424 FRANCIS HEMMING 



1803] ; in view of the fact that the name given to this taxon by Hiibner is a junior homonym 

 of the name published by Bergstrasser in 1779 discussed above, it was replaced by Hoffmanns- 

 egg in 1804 by the name Papilio sertorius, by which name this taxon is currently known. 

 The first authors to select as the type-species oiSyrichtus one of the species originally included in 

 that genus by Boisduval were Elwes & Edwards who (as stated above) selected Papilio proto 

 Esper, for which Boisduval gave a recognizable description (: 233) and good figures (pi. 46, 

 figs 4, 5). This selection was perfectly in order, and accordingly Papilio proto Esper is the 

 type-species of the genus Syrichtus Boisduval. 



Up to the opening years of the present century the question of the species to be accepted as 

 the type-species of Syrichtus Boisduval was not one of immediate practical importance, for 

 the whole group constituted by the Black-and-White Skippers was regarded by all authors as 

 forming a single taxonomic genus ; in consequence, on this view the name Syrichtus was held 

 to apply to all these species, the question of the type-species of that genus being thus of 

 academic interest only. The name Syrichtus itself was widely used, most authors ignoring the 

 name Pyrgus Hiibner, [1819], which had priority and certainly applied to the majority 

 of the species concerned. The use of the name Syrichtus was no doubt largely fostered by the 

 adoption of this name by Staudinger both in the First (1861) and Second (1871) editions of his 

 celebrated Catalog. The use of the name Syrichtus was however by no means universal, many 

 authors quite incorrectly placing this group in the genus Hesperia Fabricius, 1807, and in 

 consequence sinking the name Syrichtus Boisduval as a junior subjective synonym. From 

 1 901 onwards this tendency was accentuated as the result of the action of Staudinger in the 

 Third Edition of his Catalog ( : 94) when he himself abandoned the name Syrichtus in favour of 

 the name Hesperia. About the same time however a quite different influence began to make 

 itself felt. This movment owed its origin to a recognition of the striking structural character 

 found among the " Black-and-White Skippers " and found its outward expression in the sub- 

 division of that group into a number of smaller genera, the bulk of the species being retained 

 however in the genus Hesperia. The lead in this matter was taken by Tutt, when in 1906 he 

 established two new genera. Two of these are of importance in the present connection, these 

 being: — (i) Sloperia Tutt, [1906] (Nat. Hist. Brit. Butts 1 : 218) (type-species : Hesperia 

 poggei Lederer, 1858), and (ii) Muschampia Tutt, [1906], described on the same page with 

 Papilio proto Esper, [1 805-1 808], the species which, it will be recalled, was selected by Elwes & 

 Edwards in 1897 as the type-species of Syrichtus Boisduval, [1834]. More recently specialists 

 have taken the view that these two species should on taxonomic grounds be regarded as con- 

 generic with one another, the generic names Sloperia Tutt and Muschampia Tutt being in 

 consequence treated as subjective synonyms of one another. Acting as First Reviser, 

 Warren in 1926 (Trans, ent. Soc. Lond. 74 (1) : 165) gave precedence to Sloperia over Musch- 

 ampia, which thus became a junior subjective synonym of Muschampia. By some authors 

 however the name Muschampia continued to be used for Papilio proto Esper, notably by 

 Evans in the most recent treatment of the group (1949, Cat. Hesp. Europ. Asia Australia : 179). 



The name Syrichtus Boisduval has never been used exclusively for Papilio proto Esper and its 

 immediate allies since the commencement of the splitting-up of the " Black-and-White 

 Skipper " group nearly sixty years ago. If there had been some generic name applicable 

 to this group in general use, there might have been a case for asking the Commission to take 

 action to prevent disturbance of established practice by using its Plenary Powers to vary the 

 type-species of Syrichtus Boisduval by (for example) designating as its type-species the nominal 

 species Papilio alveolus Hiibner, thus making its name a junior objective synonym of Pyrgus 

 Hiibner, [1819]. But in actual fact the adoption of the name Syrichtus Boisduval for Papilio 

 proto Esper will cause no such disturbance : the correct name for that species, if Syrichtus 

 were to be ruled out by the Commission would be Sloperia Tutt, a name which has hardly ever 

 been used, this species during the last half century having been commonly placed either in 

 Muschampia Tutt or in Pyrgus Hiibner or even in Hesperia Fabricius. On the grounds of 

 nomenclatorial practice there is therefore no reason why the name Syrichtus Boisduval should 

 not be used in its correct nomenclatorial sense. It is therefore so used here. 



