Northern News. 



9 



a difficulty and comes upon them. A well-known South 

 American palaeontologist in despair at in\enting the number 

 of generic terms he required for his discoveries, has perpetrated 

 such atrocities as Arturosmiih'wood'wardia and Ricardolydekkeria. 

 Others more fanciful in their tastes have objected to words like 

 Orchis or Callopyge as indelicate, but Linuceus seemed quite 

 Chaucerian when dealing- with his genera Venus and Priapiis. 



Authors themselves often confuse the issue as did Laxmann, 

 who in 1769 refers a half-rat half-mole like animal to Myospalax. 

 But in 1773 the same author uses the word specifically when he 

 refers to the same animal as Mus myospalax. 



I will bring these remarks to a close by telling the curious 

 story of the name of the Wild Turkey of the Eastern United 

 States. This bird was quoted as Meleagris /era, \Meillot. An 

 English ornithologist ventured to point out that the name /era 

 was incorrect, as the word on the page of the work cited read 

 silvesirtSy and the proper name of the bird must therefore be 

 Meleagris silvestris. Soon after appeared an angry letter 

 almost questioning the sanity of the Englishman, for several 

 people had looked at the book in question and the word was 

 most certainly fera. I was appealed to to unravel the mystery 

 and I found that both the parties were right ; in one copy of the 

 book was the word fera and in the other the word silvestris. 

 But a careful examination of the matter showed that while the 

 Englishman was using the original issue of the work, the 

 Americans were using another and later issue, w hich differed 

 from the first only in the insertion of a single line and the 

 change at the time of the addition of the single word silvestris 

 into fera. Thus peace was restored between the two countries, 

 and a severe shock administered to those who lightly fancy that 

 two works of some thirty-six volumes are necessarily alike. In 

 this case one word was changed in part of the issue of volume 

 nine, and the signature was the only evidence of a cancelled leaf 

 and replacement. 



♦ » 



Mr. T. W. Sanders is the author of ' One and All ' Garden Book No. 14, 

 which deals with ' Climbers.' It is exceptionally well illustrated, and is sold 

 at one penny. 



A conference of northern Museum Curators was held at Salford recently. 

 Mr. B. H. Mullen, the Curator, referred to the recent developments in the 

 Salford Museum ; Mr. G. A. Dunlop (Warrington) described a method of 

 preparation of botanical specimens ; Mr. H. Murray (Manchester) read 

 some notes on wet methods of preserving plants for exhibition ; and Mr. 

 E. E. Lowe (Leicester) read a paper entitled ' What should be the Curator's 

 Ideal ' ? 



1908 January i. 



