XVI International Botanical Congess

Bacteriologists have made a radical revision of nomenclature. There were about 30,000 bacterial names, of which less than 2,000 were recognizable. New names ware registered from 1976 aud a new starting document was prepared - The Approved Lists of Bacterial Names of 1st January 1980. Names not on the Lists lost their standing in nomenclature, but can be reproposed. The Lists contain about 2,300 names (about 350 generic or above). Names must be registered in the International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology, either in papers published therein, or, if published elsewhere, by announcement in that journal, their precedence is from the date of registration. One need only consult these two sources. Problems have been few. There have been no serious objections to registration, and only a few omissions or disputed precedences. Appeals to the Judicial Commission are now frequent. Yet bacterial taxonomy has gone through the greatest upheaval in its history and the number of species has more than doubled since 1980.