590.1 309 



II. 



Change in Zoological Nomenclature. 



IN the discussion of this subject at the recent meeting of the 

 Zoological Society a number of eminent and experienced 

 zoologists, including Sir William Flower, who presided, expressed 

 dissatisfaction with the law of priority in the application of generic 

 and specific names. They pointed out that, as a matter of experience, 

 the uniformity in the use of names which the law is intended to 

 produce has not been secured ; and they did not believe that in this 

 respect the experience of the future would differ from that of the 

 past. It was urged by the President that, however clear and distinct 

 the adopted rules of nomenclature appeared to be, different inter- 

 pretations would be given to them by different minds. Several 

 speakers mentioned the inconvenience which is frequently caused, 

 and from which probably all working zoologists have suffered, by the 

 disinterment and "resuscitation of an old and forgotten name, used 

 perhaps only once, to replace some well-known name which has been 

 employed in several standard works. One speaker condemned such 

 a proceeding as a scientific crime, but we all know that it is often 

 committed in the sacred name of priority by some of the ablest and 

 most learned naturalists. 



Two instances, which have recently made a painful impression 

 on myself, may be mentioned. The most eminent English ichthy- 

 ologists have given the generic name Rhombus to the turbot and 

 brill, and Pleiivomctes to the plaice, dab, flounder, and other species. 

 Dr. Giinther has adopted this nomenclature in his British Museum 

 Catalogue, which is, I believe, the latest survey of the species of fishes 

 of the whole world. But two American ichthyologists lately published 

 a Revision of the Flounders and Soles of America and Europe in 

 which they named the genus of which the turbot is type, Pleuronectes. 

 The argument of the American authors is that, although the name 

 Rhombus was first used by Cuvier to distinguish the turbot and brill 

 as a sub-division of Linnaeus's great genus Pleuronectes, it was not 

 declared by him to be a generic name, and that Pleuronectes was first 

 applied as a generic name in a restricted sense in Fleming's British 

 Animals, to distinguish turbot and brill from sole and plaice. This 

 shows that the application of the law of priority is not so simple as it 

 seems, and may easily lead to quibbles. Moreover, these changes 

 often involve others. 



Another instance is that of the lobster. It was called Homarus 

 vulgaris by Milne Edwards ; Astacus is the genus including the fresh- 

 water crayfish, and Gammarus is a common genus of Amphipoda. 



