ADVANTAGE OF TECHNICAL NAMES. 
21 
cause of the scientific language and names tliev were obliged 
to employ. Entomology, or the science that treats of insects, 
abounds in such names more than any other branch of natu- 
ral history ; for the different kinds of insects very far out- 
number the species in every class of the animal, vegetable, 
and mineral kingdoms. It is owing to this excessive number 
of species, and to the small size and unobtrusive character 
of many insects, that comparatively very few have received 
any common names, either in our own, or in other modern 
tongues ; and hence most of those that have been described 
in works of natural history are known only by their scientific 
names. The latter have the advantage over other names in 
being intelligible to all well-educated persons in all parts of 
the world ; while the common names of animals and plants 
in our own and other modern languages are very limited in 
their application, and moreover are often misapplied. 
F or example, the name weevil is given, in this country, to 
at least six different kinds of insects, two of which are moths, 
two are flies, and two are beetles. Moreover, since nearly 
four thousand species of weevils have actually been scientifi- 
cally named and described, when mention is made of “ the 
weevil,” it may well be a subject of doubt to which of these 
four thousand species the speaker or writer intends to refer ; 
whereas, if the scientific name of the species in question were 
made known, this doubt would at once be removed. To give 
each of these weevils a short, appropriate, significant, and 
purely English name, would be very difficult, if not impos- 
sible, and there would be great danger of overburdening the 
memory with such a number of names ; but, by means of the 
ingenious and simple method of nomenclature invented bv 
Linnteus, these weevils are all arranged under three hundred 
and fifty-five generical, or surnames, requiring in addition 
only a small number of different words, like Christian names, 
to indicate the various species or kinds. There is oftentimes 
a great convenience in the use of single collective terms for 
groups of animals and plants, whereby the necessity for enu- 
