GENERIC NAMES OF BUTTERFLIES 287 



MENERIS Doubleday, 1844, List Spec. lep. Ins. Brit. Mns. 1 : 106. Type-species by mono- 

 typy : Papilio tulbaghia Linnaeus, 1764, Mus. Lud. Ulr. : 284. 



The name Meneris Doubleday is invalid, as it is a junior objective synonym of Aeropetes 

 Billberg, 1820. 



MESAPIA Gray, 1856, List Spec. lep. Ins. Brit. Mns. 1 : 92. Type-species by monotypy : 

 Pieris peloria Hewitson, [1853], III. exot. Butts 1 : [8], pi. [4], figs 15, 16. 



MESENE Doubleday, 1847, List Spec. lep. Ins. Brit. Mus. 2 : 7. Type-species by selection by 

 Scudder (1875, Proc. amer. Acad. Arts Sci., Boston 10 : 126) : Papilio phareus Cramer, 

 [1777], Uitl. Kapellen 2 (15) : 113, pi. 170, fig. C, 



MESENOPSIS Godman & Salvin, [1886], Biol, centr-amer., Lep. Rhop. 1 : 414. Type-species 

 by selection by Stichel 1910, in Wytsman's Gen. Ins. 112 (A) : 218 : Limnas (?) bryaxis 

 Hewitson, 1870, Ent. mon. Mag. 6 : 227. 



MESOACIDALIA Reuss, 1926, Dents, ent. Z. 1926 (1) : 69. Type-spe"cies by original designa- 

 tion : Papilio aglaja Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat. (ed. 10) 1 : 481. 



The name Papilio aglaja was given by Linnaeus in 1758 to two different species, once 

 (: 481) to the present Nymphalid (Argynnid) species and once (: 465) to a Pierid (Delias) 

 species. In 1767 (loc. cit. (ed. 12) 1 (2) : 755) he realized the mistake which he had made in 

 1758, and, in order to correct it, introduced the substitute name Papilio pasilhoe for the name 

 Papilio aglaja, as previously applied by him to the Pierid species, while retaining the name 

 Papilio aglaja for the present Nymphalid species. In spite of this, the specific name aglaja 

 continued in use for well over one hundred and fifty years 1 >• >tli for the Nymphalid and for the 

 Pierid species. That this should have happened was no doubt partly due to the fact that (as 

 already noted) the two species concerned belong to widely separated families but it is certainly 

 due principally to the fact that these species occur in different zoo-geographical regions — the 

 Nymphalid in the Palaearctic Region, the Pierid in the Indo-Oriental Region with the 

 result that it seldom, if ever, happened that a later author found it necessary to deal with both 

 species in a single work. Indeed, it was not until 1935 [Entomologist 68 : 1S9 no/a) that Verity 

 drew attention to the condition of homonymy between these names, expressed the view that 

 of these two names it was the present (Nymphalid) name that should be rejected as invalid 

 (principle of page precedence) and added that under the Code the name aglaja Linnaeus 

 ought to be replaced by the name charlotta Haworth (Papilio charlotta Haworth, 1802, Prodi . 

 Lep. brit. : 3) ; Verity did not however actually make this change. There then appearing to 

 be no alternative, the change was actually made by myself in ig42 (Proc. R. ent. Soc. Loud. 

 (B) 11 : 158). The situation was however completely changed by the introduction into the 

 current revised Code of 1961 of the First Reviser principle for dealing with cases of this kind 

 (Article 24 (a)). In the present case Linnaeus himself was the First Reviser when (as already 

 noted) he rejected and replaced the name Papilio aglaja as applied to the Pierid species and 

 retained that name for the present Nymphalid species. Thus, under the Code the name 

 Papilio aglaja Linnaeus, 1758 (: 481) is the correct name for the type-species of the present 

 (Nymphalid) species. 



MESODINA Meyrick, 1901, Ent. mon. Mag. 3 7 : 168. Type-species by original designation : 

 Hesperilla halyzia Hewitson, 1868, Descr. One Hundred new Spec. Hesp. (2) : 38. 



MESODRYAS Reuss, 1927, Dents, ent. Z. 1926 (5) : 435. Type-species by original designation : 

 Papilio paphia Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat. (ed. 10) 1 : 481. 



The name Mesodryas Reuss is invalid, as it is a junior objective synonym of Argynnis 

 Fabricius, 1807. 



MESOPHTHALMA Westwood, [1851], in Doubleday, Gen. diurn. Lep. (2) : 455. Type-species 

 by monotypy : Mesosemia (Mesophthalma) idotea Westwood, [1851], in Doubleday, 

 ibid. (2) : 355 nota. 



MESOSEMIA Hubner, [1819], Verz. bekannt. Schmett. (2) : 21. Type-species by selection by 

 Scudder (1875, Proc. amer. Acad Arts Sci., Boston 10 : 216) : Mesosemia philoclessa 

 Hubner, [1819], ibid. (2) : 21. 



