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INTERNATIONAL RULES OF ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE 



Adopted by the International Zoological Congress. 



(Communicated to the Society, March 8, 1905). 

 PREFACE. 



If it is true that one cannot write a language correctly without know- 

 ing the grammar, it is also evident that one cannot express oneself 

 accurately in regard to a science of which one has only an imperfect 

 knowledge of the technical terms. Nomenclature is the grammar of 

 the natural sciences : it was defined for the first time by Linne in his 

 " Philosophia Botanica," in 1751. Applied at first only to the veget- 

 able kingdom, it was systematically introduced into the animal 

 kingdom by the celebrated Swede in 1758. 



Since that distant epoch, zoology has made great progress ; the 

 number of known species of animals has increased enormously ; 

 classification, then scarcely even sketched out, has acquired a preci- 

 sion and a complication of which Linnd never dreamed. The very 

 rules which he proposed, although they have remained on the whole 

 valid, have been found to fall short of the exigences of modern science. 



More than once already it has been felt needful to remodel the 

 Linnean code, and nomenclature has been enriched by new rules 

 answering in a more or less happy fashion to the needs of the period. 



This necessity has never been more keenly felt than during the last 

 twenty years, in consequence of the discoveries resulting from the 

 great maritime explorations and the expeditions into the interior of 

 continents previously closed to civilized nations. From this felt 

 want, leaving out of account the old attempt of Rudolphi, and taking 

 note only of recent proposals, the following schemes have arisen : — 



1. The rules of Strickland elaborated in 1842- 1843 ^Y ^ com- 

 mission of which Darwin was a member, rules which were adopted 

 in 1845 by the American Society of Geologists and Naturalists, and 

 in 1846 by the British Association for the Advancement of Science. 



2. The rules relating to Palceontology, elaborated by M. Douville, 

 and adopted by the International Congress of Geology at Bologna in 

 1881. 



3. The rules adopted by the Zoological Society of France in 188 r 

 as the result of a report by Maurice Chafer in the name of a Com- 

 mission of which R. Blanchard was a member. 



4. The rules adopted in 1885 by the American Ornithologists' 

 Union, and concerned especially with Ornithology. 



