76 



linents. Our own city will long stand a monument of this ingeni- 

 ous system of nomenclature. 



Note K—Page 66. 



It is not unusual to hear some of our naturalists speak of the mul- 

 tiplication of genera as useless and unnecessary, but the evils origi- 

 nating from this source are not to be compared with those arising 

 from the precipitate creation of new species. In the former case, 

 genera, considered merely as artificial helps to the memory, (and 

 they are nothing more) are made to subserve temporary pur- 

 poses, and will ultimately find their proper place in a general sys- 

 tema. To those who view the " multiplication of genera as one 

 of the misfortunes of modern science," we would recommend inter 

 alias^ the study of the genus Ursus as established by Linne, and 

 the modifications it has received from subsequent naturalists. 

 New nominal species, on the other hand, perplex the student, in- 

 crease the labors of the critical naturalist, and render the study of 

 natural history tedious and difficult. If it was generally under- 

 stood that it is more meritorious to extinguish a single nominal 

 species than to establish a dozen new ones, it would efiectually 

 check the present mania for making new species often on slight 

 foundations. This also leads to an overweening anxiety to se- 

 cure priority ; and hence descriptions are liable to be drawn up 

 in a crude and hasty manner, without reference to the co-ordinate 

 characters. 



It would much assist the cause of Natural Science if some gene- 

 ral regulations could be adopted by which discoveries might be 

 secured without infringing upon the rights of others, and a uni- 

 form system of nomenclature established. The Committee of 

 Publication of the Lyceum have adopted for their own guidance 

 the laws of nomenclature as collected by Decandolle in his Theo- 

 vie de la Botanique, so far as they are applicable to the other de- 

 partments. There are several points not settled in that paper 

 which are now generally received by naturalists, and indeed are 



