8 Bulletin of the Brool^lyn Entomological Society Vol. IX 



E. L. Geoff roy was a physician, a man of means and even 

 political prominence, as is attested by the fact that he incurred 

 the displeasure of Robespierre. Moreover he was a well equipped 

 entomologist at as early a date as Linne. The tenth edition of 

 Linne's work, in which the present binomial nomenclature is 

 distinctly adopted for the first time, appeared in 1758. The 

 first edition of Geoffroy's "History of Insects Occurring around 

 Paris" came out in 1762. He displayed, in the words of G. R. 

 Crotch, "a degree of acumen far in advance of his ^ge," an 

 opinion heartily concurred in by Leconte. That the same 

 opinion was shared by Linne himself is evidenced by his jealousy 

 expressed in his twelfth edition, 1766-7. This much is certain — 

 Geoffroy made a great step forward in his conception of the 

 nature of a genus. He divides the beetles into fifty-two genera, 

 and these do not depart very far from present family or tribal 

 divisions. 



By the fiat of a British Association in 1842 that priority 

 in nomenclature could not antedate 1766 (i. e., the date of 

 Linne's 12th edition) those who accepted it were compelled to 

 discard the generic names of Geoffroy, except in cases where they 

 had not been used by others before an edition of Insects around 

 Paris published in 1799. The check-list of coleoptera compiled 

 by Crotch in 1873 restored the Geoffroy names generally. This 

 act was opposed by J. L. Leconte, who had his own peculiar ideas 

 on the laws governing nomenclature and who, also, (there is 

 good evidence for believing) was a little jealous of the brilliant 

 scholar from Cambridge. A masterly analysis of the Geoffroy 

 genera was published by Leconte in the Canadian Entomologist, 

 vol. VI., pp. 186-196. Without regard to any actual or imagi- 

 nary law, there exists a feeling in favor of fair play, that any 

 inventor or discoverer has rights in the product of his mind, of 

 which he should not be deprived. The Geoffroy names have 

 passed beyond scientific nomenclature. They include many of 

 the best known of all beetle names and are incorporated firmly 

 in the common usage of most European languages, from which 

 no a-rbitrary rule can ever dislodge them. 



Out of the 52 genera of Geoffroy the following were recog- 

 nized from Linne, either invented by or drawn from classic 

 sources by the latter: Scarabceus, Attelabus, Dermestes, Elater, 



