WM i) 01111(1 



VJV 



A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History, 



No. 59 



DECEMBEE 11th, 1880. 



Vol. 2 



NOMENCLATURE. 



AyOUNG frieud asked on Saturday 

 why we recommended the adop- 

 tion by British Entomologists oi' the 

 Continental name Auriniy, for the 

 Greasy Fritillary, instead of advising 

 them to use our well-known name of 

 Artemis. He thought it a pity to give 

 up a name every one knew in England, 

 and a shame if we had to use a foreign 

 name instead. Why should we give in 

 to Germany ? The fly sitting on the 

 box of the coach thought itself of 

 immense importance, when so very 

 much noise and fuss were made, in 

 conveying it from one place to another. 

 So we Britons have the idea that 

 science was made for us, and that all 

 matters should be looked at from our 

 insular stand-point. 



We always believe that when one 

 asks, there are a score wanting to ask, 

 and a hundred who would be glad to 

 know, if the idea occurred to them. 

 We therefore take the present oppor- 

 tunity of saying a few words to our 

 young readers on Nomenclature. A 

 popular Trio in the Opera H.M.S. 

 Pinafore begins, " Never mind the why 



and wherefore," but in science " the 



i why and wherefore 



the most im- 



portant things there are to ' k mind." 

 It is necessary, in order to explain 

 " why " we advise the name Artemis 

 to be dropped, and that of Anrinia sub- 

 stituted, to give some little particulars, 

 with reference to our mode of miming 

 the various animals, plants, <kc. Before 

 the present system of double names 

 was invented, most perfect confusion 

 existed, but by arranging the various 

 ! species in Kingdoms, Families. Genera, 

 ; &C , all Wits brought to order. Each 

 species was given a name of its own — 

 the specific name. It belonged to a 

 certain genus, from which it took its 

 j family name, and thus each insect, or 

 other animal, got its two names, ex- 

 actly as our mutual friend, John Smith, 

 has two. The only difference between 

 the system on which animals are 

 named, and that by which we are 

 named ourselves, being, that in the one 

 case the family name comes first, and 

 m the other the specific. Of course 

 there is this additional difference, that 

 with ourselves the individuals are 

 named, and not the species only, as in 

 the other. Now it is veiy ekar that 



