32 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



state every name which of late years has been made to give place to one 

 of Hubner s, and further, to treat the Verzeichniss bekannier SehmetterBnge 

 as a mere Catalogue, which can never be quoted as an authority for 

 genera." 



Now with regard to the remedy for the evil complained of. There 

 have been various suggestions of Rules by foreign authors, many of which 

 would meet the assent of most Entomologists, and it is easy to select from 

 these authors both Rules and arguments for their adoption. I will call 

 attention to so many of these suggested Rules as seem to me to meet the 

 difficulty of the case, and to others, which might properly form part of a. 

 code, and will give short extracts illustrating them. 



I mention them for the purpose of exciting discussion as to their 

 fitness for the end in view, and that Lepidopterists may know what is 

 the opinion of students in other branches of Entomology besides their 

 own : — 



i There must be intelligible description and publication in case of a 

 species, or a recognizable figure. In case of a genus there must be a 

 definition giving the essential characters. — JFrom Dr. ThoreWs European 

 Spiders, quoted i?i Wallace's Address, before cited. 



2. In determining the priority of specific names, notice should be 

 taken only of those works in which the Linnaean binomial nomenclature is 

 exclusively and consistently employed. — Ihorcll. 



Note — " The binomial system of nomenclature was fully and distinctly 

 propounded by Linnaeus in the Philosophia Botanica, published in 1751, 

 and there can be no reason whatever why authors who adopted and sys- 

 tematically applied it should be set aside, because Linnaeus himself did 

 not apply it to the whole animal and vegetable kingdoms till 1758." — 

 Thorcll. 



3. The same date should apply to generic as to specific names, both 

 being characteristic of the binomial nomenclature, and it being impossible 

 if we go back earlier, to determine what are to be considered as truly 

 generic names. — Ibid. 



4. Between two specific names in use, the prior right shall belong to 

 the first named. But 710 name in use shall give way to an obsolete or 

 rejected name, even though the latter be of prior date. — Wallace's Ad- 

 dress, p. 67. 



Note. — " The idea of justice to the namer or describer of a species is 

 sometimes appealed to, but the law of priority is founded on no such 



