242 
Berlin fishery exhibition, Professor Giglioli, 
the leading authority in Italian vertebrate 
zoology, commenting upon the collections sent 
from the U.S. national museum, remarks, 
‘¢T feel obliged to make reference to the sin- 
gular nomenclature current among the zodlo- 
gists of the United States, which is in most 
instances entirely arbitrary, and at variance - 
with that generally adopted in Europe. Only 
the working zodlogist can form an idea of the 
confusion which is sure to result from such 
practices. If the present courses are contin- 
ued, they will end in the destruction of the 
wise, convenient, and simple sistema zoologico 
conceived by the great Linnaeus.”’ 
Most English zodlogists follow, though not 
very consistently, the rulings of the Strickland- 
ian code; but on the continent, except in 
Norway, there appears to be no general appre- 
ciation of the importance of conforming to 
any consistent policy in nomenclature. ‘The 
authority of Cuvier, or one of his contempo- 
raries, is allowed to outweigh any considera- 
tion of justice or uniformity. In the United 
States, however, the number of indigenous spe- 
cies to be systematically catalogued is so great, 
that systematic zodlogists have been forced to 
follow the rule of priority, without fear of con- 
temporaries, or favor to the workers of the past. 
It is somewhat unfortunate that the common 
sea-bream of Europe should be known to trans- 
atlantic ichthyologists as Sargus vulgaris, while 
here it is called Diplodus sargus; equally so, 
that our black bass, Micropterus salmoides, 
should there be known as Huro nigricans. The 
American zodlogist has, however, the advan- 
tage of standing on a foundation of priority, 
upon which his European brethren must sooner 
or later take refuge, or be overwhelmed in an 
ocean of synonymes. 
In closing a review of the different means 
employed by man to rid himself of destructive 
insects, Mr. de Fontvielle expresses a regret 
that the attempts made to popularize the use 
of insects as food have made so little progress. 
We are, in fact, behind the Chinese, and even 
SCIENCE. 
behind the monkeys, who, if we may believe — 
Millet, eat their own lice. It is not necessary, 
he adds, to go to this length; but we ought 
not to forget the remark of the Roman emper- 
or, who said that the body of an enemy never 
tasted bad, and the banquet of the Society 
of insectology, before which he spoke, would 
always lack something so long as there was 
not placed before them at least some grass- 
hopper farina and fried white worms. 
‘ CHARACTERIZED by high, unbroken medioc- 
rity’ is the description which the Pall-mall ga- 
zette gives of the literature of the past year. 
This only brings up again the question whether 
the age of literature and of good talkers, as 
well as writers, may not be passing away. The 
energies of a large portion of the able men of 
the present are occupied by the work of their 
special avocations, — avocations in which they 
have few associates, or possibly none, in their 
particular branch. What has the foremost posi- 
tion in these men’s thoughts they find no op- 
portunity of mentioning to those with whom 
they may be thrown. Where Franklin found 
time to be a printer, a statesman, and a physi- 
cist, is now so much ground to be covered, that 
a physicist may soon be a thing of the past; the . 
electrician possibly being quite ignorant of the 
laws of heat, and each student only striving 
to cover faithfully the subject of sound, or light, 
or heat, as may seem most attractive. Shall 
the active man of the future limit himself in 
his department that he may gain a polish that 
will make him the more agreeable companion? 
or, that he may serve the world’s purpose the 
better, shall he, by his education, largely sepa- 
rate himself from all others? What this dif- 
ferentiation has come to, is shown by the fact 
that a learned academy not long ago honored — 
with a gold medal a memoir which no memberx 
had read. A meeting of this society has offen 
been compared to a funeral, —a funeral only .. 
be enlivened by the queries of some garrulous 4 
layman; and how can it be otherwise’ when 
the words of our wiseacre fall upon the ea s- 
of others, incapable of vibrating in sympa-- 
thy? | 
a 
oe) lel i 
