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 May, I9O7 COMMUNICATIONS 95 We are indebted to Mr. Robert B. Rockwell, of Denver, for the following information in regard to the new scientific society lately formed in Colorado. On December x8, x9o6, a number of the scientific workers of Colorado met at Denver and organized the Colorado Biological Society, which has been incorporated under the laws of the State of Colorado. The Charter Membership consists of men specializing in Botany, Mammalogy, Ornithol- Ogy and Entomology and altho few in num- bers at present, the society will endeavor to secure as members all of the scientific workers of Colorado and adjoining states. The policy of the new organization will be to foster and elicourage practical field work, with "rexnils" as the watchword. Especial atten- tion will be paid to the collection and preser- vation of existing biological information rela- tive to Colorado, and investigation along all lines of scientific biological work which have heretofore been more or less neglected. There has been a growing demand for an organization in the State which would tend to bring scientific students thruout the Rocky Mountain region into closer touch with each other and enable all to work more or less in unison; and it is hoped that the new Society will not only furnish the means to this end but that it will go further and perform the same function for Colorado that the Cooper Club has for California. The Society has accepted an invitation to affiliate with the Colorado Museum of Natural History, located at Denver, which gives it the necessary backing and support so necessary to a young organization of this kind; thru this combination it is expected that a great deal of work of scientific and practical value will be accomplished. The charter membership consists of Messrs. Ellsworth Bethel, Victor H. Borcherdt, Geo. L. Canlion, Fred M. Dille, J. Clarence I-Iersey, L. J. Hersey, and Robert B. Rockwell, all of Denver, W. L. Burnett of Ft. Collins, E. R. Warren of Colorado Springs, and W. D. Hol- lister of Albuquerque, N.M. All communications to the Society should be addressed to Fred M. Dille, Corresponding Secretary, 3o7 Continental Bldg., Denver, Colorado. COMMUNICATIONS fN RtGAR1) 'I'o THE MoOTED POINTS Editor THE CONDOR; If I may be pardoned in exceeding the "postal card" limit, I should like to touch at length ou two of the mooted points; for one cannot express .either reason or emotion in a single written "Yes" or "No' '. (I) Unquestionably those who prefer the metric system are justified by current usage in advanced scientific circles, and they have the future with them. But, as certainly, measurements expressed in the metric system are unintelligible to most of us. They may be laboriouslypuzzled out, but they are not quickly sensed, as are measurements in inches and hundredths. The case is quite hopeless for those of us who do not happen to have enioyed the early advantages of drill in the metric sys- tem. For myself I think I could derive the equation for the Conchoid of Nicomedes with passable credit; but if you told me that an egg was 56.23 mm long, I should have to study to know whether you had a California Condor's or an Anna Hummingbird's. Please, Mr. Editor, be patient with those of us who, altho only half way across the stage, are far too busy to go back and begin over again. (2) Reformed spelling? Yes; altho I do not follow the President thru thick and thin. The substitution of I for ed, as in blusht and ksl, is pedantic and, quite evidently, unpopu- lar. (3) For the capitalization of vernacular names, a hearty )es/ And for weightier reasons than those of prominence and eye.ease, already recited. The accepted vernacular names of American ornithology have acquired greater stability than the vaunted Latin. The Latin name of the Evening Grosbeak has been changed twice within the last decade; but no one has thought of changing the vernacular as whimsical as it is. The Western Winter Wren has been Troglo- dyles sp., Anorthura sp., and O/biorchilus sp., within recent memory, but the note-book short- hand is still "W. W. W." and always will be, whatever mire of Latihity "z'arium el mula- bile" they try to stick it in. Ergo the English name in fact deserves as much consideration at the hands of an editor who would be under- stood as the scientific name. But .more important still is the fact that the name of a species, whether English or Latin, isa proper name. The basis of distinction be- tween named birds is not individual but specific. We do not call an Audubon Warbler "Mary" to distinguish it from other individuals, but our common aim and interest is to declare it propre, or peculiar, as compared with birds of other species, as Myrtle Warbler, Palm War- bler, etc. This is neither falsification of grammar nor hair-splitting. Moreover, we require capitali- zation of species in the interest of accuracy. If I speak of an evening grosbeak, [ may refer to aspecimen of Habia--or is it Zamelodia now?-- Zamelodia melanocephala, seen at evening; but there is no uncertainty whatever if I speak of an vening Grosbeak.