DE. K. JORDAN : OBSERVATIONS ON DR. VERITY'S PAPER, 191 



Observations on certain Names proposed in Dr. Verity's paper on the 

 Rliopalocera Palsearctica in the Collection o£ Linn^us. By Dr. Karl 

 Jordan. (Communicated by the President.) 



[Read 1st May, 1913.] 



Having had an opportunity of reading Dr. Verity's interesting and 

 important investigation of the Linnean Palsearctic butterflies, I should be 

 glad to make a few observations concerning the names proposed by that 

 author in substitution of those now in currency. 



It must be admitted that the Linnean specimens are of great historical 

 interest, and Dr. Verity knows the Palsearctic butterilies so well, that his 

 identifications of the Linnean specimens may be accepted as perfectly correct, 

 and the specimens and labels claimed to be Linnean by Dr. Verity may be 

 regarded as undoubtedly genuine. 



On the other hand, there is no proof positive that these specimens are those 

 from which Linnseus drew up the descriptions for the ' Syst. Nat.' ed. X. 

 (1758) ; in the absence of such proofs \ve cannot follow Dr. Verity in 

 according them the status of " types." 



The utmost care and circumspection should be exercised before a change 

 of name is proposed, and if there is any doubt as to the necessity of the 

 change, no change should be made. Even if the Linnean specimens could 

 be proved to be " types," some of the changes in nomenclature proposed by 

 Dr. Verity would nevertheless be unwarranted and would give rise to just 

 and strong protests, e. g. in the case of Pafpilio podalirius. Three examples 

 different in character may suffice as a criticism of Dr. Verity's arguments. 



a. Papilio podalirius. — The name was based by Linuasus in 1758 on 

 recognisable figures of the Central European Scarce Swallowtail. It is 

 entirely indifferent from a nomenclatorial point of view whether Linnseus 

 had seen a specimen or not. Names are frequently being proposed for 

 species known to the author only from figures or descriptions, and such 

 names are valid. 



b. Apatura iris. — The iris of 1758 is composed of two species, one bearino- 

 an ocellus both on the fore and the hind wing, and the other species having 

 a distinct ocellus only on the hind wing. The description of 1758 only 

 mentions the ocellus of the hind wing, and therefore applies strictly to 

 the species generally known as iris. Moreover, in the case of composite 

 species any subsequent author is at liberty to restrict the name to one of the 

 species. This was done in 1776 by SchifFermiiller, who gave the name of ilia 

 to the bi-ocellate species. It is entirely indifferent from a nomenclatorial 

 point of view that Linnseus has added a manuscript note to the original 



