104 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



certain oiher infectious diseases ; the flea carries the plague bacillus ; the 

 bed bug has been shown to be transmitting agent of the causative 

 organisms of the serious tropical Black Fever or Kala Azar, and the louse 

 transmits typhus fever. That all the insects d-'rectly attendant upon 

 man's person are disease carriers is not a pleasant fact for contemplation ! 



C. Gordon Hewitt. 



To THE Editor of The Canadian Entomologist : 



In your journal of October, igo8, pp. 370-373, I published an ac- 

 count of the attempt made by Hendel to revolutionize the nomenclature 

 of Diptera by introducing generic names from an obscure early paper of 

 Meigen's, which were published without any described species being 

 associated with them — in other words, without types. 



Mr. Hendel based his action at the time on his interpretation of the 

 rules of nomenclature of the International Zoological Congress, expressing 

 great regret at the overturning of names, but protesting that the rules 

 compelled it , later, in Wiener Entomologische Zeitmig, XXVIII, 33-36, 

 1909, he took up my argument from the rules themselves, and endeavoured 

 to show that I had not interpreted them correctly. So far, his action was 

 as if forced by these rules. It was interesting, indeed, to find (W. E. Z., 

 XXX, 89-92, 191 1), that he has revolted against the rules commission of 

 the I. Z. C, on a minor problem, the mode of designation of types, and 

 refuses to follow them. I cannot help but regret that he did not revolt 

 sooner, so as to spare us the trouble about Meigen's 1800 paper. I think 

 he is perfectly right in his present contention, which relates to point g 

 under Article 30, as amended at the Boston meeting, 1907. But my 

 present purpose is merely to show the embarrassment of a too sweeping 

 acceptance of any rules of nomenclature. 



American dipterists have shown a commendable disposition to sit 

 tight during this nomenclatural flurry, and already the worst seems past. 

 On the general question of the validity of a genus without a type, I have 

 noticed two expressions recently that are of interest. One is by S. A. 

 Rohwer, in Technical Bulletin, No. 20, Bureau of Entomology, p. 70. 

 He was fixing the types of saw-fly genera, and used the following 

 language : "In this paper a genus is considered to be without standing 

 until it contains a species ; and genera which were founded without species 

 take the first species placed in them as the type, and date from the time 

 when that species was placed in them." If this rule were followed, 

 Meigen's 1800 genera would date from 1908. The other case I found 

 in the Canadian Entomologist itself, 191 2, p. 50, where Mr. Girault is 

 discussing the genus Trichaporus, and says : "No species was mentioned 

 as belonging to it ; under the code it is therefore without status." 



J. M. Aldrich, Moscow, Ida. 



