34 International Code of Nomenclature 



Rule 6. Chapter 3. Sect. 1. Naming of Taxa 



clature as to the appropriate designation ot the second component 

 of the species name, as well as to the designation of the name of a 

 species. In bacteriology and botany this second component is termed 

 the specific epithet. The directive imder the Zoological Rule is quite 

 different. The Paris Zoological Congress (1948) agreed that the 

 "term 'specific name' should be reserved to denote the binominal 

 combination which constitutes the scientific name of a species." This 

 statement conforms to usage in bacteriology and botany. It was also 

 agreed at Paris that the 



expression "trivial name" (based on early Linnaean usage) should 

 be adopted to denote the second part of the binominal combi- 

 nation, i.e. the term which is used within a given genus to dis- 

 tinguish any given species from every other species (or subspecies) 

 referred on taxonomic grounds to that genus. 

 This made the term "trivial name" a synonym of "specific epithet" 

 as used in bacteriology and botany. A radical change was directed at 

 the Copenhagen (1953) Zoological Congress which approved the 

 recommendation of the "Colloquium" that the expression "binomen" 

 be introduced, "defining that expression as denoting the binominal 

 combination which constitutes the scientific name of a species." In 

 other words, "binomen" was substituted for the previously approved 

 "specific name." The Copenhagen Congress further decided that 

 the "reversion to the use of the expression 'trivial name' was mis- 

 conceived." It repealed the Paris decision and substituted the ex- 

 pression "specific name" for "trivial name" on the basis that the 

 former expression had been released by the approval of the expres- 

 sion "binomen" for the name of a species as noted above. This action 

 means that in zoology "specific name" equates with "specific epithet" 

 in bacteriology and botany, and the zoological term "binomen" 

 equates with "specific name" or "species name" in other biological 

 sciences. 



The use of an identical expression "specific name" for two dis- 

 tinct concepts, the one in zoology and the other in bacteriology and 

 botany, is unfortunate. Perhaps the difficulty lies in the zoological 

 use of the word "name." In the expression "trivial name" and the 

 later emendation "specific name" the word "name" is not intended 

 to designate a taxon. 



The term specific epithet. This term, as used in bacteriology and 

 botany, requires examination and definition. The specific epithet is 

 the second component of the name of a species. Most often it is a 

 single word, but it may consist of two (or even more) words provid- 

 ing these words are together required to express a single concept or 

 description. A species name that has two or more unrelated words 



