INTRODUCTION. 3 



unanimity in fixing the date of the beginning of the operation 

 of the law of priority, naturalists being nearly evenly divided in 

 opinion upon this point. The so-called ' Stricklandian Code' 

 fixed the date at 1766,* --that of the twelfth edition of the 

 'Systema Nature.' This has been generally accepted by Brit- 

 ish zoologists ; while many others, especially in America and of 

 late years, consider 1758 as the fittest starting-point, this being 

 the date of the tenth edition of the ' Systema Naturae,' in which 

 Linnaeus first methodically and consistently applied the binomial 

 nomenclature to zoology. Botanists are at variance with zoolo- 

 gists, and with one another, in this particular ; some taking as 



been oftenest used before, irrespective of its original application, or of its applica- 

 bility under the law of priority. But a much earlier protest against the strict law of 

 priority, from an entomologist, is to be found in a tract published in 1872, the follow- 

 ing title of which indicates the nature of its contents : 



1872. LEWIS, W. ARNOLD. A Discussion [ of the | Law of Priority in Ento- 

 mological | Nomenclature ; | with Strictures on its Modern Application ; | and | a 

 Proposal for the Rejection of all | disused Names. | | By | W. Arnold Lewis, | 

 F. L. S., M. Entom. Soc. Lond., Barrister-at-Law. | | Also containing | A Pa- 

 per, by the same, read before the British Association | (Section D) on August 7, 

 187 1 ; | And a Second, by the same, intended as a Contribution to the | Discussion 

 in the 'Entomologist's Monthly Magazine.' | | London : | Williams & Norgate, 14, 

 Henrietta Street, | Covent Garden. | | 1872. I vol. 8vo, paper cover, title, advt., 

 and pp. 1-86. 



(The first paper mentioned in the title is, 'A Proposal for a Modification of the 

 strict Law of Priority in Zoological Nomenclature in Certain Cases,' pp. 69-82. 

 The second is entitled, ' Synonymic Lists and Certainty in Nomenclature,' pp. 

 82-86.) 



Another paper, also by an entomologist, may be consulted with profit. It is 

 entitled as follows : 



1873. SHARP, DAVID. The | Object and Method | of | Zoological Nomencla- 

 ture. | By | David Sharp. | | " Nomina si nescis, pent et cognitio rerum." | | 

 London : | E. W. Janson, 28 Museum Street. | Williams & Norgate, Henrietta 

 St. | j November, 1873. Paper, sm. 8vo, cover-title backed by preface, and 



PP- 39- 



(Well reviewed by A. R. Wallace, 'Nature,' Feb. 5, 1874, p. 258.) 

 1 " In Mr. H. E. Strickland's original draft of these Rules and Recommendations 

 the edition of Linnreus was left blank, and the Xllth was inserted by the Manches- 

 ter Committee. This was done not as being the first in which the binomial nomen- 

 clature had been used, as it commenced with the Xth, but as being the last and 

 most complete edition of Linnseus's works, and containing many species the Xth did 

 not." Revised Rules of the B. A., p. 28, as printed in Rep. Brit. Ass. Adv. Sci., 

 Birmingham Meeting, 1865. For evidence that Strickland himself was an advocate 

 of Linnaeus at 1758, see ' The Auk,' I., 1884, p. 400. 



