September 22, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



335 



in the Hemiptera by Fabrieius ("Systema 

 Rhyngotorum," 1803, p. 124). Fabrieius 

 named a number of genera in the Hemiptera 

 employing ancient Greek names of cities, from 

 which the insects which he was describing had, 

 no doubt, come. Tingis is the Greek name of 

 Tangiers in Morocco. It is also spelled by 

 classic authors Tingi and sometimes Tinge. 

 Strabo in his Geography, Part 1, 3, 1, § 140, 

 speaks of T'i'yto; and uses the genitive form 

 Tt'YYto?. This shows that the root or stem of 

 the word is TtvYt = Tingi. The adjectival 

 form derived from the noun Tingis in Latin is 

 Tingitanus. (Cf. Valpy's edition of the 

 Delphin Classics, Vol. No. LXXXIX, p. 882, 

 where comment is made upon the passage in 

 Pliny's Historia Naturalis, Lib. V, 1, 1 : 

 "Tingitana pertinet a freto Gaditano ad fines 

 usque Marocani regni." This adjectival form 

 plainly indicates that the Latin root of the 

 noun is Tingit. 



In forming family names the fixed rule is 

 to suffix "ida" to the stem, and it is the rule 

 that the Latinized form of Greek words should 

 be employed. The Latin stem, as shown above, 

 of the ancient name of Tangiers is "Tingit." 

 Adding "idee" to this we have the word 

 lingitidm. The Greek stem, if the Latin is 

 overlooked, is TcYTt = Tingi. Suffixing "ida" 

 to this we should have form Tingiidce, which 

 has never been used. 



The first time that a family name was given 

 to the Lace-bugs was in 1833 when Laporte 

 employed the term Tingidites {Gallicism). 

 "Westwood in 1840 used the word "TingidcB." 

 Amyot and Serville in 1843 employed the 

 Gallicized form Tingides; Stal in 1873 em- 

 ployed the form Tingitidce and was followed 

 by Uhler, Champion, Horvath, Oshanin, Os- 

 born, Drake and a numiber of others. Then 

 Duzee in 1917 in his "Catalogue of the Hemip- 

 tera of America North of Mexico" employed 

 "Tingidida" as the family name, citing 

 Laporte as his authority. 



The writer of these lines having regard to 

 etymology and the rules governing the con- 

 struction of family-names is decidedly of the 

 opinion that "Tingitidce" is the correct form 

 of the word, formed as it is by suffixing "idiB" 

 to the Latin stem Tingit. Westwood's 



"Tingidce" is in error, first because had he 

 studied the classic Greek he would have dis- 

 covered that the root is not Ting but Tingi; 

 and secondly, because he did not follow the 

 rule which calls for the employment of the 

 Latinized form of the word. TingididcB as 

 used by Van Duzee is wholly in error, based, 

 as it is, upon the mistake of Laporte who 

 imagined that the genitive of Tingis was 

 TtYYiSo;, instead of Ti'yyio; as given by Strabo. 



The conclusion of the matter in the mind of 

 the writer is that the word Tingitidce is not 

 merely formed according to the requirements 

 of scientific nomenclature, but according to 

 classic use. It furthermore has in its favor 

 the weight of authority, having been used by a 

 number of eminent gentlemen, distinguished 

 not merely for their entomological but for their 

 philological attainments. They have already 

 been mentioned. The question of priority can 

 not be invoked as against the correct structure 

 of language. 



W. J. Holland 



Carnegie Museum, 

 August 2, 1922 



THE GLACIATION OF THE CORDILLERAN 

 REGION 



To THE Editor of Science: Because of 

 general interest in the subject of glaciation in 

 the Cordilleran region and of recent discussion 

 in Science of the origin of the Palouse soils 

 the investigation of the writer in the twelve- 

 months past in the region about Spokane, 

 Washington, may merit the attention of your 

 readers. 



The investigation began with discovery of 

 evidence of glaciation on the basalt plateau 

 about Spokane some four or five hundred feet 

 above the train of the valley glacier in Spo- 

 kane Valley (described and mapped by Camp- 

 bell, N. P. R. R. Guide-book of the U. S. Geol- 

 Survey, 1916). Examination proved that all 

 of these "prairies" (Pleasant Prairie, Five Mile 

 Prairie, Sunset Prairie, Moran Prairie and 

 Paradise Prairie) occupying this plateau bore 

 evidence in the form of erratic boulders, gi-avel, 

 sand and clay, of depths varying from nothing 

 to fifteen feet or more, of ground ice on the 

 level tops of the plateaux. In the valley of 



