INTRODUCTION. 13 



tions, abstracted and condensed from the minutes of the meet- 

 ings of the Committee, will show at a glance the principal 

 results reached. They are simply the gist of some of the 

 resolutions passed by the Committee in session, the points in- 

 volved being formally presented beyond, under ' Principles, 

 Canons, and Recommendations.' 



(a) The Stricklandian Code, B. A. Rules, 1842, 1865, the basis of 

 zoological nomenclature : the whole subject to be considered there- 

 from. 



(b) Trinomial nomenclature to be provided for. 



(c) Botanical nomenclature not to be considered ; use of names in 

 Botany not to invalidate their subsequent use in Zoology. 



(d) Linn. Syst. Nat., ed. X., 1758, to be the starting-point of zoologi- 

 cal nomenclature, and of the operation of the law of priority, for all 

 names. 



(<?) The law of priority to be inflexible ; conditions of its proper ap- 

 plication : its application to names of groups higher than genera. 



(f) The maxim, ' Once a synonym always a synonym,' to be affirmed 

 and extended to species and subspecies. 



() Names to be Latin, or in Latin form. 



(h) Names to be adopted on certain principles, without regard to 

 persons. 



(/) Absolute identification required to displace a modern current 

 name by an older obscure one. 



(J) Basis of a specific or subspecific name to be, either (i) an iden- 

 tifiable published description, or (2) a recognizable published plate or 

 figure, or (3) the original named type specimen ; diagnosis to be made 

 upon the status of the name at the time it was proposed ; identification 

 of type specimens, to be valid, must be absolute. 



(k) Basis of a generic or subgeneric name to be, either (i) a desig- 

 nated recognizably described species, or (2) a designated recognizable 

 plate or figure, or (3) a published diagnosis ; such names tenable upon 

 (i) or (2), even if wanting (3). 



(/) Type of a genus to be determined by the 'process of elimina- 

 tion,' if no type is originally mentioned. 



(m) Generic names not to be invalidated by use of same name 

 for a higher group (e. g., Accipitcr tenable as a genus, though there 

 is an order Actipitres). The same with specific names (e. g., Pica 

 pica). 



