nv T. H. JOHNSTON AND L. HARRISON, 32.3 



been dosii,'iiiite(l ami all the species had been allotted to later 

 genera, Neumann was at liberty to designate a type fi-om amongst 

 De Geer's original species. R. /ringi/hv. having been selected, 

 Physostomum N., becomes a synonym of Ricinun on account of 

 the former including the type-species of the latter amongst its 

 original species. Nitzsch, however, regarded Physostomum as a 

 subgenus, and consistently referred to every species under its 

 ajeneric and not under its subgeneric name. Thus Rlcinus 

 /ri)ufUlce DeG., appeared in Nitzsch(18l8) as Liothfium nitidissi- 

 mum. Hence Liotheum N., includes the designated type of the 

 earliei- genus Bicinns, and must be ranked as a synonym of the 

 latter. We do not think that it is permissible to fix a type for 

 Liofki'mn as well as for Eicinus, seeing that the type of the latter 

 is already included in the former. We have consulted papers by 

 Stiles( 1905), and Blanchard(1906), but have not noticed any 

 direct ruling on the point involved. 8tiles(1905, p.26), in writing 

 of subdivided genera, states that " if a type is designated, the 

 original generic name always follows the subdivision containing 

 the type." Thus R.fringilhe must pass into Liotheum before it 

 can reach Physostomum. The last-mentioned must be the type- 

 subgeuus (in the Nitzschian sense) of Liotheum, i.e., of Eicinus 

 since it includes the type of the genus. Colpocphalum N., would 

 thus maintain its individuality. 



Apart from the question of nomenclatural propriety, thei-e can 

 be no doubt as to the expediency of our view, for we would retain 

 the well known genus Golpocephalum, which included 137 species 

 up to 1908; Kellogg, 1908), whereas Neumann would reduce it to 

 a synonym of Liotheum, a generic name which has remained 

 practically unused since Nitzsch's day. We would place both 

 Liotheum N., and Physostomum N., as synonyms of Eicinus, thus 

 involving a change in the generic names of the twenty-nine species 

 hitherto included under Physostomxim {vide Kellogg, 1908), a 

 change that is inevitable, as has already been pointed out by 

 Neumann. Liotheum Neum., nee Nitzsch, accordingly becomes 

 a synonym of Colpocephalum. 



Among certain philopterid genera, an extraordinary confusion 

 has arisen, the various stages of which are as follows. In 1835^ 

 2« 



