312 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIII. No. 1370 



57, the lengend sliould give the elevation of the 

 station. Alexander McAdie 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON 



NOMENCLATURE OF THE 



BOTANICAL SOCIETY 



OF AMERICA 



At the Baltimore meeting of the Botanical 

 Society of America (1918), the Committee jn 

 Generic Types presented a set of rules for fix- 

 ing the types of genera. The report was pub- 

 lished in Science (49: 333-336. 1919). At the 

 same meeting the committee was enlarged to 

 nine members and made a standing committee 

 on botanical nomenclature, with authority to 

 prepare a code of nomenclature. The stand- 

 ing committee consists of LeRoy Abrams, 

 N". L. Britton, E. A. Burtt, A. W. Evans, J. 

 M. Greenman, A. S. Hitchcock, M. A. Howe, 

 C. L. Shear and Witmer Stone. The actual 

 work of elaborating a code was done chiefly 

 by a subcommittee consisting of J. C. Arthur, 

 J. H. Barnhart, E. S. Breed, N. L. Britton, 

 O. F. Cook, F. V. Coville, A. "W. Evans, B. 

 Fink, A. S. Hitchcock, M. A. Howe, F. H. 

 Knowlton, P. L. Ricker, C. L. Shear and H. 

 C. Skeels. The following code was presented 

 by the committee: 



A TYPE-BASIS CODE OF BOTANICAL NOMENCLATURE 

 PRINCIPLES 



1. The primary object of formal nomen- 

 clature in s.ystematic biology is to secure 

 stability, uniformity, and convenience in the 

 designation of plants and animals. 



2. Botanical nomenclature is treated as 

 beginning with the general application of 

 binomial names to plants (Linnaeus' " Species 

 Plantarum," 1753). 



3. Priority of publication is a fundamental 

 principle of botanical nomenclature. Two 

 groups of the same category can not bear the 

 same name. 



Note a. — This principle applies primarily to 

 genera and species. 



Note h. — Previous use of a name in zoology 

 does not preclude its use in botany; but the 

 proposal of such a name should be avoided. 



4. The application of names is determined 

 by means of nomenclatural types. 



Note. — A generic name is always so applied 

 as to include its type species; a specific name 

 is always so applied as to include its type 

 specimen. 



Rules and Recommendations 

 Section 1. Publication of Names 



Article 1. A specific name is published 

 when it has been printed and distributed with 

 a description, or with a reference to a pre- 

 viously published description. 



Note. — A recognizable figure may be the 

 equivalent of a description in the literature 

 of paleobotany and diatoms. 



(a) In the transfer of a species from one 

 genus to another, the original specific name 

 is retained, unless the resulting binomial has 

 been previously published. 



Recommendations : Botanists will do well, 

 in publishing: 



1. In describing parasitic fungi to indicate 

 the host and to designate the name of the 

 host by its scientific Latin name. 



2. To give the etymology of all new generic 

 names. 



Article 2. A generic name is published 

 when it has been printed and distributed 



(a) With a generic or specific description 

 (or a recognizable figure, see Art. 1, note) and 

 a binomial specific name, 



(6) With a generic and specific name and 

 the citation of a previously published descrip- 

 tion, 



(c) With a definite reference to at least 

 one previously published binomial. 



Note a. — A name is not published by its 

 citation in synonymy, nor by incidental men- 

 tion. Such a name may be taken up but not 

 to replace one already properly published. 



Note h. — Of names published in the same 

 work and at the same time, those having pre- 

 cedence of position are to be regarded as 

 having priority. 



Recommendation: Botanists will do well, in 

 publishing, to give the etymology of specific 

 names when their meaning is not obvious. 



