10 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 914 



the digestive tube of the fly, then multiplies 

 in much the same way as it would in the 

 culture tube. It is an interesting fact that 

 when blood containing Tr. 'hrucei is planted 

 on a suitable culture medium an incubation 

 period of from two to three weeks is neces- 

 sary to bring about this adaptation. It is 

 not unreasonable to believe that the changes 

 which take place in the test-tube are not 

 unlike those which occur within the diges- 

 tive tube of the fly. The successful culti- 

 vation of Tr. ganihiense has not as yet been 

 realized and hence comparison of the two 

 can not be made. 



Frederick G. Novy 

 University of Michigan 



CONCESNING NOMINA CONSEBVANDA, 



AND A BEFEBENDUM TO 



ALL ZOOLOGISTS 



The Zoologischer Anzeiger for January 3, 

 1912, publishes the result of an extensive mail 

 vote taken among the professional zoologists 

 of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, 

 for and against the strict application of the 

 law of priority in all cases, the negative vote 

 expressing the desire that the most important 

 and generally used names should be protected 

 against any change on nomenclatural grounds. 

 The vote was taken among professional zool- 

 ogists, excluding anatomists, paleontologists 

 and amateurs. Dr. Th. Mortensen, in report- 

 ing the results, comments as follows: 



The result of the vote is very striking. Of the 

 122 names there are two for the strict application 

 of the priority rule in all cases, which means less 

 than two per cent. It may perhaps not be un- 

 reasonable to conclude 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 

 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 definitely 

 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 to damage science, 

 will be thrown off. 



The Entomological News for March, 1912, 

 in an editorial on this subject offers to receive 

 and print the names of any American zoolo- 

 gists who will send in their votes.' It is to 

 be hoped that all zoologists of this country 

 interested in the names of animals will reg- 

 ister their votes as suggested. 



Any general concurrence in the protest 

 against the strict application of the law of 

 priority in all cases should not be accepted as 

 a licence for every zoologist to adopt any 

 names that he chooses. No individual should 

 take it upon himself to waive the rules, but in 

 specific cases where clearly greater conve- 

 nience will result from setting them aside, this 

 should be done by such a centrally organized 

 and authorized body as the Commission on 

 Zoological Nomenclature. Such a body should 

 work toward the compilation of a list of nom- 

 ina conservanda, and the names of such a list, 

 once adopted by the International Congress, 

 should never be open to future change on nom- 

 enclatural grounds. 



The adoption of a list of nomina conser- 

 vanda is not without precedent. The botan- 

 ists have such a list, and it appears to work 

 well. Article 20 of the International Rules 

 of Botanical Nomenclature reads : 



However, to avoid disadvantageous changes in 

 the nomenclature of genera by the strict applica- 

 tion of the rules of nomenclature, and especially 

 of the principle of priority in starting from 1753, 

 the rules provide a list of names which must be 

 retained in all cases. These names are by prefer- 

 ence those which have come into general use in the 

 fifty years following their publication, or which 

 have been used in monographs and important 

 floristic works up to the year 1890. The list of 

 these names forms an appendix to the rules of 

 nomenclature. 



The next meeting of the International 

 Zoological Congress will occur in July, 1913, 

 and any proposed change in the rules of nom- 

 enclature must be forwarded to the commis- 

 sion a year in advance of the meeting at which 



■ To Dr. P. P. Calvert, editor, 4515 Regent St., 

 Philadelphia, Pa. 



