NO. 3 OPINIONS 82 TO 90 3 



14. Macquart, J., 1834, Insectes Dipteres du Nord de la France, Athericercs. 



Genus Mouche, Musca (p. 19). On pp. 19, 20. " Ce genre dans lequel 

 Linnee comprenait non seulement rimmense famille des Muscides, mais 

 encore les Syrphides, etc. . . . , est arrive, par I'effet des divisions . . . , 

 a ne contenir que la Mouche donicstiqiic et quelques especes yoisines. 

 Cet insecte, a ete considere comme le type de tant d'autres, et dont le 

 nom si vulgaire, depuis la plus haute antiquite, a rcgu des acceptions si 

 varices, parait maintenant degage de tout ce qui lui est etranger." 



Genus Calliphora (pp. 23-26) includes as first species, vomitoria. 



15. Westwood, John O., 1840, an introduction to the Modern Classification of 



Insects. Calliphora. Type designated as vomitoria (p. 141, see also 

 569). Musca. Type designated as domcstica (p. 141, see also 570). 



16. Coquillett, D. W., 1910. The type species of North American genera of 



Diptera. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. Z7, No. 1719- On page 517, 

 "Calliphora Desvoidy, Essai Myod., p. 433. 1830, 17 species. Type, 

 Musca erythrocephala Meigen, by original designation (as vomitoria 

 Linnaeus)." 

 On p. 571, "Musca Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., 19th ed., p. 589, 1758, 100 

 species. Type, Musca domestica Linnaeus, the fifty-fourth species, by 

 designation of Macquart, Ins. Dipt. Nord. France, Ather., 1834, p. 20." 



17. Townsend. C. H. T., 1915. Correction of the misuse of the generic name 



Musca, with description of tv^ro new genera. Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci., 

 vol. 5, No. 12, pp. 433-436. 

 Musca Linnaeus, type vomitoria F. = L. (designated by Latreille 1810, 



p. 444) . 

 Calliphora R.-D., 1830, type vomitoria R.-D. nee L. = M. erythrocephala 



Meigen, which is congeneric with vomitoria L. 



Promusca Townsend, n. gen., type by original designation, domcstica L. 



Discussion by Dr. Pierce. — There is no question from above data, if they 



present the entire case, that Musca has for its type vomitoria L., and that 



Townsend was completely in accord with the International Rules and Opinions 



in erecting a new genus for domestica. 



From the standpoint purely of cold-blooded legal procedure there is no other 

 way to look at the question. 



On the other hand the Congress of Zoology has left open a method of pro- 

 cedure whereby common usage can be made to supersede the strict application 

 of the Law of Priority. 



There can be no question, after looking over the above references and the 

 thousands of publications on both of these extremely important medicinal 

 species, that it would be a great misfortune to the public at large, the entomo- 

 logical and the medical professions, to adopt the legally correct combinations 

 proposed by Dr. Townsend. Musca domestica has been known from time of 

 antiquity, and has never been known otherwise since the establishment of the 

 binomial nomenclature in 1758. Very few insects or even animals have such a 

 reputation. Only one man (Townsend). whose departure from custom has 

 not been accepted, has ventured to upset the stability of this name, for we 

 can hardly assume that Latreille expected domestica to be separated from 

 Musca when he made his designation of vomitoria, if indeed he intended it as a 

 designation in our present sense of the word. Many believe he meant only 

 example. 



