NOVEMBEE 25, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



765 



service expires and of all vacancies caused by 

 resignation or death. 



Sec. 2. Said report (Art. IV., Sec. 1) shall be 

 posted on a bulletin board as early as possible 

 during the meeting of the congress and prior to 

 the public meeting of the commission (Art. V., 

 Sec. 1). 



Article V. Public Meeting 



Sec. 1. Prior to the request by the commission 

 that its report be adopted and its opinions be 

 ratified by the congress, the commission shall hold 

 a public meeting, at which the opportunity to be 

 heard on its report shall be granted to any mem- 

 ber of the congress. 



Article VI. Majority Vote on Opinions 

 Sec. 1. A majority vote (namely eight) of the 

 entire and full commission is necessary for the 

 adoption of any opinion. [This is a new proposi- 

 tion and is intended to preserve conservatism. 

 For instance, suppose only thirteen members 

 should vote; it is clear that seven would be a 

 majority, but by the proposed Art. VI., Sec. 1, 

 no " opinion " is adopted unless it has eight 

 votes.] 



Sec. 2. If, however, any opinion involves a 

 reversal of any former opinion rendered by the 

 commission, such opinion shall require the con- 

 currence of at least twelve commissioners voting 

 on same. 



Article VII. Publication of Opinions 

 Sec. 1. After 90 days from date of mailing the 

 opinions, as soon as a majority (eight) vote in 

 favor of any opinion is returned to the secretary, 

 said vote may be announced. 



Article VIII. Change of By-laws 

 Sec. 1. The by-iaws of this commission may be 

 amended at any time by an affirmative vote of 

 twelve members. 



Financial Aid from the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution. — Owing to the amount of clerical work 

 connected with the studies conducted by the- 

 commission, it has been found very difficult in 

 the past for the commission to render its 

 decisions as promptly as desirable. This diffi- 

 culty has now been overcome by the generous 

 grant of the sum of $2,700 by the Smithsonian 

 Institution ; said sum is available at the dis- 

 cretion of the commission at any time during 

 the three years following the grant. 



In addition, the Smithsonian Institution has 



placed at the disposal of the commission the 

 sum of $500 to be used in publishing the 

 " opinions " rendered by the commission in its 

 function as a court of appeal. An arrange- 

 ment has been made between the secretary of 

 the Smithsonian Institution and the secretary 

 of the commission, whereby the " opinions " 

 will be published by the institution and for- 

 warded to 1,100 libraries, to the members of 

 the International Zoological Congress, and to 

 a limited list of specialists. 



Opinions Rendered. — Since October, 1909, 

 the commission has rendered twenty " opin- 

 ions " (Nos. 6-25), which are now in press and 

 which will soon be sent to all members of the 

 congress. A number of cases are still before 

 the commission for study and will be passed 

 upon in the near future. [At this point the 

 report contained the summaries of all " opin- 

 ions " rendered since the Boston meeting.] 



Official List of most Frequently used Zool- 

 ogical Names. — There is a desire on the part 

 of some zoologists that certain very commonly 

 used zoological names should be excepted from 

 the application of the law of priority, and a 

 proposition to this effect has been presented to 

 the commission from the British Association 

 for the Advancement of Science and the East- 

 ern Branch of the American Society of Zool- 

 ogists. That this desire is so wide-spread and 

 so deeply rooted as is assumed by some of our 

 colleagues has not been confirmed by inquiries 

 made by several members of the commission. 

 Further, an effort made by the secretary to 

 collect from zoologists the most commonly 

 used and most important generic names has 

 as yet met with such poor success that the 

 conclusion does not seem entirely unjustified 

 that some of our colleagues who may be in 

 favor of such a list are not as yet sufficiently 

 enthusiastic over the proposition to induce 

 them to demonstrate their desire by placing 

 in the hands of the commission the data 

 upon which such a list must of necessity be 

 based. Further, there are many colleagues 

 who are known to us to be directly and enthu- 

 siastically opposed to such a list. 



After careful consideration of the subject 

 and of the many difficulties involved, the com- 



