NO. I HISTORY OF ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE — STEJNEGER I9 



nation of the plant species (Species Plantarum). The animals con- 

 tinued for some time under the old binary plurinominal system, 

 appearing thus in the ninth edition of Systema Naturae of 1756. It 

 was only in 1757, in Hasselquist's Iter Palestinum, that Linnaeus 

 consistently applied the binominal nomenclature to the animals, and 

 in 1758, in the loth edition of the Systema Naturae, the method is 

 finally extended to all the species of animals then known to him. 



The acceptance of the reform was general among his contem- 

 poraries. There were at least two notable exceptions, however. These 

 were Brisson and Gronovius, both of whom retained their plurinomi- 

 nal species designations in their work published in the interval be- 

 tween the tenth (1758) and the twelfth (1766) editions of the 

 Systema Naturae. As we have seen, the genera recognized by them 

 and their designations dififer in no essentials from those of Linnaeus, 

 but while they consequently remained binarians they were not 

 binominalists. 



It has been said about Brisson that, as far as species names are 

 concerned, he did not " play the game " of Linnaeus, that his nomen- 

 clature of the species is peculiarly his own, and that consequently it 

 has no standing in a system of nomenclature bearing the name of 

 Linnaeus. However, a comparative examination of the works of the 

 two men does not bear out this contention. 



To illustrate the socalled peculiarities of Brisson's system of 

 nomenclature, I submit the following abbreviated list of species of 

 birds (Ornithologie, 1760, vol. 3, pp. iii seqv.) of his Genus: 



Passer (vol. i, p. 36) 



1. Passer domesticus 



2. Passer montanus 



29. Linaria 



30. Linaria rubra major 



31. Linaria rubra minor 



36, Fringilla 



37. Montifringilla 



50. Serinus 



51. Serinus italicus 



52. Serinus canarius 

 54. Chloris, etc. 



In all cases where Linnaeus includes the species in the sixth edition 

 (1748) and the Fauna Suecica (1746) Brisson quotes the full refer- 

 ence to these works in every synonymy. When publishing his Orni- 



