266 FRANCIS HEMMING 



published figures of diagnostic structural characters ; it was part of this proposal that 

 Species " B ", for which there was no name nomenclatorially available, but various other 

 names of doubtful interpretation, should be provided with a name unquestionaly applicable 

 by validating a very early name (idas) which was at that time invalid under the Law of 

 Homonymy as a junior homonym of a name published by Linnaeus in 1758 which it had 

 never been possible to interpret but which certainly applied to a species belonging to an 

 entirely different family. At the time when these proposals were being prepared, con- 

 sideration was given to the question whether the Commission should be asked to vary the 

 Ruling previously given in Opinion 169, so as to secure that the type-species of Lycaeides 

 should be Species "B" (as had been intended) instead of Species " C " (the species actually 

 designated as type-species by that Opinion). It was concluded however that such a request 

 was unnecessary, since, as specialists are agreed, Species " B " and Species " C " are con- 

 generic with one another ; in consequence, it was of no practical importance which of these 

 two species was the type-species. These proposals were approved by the Commission in 

 its Opinion 269 promulgated in 1954 {Opin. int. Comm. zool. Nom. 6 : 24, 1 pi.). The 

 following notes show the specific names formerly incorrectly applied to these three species 

 and the names which under the decision of the Commission are correctly applicable to them. 



Hiibner placed four nominal species in the genus Lycaeides. The first of these he called 

 " Lycaeides argus Linn.", under which he cited " Hiibn. Pap. 316—318 " in synonymy. The 

 second of these species Hiibner called " L. aegon Schiff. Pap. N.15 ", citing for it in synonymy 

 the reference " Hiibner. 313-315 ". In adopting this arrangement Hiibner copied exactly 

 the action taken in 1775 by Denis & Schiffermuller, the first authors clearly to separate 

 Species " A " and Species " B " from one another, but unfortunately they applied to Species 

 " B " the specific name argus Linnaeus, 1758, which properly applies to species " A " and 

 then, having deprived that species of its rightful name, bestowed upon it the new specific 

 name aegon. The authority of Schiffermuller's work was so great that his interpretation of 

 the nominal species Papilio argus Linnaeus, 1758 remained uncorrected for nearly one hundred 

 years, the first author to apply that name to species "A" instead of to Species " B " being 

 Kirby in 1871 (Syn. Cat. diurn. Lep. : 357) ; at the same time (: 358) Kirby introduced 

 the name Papilio argyrognomon Bergstrasser, [1779]. Kirby's arrangement came into 

 general use and it was on this interpretation of Papilio argyrognonon that the Commission 

 was asked to designate that species to be the type-species of Lycaeides Hiibner, a request 

 which (as already explained) that body granted in its Opinion 169. This was then believed 

 to constitute a satisfactory settlement of this matter, for the designation of that nominal 

 species as type-species gave valid force to the intention of Scudder when in 1875 (Proc. amer. 

 Acad. Arts Sci., Boston 10 : 208) he selected the Lycaeides argus (Linnaeus) as interpreted by 

 Hiibner to be the type-species of this genus, adding by way of explanation that this was the 

 species to which in his Syn. Cat. Kirby had applied the specific name argyrognomon Berg- 

 strasser. This interpretation of the genus Lycaeides was accepted by subsequent workers 

 and it was for this reason that (as explained above) the Commission was asked to designate 

 Bergstrasser's species to be the type-species. 



What turned out later to be the second phase of the present case was ushered in by the 

 discovery in 191 7 of a hitherto unrecognized species which, though superficially resembling 

 Species " B ", differed from it greatly in the form of the male genitalia. To this species, 

 which is the species termed Species " C " in the present note, Chapman applied the name 

 Plebeius aegus (in Oberthur, Etud. Lipid, comp. 41 : 41-57). Later investigations showed that 

 several previously named nominal taxa belonged not to Species " B ", as previously sup- 

 posed, but to Species " C ". This led systematists to examine the older literature for the 

 purpose of determining what was the oldest available name applicable to Species " C ". 

 This search proved laborious and difficult owing to the inadequacy of many of the early 

 descriptions and figures. Ultimately, however, it was clearly established that the oldest 

 available name for Species " C " was Papilio argyrognomon Bergstrasser, a conclusion which 

 was finally clinched when material of Species " C" corresponding with Bergstrasser's figures, 



