DETERMINATION OF GENERIC TYPES, ETC. 61 



all other things being equal, it would in fact be better to take Ascaris 

 vermicularis as type. (2) Ceteris paribus, page precedence would 

 make Ascaris vermicularis the type species. (3) The point could be 

 raised that since Stomachida vermis, 1780, is identical with Ascaris 

 lumbricoides, this species should be eliminated, leaving Ascaris vermic- 

 ularis as type. Serious doubts arise, however, whether Stomachida 

 vermis is not simply a Latin translation of a vernacular name, rather 

 than a binomial according to the Linnaean system. In fact, it may 

 be interpreted either way, and, other things being equal, it would be 

 better to interpret it as a proper specific binomial. (4) It might be 

 argued that since Zeder (1800a) mentioned Ascaris lumbricoides in 

 Fusaria, he thereby eliminated this species from Ascaris, leaving 

 Ascaris vermicularis as type. This view is, however, not free from 

 criticism, since the proposal of Fusaria, 1800, was a flagrant renaming 

 of the earlier and generally recognized genus Ascaris, 1758. (5) It 

 may be argued that in 1819 Ascaris had the same status as a bitypical 

 genus as in 1758, hence that Bremser was free to decide between 

 lumbricoides and vermicularis, and since he placed Ascaris vermic- 

 ularis in the genus Oxyuris which Kudolphi established in 1803, 

 Bremser, b}^ making the transfer, eliminated this species and thereby 

 made Ascaris lumbricoides type of Ascaris. (6) Furthermore, it may 

 be advanced that from 1819 to the present day nearly every zoolog- 

 ical revision of the genera in question has followed Bremser in recog- 

 nizing Ascaris lumbricoides as an Ascaris^ and Ascaris vermicularis as 

 an Oxyuris. (7) It may also be advanced that with few exceptions 

 medical, veterinary, and zoological authors have blindly followed the 

 classification here outlined, so that Ascaris lumbricoides and Oxyuris 

 vermicularis have been in current use since 1819. (8) Finally, it may 

 be stated that several authors have distinctly spoken of Ascaris lum- 

 bricoides as the type species of Ascaris, and it was not made the type 

 of Lombricoides until two years after Oxyuris was eliminated from 

 Ascaris. 1 



From the above remarks it will be seen that practical considerations 

 call for the adoption of Ascaris lumbricoides as type species of Ascaris, 

 unless theoretical principles of nomenclature demand the adoption of 

 Ascaris vermicularis as such. It is also clear that, while it would 

 probably have been better if Bremser (1819) had adopted Stomachida, 

 1780, for Ascaris lumbricoides, in order to ta,ke advantage of the 23 

 years between this name and Oxyuris, 1803, and if he had adopted 

 Ascaris for A. vermicidaris, still in view of the possible doubt regard- 

 ing the status of Stomachida, such action was not obligatory. Hence, 



1 Oxyuris vermicularis has but little in common with 0. curvula, and will doubtless 

 soon be recognized as a distinct genus. It is now type of the subgenus Oxyurlas 

 Stiles MS. 



