108 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 



The restriction of the terms "type" and "co-type" to 

 definite limits is an exceedingly simple matter, if we could but 

 agree as to the limits. A world-wide authority in his particular 

 order startled me to-day by stating that " co-type " could be 

 applied to any specimen pronounced by the original describer to 

 be co-specific with the type — that, in fact, you sent him a 

 specimen, captured years after the description was published, he 

 compared it with the type, returned it to you as co-specific, and 

 you became, in consequence, the happy possessor of a " co- 

 type" ! Even " type" has a vague meaning for some authors. 

 Two "types," both so labelled similarly by the author, were 

 sold to a museum ; one was from Ceylon, and the other from 

 Kuching ; his description gave " Kuching " as the only original 

 locality — the sale of the Ceylon specimen as a type was, to say 

 the least, irregular. "Co-types" are all the specimens of a 

 single species immediately before the author when he draws up 

 his description. The " type " is a single specimen selected at will 

 by the author as most typical of this whole series of individuals. 



A nice point of synonymy was raised recently, for which we 

 have no recollection of provision by the British Association or 

 Zoological Congress : — If an author publish a specific name 

 already figuring in the same genus, and a second man sub- 

 sequently publish a description of the same species and make for 

 it a new and valid genus, does the first name, which is not truly 

 co-specific with the other species as placed, take priority in the 

 second author's new genus ? 



In our last we mentioned Irish entomological research ; but 

 a much more elaborate exploration has been going on respecting 

 the insects of that very interesting group of islands off Mada- 

 gascar known as the Seychelles. Prof. Stanley Gardiner, well 

 known for his investigations in the Maldive and Laccadive 

 Islands, will shortly publish a detailed description of them, but 

 we have already arrived at the third volume of the general 

 account of the fauna collected there during 1908 and 1909 by 

 Mr. Hugh Scott, the Curator at Cambridge. This is given 

 through the medium of the Trans. Linn. Soc. of last November, 

 and graphically introduces us to the sterile granitic rocks, rising 

 in places to an altitude of two to three thousand feet. It is a 

 most fascinating locality, since " there are well-marked distinc- 

 tions between the entomological faunas of different parts," many 

 species are obviously introduced, and there is a distinct Oriental 

 element ; forests at an elevation of some thousand feet were 

 found most productive of truly indigenous species. q -^ 



