'889.] Zoology, 447 
unintelligible to foreigners, even to those who are good Latin 
scholars. As one of the chief advantages of the uniform Latin 
nomenclature of plants is that thus a sort of universal or in- 
ternational language is created, it is evident how much has 
been lost by our prcdjudiced adherence to a provincial mode 
of pronunciation." 
After much consideration and consultation with several em- 
inent botanists, the writer determined to follow the Roman 
system of pronunciation in his article. He proceeds to give 
the essentials as to accentuation, quantity, and the pronuncia- 
tion of particular letters, practically as given in the rules set 
forth above. 
"It will be as well to guard the reader against the supposi- 
tion that there exists at present for botanical names any rec- 
ognized standard of pronunciation from which he may imagine 
that this dictionary often presumes to depart. The fact is that 
there is no such established standard. In many cases the 
common text-books are utterly at variance, and the usage, not 
only of good gardeners, but of educated botanists is often 
hopelessly divergent." 
In but one point of importance, (and that is in fact of but 
minor importance,) are the rules different from those printed 
above. Mr. Miles says that in all cases of words commemora- 
tive of the names of men, we should pronounce the word "as 
nearly as possible in the way in which the name to be com- 
memorated was sounded." Thus he would have us say Stokes- 
^-a, not Sto-ke-si-a, Men-zies-i-i, not Men-zi-cs-i-L We are 
of the opinion that the rule of the Seminar, given above, is 
preferable, and will in the end lead to the best results.— 
Charles E. Bessey. 
ZOOLOGY. 
Some Cases of Solid-Hoofed Hogs and Two-Toed 
Horses. — In 1878 " soliped " pigs were reported from Texas. 
Dr. Coues observed that in the new breed the terminal 
phalanges of the toes were united, to form a single broad pha- 
lange ; above this, however, the other two phalanges remained 
perfectly distinct. The hoof is perfectly solid, and on its sole 
there was a broad, angular elevation of horny substance, curi- 
ously like the frog of the horse's hoof The breed was so firm- 
ly established that no tendency to revert to the original 
and normal form was then observable. It was further stated 
