Volume 23, Part 6 30th December 1966 pp. 257-308, T.P.-XII THE BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE The Official Organ of THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE Contents Page Translations of the Code 257 Notices prescribed by the International Congress of Zoology: Date of commencement by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature of voting on applications published in the Bulletin ofZoological Nomenclature 257 Notices of the possible use by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature of its plenary powers in certain cases 257 {continued inside back wrapper) LONDON: Printed by Order of the International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature and Sold on behalf of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature by the International Trust at its Publications Office 14, Belgrave Square, London, S.W.I. 1966 Price Two Pounds Ten Shillings (All rights reserved) Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE A. The Officers of the Commission Acting President: Dr. L. B. Holthuis (Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden, The Netherlands) (28 August 1963) Secretary: Dr. G. Owen Evans (British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London, S.W.7) (31 May 1960) Assistant Secretary: Dr. W. E, China (British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London, S.W.7) (21 May 1962) B. The Members of the Commission (Arranged in order of election or of most recent re-election) Professor Enrico Tortonese (Museo di Storia Naturale "G. Doria", Genova, Italy) (16 December 1954) Professor Per Brinck (Lunds Universitets Zoologiska Institution, Lund, Sweden) (19 May 1958) Professor H. Boschma (Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden, The Netherlands) (23 July 1958) Dr. Henning Lemche (Universitetets Zoologiske Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark) (23 July 1958) Professor Pierre Bonnet (Universite de Toulouse, France) (23 July 1958) Professor Tadeusz Jaczewski (Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland) (23 July 1958) Professor Dr. Robert Mertens (Natur-museum u. Forschungs-Institut Senckenberg, Frankfurt a.m., Germany) (23 July 1958) Dr. D. V. Obruchev (Palaeontological Institute, Academy ofSciences, Moscow 5-71, U.S.S.R.) (5 November 1958) Professor Tohru Uchida (Department of Zoology, Hokkaido University, Japan) (24 March 1959) Professor Dr. Raphael Alvarado (Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain) (31 May 1960) Dr. Gwilym Owen Evans (British Museum (Natural History), London) (31 May 1960 (Secretary) Dr. E. G. Munroe (Canada Department of Agriculture, Division of Entomology, Ottawa, Canada) (9 June 1961) {Councillor) Dr. W. E. China (British Museum {Natural History), London) (21 May 1962) {Assistant Secretary) Professor E. Binder {Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Geneva, Switzerland) (21 May 1962) Professor Dr. Afranio do Amaral {Instituto Butantan, Sao Paulo, Brazil) (28 August 1963) Professor Harold E. Vokes (University of Tulane, Department of Geology, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A.) (28 August 1963) Dr. Norman R. Stoll (Rockefeller Institute, New York, N.Y., U.S.A.) (28 August 1963) (Councillor) Dr. L. B. Holthuis (Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden, The Netherlands) (28 August 1963) (Acting President) Professor Ernst Mayr (Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.) (28 August 1963) (Councillor) Dr. J. Forest (Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France) (28 August 1963) (Councillor) Dr. Carl L. Hubbs (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, La Jolla California, U.S.A.) (28 August 1963) Dr. Otto ICraus (Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft, Frankfurt a.M., Germany) (28 August 1963) Dr. W. D. L. Ride (Western Australian Museum, Perth, Western Australia) (28 August 1963) Dr. Curtis W. Sabrosky (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Entomology Research Division, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.) (28 August 1963) Professor George Gaylord Simpson (Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.) (28 August 1963) Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE Volume 23, Part 6 (pp. 257-308, T.P.-XII) 30th December 1966 Translations of the Code The International Code on Zoological Nomenclature is now available in the following translations: Bulgarian 1962; Czech 1962; German 1962; Japanese 1965; Mexican 1962; Polish 1963; Russian 1966; Spanish 1962. NOTICES (a) Date of Commencement of Voting.—In normal circumstances the Commission starts to vote on applications published in the Bulletin ofZoological Nomenclatwe six months after the publication of each application. Any zoologist who wishes to comment on the application in the present part is invited to send his contribution, in duplicate, to the Secretariat of the Com¬ mission as quickly as possible, and in any case in time to reach the Secretariat before the close of the six-month period. (b) Possible use of the Plenary Powers.—The possible use by the Commission of its plenary powers is involved in the following application published in the present part of the Bulletin: Designation of a neotype for Opopsitta marshalli Iredale, 1946 (Aves). Z.N.(S.) 1773. c/o British Museum (Natural History), w. E. CHINA Cromwell Road, Assistant Secretary London, S.W.7, England International Commission on November 1966 Zoological Nomenclature Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries 258 Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature REPORT ON THE ACTIVITY OF THE COMMISSION REGARDING THE CLARIFICATION OF CODE ARTICLE 23b Article 23b has been a most controversial one right from its first proposal by Commissioners E. Mayr and L. B. Holthuis during the XVth International Congress of Zoology held in London in August 1958. The original wording of the Article was such that it was not clearly understood by most zoologists and was interpreted in different ways, causing thereby much confusion and starting many (often unnecessary) controversies. The Editorial Committee of the Code after long discussions decided that any attempt to improve the wording might be construed as changing the meaning of the Article, which even to the Committee was not quite clear in its details. In order to avoid any reproach of tampering with the meaning of the Article, the Committee decided to place it in the Code in the wording of the original proposal of 1958. 2. The Secretariat of the Commission, not being able to give a satisfactory interpretation of the Article either, deferred handling of cases involving this Article until after the XVIth International Congress of Zoology held in Washington in 1963, in the hope that during that Congress a solution for this situation would be found. 3. Prior to the XVIth International Congress of Zoology, four criticisms of Article 23b and requests for its amendment were received from President J. Chester Bradley, Prof. Hobart M. Smith, Commissioner L. B. Holthuis, and Dr. M. W. R. de V. Graham. These criticisms were published in Bull. zool. Nomencl. 19 : 345-352 on 29 December 1962 as Case 3 for discussion at the forthcoming Congress. Proposals requesting deletion of the Article from the Code were made by Dr. J. R. Vockeroth and the Committee on Nomenclature of the Entomological Society of America (Bull. zool. Nomencl. 20 : 79-80). The case was placed on the Agenda of Commission meetings at the Washington Congress and was debated at length. 4. In an endeavour to avoid amendments to the Code, Dr. K. H. L. Key proposed, during the Washington meeting, that the Commission should issue an interpretive Declaration on Article 23b, taking into account the following points: (1) The expression " unused as a senior synonym " implies that a junior synonym was in existence throughout the period concerned (otherwise the senior name could not be designated a " synonym "), although the state of synonymy need not (and ordinarily would not) have been recognized as such. (2) Use in the " primary zoological literature " should be taken to mean application of the name in question to a particular taxon in a zoological publica¬ tion. It does not include the citation of the name in synonymy, or mere listing of the name in any abstracting publication, index, catalogue, check-list, or nomenclator. (3) The expression " for more than fifty years " should be read to mean " for more than fifty years during which the junior synonym had been used on ten or more occasions in the primary literature for the taxon concerned". Bull. zool. Nomencl., Vol. 23, Part 6. December 1966. Original from and digitized by National University of Singapore Libraries Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 259 (4) The word " discovers " must be rigidly construed: i.e. it implies that the name discovered after 1960 had remained unused during the whole of the 50- year period immediately preceding its " discovery ". (5) Use of a nomen oblitum in the primary literature in violation of Article 23b does not qualify as use for the purpose of the Article. (6) Article 23b(i) clearly gives the Commission the authority (without invoking the plenary powers) to suppress a nomen oblitum for the purposes of the Law of Priority, the Law of Homonymy, or both, or alternatively to validate it. However, it should not be read as imposing an obligation on the Commission to place a rejected nomen oblitum on the appropriate Official Index. Dr. Key's motion was rejected by 11 votes to 10. 5. Dr. Lemche moved that the Secretariat be charged to test Article 23b as explained by Dr. Key and refer back to the Commission as to how that Article should be amended and modified by a Declaration. This proposal was accepted by the Commission by 14 votes to 7. A motion for the deletion of Article 23b was defeated by 11 votes to 10. 6. After the Congress the Secretariat was instructed by President Alden H. Miller to draft an interpretive Declaration on the lines of Dr. Key's six points. This interpretation was drawn up by the Assistant Secretary in consultation with Prof. Ernst Mayr and was finally submitted to the Commission on Voting Paper (O.M.)(65)l, issued on 26 March 1965 under the One-Month Rule.