1884^ 
Correspondence. 
563 
have been able to observe, fuchsias are very rarely visited either 
by bees or butterflies. Is this due to their shape, which affords 
no resting-place for the bees ? To judge from their colours they 
should be entomophilous, but by what inserts are they fecun- 
dated ? 
Alastor. 
SCIENTIFIC NOMENCLATURE. 
My strictures on long names have called forth, at least as far as 
chemistry is concerned, a reply marked both by courtesy and 
ability. But I fear I have not succeeded in making myself under- 
stood. I am no enemy of system, and most readily grant all 
the writer brings forward on that head. My contention is that 
long and so-called significant names are not necessary to system. 
Thus, to take an instance from a subject more familiar to me than 
is Chemistry, if anyone tells me that a certain insect, which I have 
never seen, belongs to the family Buprestidae I know at once its 
embryology and subsequent development, its general structure, 
and its habits. Yet the word “ Buprestis ” is worse than un- 
meaning, it is mismeaning, since it conveys the idea that the 
creature concerned is hurtful to oxen. Yet this word completely 
answers its purpose in systematic terminology, and is reasonably 
short. I do not see why a nomenclature of a similar character 
might not be introduced into chemistry. 
Frank Fernseed. 
TECHNICAL TRIALS. 
Your correspondent “Nomikos” has lately met both with a 
confirmation and — in part at least — a refutation. A recent aCtion 
for libel, where the editor of a provincial paper was fined £50 
for reproducing the Report of a Medical Officer of Health on a 
matter or great public moment, proves both that “ technical 
trials ” are not the most unsatisfactory of all legal proceedings, 
and, on the other hand, that juries are not to be trusted 
Cestrian. 
