THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 55 



CANONS OF SYSTEMATIC NOMENCLATURE FOR THE 



HIGHER GROUPS. 



BY SAMUEL H. SCUDDER. 



[From the American Journal of Science and Arts, Vol. Ill, May, 1S72.] 



Several years ago, the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science appointed a committee to reconsider the canons of biological 

 nomenclature, and to report whether, with the growth of science, they 

 required any additions or alterations. No report has yet been made, nor, 

 so far as we are aware, is any likely to be presented, until the subject is 

 again brought prominently forward and new instructions given. Professor 

 A. E. Verrill has since republished * the Revised Rules of Zoological 

 Nomenclature adopted by the British Association for the i\dvancement of 

 Science in 1865, and has accompanied them by a few apt comments ; in 

 England, Mr. W. F. Kirby, in a paper read before the Linnean Society of 

 London, has called attention to the extensive changes which a strict 

 adherence to the laws of priority would cause in the generic nomenclature 

 of butterflies ; and quite recently has put the same into practice in his 

 catalogue of these insects. 



But hitherto very little has been said concerning the special application 

 of definite rules to groups higher than genera, and it is to this division of 

 the subject that we desire to call attention. 



In attempting to legislate upon this branch of zoological nomenclature, 

 two principles must be kept in view : first, so far as possible, the canons 

 already in general acceptance for generic nomenclature should be applied 

 to all the monomial groups. Unity of principle lies at the foundation of 

 acceptable legislation ; second, retrospective laws should be avoided. 



One difficulty meets us at the outset, — what some are pleased to term 

 the unstable nature of the higher groups, but which we should prefer to 

 call the disagreement of naturalists as to the limits and value of these 

 groups ; yet as this diversity of view is a nearly equal hindrance to any 

 code of rules, it needs only to be mentioned in passing. 



Endeavoring to keep in mind the principles above enunciated, and as 

 the simplest means of presenting our views, the following outline of a 

 code is suggested for the consideration of zoologists. 



This Journal, July, 1869. 



