Common Names please?

[Pierre A Plauzoles]

In a previous article, fnkwp at aurora.alaska.edu (Kenelm Philip) says:

>> Could folks please please use common names just a little bit?
>
>Having recently made a post using scientific names only, here's the list
>for people in the US:
>
>_Clossiana titania_ (Titania fritillary)*
>_Polygonia faunus_ (Green Comma)
>_Nymphalis antiopa_ (Mourning Cloak)
>
>* Some Canadian taxonomists lump _C. titania_ with _C. chariclea_ (Arctic
>Fritillary), just to make things more interesting. I find this difficult
>to accept, since the two taxa fly together in Interior Alaska in taiga
>habitat, _titania_ every summer, and _chariclea_ in odd-numbered summers.
>
>	Note that I made that posting in response to reports from the UK
>and Denmark about low numbers of _N. antiopa_ this fall, so I _had_ to
>use scientific names. The U.S. common names convey little or no information
>in Europe. (Nor can we expect Europeans to add U.S. common names to their
>postings!)

Indeed.  When are the scientific names going to become something people 
can think of as valuable enough that they learn how to use them?

-- 
Pierre Plauzoles   ae779 at lafn.org
Canoga Park, California