— 107 
diagnosis rather than a name. This would simply mean a reversion 
to pre-linnean times. 
M. M. Burr (Douvres) regretted the employment of the expres¬ 
sion morpha or form : it is very convenient to have a word of 
undefined meaning to use in a non-committing manner, when 
there is no evidence to show whether there is a subspecies, race or 
variety in question. The paper by Mr. Semenow-Tian Shansky 
was a very valuable one, as it was highly desirable that a discus¬ 
sion should be provoked, which would lead to generally accepted 
definition of the various terms employed to designate the subdivi¬ 
sions of the species. It had the great merit of regarding a species- 
group in four dimensions, that is to say, in taking time into 
account, which reminded us that we are accustomed to regard our 
objects only from the visible point of view of to-day, and to forget 
its past history. It is most important to realise the distinction 
between a species verging upon extinction and a dominant, suc¬ 
cessful, wide-spread species that was undergoing the process of 
splitting up to form eventual new species. 
Dr. A. Seitz (Darmstadt) weist darauf hin, dass dem Comité 
ein enges Zusammengehen mit den Zoologen anempfohlen 
werden soll. Die immer weiter schreitende und bereits fast voll¬ 
ständige Separierung der beiden Disciplinen hat bereits grosse 
Schwierigkeiten gezeitigt, die bei engerem Zusammengehen ver¬ 
mieden worden wären. 
Mr. E. M. Dadd (Londres) : 
That the Congress consider whether any steps can be taken to 
prevent the endless multiplication of names establishing varieties t 
and local races on trivial and barely recognizable characters. 
Le Président remercie M. W. Horn pour sa communication et 
lève la séance à 4 heures 45 minutes. 
