122 Dr. Th. Mortensen on the 



conclusions,' , — I feel sure that the nomenclature adopted by 

 these authors will never be generally accepted, and that the 

 result will only be most unfortunate confusion. But out of 

 these endless discussions about the correct application of 

 priority rules grows the conviction of the absurdity of main- 

 taining these rules strictly in all cases. To have the ex- 

 cellent and universally adopted name Archceocidaris changed 

 into the quite misleading Echinvcrinus, as it should be ac- 

 cording to strict application of the rules, does it not appear 

 ridiculous? But that is a minor matter. Look at Dr. Franz 

 Poche : he is the man to make changes worth speaking ot ! 

 Holothuria is to be the name of a Salpa ; what have hitherto 

 been called Holothurians by the whole scientific world shall 

 now be called Bohadschioidea. Actinia, on the other hand, 

 is a true Holothurian — no, pardon me, 1 mean a true Bohad- 

 schioid (a Cucumaria) } — whereas what have hitherto been 

 called Actinians by the whole world shall now have the 

 beautiful name Priapidee. Salpa is to be rejected for the 

 name Dagysa, and we have in the future to speak of the 

 Dagysids instead of the Salps *. When we have then made 

 Bipinnaria a genus of. starfish, Echinus perhaps an insect, 

 Nauplius a crab, Rana a fish, Ciconia a crane, changed Palai- 

 ornis into Buteo, the old Buteo into Craxirex, made .Cyno- 

 cephalus to mean Galeopithecus, &c, &c, we will be well off 

 and may be proud of the results of the strict application of 

 the priority rules ! 



There has recently arisen some opposition to the strict 

 application of the priority rules in all cases which leads to 

 such extremely unfortunate results. At the meeting of the 

 British Association in Dublin in 1908 Mr. G. A. Boulenger f 

 eloquently advocated that " names with which all general 

 zoologists, anatomists, and physiologists are familiar should 

 be respected, should be excepted from the rule in virtue 

 of what may be termed the privilege of prescription/' 

 pointing out the intolerable conditions resulting from the 

 transfer of old well-known names to other forms (for instance, 

 Astacus, Torpedo, Holothuria, Simia, Cynocephalus), as also 

 the difficulties arising from the practice in the use of the 

 previous literature. He proposes that future committees 



* Franz Poche, " tlber den richtigen Gebrauch der Gattungsnamen 

 Holothuria und Actinia, nebst einigen anderen grossteuteils dadurch 

 bedingten oder damit in Zusammenhang stebenden Andernngen in der 

 Nomenclatur der Ccelenteraten, Ecbinodermen und Tunicaten," Zool. 

 Anzeiger, xxxii. n. 3-4, 1907, p. 106. 



t '•' On the Abuses resulting from the Strict Application of the Rule 

 of Priority in Zoological Nomenclature, and on the Means of protecting 

 well-established Names," Rop. Brit. Assoc. 1908, p. 735. 



