Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington.

74

General Notes.

dorsalblotches, dullvermilion; occipitalband, occupyingposteriorhalf of parietals,temporals,

and

anterior

row

ofdorsal_scales,orange(being ofa_light yellow ground-colorclouded with _vermilion); rostral

and

loreal region

more

_pinkish; labials white; light dorsal interspaces primrose yellow, color deepest

on median

line

and

_{fadinggradually}intowhite on the first scale

row

; borders of vermilion patches jet black; lateral

dusky

spots dark

brown

(being black overlaidwith vermilion); whole underside white with mother-of-pearl reflections. Leonhard_Stejneger.

WHY NOT PAR A MAYA?

In a former

paper*

^Ireferred tothe substitution

by

Stebbing^of

Mamaia

1904ffor

Maja Lamarck

1801,Jthelattergenus beingrightfullyabandoned.

Thereis,however,

an

earlier

name

than

Mamaia, Paramaya

de Haan,

which

hasclaims to validity.

Paramaya

^firstappeared ^{in 1837}on _plate

XXIV

of

De

Haan's

Fauna

Japonica, Crustacea,^asa subgeneric designation, the typespeciesbeing^called"PISA(Paramaya) spinigera n." This _plate

and

plates

E and F

wereissuedwith Decas_{III,pages 65}to72,according^toBul letindes SciencesPhysiques^etNaturellesen_Neerlande,Leyde,1838,

where

the noticeappears^inthe

number

forAugust31,inalistofbooks published sinceJanuary^1,1838. That the date given (1838)^isnot earlyenough ^is evidenced

by

^{thefact thatthe} "Ophidii" ^ofthe

Fauna

_Japonica

which was

_publishedatthe

same

time,^isnoticed inGelehrte Anzeigen,Miinchen, July7, 1837.

The

textof ^"DecasTertia^" isalsodated1837atthe footof page^65.

The

_type species of

Paramaya

^is congeneric with the type species of

Mamaia,

^M.squinado (Herbst),^1788.

The name _Paramaya

remained undisputed until 1839,

when

de

Haan

published ^{his "}DecasQuarta," including pages ^{73 to 108.}

On

page 93, appears the caption

"MAJA

_{(MAJA) SPINIGERA,} n._sp.," followed

by

^"T.

XXIV.

^{f. 4.} 9 (Paramaya) ^{et T.} G.,"thus rejecting his

Paramaya

^for Maja. Again ⁱⁿthe last issue ofhiswork, ⁱⁿ 1849, de

Haan

_publishes under

"ERRATA

INTABULIS SPECIERUM," the following,^"Tab.

XXIV.

_fig.4:

Maja

(Paramaya)spinigera,n.; lege:

M.

_(Maja)spinig."

The

_rightofan authortothe_privilegeoferratapublishedsimultaneously withthe error is conceded; buthe cannot cancel

names

at a later date, eveninacontinuation of the

same

work, withoutviolating

Canon XXXV

of theA.O.U. Code,

which

_says,

"An

author hasno_{right to} change^or reject

names

of his

own

proposing, except ⁱⁿ accordance with rules of nomenclature governing^allnaturalists,he having only^the

same

right as othernaturalists over the

names

he has himselfproposed." Ptirmnnyn, therefore,

was

not obliterated

by

^de

Haan,

^{but remained a}

synonym

^of

Maja

^untilto-day,

when

it

must

needstake the place of the oldername.

Mary

^J.Ralhbun.

*Proc.Biol. Soc.Washington,XVII,p. 171, 1904.

fSpoliaZeylanica,II,pt.V,p.2,April,^1904.

tSyst.Anim.sans_Vert.,154, 1801.