238 



ON THE USE OF CERTAIN PREOCCUPIED NAMES 

 FOR EUROPEAN MOLLUSCA. 



Bv BRYANT WALKER. 

 (Read before the Society, June 17th, igo8). 



The modern system of nomenclature has by process of evolution 

 become a science, so elaborate and intricate, that only the most expert 

 are capable of applying it, and even they, not infrequently, are entirely 

 at variance as to what name should be used in a given case. At this 

 time, no one will deny the justice of the rule of priority in specific 

 description, nor the absolute necessity for its strict enforcement. The 

 equitable considerations, which would raise a statute of limitations in 

 favour of names in general use and of long standing, would, in the 

 absence of any court of final and unquestioned jurisdiction, be a 

 constant source of controversy and only result in further confusing a 

 subject altogether too involved and complicated. 



Various attempts to compile a code of laws dealing with the entire 

 subject and acceptable to the scientific world have been made. The 

 latest and best, known as the International Code of Zoological 

 Nomenclature is, unquestionably, the result of much careful con- 

 sideration and painstaking labour on the part of the eminent scientists 

 who have participated in its compilation. And in so far as it 

 represents a codification of the common or unwritten law, which has 

 grown up under the necessities of scientific work, and formulates the 

 the practical rules adopted by the leading specialists in systematic 

 zoology, no doubt it does justice, so far as under such circumstances 

 exact justice can be done, to all past and present workers in that 

 branch of science. 



But when the Code goes beyond this and by direct legislation pro- 

 mulgates rules which, however wise for future use, have not been 

 generally recognized in the past, and attempts to give them a retroac- 

 tive eftect, a serious question is raised both as to their justice and their 

 wisdom. In such cases, it would seem that a desire for a technical 

 perfection in the Code has been permitted to over-ride both justice and 

 expediency, and result in confusing, rather than clarifying, the existing 

 nomenclature. An example of this kind is to be found in Article XI 

 of the Code which declares that specific and sub-specific names "from 

 a nomenclature standpoint are co-ordinate — that is, they are of the 

 same value," which being interpreted is — that a name which has once 

 been used to designate a species, sub-species, variety or form cannot 

 again be used for any of these purposes in the same genus, 



