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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXXV II. 



2. A general name used with any other name prefixed for 

 specification denoting, 



a. Food or prey ; as, potato-beetle, spawn-eater, chicken- 

 snake, duck-hawk, rice-rat. 



b. Host ; as, horse-fly, dog-flea (chiefly parasites). 



3. A general name used with any other name prefixed for 

 specification denoting, 



a. Similarity ; as, mole-cricket, alligator-gar, cricket-frog, 

 garter-snake, box-turtle, turkey-vulture, fox-squirrel. 



b. Habit ; as, army-worm, pilot-fish, rattlesnake, snapping- 

 turtle, butcher-bird, flying-sa^iirrel. 



c. Habitat ; as, house-fly, brook-trout, tree-frog, water-moc- 

 casin, fence-lizard, land-tortoise, wood-duck, prairie-dog. 



d. Characteristic ; as, scale-insect, sword-fish, spade-foot 

 frog, horn-snake, spine-tailed lizard, map-turtle, song- 

 sparrow, musk-ox. 



4. A phrase consisting of an adjective and a noun together 

 used as a mere name, formed by writing (generally in solid 



a. An adjective with the name of an animal ; as, whitefish, 

 blacksnake, redbird, wildcat. 



b. An adjective with the name of some characteristic feature 

 of the animal ; as, longsting, blackfin, bluctail (lizard), 



