80 Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature PROPOSED USE OF THE PLENARY POWERS TO SECURE THAT THE NAME " COLUMBA MIGRATORIA " LIN-NAEUS, 1766. SHALL BE THE OLDEST AVAILABLE NAME FOR THE PASSENGER PIGEON, THE TYPE SPECIES OF THE GENUS "ECTOPISTES" SWAINSON, 1827 By FRANCIS HEMMING, C.M.G., C.B.E. {Secretary to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature) (Commission's reference Z.N.(S.)574) The subject matter of the present appUcation came to notice in the course of the routine checking of the entries on the Official Lsit of Generic Names in Zoology in connection with the projected pubUcation of the Official List in book form. It is concerned with the question of the name to be used for the Passenger Pigeon. This species, whicli is currently known by the name Columba migratoria Linnaeus. 1766 {Syst. Not. (ed. 12) 1 (1) : 285) is the type species of the genus Edapistes Swainson. 1827 {Zool. J. 3 (11) : 362), by subsequent selection by Swainson in 1837 (in Lardners Cabinet Cyclop. 6 : 348 — sometimes known by its sub-title Nat. Hist. Classif. Birds 2 : 348). The generic name Ectopistes Swainson, 1837, was placed on the Official List as Name No. 51 in the Com-mission's Opinion 67 (published in 1916, Smithson Publ. 2409 : 180). 2. ^Vhen I checked this entry on the Official List against Peters' Check-List of the Birds of the World. I found the following footnote on page 83 of volume 3 published in 1937 :— There can be no leal doubt that Bangs (Proc. Biol.tioc. Wash, 19, 1906, 43-44) was entirely correct m disposing of the Linnean names, Columba inctcrours, Coluuiha migratoria and Columba margiriata. as he did. On the other hand, his proposed changes ha\"e never been accej)ted, and since there is also room for argimient contrary-to Bangs' reasoning, 1 feel that to depart from current usage would only cause needless confusion. 3. It was immediately apparent that, as the name Ectopistes Swainson, of which Columba migratoria is the type species had been placed on the Official List, this matter would need to be resubmitted to the Commission, for it would clearly be improper for the Commission to connive at the ignoring of the problem which had been raised by Bangs (1906, Proc. biol. Soc. Wash. 19 : 43-44). As a first step, I considted Bangs" short paper to ascertain exactly what it was that he had said. His presentation of the issue is very succinct. It reads as follows : — THE NAMKS OF THE PASSENGER PIGEON AND MOURNING DOVE To those naturalists who . . . use the twelfth edition of LiiiTiaeus (1766) as the starting pomt of binomial nomeiu-lature, the names of the Passenger Pigeon and the Mourning Dove are clear antl offer no complications. Not so, however, to the Americans and otheis who start with the tenth edition (1758). for here Linneaus unquestionably included both birds in the references imder his Columba macroura. The A.O.U. committee on nomenclature and American ornithologists generally have of late yeais used this name for the Mourning Dove, and have called the Passenger Pigeon by the name that first appeared in the twelfth edition— Columba migratoria Linn. In my opinion, howe\er, this is hardly correct.
Proposed use of the plenary powers to secure that the name Columba migratoria Linnaeus, 1766, shall be the oldest available name for the Passenger Pigeon, the type species of the genus Ectopistes Swainson, 1827
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