A LIST OF THE GENERA AND FAMILIES OF MAMMALS. 29 
REJECTION OF NAMES. 
Many names which now pass current were refused recognition by 
some of the older zoologists, owing to derivation from barbarous roots, 
or, where derived from Latin or Greek roots, because of being com- 
pounded in violation of classical rules. This action was based on 
certain principles of nomenclature laid down by Linneeus in 1751 in 
his * Philosophia Botanica. llliger," among others, regularly renamed 
genera derived from native words and gave a list of the names he 
rejected according to the rules of Linnzus. He discarded hybrids, 
such as ZZydrogallina (223);^ compounds of a syllable of one word 
with the whole of another, as Jelursus (224); genera formed by pre- 
fixes, as Perameles (225), or suffixes, as Balenoptera and Delphin- 
apterus (227); words ending in oides, as Zi/pordes (226); adjectives used 
as substantives, as Caudivolvulus, Mellivora, Setifer (235); * sesqui- 
pedal’? names, or names difficult to pronounce, as Hyperoodon (249); 
names based on a misconception of characters, as J/onodon (232); 
names derived from terms used in anatomy or the arts, as Avvicola, 
Lotor, Spectrum (231). It is scarcely necessary to say that none of 
these rules are recognized in modern codes and none of the names 
mentioned are rejected merely on account of their construction. Some 
modern authors even preserve native names and advocate their gen- 
eral adoption (see pp. 45-46). The A. O. U. Code provides (Caen 
XXXI) that ** Neither generic nor specific names are to be rejected 
because of barbarous origin, for faulty construction, for inapplica- 
bility of meaning, or for erroneous signification.” 
According to this Code, generic names can be rejected on only three 
grounds, viz, (a) because they are preoccupied; (b) because they are 
nomina nuda; (c) because they are indeterminate, through lack of type 
or insufficient definition (Canons XXXIII, XXXIV, XXXVI). For 
present purposes it will be more convenient to consider rejection of 
names under six divisions, viz, preoccupied names, nomina nuda, inde- 
terminate names, French and common names, plural subgeneric names, 
and names of genera that properly belong in other classes. 
PREOCCUPIED NAMES. 
'" A homonym is one and the same name for two or more different 
things."^ Generic homonyms arise in two ways: (1) Through igno- 
rance or inadvertence; (2) through transfer or change of type. These 
two causes of origin may be illustrated by the following examples: 
Psammomys was originally applied Dy er GUCCI in 1828 to a group 


* Prod. Syst. Mamm. et Avium, pp. xvii-xviii, 1811. 
b'These numbers refer to the rules of Linnzeus’ ‘ Philosophia Botanica.’ 
€ A. O. U. Code, p. 48. 
& 
