number of specific names in the 

 catalogue marked "preoccupied," and one object is to provide a remedy 

 for the difficulty by enabling any one to see at a glance whether or not 

 any proposed name has been previously published by any American, 

 and to some extent, by any European author. 



The conventional Latin of the Sciences differs somewhat from the 

 classical Latin of the schools. As a dead language, Latin is free from the 

 changes to which all living languages are subject, and as the most widely 

 studied of the dead languages, it forms an excellent means of communi- 

 cation between men of science in different countries. Words and com- 

 binations of letters have, however, been introduced alien to the genius 

 of the language, and some of them most barbarous and unmusical. 



* NOTE.— This paper has been prepared at the request of Mr. S. A. Miller, the author of the 

 American Palaeozoic Fossils, and with the view of giving some assistance to palseontological 

 students and workers, in avoiding errors and improving the nomenclature of science. E. W. C. 



