860 Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature DOCUMENT 25/11 (continued from page 740) The Designation of Official Names for Higher Taxa of Invertebrates (Commission Reference : Z.N.(S.) 1242) By B. G. CHITWOOD (Laboratory of Comparative Physiology and Morphology* of the Kaiser Foundation, University of California, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.) (Enclosure to a letter dated 27th March 1958) Introduction In the course of a recent review of the higher taxa of nemas (nematodes) and related organisms, the writer has recognised many problems of a nomen-clatural nature. Some of these bear on the entire pohcy of selection and designation of such names, as proposed by pp. 59 X 69, Copenhagen Decisions on Zoological Nomenclature and Article 12, Bull. zool. Nomencl. 14 : 92-94. As the writer imderstands it, the Official Lists of Phyla, Classes and Orders are to be agreed upon by committees of speciahsts and passed upon by vote of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. The field of zoology is so broad that speciahsts seldom, if ever, are familiar with all of the names of higher taxa and the circumstances under which they were proposed — outside of their own specialties. A clear need, then, for the satisfactory functioning of the proposed committees, is a constant interchange of findings among zoologists. A comparison of the Copenhagen Decisions with the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature may be helpful in considering these nomenclatural problems. Whereas, in zoology, aU names for purposes of priority begin 1st January 1758 (with one or two exceptions), in botany the dates accepted * C!ontribution No. 18. Bidl. zool. Nomencl. Vol. 15, Quadruple-Part 25/28. May 1958.
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