4 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 73 



OPINION 106 



The Type of Oestrus Linn., 1758, is O. ovis. 



Summary. — The type of Oestrus Linn., 1758, is O. ovis (Art. 3og). 

 Latreille's designation of Oestrus cqui Fabr. as type of Oestrus is not valid 

 (Art. 30g). The following five names of dipterous genera are hereby placed in 

 the Official List of Generic Names: CepJicnemyia (type troiiipc), Gasterophiliis 

 (type eqiii of Clark, synonym of intcstinaJis de Geer), Hypoderma (type 

 hovis), Ocdcmagcna (type tarandi), and Oestrus (type ovis). 



Statement of case. — Professor W. S. Patton, Liverpool School 

 of Tropical Medicine, has submitted the following case : 



I am writing to request you to place before the Corrunission on Zoological 

 Nomenclature data on which an application is based for Suspension of the 

 Rules of Priority on the following cases: Oestrus L., 1758 {Gasterophiliis 

 Leach, 1817, nee Gastrophilus auct.) with Oestrus intestinalis de Geer as type, 

 and to place Gasterophiliis Leach, 181 7, in the Official List of Generic Names 

 with G. intestinalis as type; Cephaleniyia Latr., 1810, with C. ovis L. as type, 

 and to place Oestrus L. in the Official List of Generic Names with O. ovis as 

 type. 



The facts connected with the nomenclature of the horse hots and warble flies 

 are briefly as follows : In 1758 Linnaeus founded the genus Oestrus including 

 in it the following five species, the first being the type of the genus. 



1. Oestrus boms [type host Bos taurus]. 



2. Oestrus tarandi [type host Cervus tarandus]. 



3. Oestrus nasalis [type host Equus caballus]. 



4. Oestrus haemorrhoidalis [type host Equus caballus]. 



5. Oestrus ovis [type host Ovis arics]. 



It is quite clear from the description of Oestrus bovis tliat Linnaeus meant 

 the common horse bot which has for more than a century been known as 

 Gastcrophilus intestinalis de Geer {equi Clark), and not the equally familiar 

 warble fly of cattle, HypodertHa bozns. In 1818 Latreille revised these species 

 and erected four genera for the reception of the Linnaean species as follows : 



1. Hypoderma for Oestrus bovis. 



2. Cephaleniyia for Oestrus ovis. 



3. Oedemagcna for Oestrus tarandi. 



4. Cephenemyia for Oestrus nasalis. 



In 1817 Leach erected the genus Gasterophiliis (nee Gastrophilus auct.) with 

 bovis L. (equi Clark) as type, and included in it haemorrhoidalis L. Clark later 

 clearly recognized Linnaeus's original mistake, and pointed out that many of 

 the older authors used the name bo7Ms in this erroneous sense. 



Without going further into this extremely involved question of nomenclature, 

 it is clear that if the Law of Priority is to be strictly adhered to, the horse 

 bots should be placed in the genus Oestrus and the common species known 

 specifically as bozns. The results would then l)c as follows : 



