GENERIC NAMES OF BUTTERFLIES 131 



were confused together under the name Papilio pner. The diagnosis, references and descrip- 

 tions given by Schrank were analysed by myself in a paper published in 1956 (Bull. zool. 

 Nom. 12 : 267-274). The conclusion then reached was as follows : (a) The description 

 given by Schrank for the " male " (Er) of Papilio puer and the reference to the nominal 

 species Papilio tiresias Rottemburg apply to the Everid species known in England as the 

 " Short-tailed Blue ". The oldest available name for this species is considered on taxonomic 

 grounds to be Papilio argiades Pallas, 177 1. This taxon is currently known as Everes argiades 

 (Pallas), (b) the description given by Schrank for the " female " (Sie) and the references to 

 the nominal species Papilio mi>n>in< I ui ily apply to the Cupidid species known in England 

 as " The Small Blue ". The specific name given to it by Fuessly (minimus) is the oldest 

 available name for this species and is the name by which it is currently known. 



That Schrank's nominal species Pa pili» puer is compound of the two species discussed above 

 has been recognized by many authors, but it was not possible, owing to the obscurities in the 

 Code as it then existed, to provide the nominal species ( 'upido puer with a determinate content 

 until the procedure to be adopted for the sel© tion of Lectotypcs was 1 lantied by the Copen- 

 hagen Zoologii al ( ongress of 105.5. This created an entirely new situation and made it pos- 

 sible for me in 1956 (loc. cit. 12 : 268) to make a lectotype selei tion for the nominal species 

 Cupido puer Schrank. What 1 then did was to pic k out from among the syntypes of Cupido 

 puer the specimen upon which in 1775 Fuessly had based his nominal species Papilio minimus 

 and to select that specimen to be the lei totype of Papilio purr. By this action these two 

 nominal species became objectively identical with one another, each being based upon the 

 same specimen ; the name Papilio pun Schrank thus bee ame a junior obji nonym of 



Papilio minimus Fuessly 



The relevant e of the situation des ribed above to the 1 ase oi the name Cupido Schrank is to 

 be found in the fact that it was only through the synonymy given by Schrank for the until 

 1956 — indeterminate nominal spe< Les Papilio puer that Papilio minimus Fuessly could be 

 regarded as one of originally included spec ies oi that genus. The importance of this lies in 

 the fact that in 1870 (/. linn. So l nd , Zool. 10 : 400) Kirby selected Papilio alsus [Denis & 

 SchiffermuTler], 1775, a subjective synonj m oi Papilio minimus Fuessly, to be the type-species 

 of Cupido Schrank. That selection was technically invalid because Schrank did not cite 

 Papilio alsus in the synonymy which he gave for his nominal species Papilio puer. Despite 

 this defect, Kirby's type-selection, though occasionally challenged in the early days, won 

 general acceptance and in consequence Papilio minimus Fuessly came to be universally 

 accepted as the type-species of Cupid" Schrank. It was to pla< e this universal practice on a 

 sound nomenclatorial basis that in 1030 I submitted to the Commission an application asking 

 for the designation by the Commission under its Plenary Powers oi Papilio minimus Fuessly, 

 1775, to be the type-species of the genus Cupido Schrank, 1801. At the same time I asked 

 that the specific name minimus Fuessly, 1775, as published in the combination Papilio 

 minimus, be placed as the name of the type-species "l the genus Cupido Schrank on the 

 Official List of Specific Names in Zoology. 



These proposals were approved by the Commission, whose ruling on this subject was em- 

 bodied in its Opinion 503 and published in 1958 (Opin. int. Comm. zool. Nom. 18 : 121- 

 140). Under that decision the specific name minimus Fuessly, 1775, as published in the 

 combination Papilio minimus, was placed on the Official List of Specific Names in Zoology as 

 Name No. 1478, and Cupido Schrank, 1801, with the above species designated as type-species 

 was placed on the Official List of Generic Names in Zoology as Name No. 1248. 



CUPIDO Hiibner, [1819], Verz. bekannt. Schmett. (5) : 77. Type-species by selection by 

 Hemming (i960, Annot. lep. (1) : 10) : Papilio amor Fabricius, 1775, Syst. Ent. : 518. 



This is one of the cases in which Hiibner appropriated a generic name published by an 

 earlier author and re-introduced it as his own. The name Cupido Hiibner is, of course, 

 invalid as a junior homonym of Cupido Schrank, 1801. The type-species of this genus is the 

 type-species also of the genus Rathinda Moore, 1881, the name of which is available under the 

 Code. 



