Occasional Notes. 69 



One would have expected that these efforts and this pains- 

 taking work would have been universally encouraged regard- 

 less of temporary and personal inconveniences. 



This is, however, not the case. At the annual meeting 

 of the German Zoological Society, 1912, resolutions were 

 carried in the form of four paragraphs, for the " restriction 

 of the law of priority.'^ These resolutions are, according 

 to the text in the * Zoolog. Anzeiger,' 1912, p. 155, the 

 following * : — 



"Section 1. — Lists of generic names shall be made which 

 shall not be affected by the law of priority, and these 

 names shall never be changed and never be trans- 

 ferred to other genera. These lids shall he enlarged 

 continually hy special commissions. 



"These lists shall contain chiefly those generic names 

 which have become current before 1900 and which 

 have principally been used in teaching. 



" Section 2. — The transfer of generic or specific names to 

 another genus or species shall not be admissible, if it 

 leads to permanent confusion or errors. 



" Section 3. — When deciding about priority, certain works 

 shall be disregarded, for example (here follows a list of 

 twelve works). This list shall be continually enlarged 

 hy the commissions. 



" Section 4. — In deciding about priority, publications in 

 the following; categories shall not be taken into con- 

 sideration. Statements in encyclopaedias, popular works 

 on travel, journals on sport or fishing, catalogues, 

 horticultural periodicals, economical and farmers' 

 publications, popular and political journals, newspapers 

 and similar non-scientific publications which have not 

 had an essential influence on scientific systems and 

 which have been almost disregarded." 



These proposals received 635 signatures. They are almost 

 equal to a complete abandonment of the principle of priorit3% 



* Translated by E. Ilartert. 



