Ox: 
Further Remarks on Family Nomenclature. 
By Dr. V. HAvarRpD. 
It is generally admitted that the animal and vegetable king- 
doms cannot be classified on the same lines and divided into 
groups of the same value. Species and genera are nearly identi- 
cal in the two kingdoms, but as we rise above genera the similar- 
ity is less apparent and the higher we go the more doubtful be- 
comes the analogy between the groups, so that near the summit 
of the scale no comparison is possible. This is due to the great 
dissimilarity in the nature of the organisms, the infinitely more 
numerous and varied functions of animals and the greater diff- 
culty of ascertaining their natural relationship. From these con- 
siderations it follows that the application to both kingdoms of one 
uniform and identical nomenclature is impracticable; but, were it 
otherwise, the desirability of different and distinctive endings 
would still be manifest. 
-Zoologists appear to have reached a satisfactory uniformity in 
the terminations of the names of their principal groups. As 
early as 1845, the Association of American Naturalists, convened 
at New Haven, adopted the following proposition: 
. “ It is recommended that names of families should end uni- 
formly in zdae and sub-families in dae.” : 
These endings were then in general use; they were confirmed 
at the meeting of the A. A.A. S., in. 1877, and are now invaria- 
bly accepted... The name of the family or sub-family is a/ways that 
of one of its genera with the above endings. It is to be noticed, 
however, that animal families usually contain but few genera, not 
rarely only 2 or 3, often only 3 to 5,and seldom more than 10 or 
15. Perhaps they might be more correctly assimilated to botani- 
cal tribes. The term ¢rile appears to be very seldom used by 
zoologists, the name of the group intermediate between the fam- 
ily and genus being mostly swd-family in inae. — 
_ A cause of confusion, as pointed out by Mr. L. M. Underwood in 
the March BuLLeETIN, is the variable conception of order, being con- 
sidered by phanerogamic botanists a synonym of family, while, by 
zodlogists and the majority of cryptogamists, it is applied to the 
