VERNACULAR NAMES OE ANIMALS. 



The interests of popular science demand the introduction of 

 some system in writing; the common, or vernacular, names of 

 animals and plants. There is not only a great lack of uniformity 

 among authors as to the correct form of these names ; but in 

 case of some approach to an agreement with regard to certain 

 forms, often the agreement is without reference to the principles 

 that underlie the formation of such words. 



I^rom an examination of many thousand names of animals it 

 appears that only about ten per cent, of the names consist of a 

 single word ; about thirty per cent, consist of two or more words 

 which should be written in separate form ; about sixty per cent, 

 consist of two or more words which should he written in com- 

 pound form. (Not all of these should have a hyphen, however, 

 as will be shown later). What names should be included in this 

 sixty percent, is a problem upon the solution of which this paper 

 is designed to shed some light. 



There are those who say the solution of the problem lies in 

 abolishing the use of vernacular names entirely, and using in 

 their stead the more exact technical names. There is little hope 

 of getting any except the most rigidly scientific, to adopt for 

 everyday use the unfamiliar forms derived from foreign lan- 



