Armadillo officinalis, Duméril. 361 
Tylos, Latr., is thus spelt by every author excepting Dana, 
U.S. Expl. Exped. xiii. (2) 717, pl. xlvii. 1 (1852), who 
writes, orthographically, Tylus. 
The nomenclature of Armadillo officinalis, Duméril, seems 
to demand revision, being utterly corrupt. According as the 
limits assigned to the genus are large or small, so will its 
right designation vary; but in no case can it be correctly 
named Armadillo, Latr. If the genus be restricted to its 
smallest compass, the name Orthonus, Miers (1877), is valid ; 
but if it be extended to the more comprehensive scope advo- 
cated by Dr. Gersticker in the place referred to above, it 
might very justly be called Cubaris, Brandt (1833), enlarged. 
The genus cannot take the name Armadillo, for two reasons : 
—first, because this name was preoccupied in zoology for a 
genus of the Mammalia by Brisson in 1756; secondly, be- 
cause (if that objection be waived) in Crustacea it can only be 
applied to the genus described as Armadillo by Latreille in 
1804. Now the genus under consideration was unknown to 
Latreille; the woodlice named by him Armadillo are all 
without exception species of Armadillidium, Brandt and 
Ratzeburg (1833) ; and these joint authors erred in diverting 
the appellation from that group of species to one which they 
newly founded on the present animal, previously described as 
Armadillo officinalis by Duméril in Dict. des Sc. Nat. iii. 
p- 117 (1816). Simultaneously they altered the name of the 
species from officinalis to officinarum. In 1835-41 Koch re- 
named the animal, calling it Pentheus punctatus. The name 
Penthea, Dej. (1834), in Coleoptera having priority over 
Pentheus, precludes its adoption in place of Orthonus, Miers, if 
the restriction of the genus be upheld. The oldest name of 
the species is Oniscus globator, Cuv., in Journ. d’Hist. Nat. 
i. 24, pl. xxvi. fig. 19 (1792) ; this will supersede officinalis, 
Duméril. Cuvier’s figure and description of this woodlouse 
seem to have been completely forgotten for ninety years. 
In the countries bordering upon the Mediterranean Cubaris 
or Orthonus globator appears to be common at moderate and 
low altitudes; it is found also upon the principal islands. 
Beyond that area it abounds in Marocco near Tangier, and is 
locally plentiful in Western Portugal. In the British Museum 
are specimens, seemingly of this species, from the Isle of 
Pines and New Caledonia, and one, possibly identical, from 
Sikkim ; but these need further examination. 
As the present note is virtually a partial criticism of Dr. 
Gerstiicker’s work, I am tempted to cast one more stone at 
him with respect to his bracketing Haplophthalmus, Schobl 
(1860), with Trichoniscus, Brandt (1833), as one genus. 
