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



number of accepted family names 157 also have priority as such 

 among family names cited in the work, which include only those 

 originally published in approved classical form, but it is interesting 

 to note that of 33 "oldest"'' family names not used, 22 are displaced 

 by names based on the oldest genera. In 3 cases the "oldest" family 

 name based on the oldest genus is not accepted. 



Of the family names of birds used in the A. O. U. check-list^ 63 are 

 based on the oldest generic name, while 7, or possibly 8, are not. 

 Without going into the matter statistically, the writer feels justified 

 in stating that in entomology it has been a very general practice to 

 found family names on those of the earliest available genera.^ 



The earliest genera certainly deserve consideration as bases for 

 group concepts, if for no other reason than that they represent the 

 first attempts to segregate groups in the families involved. Genera 

 were established before families and the older among them, in many 

 cases, had as broad scope as modern families. After decades upon 

 decades of effort, priority in generic names is now pretty well worked 

 out and family names founded in each case on the oldest available 

 generic name will be little subject to change. Working on this basis, 

 we have a system that comprehends both the original selection of 

 the n'ame and its replacement if necessary. 



Under the type-genus system replacement of a family name is pro- 

 vided for, as the name once selected follows that of the type genus in 

 all its mutations. But what of the original selection? In brief, the 

 proposal is that the earliest family name shall be selected. What 

 does this mean? In view of the facts of nomenclatorial history and 

 practice, it means that every supergeneric group name (based on that 

 of a genus) proposed since 1758 must be taken into consideration. 

 These names for the most part have never been catalogued, and dis- 

 covering priority among them no doubt would take years of research. 

 Does it not seem we are invited into a new nomenclatorial game in 

 which for years and years when the question is asked, "Who has the 

 oldest name for this family?" there will pop up here and there zealous 

 bookworms each shouting "I have it," each "I have it" portending 

 a change in family nomenclature? 



« Quoted because names cited in the work do not include vernacular and other names 

 that are available for choice in selection of family names. 



7 Check-list of North American birds. American Ornithologists' Union. Third ed. 

 (revised), 430 pp. 1910. 



« The Entomological Code (Nathan Banks and A. N. Caudell, 1912, p. 22,) rules that 

 the root-genus for a family name should be "preferably the oldest." 



