J 12 International Code of Nomenclature 



Recommendations 27g, 27h. Orthography and Gender of Names 



RECOMMENDATION 27g. New specific (or other) epithets should be written 

 in conformity with the original spelling of the words from which they are 

 derived and in accordance with the rules of Latin and Latinization. 

 RECOMMENDATION 27h. Specific epithets, even those derived from names 

 of persons, should not be capitalized. 



ANNOTATIONS 



Recommendation 27h. During the first several decades following the 

 introduction of the Linnaean binomial naming of species, it was custo- 

 mary, particularly in botanical nomenclature, to capitalize all specific 

 epithets derived from proper names, such as names of persons, places, 

 mythological characters and genera. Zoologists rather early abandoned 

 this custom. Later, botanists modified the Recommendation governing 

 this matter and recognized the right of an author to capitalize or not 

 as he desired. In bacteriology, as in zoology, the reconmiendation is 

 that specific epithets begin with a lower case letter no matter what 

 the origin. This recommendation has some practical significance. 

 Many abstracting journals and many publications in biology must 

 use in a single article the scientific names of bacteria, of plants and 

 of animals. To have different regulations for the capitalization of 

 specific epithets would be confusing. However, if an author chooses 

 to capitalize a specific epithet, the species name is accepted, though 

 those who use the word subsequently may use a lower case initial letter. 



