18 BULLETIN 200, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



face, (2) an illustration, (3) a special position among the species, or 

 (4) a special type of description given to one species only. For ex- 

 ample of (1) : In 1839 in the Elements of British Entomology, Shuck- 

 ard wrote in a footnote under the first genus, "The type, when British, 

 will be indicated by its being printed in small capitals in the list of 

 species ..." By this means he has indicated the types of most of the 

 British genera, without making a specific statement about each. 



An example of (2) : In 1849 a group of 11 "disciples" of Cuvier 

 issued a new edition of his Le Regne Animal. The title-page bore the 

 following statement: "Edition accompagnee de planches gravees, 

 representant les types de tons les genres ..." This is acceptable as 

 designation, although the Commission has never ruled upon it. 



An example of (3) is provided in 1910 in volume 1 of the Memoirs 

 on the Coleoptera, in which Casey on page 90 under a new genus 

 states, "The first species may be regarded as the type, as in all cases 

 where the type is not specifically named." This would seem to apply 

 to all names in this volume. 



The only example of (4) known to me is that of Fabricius in 1792 

 to 1805. This system (described in detail by Malaise and by Black- 

 welder) consisted in giving a special description of the mouthparts 

 for one species in each genus. This one species was thereby set apart 

 as the anchor of the genus, the representative of the generic structure 

 — in short, as the genotype. Although this system is not universally 

 accepted as designation, it appears consistent with the principles out- 

 lined above. It is accepted here, although only one of the designations 

 applies to a staphylinid (see Stenus). 



Many other examples of these types of designation might be given, 

 along with a few apparently similar ones which do not meet minimum 

 requirements. An example of the latter is Curtis, 1837, A Guide to 

 an Arrangement of British Insects . . . (second edition), in which 

 certain names are proposed for sections of large genera. It is 

 stated that the first species listed after such names is always "a typical 

 species." Since it is always a British species and usually not an 

 originally included one, it is best to consider this as less than unambig- 

 uous type selection. (This case was submitted to the International 

 Commission in 1947 but has not yet been dealt with. ) 



c. Elimination: Opinion 6. "When a later author divides the 

 genus A, species Ab and Ac, leaving genus A, only species Ab, and 

 genus C, monotypic with species Cc, the second author is to be con- 

 strued as having fixed the tj^'pe of genus A." This special case is not 

 in conformity with the principles of genotype designation employed 

 in most of the rest of the Rules and Opinions. It is not to be extended 

 in the logical manner to general cases of elimination (see Article 

 30.III.k) , although apparently it can reasonably be extended to cases 



