Bacteria and Viruses 35 



Rule 6. Sect. 1. Naming of Taxa 



used as epithets is illegitimate; it is not a binary combination. 

 The species name having a single epithet made up of two or more 

 words as contrasted with a species name in which appear two or more 

 epithets may be illustrated. An organism belonging to the genus 

 Streptococcus that lives in sour milk is to be named. The two words, 

 sour milk, taken together name a single concept; together they con- 

 stitute a single epithet. From lac, Inctis (milk) and acidum (sour) 

 is derived an appropriate specific epithet, and the organism is named 

 Streptococcus lactis-acidi. The Streptococcus of lactic acid may be 

 termed Streptococcus acidi-lactici (from acidum lacticum = lactic 

 acid) . A common source of compound specific epithets in bacteriol- 

 ogy is formation from the names of diseases with which the organ- 

 isms may be associated. For the organism producing haemorrhagic 

 septicemia, Sternberg proposed the name Bacillus septicaerniae-haemor- 

 rhagicae. This name has a single specific epithet and does not con- 

 travene the directive of Rule 6 that a name of a species must be a 

 binary combination with only a single specific epithet. Pfeiler isolated 

 from the gangienous udder of a sheep a coccus which he named 

 Micrococcus mastitidis-gangraeyiosae-ovis, the Micrococcus of gang- 

 renous mastitis of sheep. Again, this is a single specific epithet, it is 

 the Latinized name of a disease, and the species name accords with 

 the rule. 



The fact that a long compoinid specific epithet is acceptable in 

 the sense that it does not contravene a Rule does not mean that it is 

 desirable. Recommendation 6b (2) advises that specific epithets 

 should not be long. Long names are cumbersome. As a result of a 

 request from a gioup of bacteriologists working with microorganisms 

 associated with mastitis in cows, the shortened name Streptococcus 

 agalactiae Lehmann and Neumann was conserved against the older, 

 correctly formed binomial Streptococcus agalactiae-contagiosae Kitt. 



A correct species name can have but one specific epithet; if more 

 than one is given the species name is illegitimate and unacceptable. 

 There may be confusion of three groups of species names: 



(1) Legitimate species names in which the specific epithet is 

 made up of two or more words. In this case the two or more 

 words express a single idea and together modify the generic 

 name. Example: Pasteurella cholerae-gallinarum, the Pas- 

 teurella of cholera of fowls. 



(2) Illegitimate species names in which there are two or more 

 specific epithets, the several epithets not related and sepa- 

 rately modifying the generic name. Example: Bacillus albus 

 lactis, the white Bacillus of milk. This cannot be made 

 legitimate by hyphenation of the two epithets to read Bacillus 



