English Names

[John Grehan]

With regard to the importance of common names for Lepidoptera in the US, 
this is in contrast to my experience in New Zealand where for the majority of
species there was no well-established tradition for common names. Latin
or scientific names appeared to be used by professional and amateur alike,
and this also appeared to be true for other insect groups. Perhaps this is
a result of a more recent European colonization, and smaller population
for the country. As I have not been in NZ for some time, the situation may
have since changed. I was quite surprised to learn of the importance 
of common names in the US. It took a while to get used to it.

John Grehan