142 Bulhtin of Zoological Nomenclature PROPOSED USE OF THE PLENARY POWERS TO VALIDATE THE GENERIC NAME " HEMIPROCNE " AS FROM NITZSCH, 1829 (CLASS AVES) By JOHN T. ZIMMER (The American Museum of Natural History, New York) (Commission's reference : Z.N.(S.) 709) The object of the present application is to seek from the International Commission a Ruling in regard to the application to be given to the generic name Hemiprocne, doubts on this subject having called in question the names properly applicable to three distinct genera of birds, namely the Whiskered Tree-swifts, the Edible-nest Swiftlets, and the CoUared Swifts. 2. Up to 1906 the generic name Hemiprocne was commonly treated as having been first pubhshed by Nitzsch in 1840 and was used for the CoUared Swifts, while the Whiskered Swifts were referred to the genus Macropteryx Swainson, [1831] [Zool. Ulustr. (2) 2(11) : pi. 47) (type species, by monotypy : Hirundo longipennis Rafinesque, 1802, Bull. Sci. Soc. philomat. Paris No. 68 : 153). In 1906, however, Oberholser {Proc. biol.Soc. Wash. 19 : 67— 69) advanced the argument that the name Hemiprocne ought to be accepted as from Nitzsch, 1829 [Observationes de Avium Arteria carotide communi : 31), where, however, it had appeared only in the nominative plural as " Hemiprocnes ". At that time there existed no clear provision in the Regies on the question whether, in order to be available, a generic name must actually have been pubhshed in the nominative singular and Oberholser took the view that this was not an essential requirement, guiding himself in this matter by Canon VI of the Code of Nomenclatm-e of the American Ornithologists' Union which accepted such plural usage as valid and provided (in the attendant remarks) for change to the required nominative singular. From the species cited by Nitzsch in 1829 for his " Hemiprocnes " Oberholser selected Hirundo longipennis Rafinesque, 1802 (cited by Nitzsch as " Cypselus longipennis Temminck ") as type species. Under this arrangement the name Hemiprocne (emend, of Hemiprocnes) Nitzsch, 1829, became the oldest available name for the Whiskered Tree-swifts, the name previously used, Macropteryx Swainson, [1832], falling as a junior synonym. The removal of the name Hemiprocne from the Collared Swifts left that genus without a name. Oberholser accordingly pubhshed the new name Streptoprocne Oberholser, 1906 {Proc. biol. Soc. Wash. 19 : 69) for this genus, designating Hirundo zonaris Shaw, 1796 {in Miller, Cimelia physica : 100) as type species. 3. Oberholser 's arrangement came into general use, but has been found to be incorrect under the Regies on the basis of Opinion 183 (1944, Ops. Decls. int. Comm. zool. Nomencl. 3 : 13 — 24), which ruled that a generic name does not acquire a status of availabihty until it is pubhshed in the nominative BvU. zool. Nomencl. Vol. 11, Part 5. May 1955.
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