name B because it had been used more often than any
other, another author used name C because it was more euphonious, etc.
In order to achieve uniformity and stability a set of rules was drawn
up in 1901 at the International Zoological Congress in Berlin. Those
rules were based principally on the rule, or law, of priority. In
effect, the law stated that the technical name first given to a kind of
animal (with starting date as of January 1, 1758, _Systema Naturae_ of
Linnaeus) would be the correct and official name. After the mentioned
rules were adopted, some zoologists, mostly non-taxonomists, objected
to the rules and in response to these objections a compromise was
adopted in 1913 at the International Zoological Congress in Monaco and
the International Committee on Zoological Nomenclature was authorized
to set aside, at its discretion, the Law of Priority. In 1913 it was
thought by everyone that the names conserved (_nomina conservanda_) by
setting aside the rules would be few.

Returning now to the generic names applied to the bats concerned, it is
to be noted that from 1803 until 1909 _Nycteris_ had been used as the
generic name of an African bat on the erroneous assumption that the
name was first applied in a valid fashion to the African bat. With the
aim of conserving the name _Nycteris_ for the African bat, some
zoologists petitioned the International Committee on Zoological
Nomenclature to set aside the Law of Priority and petitioned also that
the name _Lasiurus_ be validated for use again as the generic name for
New World bats. This petition was granted in 1914 in the first lot of
names for which exception to the rules was made. As a result, since
1914 _Lasiurus_ has been used with increasing frequency, and _Nycteris_
with decreasing frequency, for New World bats.

The above explanation of the application of the generic names
_Nycteris_, _Atalapha_, and _Lasiurus_ is given for two reasons: First,
study of more abundant material than was available to Harrison Allen in
1894 when he raised _Dasypterus_ to generic rank reveals, as set forth
beyond, that the yellow bats are not generically different from the red
bats and hoary bat and so will bear the same generic name that is
applied to the red bat and hoary bat; second, a choice of generic names
has to be made. Actually, the International Commission on Zoological
Nomenclature since 1913 has voted to make many, instead of only a few,
exceptions to the rules. The