GENERIC NAMES OF BUTTERFLIES 55 



ARGUS Scopoli, 1763, Ent. cam. : 176. Type-species by selection by Hemming (1933, Entom- 

 ologist 66 : 224) : Papilio coridon Poda, 1761, Ins. Mus. graec. : 77. 



For over 150 years the name Argus Scopoli, 1763, was completely overlooked, it being 

 thought that this name had been first used by Scopoli in 1777 in the Introd. Hist, nat., where he 

 employed it for a genus belonging to an entirely different family (Satyridae). When in 1929 

 (Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (10) 3 : 222) I first drew attention to the present name, I did not think 

 it necessary to select a type-species for Argus Scopoli, 1763, because, like the name Argus 

 Scopoli, 1777, it was invalid as a junior homonym of Argus Bohadsch, 1761 (De quibusdam 

 Anim. marinis . . Liber : 56) a name bestowed upon a genus of marine Gastropods. Later, 

 however, I thought it desirable that a definite place should be provided for Argus Scopoli, 

 1763, in the synonymy of the Lycaenidae, and, as shown above, I then (1933) selected from 

 among the six common species placed in this genus by Scopoli the nominal species Papilio 

 coridon Poda, 1761. 



The action described above would have brought the present case to a close, if it had not 

 been for the fact that in 1944, by a Ruling given under its Plenary Powers, the Commission 

 in its Opinion 185 (Opin. int. Comm. zool. Nom.3 : 3752) suppressed Bohadsch's Liber of 1761 

 for nomenclatorial purposes. For as the result of that Opinion the name Argus Bohadsch, 

 1 761, which till then had invalidated under the Law of Homonymy all later uses of the 

 generic name, itself lost the status of availability. In consequence, the name Argus Scopoli, 

 1763, suddenly emerged as an available name in the Lepidoptera (family Lycaenidae), 

 and by reason of its very early date, it became the oldest such name in the family. The 

 situation so created was not immediately observed, but in 1952 an application was submitted 

 to the Commission by Mr. Cyril F. dos Passos and myself, asking for a Ruling restoring 

 the position in the nomenclature of the Lycaenidae, as it had existed prior to the disturbance 

 created by the suppression of Bohadsch's Liber of 1761. This application was approved 

 by the Commission which thereupon used its Plenary Powers to limit the decision in regard 

 to the Liber promulgated in Opinion 185 to secure that while all new names in that work 

 were to be unavailable for the purposes of the Law of Priority, their status under the Law of 

 Homonymy was not to be held to be affected by the Ruling given in that Opinion. This supple- 

 mentary Ruling was published in 1956, being promulgated in Opinion 429 (Opin. int. 

 Comm. zool. Nom. 14 : 323-338). Under the Ruling so given the name Argus Bohadsch, 

 1 761, regained its power to invalidate all later uses of the name Argus, and accordingly the 

 name Argus Scopoli, 1763, was restored to its former status as an invalid name under the 

 Law of Homonymy. In the same Opinion the name Argus Scopoli, 1763, so invalidated, was 

 placed on the Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Generic Names in Zoology as Name N 1 1 

 733- 

 ARGUS Scopoli, 1777, Introd. Hist. nat. : 432. Type-species by selection by Scudder (1872, 

 4/A Ann. Rep. Peabody Acad. Sci. 1871 : 27) : Papilio eurydice Linnaeus, 1763, Amoen. 

 acad. 6 : 406. 



The name Argus Scopoli, 1777, is invalid as a junior homonym of the older-published name 

 Argus Bohadsch, 1761. The rather peculiar history of the last-mentioned name has been 

 explained in the discussion given above under the name Argus Scopoli, 1763. 



The nominal species which is the type-species of Argus Scopoli, 1777, later became the 

 type-species of the nominal genus Salyrodes Scudder, 1875. 

 ARGUS Boisduval, [1832], Icon. hist. Lipid. Europe 1 (5/6) : 49. Type-species by selection, 

 by Hemming, 1933, Entomologist 66 : 224) : Papilio alcon [Denis & Schiffermuller], 1775, 

 Ankiindung syst. Werkes Schmett. Wien. Gegend : 182, no. N4. 



The name Argus Boisduval, like Argus Scopoli, is invalid as a junior homonym of Argus 

 Bohadsch, 1761. 



The nominal species which is the type-species later became the type-species of the nominal 

 genus Maculinae van Eecke, 191 5. 



The name Argus Boisduval has been placed by the Commission in its Opinion 429 on the 

 Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Generic Names in Zoology as Name No. 734. 



