284 Proceedings of the Boyal Physical Society. 



societies throughout the world would insist on the paper 

 being delivered complete to the secretary before it is read, 

 and would forbid all subsequent alterations and additions, 

 something might be said on behalf of this view. But in the 

 case of only too many societies, the author may retain his 

 MS. for weeks, often for months after the nominal reading, — 

 sometimes only a few words of extemporary explanation, — 

 has taken place, during which time he is at liberty to cook 

 it as he chooses. It may be said that we must assume all 

 men of science to be likewise men of honour, but names may 

 be inserted into a paper between its reading and publication, 

 without any intentional design to rob others of their right 

 of priority, though that might indeed often be the con- 

 sequence if priority were suffered to date from the nominal 

 time of reading. 



Before leaving the subject of priority I must allude to 

 the practice of altering an old specific name when that 

 name has been elevated to the rank of a generic one. For 

 example, Cyprimos carassius of Linnaeus, the Prussian carp, 

 received afterwards the name of Carassius vulgaris (Willson), 

 the authority of Linnseus for the species being consequently 

 altogether lost. The rules nevertheless in 1842 authorise 

 such a change, on the ground of the inelegance of such a 

 combination as Carassius carassius, but it seems to me that 

 the inelegance is of much less importance than the un- 

 warrantable interference with the law of priority involved by 

 the substitution of another specific name, such as vulgaris. 

 It is much to be regretted that any such elevation of specific 

 into generic names was ever allowed to take place ; and in 

 justice to the British Association committee, it must be noted 

 that in 1842 they strongly discountenanced the continuation 

 of the practice. And in the revision of 1865, it is proposed 

 in such cases to retain or replace the old specific names and 

 to change the generic ones. 



The Committee of the British Association, after framing 

 rules for the rectification of previous names, proceeds to give 

 a series of recommendations to be followed as a guide for the 

 future. Some of these call for no special comment on the 

 present occasion ; others do. I think we must all agree 



