NO. 4 OI'INIONS 91 TO 97 TT] 



Thus a legitimate (luestion arises as to whether Iluhner intended 

 Kcrcis Polyiiiiiia etc. to Ije interpreted as binomial combinations in 

 nomenclattire. Ajjparentl)- 107 binomial combinations of this type 

 are involved. 



Were it not for fUibner's later publication 1816 the presumption 

 would be that Limuas Polyiuula of 1806 represents a l)inomial com- 

 bination of our generic and specific names, /. c, his cijittis and generic 

 names. ^ 



Further, it is seen that 1 liibner sometimes qtiotes his "coitus" 

 (ottr genus) in the plural, other times in the singular, and that his 

 "genus" (" Gattung '') is our species. 



The Secretary concludes that the plural names cited in 1806 in 

 Hiibner's Tentamen represent a stipergeneric taxonomic tmit which 

 in 1816 Hiibner calls a Stamm (German) or Stirjis (Latin) but that 

 the question is open to debate whether the binomial combinations 

 (example L'unnas Polynniin ) in 1806 are intended to designate mono- 

 typic genera. However clear the title of the Tentamen may be to 

 specialists in Lcpidoptcra it was not clear to the Secretary tuitil he 

 consulted Hiibner, 1816, |). 8. The word sfirpium in the title of the 

 Tentamen becomes unambiguous in 1816, namely, it refers to the 

 Stamm (German) =Stirps (Latin), namely, a supergeneric tmit and 

 it becomes obvious that the real oljject back of the Tentamen was 

 the tentative division of the Lcpidoptcra into supergeneric groups 

 (Stirps = Stamm), and not the consideration of 107 generic names 

 with their type sjiecies. In other words Hiibner asked, his special 

 colleagttes for their opinion on the names printed in the pltiral, not 

 on the question of the validity of new genera. 



^ Mr. Benjamin, in correspondence vvitli the Secretary, has pointed out that 

 five of the names u.sed by Hiihncr are of prior date, namely — 



1. Hcpiahis [emended to llrl^ioliis hy Illiserl hnmUi Fahr., 1775, 589. 



2. Ptcrophorus pcnfadailyhts (Linn., i/S^a [Phalaciia]) b'altr., 1775, 672, 



cf. Ptcrophora pcntadaclyla in Hulnier. 



3. Scsia ciiUcifonitis (Linn., 1758a ISj^hinx] ) h'aljr., 1775. .549- 



4. Thyris Laspeyrcs in Tlliger, 1803, IT, 39 [Cf. Tliyris Ochscnh., 1808, cited 



hy Agassiz.j 



5. Zygaeiia UlipcuduJac (Linn., 1758a [Sphinx\) Falir., 1775, 550. 



and Mr. Benjamin maintains that Hiihncr attempts to fix the tj'pc for 

 Zygacna. 



The Secretary lias cliecked these references (no. 4 in Agassi/.; nos. i, 2, 3, 

 5, in Slierhorn ). 



Mr. Benjamin lias undonhtcdly raised an interesting point ; hut the Secretary 

 is not persuaded that the argument is materially altered; nor is it clear to 

 the Secretary that the type of Zygacna was fixed hy Iluhner. — Note added after 

 third vote was taken. 



