PRINCIPLES OF TAXONOMY 249 



Rules of Nomenclature. — The binomial and trinomial systems of 

 nomenclature have been of great convenience to naturalists. Before 

 their adoption, common names were in use in the scientific world and led 

 to much confusion, the same animals being known by different names and 

 different animals by the same name. To make certain that each animal 

 shall have but one scientific name and that no two animals shall have the 

 same name, rules of nomenclature have been proposed at different times 

 for the purpose of determining which name shall prevail when several 

 have been or are likely to be inadvertently proposed for the same form. 

 Linnaeus seems to have appreciated the necessity for rules and to have 

 proposed a set. These rules were not sufficient, and several other codes 

 have been proposed, the more important of which are the British Associa- 

 tion Code, the American Ornithological Union Code, the Code of the German 

 Zoological Society, and the Code of the International Zoological Congress. 

 The code now almost universally in use is the International Code of Zoo- 

 logical Nomenclature, adopted by the International 2^oological Congress 

 and governed through a Commission on Nomenclature created in 1898. 



The International Code. — Some of the essential features of the Inter- 

 national Code are as follows. The first name proposed for a genus or 

 species prevails on the condition that it was published and accompanied 

 by an adequate description, definition, or indication, and that the author 

 has appUed the principles of binomial nomenclature. This is the so-called 

 law of priority. Duplicate names which have to be rejected because not 

 prior are called synonyms. The tenth edition of the "Systema Naturae" 

 of Linnaeus is the basis of the nomenclature. Names given earlier and 

 not used in that edition are not recognized. The author of a genus or 

 species is the person who first publishes the name in connection with a 

 definition, indication, or description, and his name in full or abbreviated is 

 given with the name; thus, Bascanion anthonyi Stejneger. In citations 

 the generic name of an animal is written with a capital letter, the specific 

 and subspecific name mth initial small letter. The name of the author 

 follows the specific name (or subspecific name if there is one) without 

 intervening punctuation. If a species is transferred to a genus other 

 than the one under which it was first described, or if the name of a genus 

 is changed, the author's name is included in parentheses. For example, 

 Bascanion anthonyi Stejneger should now be written Coluber anthonyi 

 (Stejneger), the generic name of this snake having been changed. It is 

 common practice now for the author of a species to designate one par- 

 ticular specimen as the type of the species, and to indicate the museum 

 or other collection in which it is placed. If the species is later divided, 

 the original name goes to that part of it which includes the type specimen. 

 Also the specimen can be inspected in case of doubt regarding the identity 

 of the species. One species constitutes the type of the genus. This 



