GENERIC NAMES OF BUTTERFLIES 371 



POMPEIUS Evans, 1955, Cat. amer. Hesp. Brit. Mus. 4 : 301, 335. Type-species by original 

 designation : Hesperia pompeius Latreille, [1824], Ency. mith. 9 (Ins.) (2) : 765. 



POMPEOPTERA Rippon, [1890], Icon. Ornithopt. 1 : 4. Type-species by original desig- 

 nation : Papilio pompeus Cramer, [1775], Uitl. Kapellen 1 (3) : 39, pi. 25, fig. A. 



The taxon represented by the nominal species Papilio pompeus Cramer is currently treated 

 subjectively on taxonomic grounds as being a 9-form of the taxon represented by the older- 

 established nominal species Papilio helena Linnaeus, 1758 (Syst. Nat. (ed. 10) 1 : 461). 



In addition to designating Papilio pompeus Cramer as the type-species at the time of the 

 establishment in 1890 of the nominal genus Pompeoptera, Rippon six years later ([1896], loc. 

 cit. 2 : 7) designated as the type-species another nominal species, namely Papilio helena 

 Linnaeus, 1758. In view of the subjective synonymy indicated above, it may be concluded 

 that, when in 1896 Rippon made the foregoing revised type-selection, it was not his intention 

 to change the interpretation of the genus Pompeoptera, his idea being merely to cite under its 

 correct (because the oldest subjectively available) specific name (helena Linnaeus) the species 

 which in 1890 he had designated as type-species under the later specific name pompeus 

 Cramer. 



It may be useful to note that the dates of issue of the various parts of Rippon's book are 

 very difficult to determine. The dates here adopted are those from Moore, [1902] (Lep. ind. 

 5 (54) : 139). The accuracy of the date here assigned to the name Pompeoptera is confirmed 

 by the fact that the name Trogonoptera first published on the same page was recorded in the 

 Zoological Record 27 (year 1890) (Ins.) : 204 as having been published in that year. The 

 evidence provided by the Zool. Rec, taken in isolation, cannot however be regarded as 

 absolutely convincing for the volume of the Zool. Rec. concerned was not published until 

 1892 ; there is therefore a possibility that the fact of the publication of these two names did 

 not come to the knowledge of the editor until some time between the close of 1890 and the 

 early part of 1892. 



POMPEUSPTERA Rippon, [1890], Icon. Ornithopt. 1 : pi. A (an Incorrect Original Spelling 

 of Pompeoptera Rippon, [1890]). 



Rippon himself corrected this misspelling in 1898 (loc. cit. 1 : Errata, (1), (2)), thus acting 

 as his own First Reviser. 



PONTIA Fabricius, 1807, Mag. f. Insehtenk (Illiger) 6 : 283. Type-species by selection by 

 Curtis (1824, Brit. Ent. 5 : pi. 48) : Papilio daplidice Linnaeus, 1758 (Syst. Nat. (ed. 10) 

 1 : 468). 



The examination in the mid-nineteen-thirties of the then newly discovered Hiibner manus- 

 scripts brought to light the fact that the well-known name Pontia Fabricius, 1807, had a sub- 

 jective synonym published by Hiibner in the same year. This created a difficult situation, 

 because there existed no means of determining which of the two names concerned had priority 

 over the other, with the consequent risk that, either as the result of fresh information coming 

 to light or otherwise, an attempt might be made by some authors to substitute the Hubnerian 

 name for Pontia Fabricius. The name concerned was Mancipium Hiibner, [1807] (Saminl. 

 exot. Schmett. 1 : pi. [141]) (type-species by monotypy : Mancipium hellica Hiibner, [1807] 

 ibid. 1 : pi. [141]). The adoption of this name for the present genus would have been open 

 to a double objection, for it would not only have led to the sinking in synonymy of the long- 

 established name Pontia Fabricius, but in addition would have given to the name Mancipium 

 a meaning quite different from that applied to it on the relatively small number of occasions 

 on which in comparatively recent times, it had been used for Papilio brassicae Linnaeus, 

 1758, that is, in the sense in which it had been employed by Hiibner in the pamphlet Tentamen 

 (later rejected by the Commission in its Opinion 97), though even at that date this usage 

 was incorrect owing to the fact that Papilio brassicae is the type-species of the older-established 

 nominal genus Pieris Schrank, 1801. 



In order to prevent the disturbance in nomenclature described above, a request was made 

 to the Commission to protect the name Pontia Fabricius from attack by the name Mancipium 



