188 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



a committee, which reported substantially the same rules, with a few 

 closer definitions of moot points and some useful commentaries upon 

 certain rules. 



This report was adopted at the meeting in 1865, and was reprinted 

 with notes by Prof. A. E. Verrill, in the American Journal of Science and 

 Arts, 2nd ser., xlviii, 92, in 1869. 



It would therefore appear that the common law under which Zoologists 

 now act in questions of nomenclature, is the code, the history of which I 

 have just given. The only other alternative is, that there are no established 

 rules, and that in the Republic of Science each citizen is a judge, capable 

 of expounding the law for himself, and amenable to no tribunal. 



I will therefore assume that until a different code is formally adopted, 

 American naturalists are disposed to abide by the recommendations of 

 the two important scientific bodies, whose reports are above mentioned. 



As the language of all three reports is equally clear and definite upon 

 the points I wish to make against the reception of the Geoffroy'an genera, 

 I shall quote from the latest, reprinted in Silliman's Journal, 1869, as 

 being most easy of reference. 



" Rule III. The committee are of opinion, after much deliberation, 

 that tlie Xllth edition of the Systema Naturae is that to which the limit 

 of time should apply, viz., 1766 " (p. 94.) 



P. 96. "As our subject matter is strictly confined to the binomial 

 system of /lomcuc/afnre, or that which indicates species by means of two 

 Latin words, the one generic, the other specific, and as this invaluable 

 method originated solely with Linnaeus, it is clear that as far as species 

 are concerned, we ought not to attempt to carry back the principle of 

 priority beyond the date of the 12th ed. of the Systema Naturae, 1766. 

 Previous to that period, naturalists were wont to indicate species not by a 

 nanie comprised in one word, but by a dcjinitioii which occupied a 

 sentence, the extreme verbosity of which method was productive of great 



inconvenience." (p. 97.) " The same reasons apply to genera.". . . . 



" Brisson, who was a contemporary of Linnaeus and acquainted with the 

 Systema Naturae, defined and published certain genera of birds which are 

 additional \.o those in the 12th edition of Linnaeus' works, and which are 

 therefore of perfectly good authority. But Brisson still adhered to the 

 old method of designating species by a sentence instead of a word, and 

 therefore while we retain his defined genera, we do not extend the same 

 indulgence to the titles of his species, even when the latter are accidentally 

 binomial in form." 



