B.C. Entomological Society. 



whole field of zoology. The committees meet every three years and 

 decide various points that are brought before them. There are still con- 

 flicting opinions on the subject of nomenclature, and in order that rules 

 may be adopted that lead to finality, and the division of entomology 

 receive due attention, the Second International Congress of Entomology 

 ()'ou know we now have an International Congress for our own special 

 division), held at Oxford, England, in August, 1912, advised the forma- 

 tion of national committees in each country to collect opinions and 

 consider changes required in the International Committee, and to com- 

 municate their resolutions to the International Committee on Zoological 

 Nomenclature. The next Congress is due to be held this year. 



As I have already stated, the International Code is a valuable founda- 

 tion and guide to the generally accepted rules of nomenclature. In the 

 introduction to the rules it is stated : — 



" While not attempting to dictate to men of science what they shall 

 or shall not do, the Commission submits the rules to the serious con- 

 sideration of all workers in the spirit advanced by Strickland (1842). 

 namely, " we offer them to the candid consideration of zoologists in the 

 hope that they may lead to sufficient uniformity of method in future to 

 rescue science from becoming a mere chaos of words.' " 



The Code is too long to read to you /;; cxtenso on this occasion, but 

 I will quote a few articles which I think may be of interest : — 



" Article 3. The scientific names of animals must be words which 

 are either Latin or Latinized, or considered and treated as such in case 

 they are not of classic origin. 



" Article 4. The name of a family is formed by adding the ending 

 ' idee ' ; the name of a sub-family by adding ' incr ' to the root of the name 

 of its type genus. 



" Article 8. A generic name must consist of a single word, simple 

 or compound, written with a capital initial letter, and employed as a 

 substantive in the nominative singular. 



" Article 13. While specific substantive names derived from names 

 of persons may be written with a capital initial letter, all other specific 

 names are to be written with a small initial letter. 



" Article 14. Specific names are : — 



"{a.) Adjectives which must agree grammatically with the generic 

 name. Example : Felix marmorata. 



"{b.) Substantives in the nominative in apposition with the generic 

 name. Example : Felix leo. 



"(f.) Substantives in the genitive. Examples: Rosre, sturionis, 

 antillarum, gallia?, sancti-pauli, sanctje-helenfe. 



" Article 16. Geographic names are to be given as substantives in 

 the genitive, or are to be placed in an adjectival form. Examples: 

 Sancti-pauli, Sanct;e-helen£e, edwardiensis, diemenensis. magellanicus. 

 burdi-oalensis. vindobonensis. 



