SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 73 



OPINION 116 



Bulimus ScopoLi, 1777, vs. Biilinus Mueller, 1781, vs. 

 Buliuius Bruguiere, 1792 



Summary. — The Commission does not interpret Bulimus Scopoli, 1777, as 

 an obvious typographical error; the premises do not show that the genotype 

 (which must be selected from the four originally included species) has been 

 definitely and properly designated. Bulinus Mueller, 1781, has for its type 

 Bulinus scncgalcusis, and is not invalidated by Bulimus, 1777. Bulimus Bru- 

 guiere, 1792, type hacmastomus seu oblonga is a dead homonym of Bulimus, 

 1777. 



Statement of case. — Dr. H. A. Pilsbry, of Philadelphia, presents 

 the following case for Opinion : 



The questions the Commission is asked to decide are : 



1. Can Bulimus Scopoh, 1777, be retained with its original orthography and 

 restricted to one of the four Linnean species mentioned by Scopoli? 



2. Will the use of Bulinus O. F. Mueller, 1781, be considered inadmissible on 

 account of the prior Bulimus? ^ 



3. Can B. senegalensis O. F. Mueller, properly be considered type of Bulinus 

 Mueller, thus preserving the traditional meaning of the term? 



The name " Le Bulin, Bulinus " was introduced by Adanson in his Histoire 

 nat. du Senegal, Coquillages, 1757, p. 5, pi. i. His work was pre-Linnean, but 

 its nomenclature was in the main Linnean. He recognized genera and species, 

 each denoted by single terms, but he did not use them in combination, and in the 

 case of monotypic genera, such as Bulinus, Coretiis, Pedipes, he did not name 

 the species further, the generic term sei^ving for both genus and species. 



The first post-Linnean author to take up the matter was Scopoli, Introductio 

 ad Historiam Naturalium, 1777, who on p. 392 introduces: 



" 64. Bulimus. Adans. Testa univalvis, non umbilicata ; apertura ovali. Mollus- 

 cum tentaculis binis, basi appendiculatis ; puncto ophtalmoide distincto aut radi- 

 cali Swammerdam. Tab. IX. Fig. 4. 



"Helix putris Linn., 1758a, 774, jragilis Linn., 1758a, 774, stagnalis Linn., 

 1758a, 774, tentaculata Linn., 17580, 774, nee non aliae non paucae terrestres 

 CI. Miillerii. 



" Pedipes Adanson, diversus Testae apertura dentata." 



The generic characters given apply well to the species he mentioned, which 

 belong to three modern genera : 



Helix, putris to Snccinea. 



Helix jragilis and stagnalis to Lymnaea. 



Helix tentaculata to Bithynia. 



Scopoli did not refer to Adanson's species except so far as may be implied by 

 adopting a modification of his name. [His differential diagnosis, as respects 

 Pedipes, is in harmony with Adanson, 1757, pp. 6, 12. — C. W. S.j 



^ The names Bulimus and Bulinus have been in common use, without con- 

 fusion, for about a century, for different genera of mollusks. 



