Sherborn : Xotes on Bibliography, Publication , etc. 7 



done, most of the names were manuscript written at the bottom 

 of the plates. I had the privilege of examining three out of 

 the ten copies at the same time when engaged on my 'Index 

 Animalium.' I regard this book as a manuscript, for it is 

 practically inaccessible to the bulk of workers ; but the names 

 are used by lepidopterologists. 



Privately printed books such as Alphonse Milne Edwards' 

 Recueil de Figures de Crustacees nouveaux ou peu connus, 

 Part I., 44 plates, 1883, list of plates, should be quoted as 

 [Auct. typ.] Only 50 copies were done, and distributed to 

 fellow-workers, but a few were sold. Other cases of difficulty 

 which arise are books in which the plates appear long before 

 the text ; in these cases I regard the names printed under 

 the plates as nojn'nia jiuda, and my reasons are given at length 

 in Proc. Zjol. Soc, 1896, 610, in my ' Explanation of the Plan 

 adopted for preparing an "Index Generum et Specierum 

 Animalium. " ' 



With regard to questions of nomenclature, the difficulties 

 are legion, and I am inclined to regard strict priority as the 

 safest method of dealing with them. It causes temporary 

 confusion, but ultimately nearly all matters will be settled. 

 Many of these difficulties arose from ignorance of existing 

 literature, now happily removed by the splendid work of the 

 ' Zoological Record.' Others arise from the worker being 

 unable to get access to such literature. Various attempts to 

 unravel confusion and to codify names have been made by the 

 British Association, other Societies, and numerous Congresses. 

 The Linnean system of nomenclature, which has lasted 150 

 years, is the simplest. Linnseus named all animals and plants 

 binominally. He gave a genus name and a trivial name, the 

 two together making the specific name. Thus, Ostrea lima^ 

 Linnaeus. A later author, Lamarck, recognising that this 

 species was not a true Ostrea, changed the name to Lima, and 

 the specific name became Lima lima (Linnaeus), Lamarck, 

 Mem. Soc. Hist. Nat. Paris, 1779, 88, and Osti^ea lima, Linnaeus 

 was properly quoted in the synonymy to show the origin of the 

 term. To this Linnaeus and later authors added the word 

 varietas, but recent authors have dropped this word and merely 

 quote the formula Lima lima guadeloiipensis, and so on. You 

 may possibly have a quotation which gives the genus, sub- 

 genus, trivial, subtrivial, geographical or mutational name. A 

 source of further difficulty is the non-examination of the original 

 type or description. For instance the well-known Miis musculus 



1908 January i. 



