THE GENERIC NAME BOTYS, LATR. 141 



show what a fund of new materials for the study of one species is 

 afforded hy the Natural Historij of Jlritish Bnttoylies, and what is true 

 of L. boeticns is equally true of the vast and comprehensive store of 

 details Mr. Tutt has provided in every page of his unrivalled hook. 



The generic name Botys, Latr. 



By LOUIS B. PROUT, F.E.S. 



We have long been threatened with a transference of the above 

 name to the (reometrides {vide Moore, Lep. Ceyl., in., p. 301, footnote ; 

 Kirby, Handb., v., p. 233 ; Meyrick, Tram. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1892, 

 p. 78), and it became necessary for me, in the course of my researches, 

 to investigate its history thoroughly. The original description reads 

 as follows : — 



Botys, Latr., " Hist. Nat.," iii., p. 414 (1802). — Quatres palpes distincts, 

 dont deux plus petits, appliques sur les autres. Antennes cilices ou simples. Une 

 trompe. Ailes horisontales ou legerement inclinees, formant avec le corps un 

 triangle presque isocele. Pattes posterieures longues, toujours tres-epineuses. 

 Species cited — erigatus { = angmtalis, Schiff.), colonum ( = socii'lla, Linn.), pxirpur- 

 aria ('! =pur})uralis, Linn.), and potamogata (=nyinphaeata, Linn.). 



The following is the further important bibliography briefly 

 summarised : — 



1803. Latr., " Det. Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat.," vi., p. 471 ; cites same four 

 species. 



1804. Latr., ibid., xxiv., p. 200; cites only erigatus -And purpuraria. 



1805. Latr., " Hist. Nat.," xiv., p. 250 ; cites j^io'puraria a,nd potamogata . 

 But on page 224 he has also piirpuraria under Phalaena [ = Geowietra] , so that he 

 clearly does not know the species well. 



1809. Latr., " Gen. Crust, et Ins.," iv.,p. 229; gives 10 species, including 

 purpuraria, potamogata, and (doubtfully — "congener videtur ") erigatus, but not 

 colonum; diagnoses the larva as " sexdecimpoda." 



1810. Latr., " Consid. Gen.," p. 441; specifies i)urpuraria, Fb., and pota- 

 mogata, Fb., as types of the genus. 



1816. Latr., " Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat.," iv., pp. 232-4 ; describes potamogata 

 and others under Botys, and briefly alludes to " purpuralig, Linn.," etc., as further 

 examples of the genus. 



1816. Lam., " Hist. Nat.," iii., p. 556 ; cites purpuraria as type of genus. 



1817. Latr., " Regne Anim.," iii., pp. 572-3 ; gives 8 species, including only 

 potamogata of his original list. 



1819. Sam., " Ent. Comp.," p. 255 ; cites only purpuraria . 



1824. Zinck., " Ersch and Gruber," xii., p. 103; cites purpuraria and pota- 

 mogata of Latreille's original species, but points out that the former cannot belong 

 to the genus as characterised. 



1825. Latr., " Fam. Nat.," p. 478; gives, under Section I of "Crambites," 

 4 genera, which are latinised in Berthold's translation, thus : — 



1827. Berthold, " Latr. Nat. Fam.," p. 485; Boti/s (nom. nud.); Hydro- 

 campus (nom. nud., except for citation of potamogata as type); Aglossa (nom. nud.); 

 and liithyia (nom. nud., except for citation of colonum as type). 



1829. Latr., " Regne Anim.," nouv. ed., v., p. 418 ; describes only uriu-rtfa 

 and verticalis [ruralis] under Ilotys, adding other mere names, inclusive of "pHj"- 

 puraria of Fb.," in a footnote. 



1829. Steph., " Cat. Brit. Ins.," ii., p. 164 ; restricts to urticata. 



1830. Curt., " Brit. Ent.," vii., fol. 312; says the type is the Geometer, 

 Phalaena purpuraria, Linn. 



1831. Dup., " Hist. Nat.," viii., pt. 2, p. 10; gives type urticalis. 



Is34. Steph., " 111. Haust.," iv., p. 46, footnote; criticises Curtis, stating 

 that the type, as established by Latreille in 1802, is erigatus { = aiigustalis), And 

 that " Mr. Curtis would have detected this had he followed the principles laid down 

 by himself .... by reading the characters instead of merely looking at the 

 names of tlu; species;" further states that purpuraria was given by Latreille 

 tbrough a lapsud calami ior purpurali?. 



