INTRODUCTION 6 



promote uniformity in zoological nomenclature and to gain additional 

 support for itself by appeasing those zoologists wishing arbitrarily to 

 maintain certain names in which their convenience and prestige were 

 involved, rather than to submit the disposition of the names to im- 

 partial rules of procedure. Although a purpose of the International 

 Commission was to decrease confusion, it has so often been misin- 

 formed on the specific cases and on certain general nomenclatorial 

 situations that confusion has instead been multiplied. It is hard to 

 see how the influence of these kinds of actions can endure indefinitely, 

 and since their influence is considered temporary they are disregarded 

 and the name Psammocharidae is here retained. 



In the preparation of this paper the necessary decisions, both zo- 

 ological and nomenclatorial, have been dependent on the painstaking 

 collection and consideration of the pertinent data so far as they could 

 be unearthed and comprehended. This has meant many hours of 

 w^ork and many revisions of previous ideas. Most of the revisions 

 have been inconvenient to make, and some which pointed up former 

 errors have been embarrassing to admit. But, if it were found that in 

 some cases pertinent facts had been purposely hidden or arbitrarily^ 

 dismissed from consideration, users of the paper w^ould conclude that 

 it lacked trustworthiness. The human researcher never entirely es- 

 capes the influences of laziness and prejudice, but having striven at 

 much cost for accurate and honest \vork in the body of the paper, it 

 would be inconsistent to knowingly abandon this course by adopting 

 the family name Pompilidae. Such considerations, however, do not 

 have an equal appeal to all workers, and many are now using the 

 name Pompilidae on the authority of the International Commission 

 on Zoological Nomenclature. 



Material studied and acknowledgments 



The specimens in the North American collections listed below have 

 been studied: 



U. S. National Museum, Washington, District of Columbia. 



H. E. Evans, Ithaca, New York. 



Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard College, Cambridge, 



Massachusetts. 

 University of California, Berkeley, California. 

 Henry and Marjorie Townes, Raleigh, North Carolina. 

 K. V. Krombein, Arlington, Virginia. 



California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California. 

 Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College, College Station, Texas. 

 Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. 

 Canadian National Collection, Ottawa, Ontario. 

 University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. 

 David Shappirio, Washington, District of Columbia. 

 University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota. 



