RULES OF NOMENCLATURE* 



In Paris in 1930, the First International ^Microbiological Congress voted 

 to follow the rules of nomenclature agreed upon by International Congresses 

 of Botany and Zoology "in so far as they yyiay he applicable and appropriate." 

 The adoption of the date of the publication of Species Plantarum by Lin- 

 naeus in 1753 as the point of departure for bacteriological nomenclature 

 was recommended. This recommendation was approved by the plenary- 

 session of the IMicrobiological Congress (Proc. P'' Cong. Internat. Micro- 

 biol., Paris, 1930, 3, 1932, 519) and by the plenary session of the Botanical 

 Congress (Rept. Proc. 5th Internat. Bot. Cong., 1930, Cambridge, 1931, 

 p. 16 and 28). 



This Congress also provided for the organization of an International 

 Committee on Bacteriological Nomenclature with two permanent sec- 

 retaries : 



1. To represent primarily medical and veterinary bacteriology, — Dr. 



R. St. John-Brooks, Lister Institute, London, England. 



2. To represent primarily other phases of bacteriology', — Dr. R. S. Breed, 



Experiment Station, Geneva, New York, U. S. A. 



During the years that have elapsed since its appointment, this Commit- 

 tee has organized and has taken various actions in the interest of a more 

 stable nomenclature and classification. Some of these have been completed 

 and accepted by the Second International Congress of IMicrobiolog}' held 

 in London, 1936. These completed actions are quoted below, and are 

 incorporated into the classification used in the descriptive portion of the 

 Manual. 



The International Rules of Botanical Nomenclature were originally 

 adopted by the International Botanical Congresses of Vienna (1903) and 

 Brussels (1910). They were modified by the Cambridge Congress (1930) 

 so as to accept the type method, and validate species descriptions of bacteria 

 unaccompanied by a Latin diagnosis. Some further but less important 

 modifications were made at the Amsterdam Congress (1935) (See Sprague, 

 Science, 83, 1936, 416). 



The following are the most important of the rules that are of interest to 

 bacteriologists taken from the latest available edition of the Botanical Code 

 (Gustav Fischer, Jena, 1935). Sections that were newly adopted or 

 amended by the Amsterdam Botanical Congress (1935) are indicated 

 in the text. 



* Contributed by Prof. R. S. Breed, New York State Experiment Station, Geneva, 

 New York, September, 1938; revised, October, 1943. 



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