March 25, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



4d9 



1884, and was taken in hand by Dr. Palmer 

 in 1889, who continued it, aided by competent 

 assistants, till its completion in 1903, it being 

 carried on in connection with the systematic 

 work on mammals conducted by the Biological 

 Survey. Under ' acknowledgments ' special 

 mention is made o£ the careful and painstak- 

 ing work of Miss Thora Steineger, who spent 

 much time in several of the leading libraries 

 of Europe in verifying references, besides 

 rendering important clerical assistance in 

 Washington throughout the progress of the 

 work. Especial thanks, on behalf of the users 

 of the index as well as the author, are also 

 rendered to Mr. F. H. Waterhouse, librarian 

 of the Zoological Society of London, who, on 

 learning of Dr. Palmer's work, generously 

 placed in his hands a large amount of manu- 

 script he had already prepared for a similar 

 undertaking. 



The introduction treats in much detail all 

 the principal questions, moot and otherwise, 

 that relate to nomenclatural usage. Under 

 ' References and Dates ' is considered the im- 

 portant question of what constitutes publica- 

 tion, and the necessity of determining, and 

 respecting, actual dates of publication, which 

 are often difficult to ascertain. In this con- 

 nection is presented a useful list of special 

 papers giving dates of publication for works 

 issued in parts, and dates of the parts of the 

 ' Proceedings ' of a number of scientific so- 

 cieties and museums. Under ' Authorities 

 and Localities,' and ' Types and their Deter- 

 mination,' are treated important questions of 

 usage about which authorities often differ, as 

 the determination of types of genera, etc., 

 apropos of the author's methods in the present 

 work. A list of ' Hypothetical Genera ' is ac- 

 companied by pertinent comment ; ' Changes 

 in Eorm of Names ' covers a consideration of 

 the much-vexed question of the proper treat- 

 ment of ' emended ' names. On this point 

 the author says : " Probably no section of the 

 A. O. U. Code has been the subject of so much 

 criticism as Canon XL., which provides that 

 ' the original orthography of a name is to be 

 rigidly preserved, unless a typographical error 

 is evident.' Stability and priority are two 

 of the cardinal principles of the code, but 



priority is merely a means of securing sta- 

 bility, and applies as well to the adoption of 

 the earliest name as to the earliest form of 

 that name. Experience has shown that any 

 other course leaves the door wide open to 

 emendation and resultant confusion.". A 

 number of generic names are cited, having 

 from five to eight variants that have been more 

 or less in use, in illustration of the results of 

 emendation; and in further elucidation of the 

 extent to which emendation may be carried, 

 it is shown that the name Aplodontia, with 

 eight actual variants, ' is capable of at least 

 twenty-four modifications, each one differing 

 from the rest by a single letter.' Some 

 eminent zoologists maintain that a difference 

 of a single letter in two names is sufficient to 

 distinguish them, and to prevent the later 

 name or names (for there are often several) 

 from being thrown out as preoccupied, whether 

 the difference in form is due to gender, to a 

 diiference in the connecting vowel in com- 

 pound words, or to the presence or absence of 

 aspirates; while others consider names the 

 same when having the same etymological 

 origin, though differing in form. 



Under ' Kejection of Names ' the author 

 considers at length the following topics : ' Pre- 

 occupied names,' under which is given a most 

 useful ' List of Homonyms within the Class 

 Mammalia; and another list of preoccupied 

 names in mammalogy and ornithology ; ' nom- 

 ina nuda,' French common names of Latin 

 derivation, ' plural subgeneric names,' etc. 



Pages 41-46 are devoted to the ' Etymology 

 of Names,' under which are considered class- 

 ical names, barbarous names, ' nonsense 

 names' ('coined' names and anagrams), 

 mythological names, geographical names, per- 

 sonal names, compounds and double generic 

 names. These pages contain an immense 

 amount of information, both historic and 

 etymological, in reference to the sources and 

 relative prevalence of these different classes 

 of names, illustrated by tabular expositions, 

 which are not only of high interest but of 

 much practical utility, but which it is im- 

 possible here to particularize. The section 

 devoted to ' Application of Names ' (pp. 60— 



