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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 



closely together. As stated above, the usual 

 number appears to be four. 



Scattered in numerous places among the 

 wood cells are little opaque spheres of an 

 intensely black substance (shown in figure 

 4) which is probably amber. Two con- 

 tiguous cells split apart and in the interval 

 the spheres or drops occur. This intimate 

 association of these, as well as that of the 

 undoubted pieces of amber, leave no doubt 

 that they are found in connection with the 

 tree which produced them. 



This amber-producing tree was of course 

 coniferous, but the poor state of preserva- 

 tion renders its generic determination more 

 or less open to question. The Baltic amber- 

 producing trees, of which some six species 

 are known from studies of the internal 

 structure, were pines (Pinites), but no evi- 

 dence could be found to show that the one 

 under discussion belonged to this group. 

 Indeed, it is hardly to be expected that the 

 genus would have had the same peculiarities 

 from the lower cretaceous to the oligoeene, 

 the age to which the Baltic amber belongs. 

 The large resin tubes and compound medul- 

 lary rays are characters of the pine group, 

 but are absent in this. On the other hand, 

 as nearly as can be made out, the structure 

 is that of Sequoia or Cupressinoxylon as the 

 wood is known in the fossil state. It is very 

 much like certain lignites that have been 

 described from the Potomac formation, but 

 of which too little is still known. This view 

 is further strengthened when it is remem- 

 bered that some fifteen species of Sequoia are 

 alreadj' known, from the researches of Fon- 

 taine, to have lived during Potomac times. 



I venture to propose for this American 

 amber-producing tree the provisional name 

 of Cupressinoxylon ? Bibbinsi, in honor of 

 the collector, who has done so much to 

 elucidate the complex history of the Po- 

 tomac formation and its vegetation. 



F. H. Knowlton. 



U. S. National Museum, Washington, D. C. 



ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE-A PROPOSAL* 

 The discussion on zoological nomencla- 

 ture, which was held, as announced in our 

 last number, by the Zoological Society of 

 London on March 3d, was introduced to a 

 crowded meeting by Mr. P. L. Sclater, F. 

 E. S., in a concise and careful paper, and 

 the points to which he drew attention were 

 warmly debated beyond the usual hour. 

 The discussion dealt with certain differences 

 between the rules drawn up by the German 

 Zoological Society for the guidance of the 

 compilers of the Synopsis of the Animal 

 Kingdom (' Das Tierreich ') which that 

 Society is preparing, and the rules known 

 as the Stricklandian Code, which for many 

 years governed, or were supposed to govern, 

 the usage of British naturalists. The dis- 

 cussion turned chiefly upon the following 

 questions : First, may the same generic 

 names ever be used for both animals and 

 plants? Secondly, may the same term be 

 used for the generic and trivial name of a 

 species, as in the well-known instance of 

 Scomber scomber f Thirdly, are we to adopt 

 as our starting point the tenth edition of 

 Linne's Systevia Naturw in preference to the 

 twelfth edition? These questions are an- 

 swered in the afiirmative by the German 

 code, and in the negative by the original 

 Stricklandian. We do not propose to dis- 

 cuss them here: it is natural that there 

 should still be found, especially among the 

 older zoologists of this country, many to 

 support the old-established British practices; 

 in this, as in all other matters of nomencla- 

 ture, convenience, not principle, is con- 

 cerned, and it cannot be gainsaid that the 

 general usage of zoologists, at all events in 

 other parts of the world, becomes daily 

 more and more in harmony with the rules 

 adopted by the German Society. 



"Were we again to open our pages to the 

 discussion of this thorny subject, we should 



*From proof sheets of an editorial article in 

 Natural Science. 



