656 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 382. 



weightier principles and methods of tax- 

 onomie procedure. General legislation, to 

 cover all normal instances, must be axio- 

 matically rational, definite and simple if it 

 is to be universally understood and ap- 

 proved, but there could be no serious ob- 

 jection to the reference of this semi-literary 

 department of nomenclature to a perma- 

 nent committee or academy, just as it has 

 been found advantageous to have a board 

 of specialists for officially determining the 

 forms of geographic names. And it should 

 also not be forgotten that if no direct pro- 

 vision for dealing with caconyms should 

 prove possible, a large measure of relief 

 from Adanson, Hernandez and other no- 

 menclatorial incubi could still be obtained 

 through closer adherence to the binomial 

 requirement for genera as well as for spe- 

 cies. 



ESSENTIALS OP BIOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE. 



In the way of summary of the present 

 and former discussions of the method cf 

 types* it may be repeated that the long- 

 wished-for uniformity and stability cculd 

 be secured by consistent adherence to a fe.v 

 simple and well-nigh axiomatic principles. 



1. The primary object of formal nomenclature 

 in systematic biology is to secure convenience, 

 uniformity, and stability in the names of plants 

 and animals. 



2. Biological nomenclature should be treated as 

 beginning with the general use of binomial Latin 

 names for plants and animals. 



3. A name must be used for the natural group to 

 which it was first applied. 



Moreover, if we begin from the practical 

 end of the problem instead of viewing it 

 merely from the literary standpoint, the 

 formulation and application of these prin- 



* Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 22 : 

 431-434, October, 1895; Science, N. S., 8: 186- 

 190, August 12, 1898; Science, N. S., 8: 513-510, 

 October 14, 1898; American Naturalist, 33: 287- 

 297, April, 1899; Science, N. S., 12: 475^81, 

 September 28, 1900; Science, N. S., 13: 712-713, 

 May 3, 1901. 



ciples encounters far less serious complica- 

 tions than have attended the unstable 

 method of elimination. 



DESIGNATION OF TYPES. 



1. The nomenelatorial type of a species is the 

 specimen originally studied, named and described 

 by the author of the specific name. 



2. The type of a genus is the first species re- 

 ferred to it, and the generic name can be used only 

 for species treated as congeneric with the type. 



(a) The author may designate, however, some 

 other species as type in the same paper in which 

 the name is published. 



(6) For a generic name adopted from a pre- 

 Linnsean or a prebinomial writer the type species 

 is selected without reference to the oinomial .sys- 

 tem of nomenclature, but works older than 

 Tournefort's ' Institutiones ' (1700) should not be 

 cited in botany. 



CLASSIFICATION OF SYNONYMS. 



Under the method of types names are 

 rejected or treated as synonyms in biolog- 

 ical taxonomy for the following reasons : 



1 . When preoccupied ( homonyms ) . 



(a) A generic name ia preoccupied when it has 

 been previously proposed for a different group of 

 the same (plant or animal) series. 



(6) A specific or aubspecific name is preoc- 

 cupied when it has been applied to a species or 

 subspecies under the same generic name. 



2. When there is an older valid name based on 

 the same type ( typonym ) . 



3. When there is an older valid name based on 

 another member of the same group (metonjrm). 



4. When the natural group to which the name 

 applies is undetermined (hyponym). 



(a) A specific name is a hyponym when it has 

 not been connected with a description identifiable 

 by diagnostic characters or by reference to a type 

 specimen, figure or locality. 



(6) A generic name is a hyponym when it 

 has not been associated with an identifiable 

 binomial species. 



5. When the form or signification of the name 

 is inconvenient, incorrect or inappropriate (ca- 

 conym), should a recognized method of dealing 

 with these complications be formulated. 



0. F. Cook. 



Washington, D. C, 

 February ID, 1902. 



/ 



