316 FRANCIS HEMMING 



NYCTUS Mabille, 1891, Bull. C.R. Soc. ent. Belg. 1891 : cxiv. Type-species by monotypy: 

 Nyctus crinitus Mabille, 1891, ibid. 1891 : cxiv. 



NYMPHA Krause, [1939], in Thon, Faun. Thiiringen 4 (Schmett.) (4/5) : 86. Type-species 

 by selection by Scudder, (1875, Proc. amer. Acad. Arts Sci., Boston 10 : 293) : Papilio populi 

 Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat. (ed. 10) 1 : 476. 



The name Nympha Krause is invalid, as it is a junior objective synonym of Limenitis 

 Fabricius, 1807. In addition, the name Nympha Krause is invalid as a junior homonym of 

 Nympha Fitzinger, 1826 (Nouv. Class. Rept. : 29). 



NYMPHALIS Kluk, 1802, Zwierz. Hist. nat. pocz. gospod. 4 : 86. Type-species by selection 

 by Hemming (1933, Entomologist 66 : 223) : Papilio polychloros Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. 

 Nat. (ed. 10) 1 : 477. 



The word " Nymphalis " is one of a number used by Linnaeus in 1758 and his immediate 

 successors for terms intermediate between the generic name Papilio Linnaeus and groups of 

 species referred to the genus so named. The claim of these terms to be recognized as having 

 been published as generic names was rejected by the Commission in its Opinion 124 (1936, 

 Smithson. miscell. Coll. 73 (No. 8) : 1-2 ; republished in facsimile in 1958 (Opin. int. Comm. 

 zool. Nom. 1 (B) : 465-466)). The word " Nymphalis ", together with the other words used 

 in a similar sense in the XVIIIth century were later employed as generic names, and it 

 proved difficult to determine what was the first genuine usage as a generic name. As shown 

 above, it was Kluk who in 1802 who first so used the name here in question. The name 

 Nymphalis Kluk has been placed on the Official List of Generic Names in Zoology as Name 

 No. 703. 

 NYMPHALIS Latreille, 1804, Nouv. Diet. Hist. nat. 24 (Tab.) : 184, 199. Type-species by 

 monotypy : Papilio atalanta Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat. (ed. 10) 1 : 478. 



Latreille, who was unaware of the paper published by Kluk two years earlier indicated that 

 he regarded himself as the author of this name by placing ( : 95) an asterisk against it. In the 

 first of the passages cited above (: 184) Latreille cited as belonging to this genus (a) Papilio 

 atalanta Linnaeus and (b) what he called " Papilio morio" . There was in existence no such 

 nominal species as Papilio morio, though it may be supposed that it was Papilio antiopa 

 Linnaeus which Latreille had in mind in view of the fact that species was known in France by 

 the vernacular name " Le Morio ". This however is pure speculation and the position is 

 that Papilio atalanta was the only nominal species cited by Latreille and is therefore the type- 

 species of Nymphalis Latreille, 1804, by monotypy. Prior to the discovery of Kluk's paper 

 of 1802 the name Nymphalis was attributed to Latreille, but most authors ignored his publi- 

 cation of that name in 1804 in the Nouv. Diet., treating it has having been first published in the 

 following year (1805, in Sonnini's Buffon, Hist, nat., Ins. 4 : 82). 



The name Nymphalis Latreille is invalid as being a junior homonym of Nymphalis Kluk, 

 1802. The species which is the type-species of Nymphalis Latreille became later the type- 

 species of the genus Vanessa Fabricius, 1807 and is currently placed in that genus. 



NYMPHALIS Felder (C), 1861, Nova Acta Leop. Carol. 28 (No. 3) : 41. Type-species by 

 selection by Hemming (1934, Entomologist 67 : 37) : Papilio astynax Fabricius, 1775, Syst. 

 Ent. : 447. 



Felder quite deliberately stated that he was the author of this generic name and it must 

 therefore be attributed to him. It is invalid as a junior homonym of Nymphalis Kluk, 

 1802. 



The taxon represented by the nominal species Papilio astynax Fabricius is currently treated 

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

 nominal species Papilio arthemis Drury, [1773] {III. nat. Hist. 2: index et 17, pi. 10, figs 3, 4). 



NYMPHALITES Scudder, 1889, Ann. Rep. U.S. Geol. Survey 8 (1) : 457. Type-species 

 through Section (a)(i) of Article 68 : Nymphalites obscurus Scudder, 1889, ibid. 8 : 457, 

 pi. 53, figs 10-13. 



Scudder established this genus for a fossil species obtained from the Tertiary deposits of 



