PREFACE. 
THE want of a nomenclature of colors adapted par- 
ticularly to the use of naturalists has ever been 
more or less an obstacle to the study of Nature ; and 
although there have been many works published on the 
subject of color, they either pertain exclusively to the 
purely scientific or technical aspects of the case or to 
the manufacturing industries, or are otherwise unsuited 
to the special purposes of the zoologist, the botanist, and 
the mineralogist. 
According to a learned authority, who, among others, 
has been carefully consulted in the preparation of this 
work, " the names of colors, as usually employed, have so 
little to do with the scientific or technical aspects of the 
subject, that we are in reality dealing with the peculiari- 
ties of language." 1 This is of course true as considered 
from the stand-point of pure science; but popular and 
even technical natural history demands a nomenclature 
which shall fix a standard for the numerous hues, tints, 
and shades which are currently adopted, and now form 
part of the language of descriptive natural history. 
It has been the earnest endeavor of the author to 
attain this object in the present work; and in order to 
do so he has spared no pains, having for this purpose 
i Von Bezold : Theory of Color, p. 99. 
