( 4.57 ) 



normul specimens ; nevertheless we include tliesc aberrations under Linne's name, 

 and thus extend the meaning of the name. 



As the nnmber of specimens at the disposal of the author is always compara- 

 tively small, a name will, in consequence of further research, always cover a larger 

 field than it did when first applied. If we keep this extension of the meaning of a 

 name in view, it is obvious that the name of a certain form has to include all sub- 

 sequently discovered forms wliich are specifically identical with the first form. 

 Just as the name of I'apiUo j/ot/alirius comprises tlie so-called normal as well as 

 the aberrational specimens, the name of Papilio prianms comprises the particular 

 subspecies priamns described by Linne as well as all the more recently discovered 

 forms called poseidon, euphorion, richmondius, etc., as the following diagram 

 shows: — 



rtamtiii. 



r prk 

 ... . I poseidmi. 



I'Upliol'tOll, 



I etc. 



That is to say, the first name given to any member of a species is to be taken as the 

 name of the entire species. The consequence is that the name of the species must 

 be repeated when the respective component to which it originally was given is to be 

 designated. Thus it miglit very often happen that a particular individnal aberration 

 had to be called after this pattern : Papilio jwh/tes poh/tes ¥ -f. poli/tes. The 

 meaning of this name is exclusive and hence precise, and that is the highest jiraise 

 we can give to a name : ? -f. jwbjtes shows that the female sex of the subspecies 

 poli/te.'< is polymorphic, ? -f. pohjtes being co-ordinate to one or some other 

 aberrations of that sex (?-f. c^/rus, ?-f. romulus); pobjles ?-f. liohjtes means that 

 the particular yg»ia^e form was the first described ; pobjtes pohjtes has again the 

 meaning that the particular subsjiecies was the first described of all those which 

 belong to the sjjccies pol;/tes. 



A few illustrations will more especially show the convenience of this method of 

 nomenclature. Boucard described one of those beautiful Central-American beetles 

 which belong to the genus Flusiotis under the name of aurora ; the specimen has 

 remained unique as far as we know, while many individuals have afterwards been 

 found which, though specifically identical witli the first-described specimen, ditt'cr 

 from the latter very conspicuously in colour, being green instead of aurora-colour. 

 The aurora-coloured individual is apparently a so-called accidental aberration, while 

 the green individuals are the normal (or morphologically typical) ones. According 

 to the old style of nomenclature the two forms would have to stand as Pl/isiotis 

 aurora (accidental aberration) and Plasiotis aurora ab. ckri/sopedila (uoi-mal form). 

 How absurd this kind of nomenclature is will easily be understood if we take, 

 instead of these beetles, an albinistic specimen and normal individuals of a mammal 

 or bird. Our method treats both forms as forms of one species, Plusiotis aurora 

 ab. aurora and PL aurora ab. cliri/sopedila, the species aurora tlius being composed 

 of a normal form (ab. chrijsopedila) and an aberrant form (ab. aurora). 



A European moth of the genus Hepialus has developed into two subspecies, one 

 with c? and ? nearly the same in colour {hetldandicus), and the other with c? and ? 

 very difterent in colour {Itumuli); the first is said to be phylogeneticaliy the older 

 form, and therefore represents morj)hologicaliy the typical one of the two ; tlie first 

 described, liowever, is the sexually dimorphic form liumuli, and tiiercfore the typical 



;u 



