INTRODUCTION. 9 



number, and occupying less than three octavo pages, are like- 

 wise intended to apply to both Zoology and Botany. Their prin- 

 cipal divergence from the Stricklandian Code is at the point of 

 departure for the law of priority, as already stated. The rules 

 are succeeded by a commentary of some thirty pages, prepared 

 by M. Chaper, the reporter of the commission, one third of 

 this matter relating to the starting-point for the action of the 

 law of priority, which is discussed with special reference to 

 pre-Linnaean authors, and favors the non-limitation of the law 

 by the works of Linnaeus. 



The International Geological Congress, at its meeting held in 

 1882 at Bologna, also adopted a code of rules intended to apply 

 equally to Zoology and Botany. They were proposed by a 

 committee specially appointed for the purpose, who, after 

 adopting certain general principles, took as its basis of de- 

 parture the Stricklandian Code. These rules are even fewer 

 than those of the code of the French Zoological Society, being 

 only eleven in number, and occupying less than two octavo 

 pages. They are followed by twenty-two pages of valuable 

 commentary, offered to the Commission by its Secretary, M. H. 

 Douville. This is largely historical, and, like M. Chaper's, 

 argues for the non-limitation of the law of priority by the works 

 of Linnaeus, and for its restriction, as above said, only by the 

 requirements of binomiality, proper publication, and clear defi- 

 nition. The only exceptions to the action of this law which 

 the code recognizes as permissible are in the cases of pre- 

 occupation of a generic name in the same kingdom, and of a 

 specific name in the same genus. 



In 1883, M. A. De Candolle published his important ' Nou- 

 velles Remarques sur la Nomenclature Botanique/ in which he 

 reviews the discussions which were had during the sixteen years 

 following the appearance of his Botanical Code of I86/, 1 and 

 proposes a few changes which he considers that experience has 

 shown to be necessary. These, following upon Ball's digest 

 and upon the action respectively of the French Zoological So- 



1 ' Lois de la Nomenclature Botanique, redigees et commentees par M. Alphonse 

 De Candolle.' Paris, 1867. 8vo, pp. 60. 



