32 
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 
series of names having a mental association with one another may he used for the spe- 
cies of a genus, as for instance, when a group of wood-hutterflies receive the names of 
Indian chiefs, native to the region inhabited by those insects; or the names of various 
mythological heroes or warriors are associated with the respective species of a group 
characterized by martial colors, habits or bearing. These names, unless already eu- 
phonious, should receive a modified Latin termination as already indicated. 
§ XXVIII. A specific name may be a proper noun or substantive, in 
which case it does not necessarily accord in gender with the generic 
name; but when the specific name has the character of an adjective, its 
termination should be constructed to agree in gender with the generic 
name. 
In the first case it is frequently written beginning with a capital letter; in the second 
case, it should commence with a small letter. It is probable that in all cases it would 
be better to commence the generic name with a capital, and the specific name with a 
small letter, except possibly when it is derived from the name of a person. 
On this point, however, naturalists are divided in opinion, usually following the 
rules of their respective vernaculars. 
§ XXIX. The same specific name must not be used for two species of 
the same genus, but, to species of different genera, the same specific name 
may be simultaneously applied. 
§ XXX. In constructing specific names naturalists will do well to regard 
the following recommendations. (DC., Bourg., B. A., etc.) 
A. Avoid names of too great length or difficult to pronounce. 
B. Avoid names which express characters common to all or nearly all the species 
of the genus. 
Such names were formerly rejected, but the confusion thus caused in nomenclature 
w r as far worse than the want of definitiveness in the names changed. 
C. Avoid geographical names taken from little known localities or of narrowly re- 
stricted application, unless the habitat of the species is known to be equally restricted. 
D. When a geographical name is applied to a species if there be a classical form of 
it, it is to be used in preference to the modern name (e. g., Anglia, not England) unless 
the Latin name be extremely obscure, inharmonious, or almost unknown. 
Names not represented in classical literature preserve the radical intact, latinizing 
only the termination. 
The name of a locality is always terminated by the suffix ensis (e. g., a species from 
Carascal would be carascalensis). 
The name of a river or other body of water, a province, a country, or a kingdom, on 
the contrary, is terminated by ius, icus, inus , itus, etc., if the gender be masculine; or 
by ia, ica, ina, ita, etc., if it be feminine; as arabicus, euphraticus , algirus (if the prov- 
ince of Algiers) appennina , anglica , cypria, texasiana , algiriensis (if the town of Al- 
giers), elc., etc. 
Since geographical names are often liable to change from the variation of political 
boundaries, they are in many cases particularly objectionable. Formerly some authors 
rejected them entirely, or tolerated them only when exclusively applicable. Such mu- 
tations are no longer approved by the majority of naturalists, since fixity is the funda- 
mental principle to be regarded in nomenclature, yet as these names are liable to 
objection on serious grounds it is desirable to make as little use of them as possible. 
(See names to be rejected.) 
E. Avoid using in the same genus names too closely similar in form or sense, above 
all those which only differ in their last letters. 
A judicious naturalist, for example, will not call a species vivens or viresccus in a 
genus already containing a species named viridis. (B. A.) 
