GENERIC NAMES OF BUTTERFLIES 317 



Florissant in the United States. He considered that the species in question was referable 

 to the family Nymphalidae. 



NYMPH ALUS Boitard, 1828, Manuel Ent. 2 : 300. Type-species by selection by Hemming 

 (1933, Entomologist 66 : 300) : Papilio populi Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat. (ed. 10) 1 : 476. 



Boitard said nothing to show that the spelling Nymphahis was an emendation of the name 

 Nymphalis of some earlier author, but it is likely that he regarded it in that light. However, 

 in the circumstances the only practicable course seems to be to treat Nymphalus as a new name 

 introduced by Boitard. It is invalid, as it is a junior objective synonym of Limenitis Fabrici- 

 us, 1807. 



NYMPHIDIA Boisduval & Leconte, [1833], Hist. gen. icon. Lipid. Chenilles Amir. sept. 

 (livraison) : 130 (an Incorrect Subsequent Spelling of Nymphidiitm Fabricius, 1807). 



Boisduval & Leconte attributed this name to Fabricius, but they' gave no indication to 

 show whether this was an intentional emendation of Nymphidium Fabricius or whether the 

 change in spelling was due to some other cause. As no evidence was provided to show that 

 the change was " demonstratively intentional ", the spelling Nymphidia does not rank as an 

 emendation of Nymphidium Fabricius and has accordingly to be treated as an Erroneous 

 Spelling of that name. It has been proposed by dos Passos (1963, Bull. zool. Nom. 20 : 319) 

 that this name should be placed on the Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Generic 

 Names in Zoology.* 



As explained in the note on the name Lephelisca Barnes & Lindsey, the name Nymplmlia 

 was treated by some authors (including myself) as the name of a separately established genus 

 for some years prior to the definition in the present revised Code of the terms " emendation " 

 and " incorrect subsequent spelling ". By the authors who took this view and who treated — 

 correctly at that time — the nominal species Papilio cereus Linnaeus, 1767, as the type-species 

 of the genus Calephelis Grote & Robinson, 1869, the name Nymphidia was treated as a senior 

 subjective synonym of the name Lephelisca. 



NYMPHIDIUM Fabricius, 1807, Mag. f. Insehtenh. (Illiger) 6 : 286. Type-species by selec- 

 tion by Crotch (1872, Cistula ent. 1 : 66) : Papilio caricae Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat. (ed. 

 10) 1 : 484. 



When in 1937 the dates of publication of the generic names published by Hiibner were 

 determined in the light of his surviving manuscripts, it was found that the well-known and 

 long-established name Nymphidium Fabricius, 1807, was according to current taxonomic 

 ideas, a junior subjective synonym of Limnas Hiibner, [1806] (Samml. exot. Schmett. 1 : pi. 

 [29]), a name which had occasionally been used for a genus of the family Danaidae (following 

 Hiibner's own usage in the leaflet entitled the Tenlamen rejected for nomenclatorial purposes 

 in the Commission's Opinion 97), but never since the time of Hiibner had it been applied to a 

 species of the family Riodinidae. Great confusion would therefore have arisen if at that late 

 stage in its history the name Limnas Hiibner had been substituted for the name Nymphidium 

 Fabricius in the Riodinidae. Accordingly in 1934 an application was submitted to the 

 Commission asking it to take such action as might be necessary to prevent this serious dis- 

 turbance in nomenclatorial practice. 



This application was approved by the Commission, its decision being promulgated in its 

 Opinion 171 published in 1946 (Opin. int. Comm. zool. Nom. 2 : 459-470). By the Ruling 

 given in that Opinion the position of the name Nymphidium Fabricius was assured by 

 the suppression under the Plenary Powers of the older subjective synonym Limnas Hiibner. 

 At the same time the name Nymphidium Fabricius was placed on the Official List of Generic 

 Names in Zoology as Name No. 614. In 1954 the action taken in Opinion 171 was completed 

 by the Ruling given in Direction 2 (loc. cit. 2 : 613-628) placing the rejected name Limnas 

 Hiibner [1806] (of the Samml. exot. Schmett.) on the Official Index of Rejected and Invalid 

 Generic Names in Zoology as Name No. 164. 



* This proposal was accepted by the Commission, whose decision is published in Opinion 755 (1966, 

 Bull. zool. Nom. 22: 282) N. D. Riley. 



