154 [July. 



PEELIMINAEY DlAaNOSBS OF SOME NEW GENERA OF 

 BLATTID^. 



BY R. SHELPORD, M.A., F.L.S. 



The name PhyUodromia being occupied in the Biptera, it is evident 

 that it cannot stand also for a genus of cockroaches. In 1903, Mr. A. 

 N. Caudell proposed the name BJattella as a substitute for Phylludromia, 

 Serville, the type of the genus being the Blatta (jermanica of Tiinuseus. 

 Most Orthopterists followed his lead, but I confess that I was not of 

 the number. It had long been obvious that the genus PhyUodromia 

 of Serville stood in urgent need of revision and sub-division, for it 

 had become nothing but a diunping- ground for species which would 

 not fit into the other genera of the sub-family. As I did not see my 

 way clear to a useful revision of this heterogeneous assemblage of 

 species, there appeared to be no particular object to be gained by sub- 

 stituting BlatteUa for PhyUodromia in the case of species which 

 evidently were not strictly congeneric with germanica, L. The ill- 

 considered transference of names in zoological nomenclature is a 

 fruitful source of irritation, and many zoologists apparently fail to 

 realize that the substitution of a new name for an old one is not always 

 the only thing needed to reduce confusion to order. If they did 

 realize it they would avoid such scandals as the alteration of the name 

 of a British bat three times in less than that number of years.* 



My refusal to follow Mr. Caudell' s lead evoked some rather caustic 

 criticism on the part of that entomologist in the pages of the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, and as the 

 Washington Entomological Society refused to give me a hearing in 

 the pages of their publication, I may perhaps be excused for publishing 

 in this Journal something in the nat\u-e of an apologia. 



As the result of examining the types of several critical species, I 

 have come to the conclusion that PhyUodromia, Seiw., can be split up 

 into at least six genera, one of which is BlatteUa, Caud., and PhyUo- 

 dromia may now safely be relinquished to the Dipterists. 



The following are short diagnoses of BlatteUa and of the new 

 genera : — 



BlatteUa, Caud. 



Antennse setaceous. Tegmhia and wings exceeding the apex of the abdo- 



" The nomeiiclatui-e of the Mammalia is, however, in such a state of flux that no man 

 knoweth from one day to another what the recognised scientific names of such well-known 

 animals as, for example, the Chimpanzee and Barbary Ape, really are. 



