66 International Code of Nomenclature 



Rule 12c. Sect. 3. Publication of Names 



Rule 12c (2) . Certain :iuthors have desired to publish a symmetrical 

 classification of bacteria, including generic names and descriptions 

 for jDurely hypothetical genera. For example, Fischer (Jahrb. wiss. 

 Bot. 27:4\. 1895) proposed the generic name Bactrinium to include 

 monotrichous, rod-shaped bacteria which produce endospores. The 

 author included no species, and none has been subsequently de- 

 scribed. The name was obviously proposed in anticipation of possible 

 future acceptance and it was not validly published. 



The Botanical Code contains a similar provision, and states 

 further that if, on or after 1 Jan. 1953, two or more different names 

 are proposed simultaneously for the same taxon by the same author, 

 none of them is validly published. 



A Zoological Commission has published the following pertinent 

 commentary on "The Nature of a Systematic Name": 



...The Commission is unanimously of the opinion that a name, 

 in the sense of the Code, refers to the designation by which the 

 actual objects are known. In other words, we name the objects 

 themselves, not our conception of said objects. Names based upon 

 hypothetical forms have, therefore, no status in nomenclature and 

 are not in any way entitled to consideration under the Law of 

 Priority. 



