131 



PRE=OCCUPIED NAMES. 



E. G. BAYFORD, 

 Barnsley. 



Reading through the excellent article on Bibliography, 

 Publication, and Nomenclature (pp. 5-9), I notice the omission 

 of any reference to the important question of pre-occupied 

 names. A short note thereon will not be out of place, and 

 especially as Mr. Sherborn makes use of one to illustrate the 

 law of priority. 



It will be obvious that the same generic name cannot be 

 used with propriety for two or more different genera. It will 

 be equally obvious that the number of genera is now so large 

 that the possibility of an author giving to a new genus a name 

 already in use is far from remote. When this happens, the 

 law of priority requires that this name must fall, so far as the 

 newly-created genus is concerned. 



The name Galerita, quoted by Mr. Sherborn, is a case in 

 point. First used by Fabricius in 1798 to designate a genus 

 of Carabid Beetles, it was afterwards used by Boie in 1828 to 

 designate a genus of birds of the Lark family. The former 

 must retain it, and the latter must substitute for it the name 

 next in order of priority. I find that Prof. Alfred Newton, 

 in a note on Galerita (art. ' Lark,' Encyclopaedia Britannica, 

 1882) says : ' The name, hov/ever, is inadmissible owing to its 

 prior use in Entomology.' Notwithstanding this, some dis- 

 tinguished ornithologists persist in using it. 



To avoid this and similar difficulties, some authors instead 

 of choosing for a name some existing word, have created words 

 which are anagrams of names already in use, e.g. Niptus and 

 Tipnus from Ptinus ; Rybaxis from Bryaxis, etc., etc. Some 

 would ignore these, on the ground that they are not words 

 (i.e. having a known meaning), but m.erely pronounceable 

 combinations of letters. This view, however, has received but 

 little support, and the names quoted have now become well- 

 estabhshed. Indeed, there are strong arguments in favour 

 of the practice, e.g. the newness of the names is manifest, and 

 their obvious similarity to the names of the alhed genera of 

 which they are anagrams is a mnemonic aid to the student. 



1908 April I. 



