3378 



The Zoologist— January, 1873. 



"The contention is that the Atropos of 1861 is the Clothilla of 1865. 

 Let us see if this be correct. Linne described a certain insect under the 

 name Termes pulsatorium, and subsequent authors unanimously regarded 

 the Linnean name as designating a creature which for the present purpose 

 may be sufficiently described by saying that it is wingless and has seventeen 

 joints to its antennte. In 1815 Leach founded the genus Atropos ; and for 

 fifty years the insect popularly known as the death-watch was known to 

 entomologists as Atropos pulsatoria. When Dr. Hagen compiled his 

 'Synopsis of the British Psocidsa' (Ent. Ann. 1861, p. 17), it had not 

 occurred to any one to doubt that this creature was the identical species 

 which Linne described as Termes pulsatorium ; accordingly we find that, 

 at p. 21, Dr. Hagen gives the well-known insect as the pulsatoria of Linne 

 and Stephens. In 1841 Prof. Westwood described another insect under the 

 name Clothilla studiosa, a creature not absolutely wingless, but possessing 

 two short leathery scales or winglets, and having twentj^-seven joints to its 

 antennae. So that in Dr. Hageu's Synopsis of 1861 we have ; — 



Gen. Atropos. 

 Wings wanting. Antennre with about 

 15 joints. 



Gen. Clothilla. 

 With leathery winglets. Antenna; with 

 about 27 joints. 



Sp. A. jnihatoria. Sp. C. sUidiosa. 



"Dr. Hagen 's 'Synopsis of the Psocina without ocelli' (Ent. Mo. Mag. 

 ii. 121) was published in 1865. By this time he had discovered that the 

 Linnean description of Termes pulsatorium did not accord with the insect 

 which had so long been known as Atropos pulsatoria, and had satisfied 

 himself that Linne had before him the identical species which Westwood 

 afterwards named Clothilla studiosa. That being so, Hagen api^lies the 

 Linnean name pulsatoria to Westwood's studiosa: the insect which has 

 hitherto been called pulsatoria (and which is the pulsatoria of most authors, 

 though not of Linne) requires a new specific name, and the next oldest is 

 found to be divinatoria of Miiller's Prodromus, dating from 1776. So that 

 in Dr. Hagen's Synopsis of 1865 we have :— 



Gen. Atropos. 

 Without wings. Antenna; with 17 joints. 



Sp. A. divinatoria. 

 {Synon. A. pulsatoria, of authors, not of 



Linne). 



Gen. Clothilla. 

 Wings rudimentary. Antenna; with 27 

 joints. 



Sp. C. pulsatoria. 

 (Synon. C. studiosa, Westwood). 



"That is to say, the insect which in 1861 was called Atropos pulsatoria 

 was in ]865 called Atropos divinatoria; and the insect which in 1861 was 

 called Clothilla studiosa was in 1865 called Clothilla pulsatoria. The 

 specific names are changed, but the Atropos of 1861 is the Atropos of 1865, 



