NO. I OPINIONS 68 TO yj 17 



Discussion. — The question has been submitted by the Secretary of 

 this Commission to the Seci'etary of the International Commission on 

 Entomological Nomenclature, who has reported as follows : 



Although some members of the Entomological Committee are of opinion 

 that Westwood did not mean to designate genotypes in the modern sense, 

 it is unanimously agreed that the species mentioned by Westwood under a 

 genus should be considered genotype, if it was originally included in the genus, 

 and if no genotype has been designated prior to Westwood. 



That some authors have used the expression " Typical species " 

 simply in the sense of a characteristic example of a genus, and that 

 others have used it in the sense of " Type species," seems quite clear. 

 Accordingly each paper must be judged separately in deciding whether 

 the case in question fulfills the requirements of the Code that " the 

 meaning of the expression ' select the type " is to be rigidly construed. 

 Mention of a species as an illustration or example of a genus does not 

 constitute a selection of a type." 



In connection with Westwood's Synopsis, there are two points of 

 evidence that seem to come into special consideration in arriving at an 

 interpretation of his use of the expression " Typical species." 



First, Westwood (1839, vol. i, p. vi, Introduction to Modern Classi- 

 fication of Insects) distinctly states that " The idea of the addition of 

 this synopsis was derived from Latreille's Considerations Generales, 

 in which the genera are shortly characterised, and the names of the 

 typical species given in an Appendix " ; accordingly Westwood 

 intended that his Synopsis with " Typical species " should correspond 

 to Latreille's " Table des genres avec I'indication de I'cspece qui leiir 

 sert dc type " [italics not in the original] . 



The Commission has already adopted the Opinion (no. 11, pp. 

 17-18) that Latreille's Table . . . . " should be accepted as desig- 

 nation of types of the genera in question (Art. 30)." Accordingly, 

 since Westwood definitely states that his idea was obtained from 

 Latreille's (1810) publication, it would appear logical to conclude that 

 Westwood's (1840) Synopsis also is to be construed as designation 

 of genotype. 



Second: The foregoing interpretation of Westwood's citation 

 receives support in the fact that in his Synopsis (see the case of 

 Demetrius) he cites the original generic name under which the species 

 was published. For instance, on p. i, he gives the following: 

 " Demetrias BonelH. Rhysophiliis Leach. 4 sp. Carab. atricapillus 

 Linn." This is a method of citation very common among authors 

 who are designating genotypes, but it is relatively uncommon when an 

 author is simply citing a species as an example of a genus. In the 



