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ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 1022 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE , the See also:

system by which it is attempted to designate, exactly and conveniently, the animals which exist now or are known to have existed. It is, in fact, the See also:grammar of See also:classification, and has the See also:advantage that it is See also:international. The popular names of animals differ from See also:country to country, but even amongst civilized peoples, and still more amongst uneducated persons and the See also:lower races, the animals denoted by popular names are a very small See also:part of existing forms, whilst the See also:connotation of the' names is vague and varying. See also:Linnaeus was the first to adopt a precise system, which he explained and applied in 1751 in his Philosophia botanica, and later extended to animals in the tenth edition of his Systema naturae (1758). The See also:foundation of the system was the application of a See also:binomial nomenclature to See also:species (see SPECIES). Each species was to be designated by two latinized names, the first being that of the genus to which it belonged, and the second the appellation See also:peculiar to the species. There are many different See also:cat-like animals, such as the See also:common cat, See also:lion, See also:tiger and so forth, more obviously related to one another than they are to See also:dog-like or hyaena-like carnivores. The assemblage of See also:cats constitute the genus Felis, the See also:wild cat being one species, Felis, catus, the lion another, Felis See also:lea, the tiger yet another, Felis See also:tigris, and so forth. The various genera were grouped into families, the See also:family taking its designation from the leading genus, as, for instance, the family Felidae for the cats. Families were associated in orders, as the Cats, See also:Dogs, Bears, &c., in the See also:order See also:Carnivora, and the orders in Classes. There is still little uniformity in the designation of the assemblages higher than families, and less agreement as to the degree or measure of separation to be indicated by the use of the designations employed. For the system adopted in the See also:present See also:work, see See also:ZOOLOGY.

Linnaeus named very many species and genera, but the number known continues to increase at a prodigious See also:

rate, while precision of description has far surpassed his conceptions, with the result that his rules have See also:long ceased to meet the needs of See also:modern See also:science. In 1842 the See also:English ornithologist, H. E. See also:Strickland, assisted by a See also:committee of which See also:Charles See also:Darwin was a member, elaborated rules which became known as the Stnckland See also:Code, and were adopted in 1845 by the See also:American Society of Geologists and Naturalists, and in 1846 by the 3ritish Association for the See also:Advancement of Science. In 1881.the International See also:Congress of See also:Geology, See also:meeting at See also:Bologna, constructed a code differing in many respects from that of Strickland and specially applicable to fossil forms. In 1881 the Zoological Society of See also:France agreed on new rules, based on those of Strickland, but formulated by a committee of which See also:Maurice Chaper and R. See also:Blanchard were leading members. In 1885 the American Ornithologists' See also:Union, urged by the needs of the See also:great advance in See also:ornithology in See also:America, adopted rules which were still further modified from the Strickland Code. In 1894 the Zoological Society of See also:Germany framed another set of rules See also:drawn up by J. V. See also:Carus, L. See also:Doderlein and K.

See also:

Mobius. In 1896 the English entomologist See also:Lord See also:Walsingham devised another modification of the Strickland Code, which became known as the Merton Rules, followed by many entomologists. The existence of so many conflicting authorities caused much confusion and an impractical See also:condition of anarchy in which many distinguished and active systematists elaborated practices individual to themselves. When the International Congress of Zoology held its first meeting in See also:Paris in 1889, one of the See also:chief See also:objects submitted to it was the See also:necessity of framing rules which should be See also:uniform in their application to the whole See also:animal See also:kingdom and which might receive international See also:sanction. The discussion was carried over to the second meeting of the Congress, held at See also:Moscow in 1892, when a code prepared by R. Blanchard was accepted. Further modifications were made, partly to reconcile it with the See also:German Code, and a permanent See also:commission was appointed to consider fresh points that might arise. In 1905 there was published, with the sanction of the Congress, in See also:French, English and German (International Rules of Zoological Nomenclature, Paris, 1905, F. R. de Rudeval) a set of rules finally codified by MM. R. Blanchard, von Maehrenthal and C. W.

See also:

Stiles, which appears to be a See also:close approach to an international system applicable to every See also:group in the animal kingdom. At subsequent meetings of the Congress See also:minor alterations have been proposed and no doubt will continue to be proposed and occasionally adopted, but with one important exception, to be referred to later, fundamental lines of agreement appear to have been reached, and many of the most active workers have accepted the international code as binding. It is possible here to give only a See also:short See also:summary of the more important rules. The See also:goal to be reached is that the connotation and See also:denotation of every zoological designation should be definite. One name is to be used for each sub-genus or higher group, two names for each species (following the invention of Linnaeus) and three names for each sub-species (a refinement not necessary in the See also:time of Linnaeus). The scientific names must be Latin or Latinized forms. The name of a family is to be formed by adding the ending idae, the name of the sub-family by adding the ending inae to the See also:root of the name of the genus from which it is derived, as Felidae and Felinae from Felis. When a generic name is changed there must be a corresponding See also:change in the name of the family or sub-family derived from it. A generic name must consist of a single word, written with a See also:capital initial See also:letter, and treated as a substantive in the nominative singular. When a genus is divided into sub-genera the name of the typical sub-genus must be the same as the name of the genus, and when it is desired to cite the name of a sub-genus this name must be placed in parentheses between the generic and the specific names, as, for instance, Vanessa (Vanessa) cardui and Vanessa (myrameis) cardui respectively, for the typical sub-genus and another sub-genus of the genus Vanessa. Specific names are adjectives, substantives in apposition with the generic name or substantives in the genitive; they are written with a small initial letter except when they are substantives derived from the name of a See also:person, but even in the latter See also:case it is permitted and is becoming usual to employ the small initial letter, as Gazella cuvieri. If it be desired to cite the sub-specific name, such name is written immediately following the specific name without the interposition of any See also:mark of See also:punctuation, as Rana esculenta marmorala.

The author of a scientific narne is that person who first publishes the name in association with a clear indication of what the name denotes, and if it be desired to cite the author's name, it should follow the specific name in a different type but without the interposition of any mark of punctuation, e.g. Felis catus Linnaeus. Names are merely designations, or recognition marks, and not descriptions, and hence a name is not to be rejected or changed if it is otherwise valid, because it gives a wrong description; there is no more See also:

reason why Felis See also:rufus should be a ruddy cat than See also:John See also:Black a person of swarthy complexion: nor is a name to be rejected because of tautonomy, and thus Apus apus apus may be a valid designation of a sub-species if the names are otherwise valid. It has happened frequently and continues to happen that a creature is discovered to have been given more than one name. Which of these is valid ? The decision of this is one of the most difficult and controverted problems in nomenclature. In the See also:hope of settling it by some system which should be as nearly as possible automatic and should leave the least possible to the inclination or choice of the individual worker, there was formulated what is called the See also:rule of priority. The valid name of a genus or species is that name under which it was first designated, but with the conditions first that the name was published and accompanied by an indication, See also:definition or description, and second that the author applied the principles of binary nomenclature. The tenth edition of Linnaeus' Systema naturae (1758) is the work that first consistently applied the binary system to zoology generally and is accepted as the starting-point of zoological nomenclature. Beginning from this the See also:oldest avail-able name is therefore to be retained. The application of the rule of priority is in many cases very difficult, but the labours of zoologists in many See also:groups are rapidly succeeding in making the necessary See also:direct and incidental changes in nomenclature, whilst, with regard to See also:recent work, the rule is invaluable. A See also:special difficulty has, however, arisen and is pressing so acutely that a most important modification is likely to be introduced.

To systematists working with a large See also:

series of species in a museum or collection, one species is as important as another, and changes of names even of See also:familiar animals are matters of little moment. But a comparatively small number of animals hold a prominent See also:place in the See also:attention of zoologists who are not specially systematists and of the public interested in natural See also:history. It is complained that application of the rules of priority is changing the names of many familiar animals, designations that are sanctioned by long usage in museums and laboratories, in the famous See also:treatises of See also:comparative See also:anatomy, of See also:general See also:biology, of travel, See also:medicine, and the sciences and subjects closely related to zoology. There is being claimed, in fact, See also:protection against the See also:law of priority for a certain number of such familiar and customary appellations. The machinery for drafting such a See also:list of exceptions exists in the permanent nomenclature commission of the International Congress of Zoology, and there is more than a hope that this change will come into operation. To make the denotation of zoological names precise, exact workers are endeavouring to See also:associate the conception of types with names, a See also:process which can be made See also:simple and definite with new work, but which presents great difficulties in the See also:attempt to apply it to existing terms. Every family should have designated one of its genera as the type genus, every genus a type species and so forth. In the case of species or sub-species the type is a single specimen, either the only one before the author. when See also:writing his description, or one definitely selected by him, the others being paratypes. Such type specimens are the keynote of modern See also:expert systematic work and their careful preservation and See also:registration is of fundamental importance. A co-type is one of several specimens which have together formed the basis of a species, no one of them having been selected by the author as a type. A topotype is a specimen killed at the typical locality. (P.

C.

End of Article: ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE

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