NOMENCLATURE OF LEPIDOPTERA. 337 



claimed that this process discovers the actual type from which the 

 generic description was taken, and that the citation of another 

 species by a subsequent author is to be considered erroneous and 

 the first species substituted as the type. It should also be borne in 

 mind that writers who were contemporaries of the original author, or 

 who lived shortly after, are more likely to have known by actual 

 information or by tradition what was the actual type-conception of 

 a genus (or species) than are authors of a later date, and that there- 

 fore previous action should be accepted unless erroneous.] 



QUESTION IX. 



" In the event of there being any clear consensus of 

 opinion on the above subjects by a majority of those to 

 whom they are to be submitted, would you be willing to 

 adopt their decision and abide by it?" 



Analysis of Replies. 



1. Hampson accepts consensus of opinion except that he will not 

 give way upon the first species that agrees being considered the type. 



2. Walsinghatn accepts consensus so far as the decisions recognise 

 the absolute and unalterable Law of Priority as governing all published 

 work. 



3. Meyrick accepts consensus in matters Lepidopterological if not 

 conflicting with accepted principles — matters other than Lepidopterological 

 must be settled by a general committee of Zoologists. 



4. Kirby accepts consensus in official work. 



5. Fernald would yield very much to obtain uniformity and fixity of 

 nomenclature. 



6. Smith accepts consensus on Lepidopterological questions (3, 4, 5, 

 7, 8): Nos. I, 2 and 6 must be settled by usage of Zoologists. 



7. Scudder makes no reply. 



8. Snellen : publish the conclusions and leave the decision to other 

 entomologists. 



9. Staudinger says he has so short a time to live that whether or not 

 he agrees with the majority seems to him as unimportant as ascertaining 

 the type of a heterotypical genus. 



10. Aurivillins accepts consensus, except that he will not give way 

 on the adoption of the loth edition, and that a genus must be described. 



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