736 TEANSAGTIONS OP SfiCiTlON P. 



If biologists would agree to make that one exception to the law of* priority ill 

 nomenclature, things would adjust themselves well enough, and we might hope to 

 see realised some day what we all desire, fixity in names, that we may readily 

 understand the meaning of all writers, not only over the whole civilised world, 

 at the present day and in the future, but back into the last century, which has 

 marked so great an advance in zoological science. 



Such a result would be attained by protecting time-honoured names of well- 

 known animals from the attacks of the revisers of nomenclature. For this 

 purpose future committees that may be convened to discuss these topics might 

 confer a real and lasting benefit on zoology by determining, group by group, 

 which names are entitled to respect, not of course on the ground of their earliest 

 date or their correct application in the past, but as having been universally used , 

 in a definite sense. 



This suggestion is not a new one. As far back as 1896, in a discussion which 

 took place at the Zoological Society of London, Sir E, Ray Lankester, protesting 

 against the digging up of old names, suggested that an international committee 

 should be formed, not to draw up a code of rules, but ' to produce an authoritative 

 list of names— once and for all — about which no lawyer-like haggling should 

 hereafter be permitted.' 



Twelve years have elapsed, and nothing of the kind has been arranged. On 

 the contrary, the various committees that have legislated since have insisted on 

 absolute priority, and we often read that such a decision has been arrived at by 

 international agreement. It is not so, a great body of zoologists in this country 

 protest, and hope that something will be done towards carrying out the proposal 

 here briefly set forth, which seems to be the only proper step to take in order to 

 prevent the confusion with which we are menaced, -, 



3. The Vascular System of Stylodrilus. By Rowland Southern. 



The genus Stylodrilus has hitherto been distinguished from other European 

 genera belonging to the Oligochcete family Lumbriculidre by the absence of the 

 blind contractile appendages of the blood-vessels, which are so characteristic of 

 the family. The new species investigated, but not yet described, from the river 

 Annalee, co. Cavan, Ireland, undoubtedly belongs to the genus Stylodrilus, but 

 differs from all the other species in the possession of simple conttactile appen- 

 dages to the dorsal vessel. These blind sacs are restricted to the posterior end 

 of the worm and are simpler in structure than those of any other Lumbriculid< 

 This species thus forms an interesting link between the normal Lumbriculid type 

 and the aberrant genus Stylodrilm. The relations of the dorsal and ventral vessels 

 to the intestinal blood-sinus are also investigated, and shown to differ considerably 

 from the condition typical of the Oligochseta. 



4. Giant Nerve Cells and Fibres.^ By Dr. J. H. Asuworth. 



5. The Eespiraiion of Land tsojyods, By Ernest Ewart Unwin, 



The woodllce belong to an aquatic family, and it is interesting to see how they 

 fare in their new environment. 



Taking Asel/ns arjnaticus as a typical aquatic isopod, Ligia oceanica perhaps 

 comes nearest in habitat and general structure. The respiration is effected by the 

 abdominal appendages, which are platelike. The outer plate (exopodite) is stouter 

 than and covers the thinner inner plate (endopodite). If kept damp, oxygen is 

 extracted from the air by these plates. 



' Published in ridl. Trans. R.S. 



