Exhibit 7b, #58 Catalogues, Checklists and Lists: A need for some definitions, new words and ideas

A Washingtonian was once accused of not knowing the difference between catalogues and checklists (Cogan et al. 1980: 40). We believe the problem isn't as simple as they implied. While the language is English, this doesn't endow our British colleagues with the right to dictate definitions of words. The language belongs to all of us. The problem is that there are different definitions for the same word (catalogue) and the same definition for different words (catalogue and checklist).The oldest definition for "catalogue" in the English language is a "complete enumeration" (OED, 2: 170). This definition is usually expanded to mean a systematically arranged enumeration which includes descriptive details. Lay people use the word "catalogue" for complete descriptions of such things as art exhibits, museum holdings, products for sale, library holdings, and educational programs of colleges and universities [this last perhaps only in America]. To them the entomological definition of "catalogue" is closer to that of a "directory" in the sense of a telephone directory, which lists only names, addresses, and telephone numbes. Likewise, most biologists use the word "catalogue" in a more comprehensive sense (vide, Mayr 1969: 263 "... complete series of references"). To them "checklist" is not a derogatory term as implied by our British colleagues, but a quite respectable term for a work that is something less comprehensive than a catalogue. Mayr (1969) called "A checklist ... a very careful, critical revision, usually with extensive synonymy and a detailed elaboration of geographic distribution ..." (e.g., see American Ornithologists' Union). However, Mayr did indicate that "A checklist in entomology is generally only a list of names ..." The word "list" is used to denote a mere series of names. The various degrees of comprehensiveness are diagrammed (fig. 1). While in entomology the word "catalogue" is typically used for what everyone else calls a "checklist", the term has been used in its most comprehensive sense by entomologists (vide Hampson). Hampson not only gave a complete index to the names of noctuids, but also gave keys, descriptions, and illustrations to them [while not used by the Entomology Department, this most comprehensive sense of "catalogue" is still used by many at the British Museum (vide Napier)]. The word "checklist" has never been applied to the most comprehensive end of the scale, but the word "list", while usually used for simple enumerations of names, has been used also for comprehensive works, such as the infamous Francis Walker "List[s] of . . . Insects ... of the British Museum" (vide Walker). So despite the comments of our British colleagues, there is a real problem of definitions. How should it be resolved? Should priority be invoked and the word "catalogue" be restricted to the more comprehensive end of the continuum (levels 8 and 9), with "checklist" (levels 5-7) used for the middle and "list" for the least comprehensive (levels 1-4)? Or should usage be accepted as the determining factor? If so, whose usage?That of lay people, biologists, or entomologists? General usage follows priority and applies "catalogue" only in its most comprehensive sense. This course would also be the most practical as only one word would be needed to specify the degree of