(431 ) 



species difterent from the male, the wAme. glaucus, given to that kind of female only, 

 is tiic name of the entire Ri)ecies. Sirailarl}', thongii only the male of an Amboina 

 Papilio was named priamus by Linnt', the female being described by liim as a 

 different species, the name of the species is piiamus. In neither case is a new name 

 necessary or permissible. In a great many instances different individnals (sexes 

 or otherwise) liavo been described as separate sjiecies. The first name given to 

 any specimen is the name for all, however restricted the original ajiplication of 

 the name may have been. It appears to us further self-evident that the philosophic 

 conception which an author may have of " species " or " variety " cannot be 

 permitted to affect the name of the forms, which are realities in nature. Whether 

 we believe that Paiiilio machaoii is the product of a special act of creation or the 

 product of evolution ; whether we believe that the various varieties from the 

 Old and New World constituting the species machaon are evolved from an ancestral 

 homomorphic created species, or that each variety has been created as such ; wliether 

 we believe that the species is the product of evolution by slow degrees, or per 

 saltum, by Natural Selection, or by the direct influence of external conditions, 

 etc., etc. ; all such differences of opinion cannot be allowed to overthrow the name 

 maclmon for this species of iSwallowtail, unless one wishes nomenclature to become 

 chaotic. In the same way, the subsjiecies (= geographical race) takes that name 

 which is the first given to a member of this subspecies, whatever conception the 

 author of the name may have had of the individuals so named. Since (jlmicus 

 was the first name for a specimen of a Nearctic Swallowtail, it is the name for the 

 southern Subspecies to wliich that specimen belonged, as well as the name for 

 the entire species. The formula for this subspecies is therefore Papilio glaucus 

 fflaucus.* This formula is precise, showing at one and the same time that the 

 species is geographically variable, and that the particular subspecies thus designated 

 was the first one of that species of which a sjiecimen, or sjiecimens, received 

 a name. 



The number of systematists who object to having sjiecial names for subspecies 

 appears to be very small as compared with those who deal with subspecies, at least 



* In the Revision of the l^apilios of the .Eastern Hemispliere, tlie first describeri subspecies was 

 terraeil/*'r;»rt fi/jnca, as it was noraenclatorially the typical form, giving tlie name to tlie species. At the 

 eml of the Introduction to that essay I stated tliat it is wrong to call the first-named form the " species " 

 and the later-named forms subspecies of it, but that one ougiit to treat the first-described forni as a 

 subspecies like the others, "so that one could speak of P. euryptjliis L., meaning the entire species with 

 all its subspecies, and of P. curyptjlus mri/pylm L., P. eitri/jtyhis lyeatm Feld., P. eitri/jif/hts pamphyUtK 

 Feld., P. eurypylii^ niihadfl Leech, etc., meaning the local races." The proposal did not meet at that 

 time with the approval of the co-editors of Xoi: Zool. Subsequently, when I worked out the idea, I 

 found that Dr. Loreuz had already given expression to the same view some years previously (1S92) in 

 very lucid language. lu 1895 I had no knowledge that I had been anticipated by Lorenz ; but it has 

 since dawned upon ime that I have nevertlicless little claim of having invented the formula P. mryjiyhis 

 eurypylus independently of former authors. One is apt to forget where one's ideas originally came 

 from. In the Cataloguti Coh-iy/tefori/m by Stein and Wcise, whicli was one of my treasures wlien a 

 schoolboy, I found a sample of nomenclature which was at first very puzzling to me. Under the sjKicies 

 Carahus schi'iiUcri (of course written with a capital S in tlie Catahnjiin) tliere was a whole string of 

 varieties, one of which was named var. scheUlU'ri. When I came to understand the meaning of this 

 formula Cartibits Sfheidlrri var. scheidlcri I was much impressed with the wisdom of thus designating 

 the first-described variety in contrast to the whole species to which it lends the name. This impression, 

 I think, expressed itself in 1895 in the formula P. eiirypyhis evryjiyhix. 



\Vc have some hope that entomologists will sooner or hater all follow the Cataloyvs of Stein and 

 Weise, not only in this particular instance, but carry out consistently the nomenclature exemplified 

 by Carahm sdickHnl var. selieidU-ri, at the same time dropping the misleading .and unnecessary " var." 

 in the case of subspecies (= geographical races), calling the English Carabus arveiixis by the concise 

 formula Varahm arrensis aiiyticun.— K.J, 



