38 



This unexpected change of date results in submitting immediately 

 to the members of the International Commission of Zoological Nomen- 

 clature the following suggested amendments which have reached the 

 Secretary. They are published herewith, without comment, for the in- 

 formation of all persons interested. 



Under the rules, no suggested amendment may be submitted to the 

 next Congress which was not in the hands of the Commission on or be- 

 fore March 25, 1912. 



Persons who desire to submit arguments for or against any of these 

 suggested amendments are invited to forward them to any member or 

 members of the Commission. 



1. Amendment Proposed by Dr. J. A. Allen. 



Generic names of the same origin and meaning are homonyms. 



At the Gratz meeting (1910) of the International Zoological Con- 

 gress a paragraph was added to Article 35 of the International Code of 

 Zoological Nomenclature, as follows : 



"Specific names of the same origin and meaning shall be consi- 

 dered homonyms if they are distinguished only by the following differences : 



a. The use of œ, œ and e, as cœruleus, cœruîeus, ceruleus\ ei, i and 

 y, as chiropuSj cheiropus; c and k, as microdon, mikrodon. 



b. The aspiration or nonaspiration of a consonant, as oxyrynchus, 

 oxyrhynchus. 



c. The presence or absence of a c before t, as autumnalis, auctum- 

 nalis. 



d. By a single or double consonant: litoralis, littoralis. 



e. By the endings ensis and iensis to a geographical name, as timo- 

 rensis, timoriensis" . 



This action in respect to specific names is so rational that it will 

 doubtless meet with almost unanimous approval by nomenclators. It 

 is to be hoped that this is not to be construed as "straining at a gnat 

 and swallowing a camel", no similar action being announced with respect 

 to generic names. 



Similar variants in generic names are of far more consequence 

 than when occurring in specific names, since they affect the nomen- 

 clature of usually several species instead of only one. It is therefore 

 to be hoped that the Commission will soon take up for consideration 

 the case of similar variants in generic names, and adopt the same ruling 

 for generic names as it has adopted for specific names. 



It has been the general usage among nomenclators for three-fourths 

 of a century to reject as homonyms generic names of the "same origin 



