CONDEMNABLE PRACTICES IN GENERIC REVISIONS

Extract

Sir,—Permit me to call the attention of your readers to a faulty method of citing species names, which is, unfortunately, extremely common in America. I refer to the omission of the genus name or its reduction to a mere initial. In many cases this is, of course, a proceeding that is attended with no serious evil effects. A working zoologist may be expected to know what P. machaon stands for, bibliographers would know that a paper on Abnormal Antennæ of Ajax had nothing to do with the Bird genus, Ajax, Less., but referred to Papilio ajax. In many cases, however, authors seem to endeavor to render their work inaccessible to all save specialists working on their particular group. To make this clear it is necessary to cite an example, and I take the first one at hand, remarking at the same time that these cases are very numerous, and that it is unjust to single out a particular person for condemnation.