﻿NO. 
  1136. 
  OBSERVATIOXS 
  OK 
  THE 
  ASTJCIDJE—FAXOX. 
  6G3 
  

  

  ill 
  a 
  " 
  Table 
  des 
  Geures 
  avec 
  I'indicatioii 
  de 
  I'espece 
  qui 
  leur 
  seit 
  de 
  

   type," 
  designated 
  A. 
  fluviatilis 
  as 
  the 
  type 
  of 
  the 
  genus 
  Astacm. 
  In 
  

   1814 
  and 
  1815 
  Leach 
  ' 
  farther 
  curtailed 
  the 
  genus 
  by 
  remoYin<>- 
  .4. 
  nor- 
  

   vegicus 
  as 
  the 
  type 
  of 
  the 
  new 
  genus 
  Xephrops. 
  The 
  genus 
  Astariis, 
  

   thus 
  restricted, 
  retained 
  only 
  two 
  of 
  the 
  valid 
  original 
  species, 
  namely, 
  

   .4. 
  marhius 
  (the 
  European 
  lobster) 
  and 
  A.fJiiriatills 
  (the 
  coniniou 
  Enio- 
  

   pean 
  crayfish). 
  In 
  1811)- 
  Leach 
  Avent 
  a 
  step 
  further, 
  and 
  separated 
  

   the 
  crayfishes 
  from 
  the 
  lobster, 
  instituting 
  a 
  new 
  genus 
  Potamobiufi 
  

   for 
  the 
  former, 
  leaving 
  the 
  latter 
  as 
  the 
  representative 
  of 
  the 
  restricted 
  

   genus 
  Astacus. 
  This 
  restriction 
  of 
  Astacus 
  to 
  the 
  marine 
  species 
  is 
  

   nullified 
  by 
  Latreille's 
  specification 
  oi 
  A. 
  flnviatUis 
  as 
  the 
  type 
  of 
  Asta- 
  

   cus 
  in 
  1810.-' 
  In 
  1837 
  Milne-Edwards^ 
  did 
  essentially 
  the 
  same 
  thing 
  

   that 
  Leach 
  had 
  done 
  in 
  1819, 
  but 
  he 
  left 
  the 
  crayfishes 
  in 
  Astacus, 
  and 
  

   made 
  the 
  lobster 
  the 
  type 
  of 
  the 
  new 
  genus 
  Homarus. 
  This 
  being 
  in 
  

   accord 
  with 
  Latreille's 
  designation 
  of 
  A.Jiuriatilis 
  as 
  the 
  type 
  of 
  .l.vra- 
  

   cus, 
  the 
  European 
  lobster 
  should 
  be 
  called 
  by 
  the 
  modern 
  rules 
  of 
  

   nomenclature 
  (restoring 
  the 
  Linn;iean 
  specific 
  name) 
  Homarus 
  gammarus 
  

   (Linnaeus), 
  while 
  the 
  European 
  crayfish, 
  as 
  Astacus 
  astacus 
  (Linna'us), 
  

   stands 
  as 
  the 
  type 
  of 
  the 
  genus 
  Astacus. 
  

  

  Mr. 
  T. 
  R. 
  R. 
  Stebbing'' 
  argues 
  that 
  Latreille, 
  in 
  his 
  ''Table 
  des 
  Genres 
  

   avec 
  I'indication 
  de 
  I'espece 
  qui 
  leur 
  sert 
  de 
  type,' 
  probably 
  designated 
  

   Astacus 
  fiuviatiUs 
  "not 
  as 
  the 
  type, 
  but 
  merely 
  as 
  a 
  type, 
  an 
  example," 
  

   of 
  the 
  genus 
  Astacus, 
  and 
  that 
  Leach's 
  restriction 
  in 
  1819 
  was 
  tliere- 
  

   fore 
  valid. 
  As 
  I 
  understand 
  it, 
  the 
  French 
  word 
  'type' 
  means 
  'model,' 
  

   'type,' 
  or 
  'standard,' 
  not 
  'example' 
  or 
  'illustration' 
  (Gallice 
  exempU). 
  

   1 
  see 
  no 
  reason 
  for 
  going 
  behind 
  Latreille's 
  plain 
  words, 
  to 
  indulge 
  in 
  

   uncertain 
  speculation 
  concerning 
  his 
  possible 
  meaning. 
  If 
  Mr. 
  Steb- 
  

   bing 
  is 
  unwilling 
  to 
  allow 
  Latreille 
  the 
  use 
  of 
  the 
  word 
  Hype' 
  in 
  its 
  

   technical 
  sense, 
  by 
  what 
  'statute 
  of 
  limitation' 
  will 
  he 
  fix 
  the 
  year 
  

   when 
  the 
  word 
  acquired 
  that 
  meaning"? 
  Even 
  if 
  it 
  be 
  admitted 
  that 
  

   there 
  is 
  some 
  doubt 
  concerning 
  the 
  significance 
  of 
  the 
  word 
  'type' 
  as 
  

   cmi)loyed 
  by 
  Latreille, 
  the 
  benefit 
  of 
  the 
  doubt 
  should, 
  by 
  a 
  reasonable 
  

   ruling 
  applicable 
  to 
  all 
  such 
  cases, 
  be 
  given 
  to 
  a 
  long-established 
  termi- 
  

   nology. 
  Between 
  1819 
  and 
  1893, 
  the 
  date 
  of 
  Stebbing's 
  "History 
  of 
  

   the 
  Crustacea," 
  the 
  name 
  Fotamobius 
  was 
  applied 
  to 
  the 
  crayfishes 
  but 
  

   thrice, 
  so 
  far 
  as 
  I 
  know, 
  namely, 
  by 
  Adam 
  White 
  in 
  his 
  "Catalogue 
  of 
  

   British 
  Crustacea," 
  1850, 
  and 
  in 
  his 
  "Popular 
  History 
  of 
  British 
  Crus- 
  

   tacea," 
  1857, 
  and 
  by 
  G. 
  B. 
  Sowerby 
  in 
  his 
  continuation 
  of 
  Leach's 
  

   " 
  Malacostraca 
  Podophthahna 
  Britanniiie," 
  1875. 
  " 
  But," 
  continues 
  Mr. 
  

   iStebbing, 
  "if 
  it 
  be 
  insisted 
  that 
  Latreille 
  here 
  intended 
  to 
  set 
  up 
  the 
  

   crayfish 
  as 
  technically 
  type 
  of 
  the 
  genus, 
  in 
  preference 
  to 
  the 
  lobster, 
  

   of 
  which 
  his 
  book 
  makes 
  no 
  mention, 
  the 
  answer 
  is 
  simple. 
  His 
  inten- 
  

  

  1 
  Edinb. 
  Eucycl., 
  VII, 
  p. 
  398; 
  Traus. 
  Linn. 
  Soc. 
  London, 
  XV, 
  pp. 
  336, 
  343. 
  

   ' 
  Samouelle's 
  Entomologist's 
  Useful 
  Compendium, 
  p. 
  95. 
  

   3F. 
  H. 
  Herrick, 
  Bull. 
  U. 
  S. 
  Fish 
  Comm. 
  for 
  1895, 
  p. 
  9. 
  

   ■•Hist. 
  Nat. 
  des 
  Cmstaces, 
  II, 
  p. 
  329. 
  

   f^Natimil 
  Science, 
  IX, 
  1896, 
  p. 
  40. 
  

  

  