314 



SCIENCE 



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



lished according to the provisions of Section 

 1 of these rules (hyjionyni). 



Article 6. There may be exceptions to the 

 application of the principles and rules of this 

 code in cases where a rigid application would 

 lead to great confusion. Such exceptions be- 

 come valid when approved by the Nomencla- 

 ture Commission. 



Nomenclature Commission 

 A code of nomenclature should secure uni- 

 formity, definiteness and stability in the ap- 

 plication of names. If proposed rules result 

 in. the change of well-established names of 

 economic plants botanists will hesitate to 

 apply them uniformly. All contingencies can 

 not be foreseen and experience has shown that 

 the rigid application of any set of rules re- 

 sults in a few cases of greatly confused 

 nomenclature. The committee has recognized 

 this and hence has introduced an article per- 

 mitting exceptions. The committee also 

 recognized that to secure uniformity and 

 definiteness the exceptions should in some 

 way be validated. The most convenient and 

 practical validation would be through a per- 

 manent judicial body created for the purpose. 

 As the proposed code invites international 

 support, the judicial body should be an inter- 

 national commission. The committee felt 

 that much could be done to pave the way for 

 future international action by appointing a 

 national commission and therefore tentatively 

 submitted a plan for the creation of such a 

 body. This temporary Nomenclature Com- 

 mission was to consist of nine members, one 

 nominated by the Society of American Bac- 

 teriologists, one nominated by the American 

 Phytopathological Society, three elected by 

 the Botanical Society of America, and four 

 elected by the Committee on Nomenclature of 

 the Botanical Society. The details concern- 

 ing elections and reappointments are here 

 omitted. 



The chairman will add that since a subse- 

 quent international commission would feel 

 restricted by the decisions of a national body, 

 it might be well to have these decisions take 



the form of recommendations, the commission 

 meantime perfecting rules and formulating 

 methods of procedure. International rules of 

 nomenclature, including rules for the retro- 

 active fixation of generic types and including 

 a provision for exceptions, together with an 

 International Commission to validate names 

 (generic types and nomina conservanda) 

 would go far toward giving to botany a stable 

 and uniform nomenclature. 



A. S. Hitchcock, 



Ghairm,an 

 BuBEAu OP Plant Industkt, 

 Washington, D. C. 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



A FISH, WITH A LUMINOUS ORGAN, DESIGNED 

 FOR THE GROWTH OF LUMINOUS BACTERIA 



It has been known for many years that 

 luminous bacteria are abundant in the sea 

 and will grow readily upon dead fish or other 

 marine organisms. It has been reported that 

 at times luminous bacteria may infect living 

 forms, such as sand fieas. A malady is pro- 

 duced, which is finally fatal but which, during 

 its course, causes the animal to luminesce like 

 a true luminous form.^ Pierantoni^ has sug- 

 gested that the light of many luminous organ- 

 isms is due to symbiotic bacteria living in the 

 cells of the luminous organisms. He claims to 

 have grown the bacteria artificially in the 

 case of certain squid. 



While I feel convinced that this is not the 

 case in all luminous animals I have recently 

 had an opportunity^ of studying two forms 

 which do appear to utilize bacterial light. 

 These are the marine fishes, Photophpharon 

 and Anomalops, found in the Banda Islands 

 of the Dutch East Indian Archipelago. They 

 have been known to be luminous since 1897, 

 but the organ was first studied histologically 

 by Steche'' and found to be made up of a series 

 of columnar gland tubes, a number of which 



1 Gdard and Billet, C. B. Soc. Biol., I., 593, 1889. 



2 Scientia, XXIII., 43, 1918. 



3 A study made under the auspices of the De- 

 partment of Marine Biology, Carnegie Institution 

 of Washington. 



4 Zeit. Wiss. Zool, XCII., 349, 1909. 



