November 19, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



491 



roe and mil-t from the apparently ripe individ- 

 uals. This was accomplished on two occasions 

 but all efforts to fertilize the eggs thus ob- 

 tained were futile. 



Early in March the fish began to take on the 

 appearance of being spawned out, but not hav- 

 ing observed spawn or young fish in the pond 

 up to this time, anatomical examinations were 

 made of numerous mullet, both males and fe- 

 males being dissected. 



In case of many of the females, the ovaries 

 although greatly reduced were not spawned out 

 but contained ova which evidently at one time 

 were mature but now were in a state of semi- 

 dissolution. 



In case of the males, many of them carried 

 gonads shriveled and reduced in size but hav- 

 ing no appearance of organs after spawning. 

 The surface of the testes, in many instances, 

 were thickly covered with rounded nodules 

 from 2-5 mm. in diameter. In sectioning por- 

 tions of the organs thus affected masses of 

 cells of a greenish-yellow tint, by transmitted 

 light, were seen to occupy the nodules and 

 penetrate deeply into the medullary substance 

 of the gland. These masses, of definite out- 

 line, have the appearance of broken down 

 tissue cells of the spermary but maintain their 

 characteristic color under the action of such 

 stains as iron hematoxylin and methylen blue. 

 Healthy gonads free from the external nodules 

 are also free from the internal masses of cells. 



Inasmuch as a considerable number of in- 

 dividuals examined were affected in the man- 

 ner described above we are led to believe that 

 the noticeable scarcity of young mullet this 

 season is a result of a pathogenic condition of 

 the reproductive organs of mature individuals 

 which inhibited spawning. The cause of this 

 condition has not yet been determined. 



Failure of the mullet to spawn in the usual 

 prolific manner seems general throughout the 

 Hawaiian Islands this season. The testimony 

 of fishermen from widely separated districts is 

 that there are comparatively few young mullet 

 to be taken this year. One fisherman on Oahu 

 reports that he has been able to take less than 

 2,000 fry for his ponds whereas in previous 

 years he has taken as many as 900,000 from 



the same waters during a similar period. 

 Another fisherman stated that he had taken 

 about 6,000 as contrasted with 250,000 last 

 year. A report from Kauai states that no 

 mullet fry are observed in waters which in 

 normal years are teeming with them. 



Prom personal observations of those closely 

 identified with the work of the Fish and Game 

 Commission and from information received 

 from reliable sources it would appear that the 

 season just passed has been an unfavorable 

 one for the spawning of mullet in these waters. 



Further attempts will be made by the Board 

 of Fish and Game Commissioners to carry on 

 artificial propagation and culture of this im- 

 portant food fish. 



C. H. Edmondson 

 University or Hawaii, 



REMARK ON FAMILY NAMES 



The rules drawn up by Dr. Oberholzer^ for 

 the formation of family and subfamily names, 

 seem to be very good in most respe9ts, but in 

 regard to that relating to family names 

 founded upon almost identical names of 

 genera, I must record my inability to concur. 

 Under Rule 13, the author states that of two 

 family or subfamily names having " exactly 

 the same spelling," the latter is to be distin- 

 guished from the earlier by the prefix "Pro," 

 and subsequently gives as an example the fam- 

 ily names derived from Pica and Picus, pro- 

 posing for one of them the name Propicidse. 

 According to all accepted rules for the forma- 

 tion of family names, this would indicate that 

 there is a genus Propica or Propicus, which 

 of course is untrue. 



It would be much better in such a case as 

 this to modify the generic root names in a 

 slightly different way to form the family 

 names, and that founded upon Pica might be 

 Picidse, using Picusidae for that having Picus 

 as the type. In forming the family name from 

 that of the genus custom has differed in some 

 instances; for example, in the Coleoptera, the 

 generic word Cis has given rise to the family 

 name Cioidae in the case of some authors and 



1 Science, August 13. 



