54 
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 
Vernacular names, above all, when taken from barbarous languages, are frequently 
uncertain, and the manner of writing them doubtful. When once the name has been 
adopted by science, it would be too easy to change it, if one professed a rigorous exac- 
titude. (Cf. for exceptions, note 3, § LXXVII) Coffea, for example, would become Ca- 
vea, Corea, Cauffea , etc., according to each person’s idea of the orthography of the 
Arabic name. The same principle holds good in relation to species allied or distinct, 
but having in different localities the same vernacular name derived from some char- 
acter common to them all. A naturalist fixes the name on some one of the species, no 
matter which; otherwise it would be continually contested or changed. (DC.) 
§ LXXXI. Vernacular names (1) derived from classical names by a 
light modification, may, if unmistakable, be changed by subsequent au- 
thors, into their proper Latin forms, but are not entitled to priority if not 
so adapted before another name properly formed has been applied to the 
organism in question. (Rep.) 
Vernacular names (2) not so derived have no standing in science, and 
if a classical term having the same meaning is subsequently applied to 
the same organism or group, its priority dates only from the time when 
this was done by some author, w 7 ho is entitled to be cited as authority for 
the name. (B. A. Bourg.) 
1. Patelle viride may be supposed to stand for Patella viridis, and, properly modified 
by courtesy, is liable to be accepted, if no Latinized name precedes the change in time 
of application. 
2. No one is obliged to suppose that, for instance, Vis aguillee represents Terebra 
aculeata , until some author applies the latter name to the mollusk in question. (Bourg.) 
§ LXXXII. Vernacular names, especially when applied to genera and 
species, if not proper nouns or having already an accidental Latin form, 
should be changed to conform to the rules of Latin orthography. (B. A.) 
A pernicious practice, of very old date, exists, of applying to species, names not 
only of barbarous origin, but without Latinization, and totally destitute of euphony. 
These are chiefly the local appellation of some savage tribe for the organism desig- 
nated. 
Thus we have Hyperoodon butzbopf, Gray, Balcena tscMekagliuk and B. agamaclitscliik 
Pallas, etc. Butzkopf is an obscene name applied by the Dutch boers of South Africa 
to any species of whale, though supposed by Gray to be a local name for the species he 
indicated, and the two species of Pallas, with others of the same kind, are described 
from Kamchatka, where the names he used are unknown. 
The practice has probably gone too far, so far as proper nouns are concerned, to 
admit of the total rejection of such names when they are known to apply to the partic- 
ular species referred to (§ LXXX). But when these barbarisms are adjective in their 
nature, they are on the principles herein before cited, subject to reformation as pointed 
out by the B. A. Committee. No naturalist of good taste would inflict such names, un- 
modified, upon science, and it would be far better if they were totally avoided. 
Of the Names of Organisms in Modern Languages. 
§ LXXXI 1 1. Naturalists employ in modern languages scientific Latin 
names or those immediately derived from them in preference to names of 
other origin or kinds. They avoid using these latter, except when they 
are very widely known and clearly intelligible. All friends of Science 
should oppose the coinage of new vernacular names not existing in any 
