230 JOURNAL OF THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES VOL. 11, NO. 10 



1.0 to 4 mm. broad; racemes axillary, few-flowered, up to 3 cm. long; flowers 

 unknown; drupes pedicellate, globose, about 5 mm. long, glabrous, the 

 rachis of the racemes hairy, the pedicels 3 mm. long. 



Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, no. 858,992 collected between 

 Salama and Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, Guatemala, May 31, 1904, by O. F. 

 Cook and C. B. Doyle (no. 283). 



This species is closely allied to Bursera gracilis Engler, but differs in the 

 greater number of pinnae and leaflets, in the hairiness of the latter, and in 

 having the racemes much shorter than the leaves. 



ZOOLOGY. — The selection of family names in zoology.'^ W. L. 

 McAteE, Biological Survey. (Communicated by S. F. Blake.) 



The principles upon which the names of families and higher groups 

 in zoology shall be selected have not received much attention, chiefly, 

 no doubt, for the reason that the problems of genera and species have 

 been more pressing. Indeed before action can be taken by the Inter- 

 national Zoological Commission (presumably to be reconstituted) it 

 is highly desirable, if not necessary, that there shall be some crys- 

 tallization of opinion on the point among zoologists. 



The leading Codes of Nomenclature have little to say upon the sub- 

 ject, the most explicit rule being found in the Stricklandian Code of 

 1842.^ It states that families should be named for "the earliest- 

 known or most typically characterized genus in them." The A. O. 

 U. Code, 1886, says that such names "take the tenable names of 

 some genus, preferably the leading one." The Paris-Moscow Code, 

 1889-92, states that family names are formed on "the root of the 

 genus serving as the type," a remark paraphrased in the International 

 Rules (1913) as "the stem of the name of its type genus." 



The A. O. U. provision is intentionally vague; those of the last two 

 codes mean nothing unless they are intended to be understood in the 

 sense of the Stricklandian canon. Since, with the exception of the 

 words "earliest-known" in the latter rule, none of these codes specifies 

 a method of selecting "typical" genera of families, nor states what 

 the preference shall be among competitors for the rank, references in 

 them to the selection of family names are practically meaningless. 



1 This paper, prepared in its original form in 1918, was laid aside on the principle of 

 "letting sleeping dogs lie," but recent contributions in Science showing the slumber to 

 be ePfectually broken, a little more disturbance should do no harm. (Received March 2, 

 1921.) 



2 To save time reference is made to iV. ^. Fauna, No. 23, pp. 722-3 (1904), where Dr.. 

 T. S. Palmer has quoted, with references, the code clauses relating to family names. 



