Vol. 34 No 4 
BULLETIN 
OF THE 
TORREY BOTAN ICAL CLUB 
APRIL, 1 1907 
AMERICAN CODE OF BOTANICAL NOMENCLATURE 
The Nomenclature Commission has carefully examined the 
rules and recommendations adopted by the International Botan- 
ical Congress held at Vienna in June, 1905, and compared them 
with the canons unanimously approved by them at their meeting 
held in Philadelphia in March, 1904, which were duly transmitted 
to the Vienna Congress. 
The Vienna Congress decided to base its deliberations and its 
code on the code of nomenclature adopted by the Botanical Con- 
gress held in Paris in 1867. At the Philadelphia meeting above 
referred to, this Commission concluded that better results would 
be obtained by abandoning the Paris code altogether and substi- 
tuting for it a simpler set of rules,* more satisfactorily arranged, 
which should recognize and emphasize the method of establishing 
_ and maintaining botanical names by the method of types. The 
_ Vienna Congress failed to recognize the principle of types, how- 
ever, although its results are an advance in several ways over the 
Paris rules of 1867. This Commission is still of the opinion that 
the method by types will obtain general recognition and accep- 
tance, inasmuch as it is the only one which promises sufficient def- 
initeness to answer present requirements in biological nomencla- 
ture. The present discussion of this subject by zoologists is 
illuminating and will lead to important results. To reach greater 
Precision we suggest certain modifications of the rules govern- 
ing the selection of types enunciated at our Philadelphia meeting. 
The Vienna Congress voted unanimously that the principles of 
nomenclature should not be arbitrary, but subsequently adopted, 
though not unanimously, a list of several hundred generic names 
of plants to be excluded from the operation of all nomenclatorial 
_tules. We regard this action as in the highest degree arbitrary, as 
* Bull. Torrey Club 31 : 249-261. 1904. 
{ The BULLETIN for March 1907 ‘ae: 116-166, p/. 7-9) was issued 7 My 1907.] 
167 
