BRITISH SPIDERS AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION 

5

J. E. Hull pointed out in 1920 that authors had followed Kulczynski 

in his mistaken use of 

Micryphantes 

for 

rurestris 

C.L.K. and its allies. 

Simon (1929) agreed with this conclusion and formed new genera for 

their inclusion, overlooking the fact that Hull had proposed the name 

Meioneta 

in 1920. 

In one or two cases genera have had to be renamed in accordance 

with the rules of nomenclature. Although 

Harpactes 

has been applied 

to spiders for a hundred years it must now be discarded for this 

purpose. Templeton's paper in the `Zoological Journal', Pt. 20, is 

labelled 1832 34, but we know from a reference in the `Magazine of 

Natural History' for December, 1834 (p. 656), that this was not 

actually published until December, 1834, or later, whereas W. 

Swainson had given the name to a bird in 1833 (`Zool. Illustr.'). I 

propose the new name 

Harpactea 

to take the place of 

Harpactes 

for 

spiders. 

The rules laid down by the International Commission of Zoological 

Nomenclature have been largely disregarded by French and British 

arachnologists. The rule with the most important consequences is that 

no names prior to the appearance of the tenth edition of Linnaeus' 

`Systema Naturae' in 1758 are valid. This decision means that 

Clerck's names (1757) for many of our commonest species must be 

abandoned. Being reluctant to introduce such changes I have 

corresponded with Dr. Karl Jordan, President of the International 

Commission, and voiced my strong objections, but he is emphatic that 

no exceptions can be allowed in any circumstances. 

Other opinions given me by the President of the International 

Commission after full consideration of the facts can be listed below: 

1. A genitive patronymic should always be formed by adding to the 

exact name an  i ,

  e

.

g

.

 cambridgei

,

 kochi

,

 hardyi

.

Thus the 

termination should be  ii  only where, as in certain Italian names, the 

name ends with  i  in the first place.