OP ARTS AND SCIENCES. 91 



V. 



HISTOraCAL SKETCH OF THE GENERIC NAMES 

 PROPOSED FOR BUTTERFLIES: 



A CONTRIBUTION TO SYSTEMATIC NOMENCLATURE. 



By Samuel H. Scodder. 



Presented, Nov. 11, 1S74. 



Botaniciis mihi hie dicitur is, qui genera naturalia observare intelligit 

 Botanici (nee minus Zoulogici) autem nomine indignum judico Curiosiim, qiii de 

 generibus soUicitus non est. — Linne, Pliiios. hotan. 



Nomina si pereunt. perit et cognitio rerum. — Fabricios, Plulos. entom. 



Three years ago, in preparing my Systematic Revision of North 

 American Butterflies, I first became fully aware of the extraordinary 

 diversity of use of certain generic names iu tliis group of insects ; and 

 I endeavored, by an historical study of the subject, to satisfy my own 

 mind of the proper manner in which they ought to be used. The 

 results of this study were published in the paper alluded to ; but in 

 only a few cases, and then iu the briefest manner, was the process 

 stated by which a conclusion was reached. A month or so before the 

 issue of that paper, the late Mr. G. R. Crotcli published in the Cistula 

 Enlomologica the results of an exactly similar study, based upon the 

 same priucii)les, but confined to an examination of those genera of 

 butterilies whicli had been proposed previous to the publication of 

 Iliibners Yerzeichniss bekannter Schmettlinge. The process was in 

 this case given, but, as it seems to me, by an unsatisfactory method, 

 and one in which the individual opinion of the author often affected 

 the result without the reader's cognizance. 



jNIy own paper was prepared under very unfavorable circumstances ; 

 and I therefore determined to revise its conclusions de novo, and to 

 extend the study to the entire group of butterflies, as the only way in 

 which accuracy and precision could be attained. The result is given 

 in the present pajier. The historical method is chosen as the most 

 satisfactory one, the use of each generic name being traced from its 

 first proposal down to the year 1874. The entire body of entomological 



