282 FRANCIS HEMMING 



MEGISTANIS Boisduval, 1870, Consid. Lipid. Guatemala : 53. Type-species by monotypy : 

 Papilio pherecydes Stoll, [1780], in Cramer, Uitl. Kapellen 4 (28) : 80, pi. 330, figs A, B. 



This is one of the numerous cases in which Boisduval put a name of his own devising into 

 irregular currency as a manuscript name but owing his dilatoriness allowed many years to pass 

 before he published the name himself, having in the mean time been anticipated by another 

 author — in this case by Doubleday as far back as 1844. When at length he did publish this, 

 and names similarly placed, he expressly stated that he was the author. 



The taxon represented by the nominal species Papilio pherecydes Cramer is currently treated 

 subjectively on taxonomic grounds as being the same as that represented by the older- 

 established nominal species Papilio acheronta Fabricius, 1775 (Syst. Ent. : 501). 



The name Megistanis Boisduval is invalid as being a junior homonym of Megistanis Double- 

 day, 1844. 

 MEGISTIAS Godman, [1900], in Godman & Salvin, Biol, centr.-amer., Lep. Rhop. 2 : 571. 

 Type-species by original designation : Hesperia tripunctata Latreille, [1824], Ency. meth. 9 

 (Ins.) (2) : 752. 



MEGISTO Hiibner, [1819], Verz. bekannt. Schmett. (4) : 54. Type-species by selection by 

 Butler (1868, Cat. dium. Lep. Satyvidae Brit. Mus. : 14) : Papilio eurytus Fabricius, 1775, 

 Syst. Ent. : 487. 



Hiibner, when establishing this genus cited the specific name eurytus Fabricius in the 

 synonymy of the name cymela Cramer accepted by him as the name for the species concerned. 

 The citation of a specific name in a synonymy in this manner confers upon the species so 

 named the status of an originally included species, and in consequence Butler's selection of 

 Papilio eurytus Fabricius as the type-species of this genus was perfectly in order. 



The taxon represented by the nominal species which is the type-species of this genus was 

 formerly called by the specific name cymela Cramer {Papilio cymela Cramer, [1777], Uitl. 

 Kapellen 2 (n) : 55, pi. 132, figs C, D), the name of a later-established nominal species, which 

 was — and still is — considered subjectively to represent the same taxon as that represented by 

 the nominal species Papilio eurytus Fabricius. 

 MEGONOSTOMA Reakirt, 1863, Proc. ent. Soc. Philad. 2 : 356. Type-species by selection by 

 Butler (1870, Cistula ent. 1 : 46) : Papilio cesonia Stoll, [1790], Aanhangs. Werk Uitl. Kapellen 

 Pieter Cramer : 176, pi. 41, fig. 2. 



The name Megonostoma Reakirt is invalid, as it is a junior objective synonym of Zerene 

 Hiibner, [1819]. 



MELAMPIAS Hiibner, [1819], Verz. bekannt. Schmett. (4) : 63. Type-species by selection by 

 Scudder (1875, Proc. amer. Acad. Arts Sci., Boston 10 : 214) : Papilio hyperbius Linnaeus, 

 1764, Mus. Lnd. Ulr. : 257. 



The name Papilio hyperbius given by Linnaeus in 1764 to the type-species of this genus is 

 invalid, as it is a junior homonym of the name Papilio hyperbius Linnaeus, 1763 (Amoen. acad. 

 6 : 408), a name bestowed upon a species belonging to a quite different family (the family 

 Nymphalidae) . Hiibner, when establishing the genus Melampias, cited the name of the type- 

 species as hyperbia; this however was not a replacement name for hyperbius, being, as the 

 references cited by Hiibner show, no more than a change in termination to make this specific 

 name agree in gender with the name Melampias, which is feminine in gender. This species 

 remained without a nomenclatorially available name until in 1955 (Butts S. Africa (Mem. Trans- 

 vaal Mus. No. 8) 2 : 99) van Son provided for it the replacement name Melampias huebneri. 

 Melampias is a monobasic Ypthimid genus, the sole species of which is confined to the 

 Western Cape Province of South Africa. Formerly, however, this generic name was incorrectly 

 used by some authors as though its type-species was one or other of the Palaearctic species of 

 the £>f6ia-group. 



MELANARGIA Meigen, 1828, Syst. Beschr. Europ. Schmett. 1 (3) : 97. Type-species by 

 selection by Kirby (1894, in Allen's Nat. Libr., Lepid. 1 : 240) ; Papilio galathea Linnaeus, 

 1758, Syst. Nat. (ed. 10) 1 : 474. 



