﻿LAWS OF NOMENCLATURE. 



233 



Urania, in entomology, is an old genus in botany ; it is there- 

 fore now changed to Lelius. 



Lophyrus, in ornithology, is an old genus in entomology; 

 it is now changed to Ptilophyrus. 



(190.) Names of genera or sub-genera must not be 

 taken from foreign languages, but should be fanned 

 from the Latin or Greek.* — Names taken from living 

 languages, even though they have a Latin termination, 

 are generally barbarous, and always improper, and can- 

 not be so classically compounded as if taken from the 

 Greek. Even names formed from the Latin are often 

 deficient in euphony, and still more so when they are 

 compounded of Latin and Greek together. When it is 

 possible, they should be made out of two Greek words 

 with a Latin termination, the following are examples 

 of faulty names in ornithology, whether used in a 

 generic or specific sense : — 



Ara, Aracari. t Lori. 



Cariama. Momotus. 



Gouan, Guiraca. Nengetus. 



Piaya, Pitangus, Puffinaria. Tinamus, Taccocua. 



Sula. 



(1 91*) Names must not be received, that are borrowed 

 from mythological, divine, historical, moral, pathological, 

 or other terms.f — " When we choose a name/' observes 

 Willdenow, u having a reference to religious or other 

 matters, with which it cannot properly be compared, or 

 which are not known to every one, it is good for no- 

 thing." The following names, therefore, have been 

 rejected : — 



Catbarractes, Cochlearius. 

 Fratercula, Fregetta, Montezuma. 

 Secretarius, Serpentarius, Stercorarius. 



Some exceptions to this rule may be allowed, particu- 

 larly in the instances of the Ibis sacra, the sacred ibis 

 of the Egyptians ; Palceornis, as the parrakeets known 

 to the ancients, and Gracula religiosa, a bird held sacred 

 in India. 



* Willdenow, Illiger, &c. + Ibid. 



