1954 ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE lfj5

On the 12th, the sixth day of education, it became evident from early morning that the parents considered the education complete but also considered the lake was not large enough for four Ospreys. The young were constantly being harried and chased and driven off whenever they attempted to fish. That evening the two parents roosted near the old nest but I never saw the young birds again.

This remarkable education was based on hunger and imitation and 1 marvelled that in six days two inexperienced young birds could be taught proficiency in the intricacies Qf not only flying but also diving. But the feature I enjoyed most was the “ shake ” after the dive, when a shower of glistening spray would enshroud the bird as he once more took wing with a glistening, wriggling trout in his talons.

16 September 1953. R. MEINERTZHAGEN.

ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE. DECISIONS BY THE FOURTEENTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF

ZOOLOGY, COPENHAGEN, 1953. The task of reforming the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature begun

by the Paris Congress in 1948 was completed at Copenhagen this year when the Fourteenth International Congress of Zoology reviewed (and, in some cases, amended) the decisions taken in Paris and in addition took decisions on a wide range of other subjects, some of which had been specially deferred by the Paris Congress for further study and for decision in Copenhagen. The crowded programme at International Congresses does not lend itself readily for detailed decisions on complicated questions such as nomenclature, and to overcome this difficulty and to provide ample oppor- tunity for discussion the International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature (the incorporated body which manages the business affairs of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature) organised a special Colloquium on Zoological Nomen- clature which opened at Copenhagen on 29 July 1953, a week before the opening of the Congress. The Colloquium examined each of the seventy items on its Agenda before the meeting of the Congress and during the Congress itself it prepared a Report which it discussed in draft both with the International Commission for whom it w a s prepared and with the Section on Nomenclature of the Congress. The Report, as ultimately adopted, was approved by the Congress upon the recommendatiort of the Commission and the Section. Thus, the Report constitutes the Official Record of the decisions on nomenclature taken by the Copenhagen Congress. As such, it will be indispensable to all systematists until the publication of the revised ediiion of the Code containing the amendments adopted by the Paris and Copenhagen Congresses. To meet this need, the International Trust has arranged to publish the Report as quickly as possible as a separate work, and, in order to make this essential document as generally accessible as possible, it has subsidised its publication to an extent sufficient to make it possible to place it on sale for five shillings. Publication is expected to take place in the second week of November, and orders should be addressed to the Trust at its Publications Office (41 Queen’s Gate, S.W.7).

The first of the problems dealt with at Copenhagen was the means to be devised for promoting stability and universality in zoological nomenclature. To this end, the Congress (1) inserted a Preamble to the Code stressing that the foregoing was the principal object for which the Code exists, (2) added a provision designed to

156 ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE IBIS 96

remove the threat to stability represented by dormant nomina dubia, (3 ) recognised in some degree the Principle of Conservation (i.e. limited the extent to which well- established names may be changed in favour of unknown, or virtually unknown, names of older date), and (4) provided for the restriction and designation of type localities (the lack of which hitherto bas often been a cause of confusion and uncertainty in the nomenclature of polytypic species). The Congress supplemented the foregoing provisions by adding to the Code Articles recognising, subject to safeguards, " neotypes " as a category of type specimen. The Congress next carried through a complete reform of the provisions relating to the naming of units belonging to the Family group of categories, the existing provisions (Articles 4 and 5) relating to which have long been recognised as being totally inadequate. The Congress followed this up with a series of provisions relating to the naming of Orders and Classes, a type of name which has not hitherto been subject to any regulation and where, therefore, the utmost confusion prevails. The provisions so adopted are of a very flexible character and it is part of the scheme that help should be sought from specialist committees for each major group. The Congress completed this part of its programme by a comprehensive revision of the rules relating to the emendation of generic and specific names. The new provision, which replaces the existing Article 19, both removes the ambiguities which have hitherto made it impossible to secure uniformity and substantially reduces the area within which emendations are permissible, this object being achieved by a deliberate setting on one side of considerations based upon the etymology of names and the like.

The Congress then reviewed the decisions taken by its predecessor in Paris in 1948. These were confirmed, subject to a number of modifications. The Congress took decisions also on a number of other matters raised since 1948. Of these the following call for special note : (1) the withdrawal, subject to certain safeguards in the interests of current practice, of the recognition of names first published in synonymies, (2) the introduction of words to make it clear that, for a specific name published after 1930 to acquire availability, its author must have attempted to indicate the characters relied upon by him as diagnostic for the unit named, (3) the banning of distribution by microfilm, microcards and the like as a method of " publishing " zoological names, (4) the reversal of the Paris decision to substitute the page-precedence principle for that of the First Reviser for determining the relative priority to be assigned to names published in the same book and on the same date, (5) the introduction of provisions to prevent the irresponsible invalidation of specific names as junior secondary homonyms by unions of genera regarded by specialists in the groups concerned as being unjustified on taxonomic grounds.

On the recommendation of the Colloquium, endorsed by the International Commission and by the Section on i?r'omenclature, the Congress adopted a Resolution advising zoologists, without waiting for the publication of the revised text of the Code, to guide themselves in their work by the decisions taken by the Copenhagen Congress as soon as these were officially published. It is for this reason that (as already explained) the International Trust has taken special steps to publish the Official Record of the Copenhagen decisions with rhe utmost possible speed.

FRANCIS HEMMING. 28 Park Village East, (Secretary to the ~ n ~ e ~ ~ t ~ o ~ l Commis-

sion on Zoological Nomenclaticre, Chair- 10 October 1953. inan of the Coltopuim on Zoological

Nomenclature, Copenhagen, 19 53 . )

Regent's Park, London, N.W.I.