Amendments to the International Rules of Zoological Nomenclature.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 59, 1928, Page 424

Amendments to the International Rules of Zoological Nomenclature. (Reprinted from Nature, 7th January, 1928, pp. 12-13.) “Upon unanimous recommendation by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, the International Zoological Congress which met at Budapest, Hungary, September, 4-9, 1927, adopted a very important amendment to Article 25 (Law of Priority) which makes this Article, as amended, read as follows (italicised type represents the amendments; Roman type represents the old wording): Article 25.—The valid name of a genus or species can be only that name under which it was first designated on the condition: (a) That (prior to January 1, 1931) this name was published and accompanied by an indication, or a definition, or a description; and (b) That the author has applied the principles of binary nomenclature. (c) But no generic name nor specific name published after December 31, 1930, shall have any status of availability (hence also of validity) under the Rules, unless and until it is published, either (1) With a summary of characters (seu diagnosis; seu definition seu condensed description) which differentiate or distinguish the genus or the species from other genera or species. (2) Or with a definite bibliographic reference to such summary of characters (seu diagnoses; seu definition; seu condensed description). And further, (3) In the case of a generic name, with the definite unambiguous designation of the type species (seu genotype; seu auto-genotype; seu orthotype). The purpose of this amendment is to inhibit two of the most important factors which heretofore have produced confusion in scientific names. The date, Jan. 1, 1931, was selected (instead of making the amendment immediately effective) in order to give authors ample opportunity to accommodate themselves to the new rule. The Commission unanimously adopted the following resolution: (a) It is requested that an author who publishes a name as new shall definitely state that it is new, that this be stated in only one (i.e., in the first) publication, and that the date of publication be not added to the name in its first publication. (b) It is requested that an author who quotes a generic name, or a specific name, or a subspecific name, shall add at least once the author and year of publication of the quoted name or a full bibliographic reference.

The foregoing resolution was adopted in order to inhibit the confusion which has frequently resulted from the fact that authors have occasionally published a given name as ‘new’ in two to five or more different articles of different dates—up to five years in exceptional cases.” (Signed) C. W. Stiles, Secretary to Commission. United States Public Health Service, Washington, D.C.