298 FRANCIS HEMMING 



MOOREA Toxopeus, 1927, Tijdschr. Ent. 70 : 255. Type-species by original designation : 

 Polyommatus vardhana Moore, [1875], Proc. zool. Soc. Lond. 1874 (4) : 572, pi. 66, fig. 5. 



The name Moorea Toxopeus is invalid as, it is a junior homonym of Moorea Jones & Kirby, 

 1869 {Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (4) 3 : 225). I have replaced it by the name Arietta Hemming, 

 1935- 



MOOREANA Evans, 1926, /. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 31 : 51. Type-species by orignal designa- 

 tion : Pterygospidea trichoneura Felder (C.) & Felder (R.), i860, Wien. ent. Monats. 4 : 

 402. 



MOPALA Evans, 1937, Cat. Afric. Hesp. Brit. Mus. : 7, 148. Type-species by original desig- 

 nation : Ismene (?) orma Plotz, 1879, Stett. ent. Ztg 40 : 363. 



MORITZIA Felder (C.) & Felder (R.), 1861, Wien. ent. Monats. 5 : 100. Type-species by 

 monotypy : Moritzia paradoxa Felder (C.) & Felder (R.), 1861, ibid. 5 : 100. 



The taxon represented by the nominal species Moritzia paradoxa Felder (C.) & Felder (R.) is 

 currently treated subjectively on taxonomic grounds as being the same as that represented 

 by the older-established nominal species Hades noctula Westwood, [1815] (in Doubleday, 

 Gen. diurn. Lep. (2) : 435 nota, pi. 72, fig. 3), the type-species of the genus Hades Westwood, 

 [1851]- 



MORPHEIS Geyer, [1833], in Hiibner, Samml. exot. Schmett. 3 : pi. [5]. Type-species by mono- 

 typy : Morpheis ehrenbergii Geyer, [1833], ibid. 3 : [5]. 



The name Morpheis as here applied by Geyer to the above Nymphalid butterfly is invalid, 

 as it is a junior homonym of the name Morpheis Hiibner, [1820] (Verz. bekannt. Scymett. (13) : 

 196), a name given to a genus of moths. It has been replaced by the name Anemeca Kirby, 

 1871. 



MORPHINDRA Rober, 1903, Stett. ent. Ztg 64 : 337. Type-species by monotypy : Thau- 

 mantis aliris Westwood, [1858], Trans, ent. Soc. Lond. (2) 4 (6) : 176. 



The name Morphindra Rober is invalid, as it is a junior objective synonym of Thauria 

 Moore, [1894]. 



MORPHO Fabricius, 1807, Mag. f. Insektenk. (Illiger) 5 : 280. Type-species by selection by 

 Westwood [1851], in Doubleday, Gen. diurn. Lep. (2) : 341 : Papilio achilles Linnaeus, 

 1758, Syst. Nat., (ed. 10) : 463. 



The exact date of publication in 1807 of the name Morpho and other Fabrician names 

 published in volume 6 of the Mag. f. Insektenk. is not known, but the discovery in 1934 0I an 

 anonymous review of the first 34 of the plates in Hiibner's Sammlung exotischer Schmetterlinge 

 written by Illiger and published in the Allgem. lit. Ztg, Halle [Jena] (: ii77-n8iof the second 

 section of the volume for 1807) issued on 19th December 1807 clearly established the fact 

 that the paper containing the Fabrician names referred to above had already been published by 

 that date. Among the plates of Hiibner's Sammlung then reviewed by Illiger was plate [79], the 

 plate on the legend of which Hiibner first employed the generic name Potamis (after his 

 abortive attempt to do so in the Tentamen of 1806, a leaflet which has been suppressed by the 

 Commission for nomenclatorial purposes in its Opinion 97). Unluckily, the genus Potamis so 

 introduced by Hiibner in the Sammlung in 1807 has as its type-species the nominal species 

 Potamis leonte, which specialists are agreed represents the same taxon as that represented by 

 Papilio achilles Linnaeus, 1758. Thus, the generic names Morpho Fabricius, 1807, and 

 Potamis Hiibner, 1807, were synonyms of one another. Both were known to have been 

 published by 19th December 1807 but nothing was known on the vital question of which was 

 published before the other. 



In the circumstances described above there was clearly a risk that at some later date 

 evidence might be forthcoming to show that the name Potamis Hiibner was published before 

 Morpho Fabricius. The rejection of the name Morpho Fabricius in such circumstances in 

 favour of the name Potamis Hiibner would have been open to the strongest objection, for the 

 name Morpho Fabricius is the eponym of a family-group name and is one of the best-known 



