128 PKOCEEDINGS OF THE MALACO LOGICAL SOCIEXr. 



cqjetanus. The first-named was designated, as type, on p. 169. 

 Tliis cannot be considered the same name as Lepidochitona, the two 

 roots having entirely different meanings. ^l-^<- 'y^-p--^ Lmj Hm z^^z-a— 



The genus-name Amicula. 



Pilsbry in the Man. Conch., vol. xv, p. 63, 1893, gives, as tiie 

 primary introduction of this genus-name, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 

 1847, pp. 66, 69, 169, and notes the 8yn."Brit. Mus., 1840, usage 

 as earlier, but without diagnosis. In the Proc. Malac. Soc. Lond., 

 vol. X, pp. 294-309, 1913, I gave the results of my investigation of 

 the Synopses British Museum. There I sliowed that in 1840, on 

 p. 148, appeared the new generic name Amicula. On p. 302 I showed 

 that in the 1840 A edition, p. 127, the following note was given: 

 " Acanthochetes is peculiar for having a bundle of bristles placed on 

 each side of the valves ; and Chitonellus and Amicula only differ in 

 having the valves nearly hidden in the mantle of the animals." 

 I would agree with Pilsbry that there can be no determination about 

 a name introduced in this manner. 



In Dieffenbach's Travels in New Zealand, vol. ii, p. 246, 1843, 

 Gray included as a New ZeaUmd shell '■'■Amicula montictdaris. 

 Chiton monticularis, Q,uoy et Gaim., Voy. AstroL, iii, 406, t. 73, 

 f. 30-36 ". This is tlie first time Amicula is generically used as 

 a recognizable group, and consequently tliat name falls as a synonym 

 of Cryiitoconchus.^ Cryptoconclms is rejected by Pilsbry as of Burrow, 

 1815, and dated from Guilding, 1829. 



In the Elements of Conchology, 1815, Burrow described a shell 

 under the name Chiton porostis (p. 189), and figured it, pi. xxviii, 

 fig. 1, giving "Habitat uncertain, probably New South "Wales". On 

 p. 190 he wrote : " They (tliis and the succeeding species) have been 

 examined by Dr. Blainville, of Paris, by whom a communication 

 respecting them has, it is understood, been made to tlie Frencli 

 Philomatic Society. The names he has affixed to the two species are 

 Cnj2}toconchus porosus and C. larvceformisy According to the Opinions 

 rendered bv the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, 

 Cryptoconchus must be recognized as from this introduction. If it 

 were not it might be argued that it should fall as a substitute name 

 for Cryptoplax, Blainville. This genus-name introduced in the Diet. 

 Sci. Nat. (Levrault), vol. xii, p. 124, 1818, contained the same two 

 species, but both genus-name and one species-name were changed ; 

 thus Cryptoplax larvi/ormis, Blainville = Cryptoconchus larvceforwis, 

 Burrow, ex Blainville MS., and Cryptoplax depressus, Blainville = 

 Cryptoconchua porosus, Burrow, ex Blainville MS. Blainville states 

 that Cryptoplax was " Sous-genre de I'ordre des oscabrions, etabli par 

 M. H. de Blainville, dans le Supplement ii 1' Encyclopedic d'Edinbourg". 

 It would ap[)ear that Blainville's articles concerning these molluscs 

 were too advanced to meet witli approval by the powers that were 

 concerned in the publication, as neither in the Bulletin of the French 

 Philomatic Society nor in the Supplement to the Encyclopedia 

 Britannica are thej' included. 



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