8 



CODE OF NOMENCLATURE. 



Botany, and based largely upon the Zoological Code of Strick- 

 land and the Botanical Code of De Candolle. The Appendix, of 

 thirty-three pages of mostly small type, giving a thorough and 

 nearly complete resume of the subject, forms a mine of infor- 

 mation upon current usages and previous rulings in nomen- 

 clature. While its general character is that of a digest of what 

 was at the time, or had before been, the laws of the subject, 

 the reporter did not not fail to furnish much original matter, 

 in the form of sound criticism and valuable suggestions on many 

 important points ; so that his codification of rules and princi- 

 ples may be consulted with profit by all who are interested in 

 the subject of systematic nomenclature.^ 



In 1 88 1, as already noted, the Zoological Society of France 

 adopted a code of rules prepared by a commission specially ap- 

 pointed to consider the subject. These rules, only seventeen in 



1 Mr. Samuel H. Scudder had shortly before Mr. Dall's labors published 

 a valuable paper entitled Canons of Systematic Nomenclature for the Higher 

 Groups,* in the Amer. Jour. Sci. and Arts, 3d Series, III., May, 1S72, pp. 34S-351. 

 (Separate, pp. 1-4.) 



Entomology is by far the most extensive branch of Zoology, and much has been 

 done by entomologists to promote the sound nomenclature of the department. 

 Fabricius's * Philosophia Entomologica,' 177S, is said to contain the first set of rules 

 published foi entomological nomenclature. Besides some papers already cited, we 

 may in this connection note the following: — 



*On some Changes in the Nomenclature of North American Coleoptcra which 

 have been recently proposed.' By John L. LeConte, M. D. Canad. Entom., Oc- 

 tober, 1S74, pp. 185-197. 



'On Entomological Nomenclature.' Canad. Entom., November, 1874, pp. 201- 

 206 ; December, 1S74, pp. 207-210. (Part I. is ' On the Law of Priority' ; Part IL 

 is ' On Generic Types.') 



• Historical Sketch of the Generic Names proposed for Butterflies, a Contribu- 

 tion to Systematic Nomenclature.' By Samuel H. Scudder. Salem, 1875. ^^^i 

 pp. 293. 



'Observations on Nomenclature' constitute Part L of Thorell's work on Euro- 

 pean Spiders, 410, Upsala, 1S69. 



' Rules to be submitted to the Entomological Club of the A. A. A. S.,' Svo, n. d., 

 n. p., "ordered printed by resolution at the annual meeting for 1875," but never pub- 

 lished, were drawn up by a portion of the Committee appointed by the Club, viz., 

 J. L. LeConte, \Vm. Saunders, and C. V. Riley. These proposed rules, twelve in 

 number, were, like the questions propounded in the Dall circular, extensively circu- 

 lated, chiefly among entomologists, to elicit responses. They were, however, never 

 finally adopted by the Club. 



ill 



