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important names excepted from the rule, would be to send an inquiry 
round to all Zoologists of the world — and it would involve no trouble 
worth speaking of to the zoologists asked to answer the question. In 
this way a reliable proof of the position of the majority of zoologists 
towards this much disputed rule might be obtained. 
That it will be possible to carry out such a general vote without 
great difficulty seems beyond doubt, and as a proof of this is here of- 
fered the vote of the Scandinavian and Finnish Zoologists. 
The result of the vote is very striking. Of the 122 names there 
are 2 (two) for the strict application of the priority rule in all cases, 
which means less than 2%. It may perhaps not be unreasonable to con- 
clude from this result that the number of those Zoologists, who swear 
to the strict application of the priority rule, is upon the whole very 
small, the great majority wishing to have the more important names 
preserved unaltered. 
It is to be hoped that the Zoologists of other countries will follow 
the example given here. When this has been done and it has been de- 
finitely proved that the great majority object to the strict application 
of the priority rule, it may perhaps be expected that the tyranny of that 
notorious law, which has already done so much damage to science, will 
be thrown off — andthen perhaps the International Commission will see 
that it is rather its duty to arrange for the codification of the desired 
names in accordance with the wishes of the Zoologists. 
It should be pointed out that for the above account the author (Dr. 
Th. Mortensen) is alone responsible. 
I beg to offer my sincere thanks to the following Colleagues, who 
have assisted me in collecting the names: Prof. A. Appellöf, Prof. 
O. Carlgren, Dr. A. Luther, Dr.O.Nordgaard, Dr. I. Trägärdh, 
Prof. H. Wallengren and Dr. A. Wollebæk. 
One of the chief difficulties in arranging this vote has been in drawing 
the limit. It has been thought best to apply mainly to the professional 
Zoologists, not including anatomists, palaeontologists or amateur Zoo- 
logists. But, upon the whole, it can scarcely be denied that the vote 
here offered gives really the opinion of the Zoologists of Denmark, 
Finland, Norway and Sweden. Th. Mortensen. 
The undersigned Scandinavian Zoologists are of opinion that the 
law of priority should be strictly applied in all cases. 
Sig Thor, Dr. phil. Skien, Norway. E. Wahlgren, Dr. phil. Malmö, Sweden. 
The undersigned Scandinavian and Finnish Zoologists protest 
against the strict application of the law of priority in all cases and ex- 
press the desire that the most important and generally used names 
should be protected against any change on nomenclatorial grounds. 
