INTRODUCTION. $ 



unanimity in fixing the date of the beginning of the operation 

 of the law of priority, naturalists being nearly evenly divided in 

 opinion upon this point. The so-called • Strici<landian Code' 

 fixed the date at 1766/ — that of the twelfth edition of the 

 'Systema Naturae.' This has been generally accepted by Brit- 

 ish zoologists ; while many others, especially in America and of 

 late years, consider 1758 as the fittest starting-point, this being 

 the date of the tenth edition of the ' Systema Naturse,' in which 

 Linnaeus first methodically and consistently applied the binomial 

 nomenclature to zoology. Botanists are at variance with zoolo- 

 gists, and with one another, in this particular ; some taking as 



been oftenest used before, irrespective of its original application, or of its applica- 

 bility under the law of priority. But a much earlier protest against the strict law of 

 priority, from an entomologist, is to be found in a tract published in 1872, the follow- 

 ing title of which indicates the nature of its contents : — 



1872. Lewis, W. Arnold. A Discussion | of the | Law of Priority in Ento- 

 mological I Nomenclature ; | with Strictures on its Modern Application ; | and | a 

 Proposal for the Rejection of all | disused Names. | — | By | W. Arnold I^wis, | 

 F. L. S., M. Entom. Soc. Lond., Barrister-at-Law. | — | Also containing | A Pa- 

 per, by the same, read before the British Association | (Section D) on August 7, 

 1871 ; J And a Second, by the same, intended as a Contribution to the | Discussion 

 in the ' Entomologist's Monthly Magazine.' | — | London : | Williams & Norgate, 14, 

 Henrietta Street, | Covent Garden. | — | 1872. i vol. 8vo, paper cover, title, advt., 

 and pp. 1-86. 



(The first paper mentioned in the title is, 'A Proposal for a Modification of the 

 strict Law of Priority in Zoological Nomenclature in Certain Cases,' pp. 69-82. 

 The second is entitled, ' Synonymic Lists and Certainty in Nomenclature,' pp, 

 82-86.) 



Another paper, also by an entomologist, may be consulted with profit. It is 

 entitled as follows : — 



1873. Sharp, David. The | Object and Method | of | Zoological Nomencla- 

 ture. I By I David Sharp. | — | " Nomina si nescis, perit et cognitio rerum." | — | 

 London : | E. W. Janson, 28 Museum Street. | Williams & Norgate, Henrietta 

 St. I — I November, 1873. Paper, sm. Svo, cover-title backed by preface, and 



PP- 39- 



(Well reviewed by A. R. Wallace, 'Nature,' Feb. 5, 1874, p. 258.) 

 * "In Mr. H. E Strickland's original draft of these Rules and Recommendations 

 the edition of Linnaeus was left blank, and the Xllth was inserted by the Manches- 

 ter Committee. This was done not as being the first in which the binomial nomen- 

 clature had been used, as it commenced with the Xth, but as being the lu3t and 

 most complete edition of Linnjeus's works, and containing many species the Xth did 

 not." — Revised Rules 0/ the B. A,, p. 28, as printed in Rep. Brit. As.s. Adv. Sci., 

 Birmingh.-^m Meeting, 1865. For evidence that Strickland himself was an advocate 

 01 Linnaeus at 1758, see ' The Auk,' 1 , 1884, p. 400. 



