From an aesthetic point of view, I'm generally happy that taxonomy is done in Latin. Learning plant names in an herbarium gave me a few favorites (Juncus, Carex, and Quercus come to mind). In my current insect-involving project, I've found the same bounty of fun names. Bombyx mori sounds much more dignified than 'silkworm', and the cricket family, Gryllidae, rolls of the tongue and is perfect for a group of largely edible insects.
My favorite so far is Bombus, the genus of bumblebees. I can only think of them as bombulbees now.
No comments:
Post a Comment