GENERIC NAMES OF BUTTERFLIES n 



work each name was first validly published. Second, it was necessary to determine 

 for each name its status in relation of the Law of Homonymy, that is, to ascertain 

 whether it had previously been employed as the name for a genus in any part of the 

 animal kingdom. The third and last stage was to ascertain the status of each name 

 under the Law of Priority, that is, to determine whether it was an available name or 

 whether it was a junior objective synonym of an available name of older date. 

 This stage could be carried out only after the nominal species which were the type- 

 species of the nominal genera concerned had been determined and in consequence it 

 was possible to make sure that the nominal species which was the type-species of any 

 given genus was or was not the type-species also of some other genus bearing an 

 available name of older date. 



(a) Building-up of the list of generic nanus 



The first period to be examined was that beginning in 1758 and ending in 1863, for 

 which there existed no comprehensive list of generic names, though the great 

 majority of such names are to be found in the very important paper by Samuel 

 Hubbard Scudder published in 1875 under the title " Historical Sketch of the 

 Generic Names proposed for Butterflies " (Proc. anicr. Acad. Arts Sci., Boston, 10). 

 For this opening period, and especially the years 1851-1863 (about which at that 

 time very little was known) it was necessary to search many books in case they might 

 contain new generic names not subsequently detected. A number of previously 

 overlooked names were brought to light in this way. As soon as possible after the 

 discovery of such names type-species were selected by myself in such a way as to 

 make the generic names in question either junior objective synonyms of names in 

 current use or, where this was not possible, junior subjective synonyms of such 

 names, objectionable name-changing being thereby avoided. Another valuable 

 contemporary work of special value in the search for early generic names was the 

 monumental Genera of diurnal Lepidoptera started by Doubleday in 1846 and 

 completed after Doubleday's death by Westwood in the period 1850-1852, for that 

 work contains extensive generic synonymies which, though not accompanied by 

 bibliographical references, were found to be of great use in drawing attention to 

 obscure names published by earlier authors which might otherwise have been 

 overlooked. 



Reference may conveniently be made at this point to an unfortunate practice 

 adopted by Westwood in his continuation of Doubleday's Genera, namely the 

 frequent citation in generic synonymies of generic names stated by Westwood to have 

 been proposed in manuscript by other authors, notably by the celebrated French 

 entomologist J. B. A. Boisduval. The names published by Westwood in this way 

 were long ignored, but their existence constituted a potential threat to stability, 

 especially after the publication of the Code adopted by the Berlin Congress of 1901, 

 which contained no provision denying the status of availability to such names. 

 In order to set this particular danger at rest, I myself in 1941 (/. Soc. Bibl. nat. Hist. 

 1 : 413-446) selected type-species for these nominal genera in such a way as to make 

 these names either junior objective synonyms, or junior subjective synonyms of 

 names in current use, thereby depriving these names of any power of disturbing 



