86 



The Naturalist. 



To arrange shells, butterflies, or sea-weeds in pretty patterns may 

 be a harmless amusement, but it is not science. Of course if we can 

 arrange our specimens tastefully, so as to be pleasing to the aesthetic 

 but unscientific eye, so much the better, but it must not be at the 

 expense of obliterating their characteristic features ; we must not, for 

 instance, disturb the natural arrangement of the leaves of a dried 

 plant in order to make them fit neatly into a vacant space. In naming 

 them, the scientific name should always be given if known ; the 

 generic name alone if the specific name be not known ; and the name 

 of the order or family should also be written in the appropriate place. 

 Whether the English names should be given or not is a matter of 

 taste and convenience ; they certainly add to the interest of the 

 collection in the eyes of non-scientific people, but I do not think it 

 worth while to invent English names for things that have not them 

 already, still less to discard our well-known and old-established 

 English names in order to substitute for them new-fangled appella- 

 tions framed on the pattern of the Latin names. Thus, we all know 

 the " black bryony," but who beside a botanist would guess what 

 plant the " common tame " was ? — and he would know it better as 

 " Tamm communis.^' The beautiful system of scientific nomenclature 

 now in use was invented by Linnaeus, and is used for all animals and 

 plants, recent and fossil. A species is an assemblage of individuals 

 differing only in inconstant or sexual characters. Those species which 

 most nearly resemble each other are grouped together into a " genus." 

 Thus, the apple and the pear are two species belonging to the same 

 genus, Pyrus, the apple, being Pyrus malus {inalus, an apple), and the 

 pear Pyrus communis ; the dog-rose is Rosa canina ; the French rose, 

 Rosa gallica ; the cabbage-rose, or 100-leaved rose, Rosa centifolia. 

 Each kind has thus two names — that of the genus and that of the 

 species, which may be compared to the christian and surname of' an 

 individual, only that the generic or family name is placed first, in 

 accordance with the custom of the Latin language, this language 

 being chosen on account of the harmony of its sounds and of the 

 convenience with which compound words can be formed, and more 

 especially because it is known by educated men in all countries. 

 People sometimes complain that the Latin names are hard to 

 remember ; they are not so, however, if we will take the trouble to 

 learn their meaning, which may generally be found out with the aid 

 of a dictionary, and a very moderate stock of classical lore. Thus, 

 CJirysosplenium oppositifolium seems a long name, but it is not really 

 difficult when we know that the golden saxifrage was called Chryso- 



