320 ME. t. t. SCtATBB OU tHE [Mar. 3, 



lueaut for a plaut or an aniranl could seldom, if ever, occur. He 

 thought the tautoaymic principle ought to be accepted. The 

 correct starting-point of Zoological Nomenclature, he was of 

 opinion, was the 10th ed. of the ' Systema Naturae,' because in that 

 edition LinuiBus first made use of the binary system of nomen- 

 clature ; and as the question of justness had been mentioned he 

 considered that it would be unjust to authors who created names 

 between the dates of the two editions, if the twelfth were adopted ; 

 he was, moreover, of opinion that if the 12th edition were adopted, 

 because it contained corrections and emendations of the older 

 edition, it would make a bad precedent, and that any other author 

 might, if so inclined, claim to alter his original names after he had 

 created and published them, and so cause confusion. He agreed with 

 Mr. Sclater that the comma between the specific name and the 

 authority was unnecessary. With regard to the law of priority, 

 he thought that if that law was accepted at all it ought to be carried 

 out thoroughly. He followed Mr. Sclater in his opinion on 

 trinomials. 



Prof. Lankbsteb, F.E.S., said that the main consideration in 

 regard to the rules of nomenclature should be that of convenience, 

 and the digging up of old names ought to be avoided. He thought 

 the 12th edition of the ' Systema Naturaa ' should be adopted as 

 the starting-point of Zoological Nomenclature, as a tribute of 

 respect to Linnaeus, since it was the last edition of that work and 

 contained Linnajus's revised list of genera and species. On the 

 whole, he was inclined to accept the tautonymic principle, but he 

 thought that some difficulty arose owing to the existence of doubts 

 in some cases as to which was the original species intended to bear 

 the name. He suggested that an International Committee under 

 the auspices of this Society should be formed, not to draw up a 

 code of rules, but to produce an authoritative list of names — once 

 and for all — about which no lawyer-like haggling should hereafter 

 be permitted, llules such as those embodied in the Stricklandiau 

 Code might be laid down for guiding the future action of maliers 

 of specific and generic names. But with regard to the past what 

 was needed was, not a jjrinciple as to the application of which 

 everyone might argue and differ and cause confusion, but an authori- 

 tative declaration admitting of no appeal and of no discussion. 

 Let the zoologists of Britain, Amei-ica, Erance, and Germany 

 agree that such a list of the names of all known animals shall be 

 produced once for all, and let this list take absolute and indis- 

 putable precedence. 



Mr. Elwbs said that the Eules of the Stricklandian Code, 

 though excellent at the time they were instituted, were not 

 now equally applicable to all branches of Zoology. The attempt 

 to make the lOth or even the 12th edition of Lionseus the 

 starting-point for specific names would, if applied strictly, 

 soon bring the nomenclature of Lepidoptera into a hopeless 

 state of confusion, which would result iu deterring beginners 

 from following any rules but those of convenience. After all, 



