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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 395. 



that island, illustrating his paper with a se- 

 ries of lantern pictures. 



The 332d meeting was held May 6. Lieut. 

 W. E. Safford, U. S. N., read a paper on the 

 ethnobotany of Guam. Lieut. Saiford re- 

 mained a long time in Guam in an official 

 capacity, and while there made an extended 

 study of the island and its inhabitants. The 

 paper showed the carefulness of Lieut. Saf- 

 ford's observations and the enthusiasm with 

 which he took up this study. Contrary to 

 common belief, the natives are slightly mixed 

 and speak a pure Malayan tongue. They are 

 industrious, own and cultivate land, and make 

 use of the feral and introduced plants to a 

 remarkable degree. 



Dr. John R. Swanton, of the Bureau of 

 Ethnology, gave an account of the social or- 

 ganization of the Haida Indians. Dr. Swan- 

 ton is familiar with the language of these 

 Indians and has studied their customs for 

 several years. 



It is an interesting fact that the Haidas 

 set apart, near their villages, parks and play- 

 grounds for their children. The affairs of 

 their towns are administered by the village 

 chief, the house chief, and the clan chief. It 

 is, apparently, the duty of the chief to earn 

 as much property as he can in order to give 

 it away for the purpose of rendering himself 

 great and of confusing his enemies. 



Dr. Swanton says that the chiefs and their 

 families have a morality of their own; that 

 IS, they must live up to their station in life. 



The system of relationship is quite com- 

 plicated and is diagrammatically shown by Dr. 

 Swanton. 



The supernatural beings are eagles and ra- 

 vens, the raven being the greater. They be- 

 lieve that a supernatural being resides under 

 the Haida land and supports it. 



In discussing this interesting paper Pro- 

 fessor McGee pointed out, in connection with 

 the table of relationship, that the law of mar- 

 riage is more stringent in a low stage of civil- 

 ization than it is in a high stage of civiliza- 

 tion, contrary to the accepted beliefs of the 

 social organizations of the Indians. 



The 333d meeting was held May 20. A por- 



tion of this closing meeting for the season was 

 given to remarks on deceased members. 



Dr. George M. Kober paid a tribute to Dr. 

 W. W. Johnston, whose death was a severe 

 loss to the people of Washington. 



A eulogy on the late Thomas Wilson was 

 read by Professor Otis T. Mason. Following 

 this, an interesting paper on the origin of 

 the United States decimal money was read 

 by Dr. William H. Seaman. 



Walter Hough. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 

 ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE. 



To THE Editor of Science : While believing 

 that a more thorough study of the existing 

 literature on zoological nomenclature would 

 clear up most of Dr. Cook's uncertainties, 

 while I would especially recommend him to 

 read my report on the subject, of 1877, to the 

 American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, and admitting for myself less 

 familiarity with the problems of purely bo- 

 tanical nomenclature — there are still some 

 points in his letter in Science, No. 392, p. 

 30, which seem to call for notice. The neces- 

 sity for types as a basis for modern genera I 

 appreciate, I believe, fully. It is only when 

 hasty methods of selection, iipsetting work al- 

 ready done and promising no more definite 

 stability than present methods, are proposed, 

 that any hesitation is called for. 



It seems to be most difficult to induce nat- 

 uralists who have not made a special study of 

 nomenclature, to get clearly fixed the idea 

 that nomenclature is necessarily arbitrary, and 

 that unless this principle is admitted to start 

 with, stability is hopeless. Thus the accept- 

 ance of the tenth edition of the 'Systema 

 Naturae' as the starting point, though based 

 on sound reasons, is nevertheless an arbitrary 

 decision, and having been generally accepted 

 should be adliered to. Dr. Cook thinlis that 

 because certain naturalists have violated the 

 rules excluding vernacular names, therefore 

 violation is justified and must be accepted; 

 but laws are not enforced in that way. The 

 laws are intended to and will, if followed, 

 bring about stability, but it is preposterous 



