' Hand-list of British Birds' 115 



regarding ornithology, and I always endeavoured to follow 

 his excellent advice. 



As with the authors of the present ' Hand-list' so with 

 Strickland, " Priority " was the foundation of his work. He 

 rightly maintained that the only mode of attaining unanimity 

 in nomenclature was the rule of priority, but he did not carry 

 his views on the subject quite so far as some of our friends 

 do at the present time. 



In July 1841, Strickland wrote to his father-in-law, 

 Sir William Jardine, as follows : — 



^' I have some thought of moving in the Zoological section 

 of the British Association (at Plymouth) for the appoint- 

 ment of a Committee to prepare a set of regulations with 

 the view of establishing a permanent system of Zoological 

 Nomenclature.'^ This plan, which was also communicated 

 to Darwin, Sir John Richardson, Leonard Jenyns, Prince 

 Charles Bonaparte, and other good friends, met with uni- 

 versal approval. As proposed by Strickland it was brought 

 before the British Association at the Plymouth Meeting, and 

 a Committee, consisting of Mr. Darwin, Prof. Henslow, 

 Rev. L. Jenyns, Mr. Ogilby, Mr. J. Phillips, Dr. Richardson, 

 Mr. Strickland, and Mr. J. O. Westwood, was appointed 

 " to consider the rules by which the nomenclature of Zoology 

 may be established on a uniform basis.'' The names of Mr. 

 W. J. Broderip, Prof. Owen, Mr. W. E. Shuckard, Mr. G. R. 

 Waterhouse, and Mr. Yarrell were afterwards added to the 

 Committee. The subject was well considered by this select 

 Committee under the guidance of Strickland, who was 

 appointed Secretary. The Report of the Committee, 

 which I believe was mainly (if not entirely) prepared by 

 Strickland, was presented to the meeting of the British 

 Association at Manchester. This Report is commonly known 

 as the ' Stricklandian Code,' and was printed in the eleventh 

 volume of the Reports of the British Association (1842), and 

 in Sir William Jardine's volume of ' Memoirs of Strickland.' * 



* 'Memoirs of Hugh Edwin Strickland, M.A., F.E.S., Deputy Reader 

 of Geology in Oxford.' By Sir William Jardine, Bart. London : 

 Van Voorst, 1858. 



