THE NAUTILUS. 55 



THE GENERIC NAME TO BE USED FOR MUREX TRITONIS LINNE. 



BY TOM IREDALE. 



In THE NAUTILUS, Vol. XXVI, pp. 53, 59, Sept., 1912, my 

 friend Dr. W. H. Ball, commenting upon a note by Mathews and 

 myself regarding the first introduction of the genus Septa by Perry, 

 wrote: " The first name available for the group typified by Murex 

 tritonis L. seems to be Nyctilochus of Gistel, 1848." 



Recently, referring to some notes I made upon Gistel's names a 

 complication seems apparent and I therefore give the data I have. 



Gistel in the " Naturgeschichte Thierreiche," 1848, gave a long 

 list of preoccupied names and substitutes. On p. 11 he included ; 

 " Triton (Laurenti, Lurch) bl : Triton (Broderip, Isis 1835, 453, 

 Rankenfiissl): Nyctilochus N." 



From this it would appear thatNyctilochus was provided as a sub- 

 stitute for Triton of Broderip as used in the Isis 1835, 453. At 

 this place a resume of the papers published in the Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 Lond. is given and we find : 



"P. 71, Triton clatliratus, nitiduliis, distortus, reticulatus, mediter- 

 raneus, ceylonensis, lineatus, decollatus." 



The p. 71 " refers to the Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1833, where 

 these species are described by " G. B. Sowerby," and a note given 

 after lineatus reads : 



" These seven may be regarded by some as mere varieties of Trit. 

 maculosus of Lamarck, although I am fully satisfied of their being 

 perfectly distinct species." 



There is evidently an error in Gistel's reference both to the 

 column of the " Isis " and to the page of the Proceedings of the 

 Zoological Society, the second error deriving from the first. The 

 reference to the " Isis" should be column 452 ; there is no paper on 

 Briton by Broderip on page 71 of the Proceedings, but there is on 

 page 5. Here we have a different list from that of Sowerby, namely, 

 Triton lignarius, constrictus, tigrinns, rudis, lineatus, gibbosus, sca- 

 lariformis, and convolutus. None of these is a Septa, and Nyctilochus 

 judged by either list of species is synonymous with Bolten's earlier 

 names, or with Fusus Helbling (non auct.~). 



In the body of his work Gistel however provided a generic name 

 for M. tritonis L. alone, and I conclude that this name should be 

 used. On p. 170, Gistel introduced : 



