ig6 FRANCIS HEMMING 



GASTROCHAETA Holland, 1894, Ent. News 5 : 28. Type-species by monotypy : Gastro- 

 chaeta mabillei Holland, 1894, ibid. 5 : 28. 



This generic name was published as a new name in two papers of Holland's, the first (cited 

 above) was published in January 1894, the second, a paper in the Proc. zool. Soc. Lond. 1896, 

 part 1 : 37, was published in June 1896. 



In the first of these papers Holland attributed the specific name mabillei to Mabille, not being 

 aware that in fact that name had never been published and was only a manuscript name ; the 

 particulars furnished by Holland serve however to validate this name, which accordingly is 

 attributable to Holland. 



The name Gastrockaeta Holland is invalid, as it is a junior homonym of Gastrochaeta Dujardin, 

 1841 ((Roret's Suite a Buffon), Hist. nat. Zoophytes Infusoires : 384). It has been subjective- 

 ly replaced by the name Meza Hemming, 1939 (type-species : H esperia meza Hewitson, 1877). 



GE de Niceville, 1895, /. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 9 (4) : 373. Type-species by original 

 designation : Ge geta de Niceville, 1895, ibid. 9 (4) : 37, pi. Q, fig. 51 $. 



GECANA Swinhoe, [1912], in Moore, Lep. ind. 9 (106) : 230. Type-species by original desig- 

 nation : Ismene fergusonii de Niceville, 1892, /. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 7 (3) : 345, pi. J, 

 fig. 6 cJ. 



The taxon represented by the nominal species Ismene fergusonii is currently treated sub- 

 jectively on taxonomic grounds as a subspecies of the taxon represented by the older-estab- 

 lished nominal species Ismene jaina Moore, [1866] (Proc. zool. Soc. Lond. 1865 (3) : 782). 



GEGENES Hiibner, [1819], Verz. bekannt. Schmett. (7) : 107. Type-species proposed for 

 designation by the Commission under its Plenary Powers : Papilio pumilio Hoffmansegg, 

 1803, Mag. f. Insektenk. (Illiger) 3 : 202 (as defined by the specimen figured as fig. 2 on plate 5 

 of Cyrilli's Ent. neap, published in 1787 and there misidentified as Papilio pygmaeus Fabricius, 

 1775 (Syst. Ent. : 536), that specimen having been selected by Hemming (1964, Annot. lep. 

 (3) : 112 to represent the lectotype of the present species). 



The genus Gegenes was established on the basis of bibliographical references to the works of 

 previous authors. Three nominal species were cited by Hiibner as belonging to this genus, but 

 the names cited for the second and third were nomina nuda and the first — which he cited as 

 pygmaeus Fabricius is therefore under the Code the type-species by monotypy. It is at this 

 point that difficulty arises, because Hiibner, like all his contemporaries, confused two species 

 under the name Papilio pygmaeus Fabricius, and it was the species to which that name does not 

 properly apply that Hiibner looked upon himself as placing in the genus Gegenes, as is clearly 

 shown by the fact that the previously published figures which he cited in the synonymy of what 

 he called pygmaeus Fabricius represent not that species but the species which at that time was 

 commonly misidentified with it. Gegenes Hiibner is therefore a genus based upon a mis- 

 identified type-species. 



The true Papilio pygmaeus Fabricius is an Oriental species currently placed in the genus 

 Aeromachus de Niceville, 1890. Its type-specimen is now in the British Museum. 



The specimen misidentified with the above species occurs in Southern Europe and Western 

 Asia. The first author to make the mistake of identifying this species with Papilio pygmaeus 

 Fabricius was Cyrilli when in 1787 he figured (loc. cit. : pi. 5, fig. 2) a specimen taken at 

 Amain. This mistake was repeated by Esper in 1793, Die Schmett., Suppl. Band 1 Abschn. 

 Tagschmett. : 34, pi. 99, fig. 3 <$, and in the period 1800-1803 by Hiibner himself (Samml. 

 europ. Schm. : pi. Pap. 91, figs 458 q\ 459, 460 $). It was these figures of his own which 

 Hiibner cited in the synonymy of pygmaeus Fabricius at the time when he established the 

 genus Gegenes. 



Long before the publication of the Verzeichniss however, the fact that the name pygmaeus 

 Fabricius was not properly applicable to the European species was recognized by Hoffmansegg 

 when in 1803 he established the nominal species Papilio pumilio, basing it upon the figures 

 published by Hiibner, Esper and Cyrilli, to which reference has already been made. As 

 recorded at the head of the present note I selected in 1964 the figure published by Cyrilli to 



