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A. W. LINDSEY 
knowledge. They propose to show that the most satisfactory 
and accurate system — or systems- — of nomenclature yet pro- 
posed has become a burdensome vehicle under present condi- 
tions,^^ but that this fault is due rather to the useless splitting 
of species into subdivisions of increasing minuteness than to 
any defect of the system itself. If only the workers who take 
delight in naming minute variations would curb this tendency or 
transfer their affections to other fields! Considering again the 
science of entomology, the biological and ecological study of in- 
sects supplies an inexhaustible and intensely interesting field. 
Moreover it is available on every hand, it does not require the 
formation of troublesome and expensive collections and libraries, 
and ones activities can be adapted to such apparatus as he can 
secure. It is essentially the field for the individual worker, 
wherein he may do accurate and valuable work if he only will. 
III. The Stabidzation of Genera. 
A very troublesome phase of systematic work is the instability 
of nomenclature. Three classes of names are involved, viz., 
specific and minor, generic and subgeneric, and those of major 
divisions. The first have caused very little trouble, for the simple 
recognition of priority is the sole requirement of all taxonomists 
save a few classical purists. The last have also been the source 
of little dispute. Generic and subgeneric names, however, are 
the source of infinite difficulty, and offer a problem which seems 
little nearer to solution today than a decade ago. 
When a writer, in describing a genus, fixes its type, no mis- 
interpretation can be made save through the improper associa- 
tion of species, which is outside of the pale of nomenclature. 
When a genus is erected to contain a single species this logically 
becomes its type and the case is equally clear. It is the genera 
described before the necessity of type fixation was recognized, 
usually to include a motley aggregation of species, which cause 
so much trouble. 
The difficulty of fixing the types of such genera has long been 
recognized, and several codes have been published for the direc- 
tion of this work. Of these the writer feels competent to discuss 
only those for the use of entomologists, since it is with these 
” I am indebted to my friend and colleague, Dr. T. C. Stephens, for the 
information that when the trinomial system was originated, this ultimate 
difficulty was suggested by British Ornithologists. 
