776 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 624. 



Sarcorhamphus, 1806; species: gryphus, 

 papa, auricularis. The species papa was re- 

 moved to Cathartes in 1811, gryphus to Gypa- 

 gus in 1816, leaving auricularis as the type of 

 Sarcorhamphus. 



Cathartes, 1811; species: papa, aura. The 

 species papa was removed to Gypagus in 1816, 

 leaving aura as the type of Cathartes. 



Gypagus, 1816 ; species : papa, gryphus. The 

 species gryphus was removed to the genus 

 Gryphus (Bonap.) in 1854, leaving papa as 

 the type of Gypagus. 



Gryphus, 1854; species: cuntur Dum. 

 {= gryphus Linn.), calif ornianus. By both 

 tautonomy and elimination, gryphus is the 

 type of the genus Gryphus, as calif ornianus 

 became the type of Gymnogyps Lesson in 

 1842. 

 Recapitulation : 



1784. Gypaetus — type harhatus. 



1808. Neophron — type percnopterus. 



1811. Cathartes — ^type aura. 



1816. Gypagus — ^type papa. 



1816. Harpia (vice Thrassaetus) — type har- 

 pyja. 



1850. Gryphus — type gryphus. 



As gryphus was the last species removed 

 from the genus Yultur it is its type by elim- 

 ination, as well as by the ' first species ' rule. 



The nomenclature resulting from the elim- 

 ination method for all the species involved 

 in the case of Vultur compares with current 

 nomenclature as follows: 



By Elimination. 

 Vultur gryphus, 

 Gypagus papa, 

 Cathartes aura, 

 JJUgypius monachus, 



Current Names. 

 Sarcorhamphus gryphus. 

 Gypagus papa. 

 Cathartes aura. 

 Vultur monachus. 



Sarcorhamphus auricularis, Otogyps auricularis. 



The result is, by coincidence, the same as 

 regards the type of Vultur by both methods, 

 but two genera long in current use are con- 

 served. 



If, in the case of Vultur, the first species 

 had been larhatus instead of gryphus, the 

 * first species ' rule, if enforced, would conflict 

 with the universally accepted rule that a 

 monotypic genus takes its sole species as its 

 type, thus throwing out the genus Gypaetus, 

 based on the first species removed from Vul- 



tur. In other cases just this state of affairs 

 is undoubtedly to be expected, in some in- 

 stances. 



There are four conditions, any one of which, 

 when present, determines the type of a genus 

 beyond appeal, under current asage: 



1. A genus that is monotypic when founded 

 necessarily takes its only species as the type. 



2. When the type is designated by its au- 

 thor at the time of founding the genus. 



3. When the name of the genus is the same 

 as that of one of its species, or like that of a 

 synonym of one of its species, or is based 

 upon such a name — in other words, by the 

 rule of tautonomy. 



4. When some subsequent author has select- 

 ed one of its species as its type. 



As shown by Mr. Stone, nearly 75 per cent, 

 of the bird genera come under one or the 

 other of the first three of these provisions; 

 and this ratio would probably hold good for 

 most of the other classes of animals. This 

 leaves only about one quarter of the names of 

 zoological genera open to more or less doubt, 

 or within the scope of some special rule for 

 the fixation of types. So that whatever rule 

 may be adopted, a comparatively small num- 

 ber of genera will be affected by it. Con- 

 trary to all codes of nomenclature, and in 

 defiance of almost universal usage, Mr. Stone 

 ignores the fixing of a type by a later author 

 than the founder of the genus; this needlessly 

 increases the number of open eases by from 

 probably 50 to 75 per cent. 



The trouble with elimination is that the 

 manner of its application has never been prop- 

 erly defined, leaving those who attempt to 

 apply the principle largely to their own de- 

 vices as to the method of its use. Only ex- 

 perts, or those endowed with a natural clever- 

 ness in handling such questions, have been 

 able to apply it with proper discretion and 

 success. The A. O. IT. Code simply says 

 (Canon XXIV.) : " When no type is specified, 

 the only available method of fixing the orig- 

 inal name to some part of the genus to which 

 it was originally applied is by the process of 

 elimination, subject to the single modification 

 provided for in Canon XXIII." This is to 

 the effect that if a " genus contains both exotic 



