56 CODE OF NOMENCLATURE. 



and that serial publications, when not issued promptly, as not unfrequently 

 happens, are sometimes antedated by several months. This state of things 

 is happily less prevalent now than formerly, and is more frequently the result 

 of inattention, or failure to appreciate the importance of precision in such 

 matters, than from any motive of unfairness. At the present time authors 

 in good standing are careful to make permanent record of the date of publi- 

 cation of each part of a work issued in successive brochures, or printer's 

 ' signatures ' ; and societies not unfrequently give the exact date of the ap- 

 pearance of each signature or part of their various publications. This, it is 

 needless to urge, is a practice which should become general. 



Where doubt arises as to the priority of publication between a properly 

 dated work and one improperly or dishonestly dated, it would hardly be 

 unfair to throw the onus probandi on the publishers of the latter, or to favor 

 the work the date of which is not open to question. 



Finally, respecting the matter of publication, your Committee would sub- 

 mit the following. 



Naturalists would do well (a) to indicate exactly the date of publication of 

 their works, parts of works, or papers ; (b} to avoid publishing a name with- 

 out indicating the nature of the group (whether generic, subgeneric, or 

 supergeneric) it is intended to distinguish ; (c) to avoid including in their 

 publications any unaccepted manuscript names, since such names only need- 

 lessly increase synonymy ; (//) societies, government or other surveys, or 

 other publishing boards, should indicate the date of issue of each part of 

 works published serially or in instalments, as well as of all volumes and 

 completed works. 



Furthermore, the custodians of libraries, public or private, would do well 

 to indicate, either in the work itself or in a proper book of record, the date 

 of reception of all publications received, particularly in the case of those of 

 a serial character, or which are issued in parts. (This, it may be observed, 

 is a practice carefully adhered to in well-regulated libraries of the present 

 time.) 



II. Of the Authority for Names. 



CANON L. The authority for a specific or subspecific name 

 is the first describer of the species or subspecies. When the 

 first describer of the species or subspecies is not also the au- 

 thority, it is to be enclosed in parentheses ; e. g., Turdus migra- 

 torius L., or Merula migratoria (L.). 



REMARK. Ordinarily the use of authorities may be omitted, as in inci- 

 dental reference to species of a well-known fauna in faunal lists, etc. ; but, 

 on the other hand, the use of authorities may be of the greatest importance 



