TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION D. 727 



self less ready to co-operate than these two nations. It seems certain that com- 

 petent correspondents can be found. Several have indeed already oflered to 

 assume this burden. The sub -bureaux are being organised merely in those 

 countries where the language presents exceptional difficulties — Bohemia, Hungary, 

 Poland and Russia. Tiiey will be maintained at the expense of the particular 

 country involved, and are in large measure already realised. 



The financial support of the bureau will come from several sources. The 

 initial cost of organising the service will be borne by those who have undertaken 

 this task. The current expenses must, however, be in part covered by subsidies 

 from learned societies, &c. Thus the Naples Zoological Station has oliered an 

 annual o-rant toward the support of the bureau. In Switzerland a considerable 

 annual subsidy is also offered to the bureau. In France a subscription has been 

 opened under the auspices of the Soci(5te Zoologique de France, aud has been 

 subscribed to by several other societies. In the United States a simiLu- course has 

 been adopted," and the full sum asked for is already assured. In Russia the 

 co-operation takes the form of a national sub-bureau ; I mention it here merely 

 because it was there that the first committee was nomin.ated. 



In England the following is needed: 1, a national committee to aid the 

 bureau in all such emergencies as require direct local action ; 2, a service of 

 correspondents ; and .3, a grant towards the support of the bureau. It is with a 

 view to inducing English zoologists to meet these requirements that I take the 

 liberty of bringing this matter to the attention of the British Association. It is 

 reasonably certain that the enterprise will succeed, if we can only secure one 

 half the support that has been secured in the United States or in Switzerland. 



9. Tlie ' Date of Publication ' of Zoological Memoirs. 

 By Herbert Haviland Field, Ph.D. 



The accepted rules of zoological nomenolatuve are based upon the so-called 

 ' law of priority.' It is tb?rel'oi-e of the greatest importance that what is meant 

 by the 'date of publication' should be defined precisely. The rules adopted 

 by the international congresses are more explicit on this point than most of the 

 previous ones, and the precedent is set for adopting for convenience certain 

 arbitrary rulings. Thus, neither the date at which a paper is presented before 

 a learned society, nor the date of sending it to press is accepted. On the_ other 

 hand, the rule does not specify whether the date of printing or that of issitc is 

 to be taken. In certain legal cases (patents. Sec.') the decisioii seems to have 

 been the former. This is, however, a date which it is impossible to verify in 

 practice, and the latter seems, moreover, the more equitable ruling. I know cases 

 in which the difference batween tlie two dates amounts to nearly one year. It is 

 therefore important to regulate this point in order to avoid future contestations. 



I should like, then, to make the following propositions to the Committee 

 of the Zoological Section : 



(1) That the Committee recommend the date of distribution as the proper 

 criterion. 



(2) That the Committee recommend that zoological publications be recorded 

 as well as published. 



If the Committee decide to take this step, the new Bibliographical Bureau 

 could readily undertake to record and publisli with each paper the date at which 

 it was ftent — not received — aud thus open the way for the ideal solution. This 

 would be to make recording the basis of our nomenclature, rather than the mere 

 publication. Such a ruling would, however, obviously only be possible after the 

 practice had become general. We can to-day do nothing more than work 

 towards that solution. 



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