GENERIC NAMES OF BUTTERFLIES 299 



generic names in the whole of the butterflies. Moreover, the adoption of the name Polamis 

 in place of the name Morpho would have caused great confusion in view of the fact that on 

 those occasions on which the name Potamis has appeared in the literature, it has been em- 

 ployed for a genus belonging to a quite different family (the family Nymphalidae), the authors 

 who used it following the action of Hiibner in the rejected leaflet, the Tentamen of 1806. In 

 order to ward off the risk described above, an application was submitted to the Commission 

 asking for the protection of the name Morpho Fabricius in whatever might be considered the 

 most suitable manner. 



This application was approved by the Commission in its Opinion 137 published in October 

 1942 (Opin. int. Comm. zool. Nom. 2 : 21-28), where it ruled that in the case of names for 

 the same generic taxon published in the paper by Fabricius in the Mag. f. Insektenk and 

 by Hiibner in the Samnil. exot. Schmett. respectively preference was to be given to the 

 Fabrician name over the Hiibnerian name. In the same paper the name Morpho Fabricius 

 1807, was placed on the Official List of Generic Xames in Zoology as Name No. 564. In 1954 

 in its Direction 4 [loc. cit. 2 : 629-652) the Commission clarified and expanded the Ruling 

 given in Opinion 137, expressly rejecting the name Polamis Hiibner under its Plenary Powers 

 and placing it on the Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Generic Names in Zoology as Name 

 No. 212. 

 MORPHO Hiibner, [1819], Verz. bekannt. Schmett. (4) 149. Type-species by selection by 

 Hemming (1943, Proc. R. ent. Soc. Lond. (H) 12 : 28) : Morpho omphale Hiibner, [1819], 

 ibid. (4) : 49. 



This is one of a number of cases in which Hiibner deliberately appropriated and treated as 

 his own a name published by one of his predecessors — in this case, the name Morpho Fabri- 

 cius, 1807 — using the name so appropriated in a sense quite different from that in which it had 

 been employed by the author by whom it had first been used. Thus, Morpho Fabricius, as 

 already noted, is the eponym of the family Morphidae, whereas Morpho Hiibner belongs to the 

 Charaxes-Group of the family Nymphalidae. For the reason explained above, the name 

 Morpho Hiibner is invalid under the Law of Homonymy. 



The nominal species Morpho omphale Hiibner was based upon bibliographical references to 

 two previously established nominal species. One of these was Potamis laertes Hiibner, [181 1] 

 Samml. exot. Schmett. 1 : pi. [70]) and this, through a lectotype-selection made by myself in 

 1964 (Annot. lep. (3 : 99) (for Potamis laertes, has become objectively identical with Morpho 

 omphale Hiibner, the type-species of the present genus. 



MORHOPSIS Oberthur, 1880, Ann. Mns. Slor. nat. Genova 15 : 513. Type-species by 

 monotypy : Morphopsis albertisi Oberthur, 1880, ibid. 15 : 513, pi. 2, fig. 3. 



MORPHOTENARIS Fruhstorfer, 1893, Ent. Nachr. 19 : (20) 317. Type-species by mono- 

 typy Morphotenaris schoenbergi Fruhstorfer, 1893, ibid. 19 (20) : 318-319. 



When first published, the specific name of the type-species appeared in the incorrect form 



" schonbergi ". 



MORVINA Evans, 1953, Cat. amer. Hesp. Brit. Mas. 3 : 10, 64. Type-species by original 

 designation : Tagiades morvus Plotz, 1884, JahrB. nassan. Ver. Naturkiinde 37 : 46. 



MORYS Godman, [1900], in Godman & Salvin, Biol, centr.-amer., Lep. Rhop. 2 : 541. Type- 

 species by monotypy : Apaustus Valerius Moschler, 1878, Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien 48 : 223. 

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

 currently treated subjectively on taxonomic grounds as being congeneric with that represented 

 by the nominal species (Pamphila compta Butler, 1877) which is the type-species of the 

 nominal genus Euroto Godman, [1900]. On this basis the generic names Morys and Euroto 

 are thus subjective synonyms of one another, and, as these names were published in the same 

 work and on the same date, the relative precedence to be accorded to them depends therefore 

 on the choice made by the First Reviser. This appears to have been Evans (1953, Cat. 

 amer. Hesp. Brit. Mus. 4 : 165-166) who gave precedence to Morys Godman over the name 

 Euroto Godman. 



