June-Sept., 1919.] TlMBERLAKE! HlPPODAMIA, 163 



vergens is preposterous and the biological data and conclusions drawn 

 therefrom are vitiated by the fact that he confused at least six valid 

 species under this name, viz., convergent, moesta, extensa, 15-macn- 

 lata, 5-signata and lecontei. His treatment of the other species is 

 more sonservative and for the most part not open to this objection. 



It is also necessary to consider the status of the genus Spilota 

 Billberg 5 to which Mr. H. S. Barber has called the writer's attention 

 as a possible substitute for Hippodamia. Apparently this genus was 

 validly proposed and is open to use. Billberg included at least eight 

 described species with references to Schonherr 6 although he gave no 

 description. The genus was proposed as a segregate of Coccinella 

 and included those species known to Billberg which on the whole 

 were more slender and spotted than those remaining in Coccinella. 

 So far as the writer can determine this was practically Billberg's sole 

 conception of his genus, sufficiently vague as it may seem. The genus 

 has never been recognized or brought into use by subsequent authors 

 and it seems advisable to reach some conclusion at this time concern- 

 ing its status, whether to suppress it definitely as a synonym if that 

 is possible, or let it replace some later name. 



In selecting a genotype for Spilota it seems best to pursue the 

 same course that would be applicable if it had been long in use, that 

 is to consider all subsequent genera as its segregates. This pro- 

 cedure in some cases may distort the author's conception of the genus 

 in question, but on the other hand is less liable to upset the current 

 nomenclature. Pursuant to this course w r e find that after Anisosticta, 

 Mcgilla, Hippodamia, Adonia and Aphidecta with their validly in- 

 cluded species have been excluded from consideration there is only 

 one species left in Billberg's list, viz., 11-punctata. This species is 

 therefore definitely chosen as the genotype of Spilota Billberg, 

 although it may be observed that the first species of the list, 19- 

 punctata, the genotype of Anisosticta, probably conforms the most 

 closely to Billberg's conception. 11-pnnctatc of Billberg and Schon- 

 herr is evidently Linne's species 7 and a slightly aberrant Cocinclla, 

 so that Spilota thus sinks as a synonym of Coccinella Linne. This 

 may not seem quite just when Spilota was proposed as a segregate 



5 Enumeratio Insectorum in Museum Billberg, p. 61, 1820. 

 G Synonyma Insectorum, Vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 185, 1808. 

 7 Systema Naturae, p. 366, 1758. 



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