NO. 2 OPINIONS 78 TO 81 13 



The subsequent discussion between Banks and Stiles as to what 

 specimens in the museums were actually designated as types of 

 D. venustus, but which had never been so designated in any publica- 

 tion, seems to me irrelevant. 



The published record of the two forms and their gradual fixation 

 nomenclatorially by the various revisers may be briefly summarized 

 as follows : 



D. VENUSTUS 



1897. Component of the complex D. reticulatus Neumann (no type designation). 

 1908. Component of the complex D. venustus Banks (no type designation). 

 1910. Segregated from D. vcmisttis Banks 1908 and type designated by Stiles: 

 Marx No. 122. 



D. ANDERSONI 



1908. June. Montana specimens (not named) included in the complex 



D. venustus Banks (no type designation). 

 1910. August. Type designated by Stiles. 



I am, therefore, of the opinion that the answer to Dr. W. Dwight 

 Pierce's communication should be : 



1. That the Commission as such is incompetent to express an 

 Opinion as to the name of the spotted fever tick. It can only take 

 cognizance of the systematic names which have been applied to the 

 various forms mentioned b}' him, and decide as to their applicability 

 under the Code as disclosed by the records before the Commission. 



2. On basis of these records it appears that, assuming the taxonomic 

 distinctness of these forms, 



a. The name Dermacentor venustus INIarx in Neumann 1897 

 belongs to a form with the specimen Marx No. 122, from Texas 

 as holotype. 



b. The name Dermacentor andcrsoni Stiles 1908 belongs to a 

 form with specimen U. S. P. H. & M. H.S. 9467, from Wood- 

 man, Montana, as the holotype. 



Opinion written by Stejneger. 



Opinion concurred in by 11 Commissioners: Allen, Apstein, 

 Bather, Loennberg, Handlirsch, Hoyle, D. S. Jordan, K. Jordan, 

 Monticelli, vSkinner, and Stejneger. 



Opinion dissented from by two Commissioners: Horvath and 

 Kolbe. 



Horvath states : '' Je n'accepte que la seconde partic dc la proposi- 

 tion, celle qui se rapporte au nom de Dermacentor andersoni Stiles, 

 1908. En ce qui concerne la premiere partie de la proposition, I'auteur 

 de Dermacentor venustus est, a mon avis, incontestablement Banks 

 qui en a public en 1908 la premiere description. D. venustus Marx in 



