8 T. THORELL, 
sometimes nomina trivialia, sometimes verbose differentiæ specificæ to distin- 
guish the species they treat of.") 
It appears furthermore from this, that we ought not, as in some 
quarters has been proposed, to fix upon either the X”, or still less the X 77^ 
Edition of Linnés Systema Nature as the starting point from which prio- 
rity in specific names is to be reckoned.?) For most Classes of animals no- 
mina trivialia have been first employed by LINNÉ himself, and that in the 
X” Ed. of the Systema Nature; but this is not the case with all, and as 
regards Spiders in particular, CLERCK has already 1757, in his famous work 
"Svenska Spindlar, Aranei Suecici', applied LiNNÉ's nomenclature with per- 
fect consistency, and aceordingly the denominations given by him in that work 
have right of priority in preference to the Linnean, as I have more fully 
shown in my ec. crit. Aran. p. 4 et seq. 
As regards generic names the above named Committee seems to as- 
sume, that for them, as for specific names, priority ought not to be recko- 
ned farther back than to the date of Systema Nature Edit. XII (1767): 
SUNDEVALL on the contrary considers Edit. I of that work (1735) as the li- 
mit that ought to be chosen. The most reasonable and consistent method 
would perhaps seem to be, either to reckon the priority of generic names 
also from the epoch of the introduction of the binominal system into the sci- 
ence, with the same limits, that we have indieated in the case of specific 
names, i. e. from 1751; or else to take into account, in determining that pri- 
ority, all works in which species have been consistently grouped in "genera", 
in the modern meaning of that word, quite as, in determining the priority 
of specific names, account should be taken of all works, in which nomi- 
na trivialia are consistently used. Against the first alternative the impor- 
tant objection may be made, that since in Botany a large number of far 
older generic names has been generally accepted — botanists in fact rec- 
1) Gaze has (in "LrsrERS Naturgeschichte d. Spinnen") undertaken to give na- 
mes to a number of spiders described or figured by some older authors, as ALBIN and 
ScHuFFER; but as among these names some occur of such a form as for example 
7 Aranea tetra abdomine mucronato”. " A. atro-alboque lineata”, there is surely no rea- 
son to burden the lists of synonyms with these names, nor to make any account of 
them in determining questions of priority. For the names of the spiders figured by 
SCHAFFER, priority should be reckoned from PANZER's Syst. Nomencl. to SCHEFFER’S 
Icones Insect. Ratisbon. (1804). 
2) The above named British Committee proposes Ed. XII (1767), SUNDEVALL 
(in Arsberättelse öfver Zoologiens framsteg 1840—42) with more reason Ed. X (1758) 
— as being that in which the binominal system was first applied to both kingdoms 
of organic nature — as the starting point for specific names. 
