934 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL. No. 1043 



The elaborate stream-measurements thus go 

 for naught. They give no clue whatever to the 

 absolute rate of continental lowering through 

 erosion. They merely emphasize the fact of 

 the relative impotency of stream-work in gen- 

 eral. They bring into strong contrast the 

 tremendous effects of other geologic agencies 

 of degradation and of aggradation which we 

 have long been accustomed entirely to ignore, 

 or to give only scant consideration. 



Charles Keyes 



cladonema 



In looking up the date for the species of the 

 flagellate protozoon, Cladonema laxum Kent 

 1871 (Anthophysa laxum Kent), I found that 

 Seville Kent had proposed for this species the 

 name Oladonema,^ having derived it from the 

 Oreek, Mados, branch, and nema, thread. His 

 type species is C. laxum,, of which he wrote: 

 " This species was first briefly described by 

 the author, with an accompanying figure, in 

 the Monthly Microscopical Journal for Decem- 

 ber, 1871, under the title of Anihophysa laxa; 

 the isolated instead of clustered mode of at- 

 tachment of the animalcules to their pedicle, 

 added to the flexible, thread-like aspect and 

 consistence of their structure, distinguishes 

 it, however, so conspicuously from the repre- 

 sentatives of either the genus Anihophysa or 

 other allied forms described in this treatise, 

 that a new generic name has been created for 

 its reception," i. e., Cladonema. 



References to Cladonema in the literature 

 earlier than 1880 lead the writer to trace back 

 the name to 1843. In Ann. des 8ci. Nat. for 

 that year, lie serie (Zoologie), Tome 20, pp. 

 370-3, Dujardin listed a new medusa, for 

 which he proposed the name Cladonema radi- 

 atum,. This form had developed from the 

 hydroid Stauridium (see description, p. 372). 

 Krohn in 1853^ accepted the name for the 

 medusa, and only differed from Dujardin's 

 interpretation in minor points in the develop- 



1 Manual of the Infusoria, Vol. I., London, 

 1880, pp. 264-65. 



2 Mueller's Arch. f. Anat. u. Physiol., 1853, p. 

 420. 



ment into the Stauridium. Others to recog- 

 nize the name Cladonema for the medusa 

 prior to 1880 are: Kefferstein und Ehlers, 

 1861, Zool. Beitraege, JSTeapel, Messina, p. 85, 

 taf. 13, Fig. 5; Van Beneden, 1866, Mem. 

 Acad. Boy. Belgique, Tome 36, p. 139, pi. 12; 

 Hincks, 1868, "Hist. Brit. Hydroid. Zooph.," 

 p. 62, pi. 11; AUman, 1872, " Monog. Tubul. 

 Hydroids," pp. 216, 357, pi. 17, Figs. 1-10; and 

 Haeckel, 1879, " Syst. der Medusen," p. 109. 



Mayer, in his " Medusa of the World," Pt. I. 

 (Carnegie Inst. Pub.), 1910, recognizes the 

 name Cladonema for the medusa form and 

 gives the full bibliography (p. 99). In Pt. UI. 

 of this work, p. 719, he writes under the 

 caption " Preoccupied Generic Names " : 



The establishment of the Commission upon 

 Zoological Nomenclature and the general recog- 

 nition which the code that controls its decision, 

 has won for itself among naturalists makes it 

 more than ever desirable that the validity of the 

 generic names we now use should be firmly estab- 

 lished. Accordingly, the tenability of each and 

 every generic name adopted in this work has been 

 made the subject of thorough research, and I am 

 somewhat surprised to find that names which 

 have been used for generations without question 

 of their priority are actually preoccupied for 

 other groups of animals and can not be applied 

 to the medusae. 



He lists five such cases, Corynitis, Sldb- 

 heria, Turris, Tiara and Laodicea. Cladonema, 

 however, remains established for the medusa 

 form. 



It seems evident from the above that Kent 

 proposed the name Cladonema for the In- 

 fusorian without knowing that the name was 

 already occupied. Hence the former name 

 Anthophysa Bory, 1822 (?), must be revived 

 for the reception of this species, or a new 

 name proposed. 



E. Oaeroll Faust 



Missoula County High School, 

 Missoula, Mont. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 The British Rust Fungi (Uredinales) , their 

 Biology and Classification. By W. B. 

 Grove, M.A. Cambridge, at the TJniveraity 

 Press. 1913. Pp. xii + 412. 



