PRINCIPLES, CANONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 



47 



were originally specific names has been almost totally forgotten. Its spirit 

 is opposed to the fundamental principles of nomenclature, and the end to be 

 gained is of the most trivial character." (Dall, Rep., pp. 50, 51.) 



Canon XXXI. Neither generic nor specific names are to 

 be rejected because of barbarous origin, for faulty construction, 

 for inapplicability of meaning, or for erroneous signification. 



Remarks. — As already stated under Canon VI., of which this is the 

 corollary, a name is merely a name, and should be treated as such, without 

 regard to its construction or signification. This principle, while contrary to 

 provisions of the B. A. Code and to the practice of many writers, has the 

 sanction of modern authorities, and is in line with present tendencies in 

 respect of fixity of names in nomenclature, as already explained. 



Canon XXXII. A iiomen nudum, generic or specific, may 

 be adopted by a subsequent author, but the name takes both its 

 date and authority from the time when, and from the author by 

 whom, the name becomes clothed with significance by being 

 properly defined and published. 



§ 7. Of tJic Rcjcctio7i of Names. 



Canon XXXIII. A generic name is to be changed which 

 has been previously used for some other genus in the same 

 kingdom ; a specific or subspecific name is to be changed 

 when it has been applied to some other species of the same 

 genus, or used previously in combination with the same generic 

 name. 



Remarks. — In other words, a generic name cannot be tenable for more 

 than one genus in the same kingdom, nor a specific or subspecific name for 

 more than one species or subspecies of the same genus. This is in accord- 

 ance with custom and all previous codes. In the present unsettled state of 

 opinion regarding the status of forms considered by some writers as specific, 

 and by others as subspecific, it seems best to place subspecific designations 

 on the same basis in this respect as specific ones. 



Therefore the maxim, " Once a synonym always a synonym," applies alike 

 to generic, specific, and subspecific names. 



A diversity of opinion prevails among naturalists in relation to whether a 

 generic name which has lapsed from sufficient cause into synonymy should 



