Nomenclature of Zoology. 7 
bear the name proposed by him. Neither would we justify the 
wholesale rejection of M. Rafinesque’s names, which some have 
advocated ; because it is certain, that many of his species ma 
be satisfactorily made out, and these, beyond all question, should 
be adopted. : 
_ The other requisite is publication. And now the question 
arises, what shall be considered publication. In the words of 
the committee, “to constitute publication, nothing short of the 
insertion of the above particulars (the essential characters) in a 
printed book, can be held sufficient.” The French Academy of 
Sciences has also decided that nothing can constitute publication, 
but the rendering one’s labors public, through the press.* "These 
two authorities are the highest to which we could possibly have 
recourse, and their dicta ought to be conclusive on this point. 
The definition of the Academy, it will be perceived, is broader 
than that of the British Association, inasmuch as the former 
merely requires that a definition should be given to the public 
in print, while the latter requires that it should be given in a 
printed book. We are ready to adopt the most rigid of these 
requisitions. -When descriptions are published, as many of Mr. 
Say’s were, in such a paper as the New Harmony Disseminator, 
it could not be expected that another naturalist, who might pub- | 
lish descriptions of the same objects, in some widely current 
Scientific work, justifiably ignorant of his predecessor’s labors, 
should forfeit his claim to the names imposed by him. It cer- 
tainly cannot be expected, that every fugitive newspaper or 
ephemeral literary periodical, is to be ransacked, before a man 
may be permitted to name an object. In the case of Mr. Say, 
however, thanks to the assiduity of his friends, his fugitive pub- 
lications have been collected, embodied, and given to the public, 
in books which cannot be set aside. At the present day, every” 
facility which canbe asked, is given to authors, for bringing 
their discoveries before the public as soon as they please, in such 
a manner as to secure all their rights. It is the custom to print, 
at. short intervals, works in which the essential characters 
objects. may be given, in anticipation of figures and more ex- 
PLR nas casera ORME RR eo) 
- “ Ainsi il est bien établi par l’Académie des Sciences, que les communications 
faites par MM. Le Guillou, &c., ne sauraient constituer une publication, et que 
leurs travaux resteront inédits, 4 l'état de manuscrit, jusqu’d ce qu'ils aient ete 
rendus publics, par la voie de Vimpression.”—Revue Zoologique, 1841, p. 331. 
