Scientific names - what's the point, eh? Why don't we just all call things by their proper names, and then it would all be much simpler, wouldn't it? Well actually no, it wouldn't. Especially anywhere where the same thing is being described in two or more languages. The Ranger has only been involved in a few international conservation efforts, and you'd better believe that schoolboy French and hand-waving pretty soon finds its limits when trying to describe a bittern, or a certain type of seagrass. You know, that seagrass, the long, green stuff, grows by the sea... oh, for goodness sakes, Spartina maritima. Yes, yes, now you know it don't you? Or even if you don't, it wouldn't be too hard to find out. So scientific names have their uses, without a doubt, and today The Ranger discovered another one unexpectedly whilst perusing the freezer compartment of the supermarket, where he found this:

Mmm, langoustines, and only £8.99 for a whole kilo of the things! Lovely. And as it's a multilingual packet the packers have cleverly decided to give the scientific name of the langoustine, Nephrops norvegicus. Like most editors, they can't resist capitalising the second word, but frankly, getting the name on there at all is not a bad start. Perhaps we can look forward to some Psoas major of Bos taurus with Solanum tuberosum.

On researching the langoustine - because what's the point of having the name if you don't look it up - The Ranger was delighted to discover that along with the scampi the freezer probably contained a harmless but extraordinary microscopic creature that lives on them, Symbion pandora, discovered only in 1995 and part of the only known genus of the phylum Cycliophora, the 'wheel-wearers'. If you want to know more about S. pandora, go and look it up, but you probably won't resist the diagram showing its two penises. Funnily enough, when the new phylum was announced, it was apparently this fact that made all the headlines. Let's hope they spelt the scientific name right.