Questionable private $varname behavior

Hi, a discussion on php.general led to the discovery of this oddly legal script: <?php class dog {

    // declare two private variables
    private $Name;
    private $DogTag;

    public function bark() {
      print "Woof!\n";
    }

    public function printName() {
      print $this->Name; // prints nothing!
    }

} // new class, for testing derived stuff class poodle extends dog {

    public function bark() {
      print "Yip!\n";
    }

} // I now create an instance of the // derived class $poppy = new poodle; // and set its private property $poppy->Name = "Poppy"; print $poppy->Name. "\n"; $poppy->printName(); print_r($poppy); ?> outputs: Poppy poodle Object (

    [Name:private] =>
    [DogTag:private] =>
    [Name] => Poppy

) Is this expected behavior or should I open a bug? Greg