Miscellaneous. G29 



Commission to render its decisions as promptly as desirable. This 

 difficulty has now been overcome by the generous grant of the sum 

 of $2700 by the Smithsonian Institution ; said sum is available at 

 the discretion of the Commission at any time during the three years 

 following the grant. 



In addition-, the Smithsonian Institution has placed at the disposal 

 of the Commission the sum of $500 to be used in publishing the 

 " Opinions " rendered by the Commission in its function as a Court 

 of Appeal. An arrangement has been made between the Secretary 

 of the Smithsonian Institution and the Secretary of tho Commission, 

 whereby the " Opinions " will be published by the Institution and 

 forwarded to 1100 libraries, to the members of the International 

 Zoological Congress, and to a limited list of specialists. 



Official List of most frequently used Zoological Nccmes. — There is a 

 desire on the part of some zoologists that certain very commonly 

 used zoological names should be excepted from the application of 

 the Law of Priority, and a proposition to this effect has been 

 presented to the Commission from the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science and the Eastern Branch of the American 

 Society of Zoologists. That this desire is so widespread and so 

 deeply rooted as is assumed by some of our colleagues has not been 

 confirmed by inquiries made by several members of the Commission. 

 Further, an effort made by the Secretary to collect from zoologists 

 the most commonly used and most important generic names has as 

 yet met with such poor success that the conclusion does not seem 

 entirely unjustified that some of our colleagues who may be in favour 

 of such a list are not as yet sufficiently enthusiastic over the propo- 

 sition to induce them to demonstrate their desire by placing into 

 the hands of the Commission the data upon which such a list must 

 of necessity be based. Further, there are many colleagues who are 

 known to us to be directly and enthusiastically opposed to such a 

 list. 



After careful consideration of the subject and of the many diffi- 

 culties involved the Commission has decided to propose to the 

 Congress the trial of a proposition which it is hoped will meet with 

 the approval of both sides of the controversy, namely : — 



(1) The Commission invites all zoologists to send to the Secre- 



tary of the Commission, prior to November 1, 1910, a list 

 of 100 zoological generic names which they consider should 

 be studied in connection with the preparation of an " official 

 list." Each name should be accompanied either by the 

 name of the author of the generic name or by an indication 

 of the group to which it belongs. 



(2) All systematists are invited to send a separate list of the 



50 to 100 generic names in their specialty which they look 

 upon as the most important and most generally used. Each 

 name should be accompanied by the full and complete 



