230 BulletinofZoologicalNomenclature49(3)September1992 thespecificnameZ>/pM«f/fl/aSpinola, 1850infavourofcroM/i/M^Rolston, 1983.Itseems a great advantage to accept the 133-year older name for the species; this gives more nomenclatural stability as any overlooked synonym published since 1850 cannot do anyharm.Therefore,Isuggesttherejectionofproposals(l)(b)and(5)onBZN49:20, andthesubstitutionofbipunctataforcroupiusinproposal(3)(b). (2) L.H. Rolston Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station. Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803-1710, U.S.A. In response to the above objection by Holthuis to the suppression ofthe specific name bipunctata Spinola, 1850 and the placement ofcroupius Rolston, 1983 on the Official ListofSpecificNames,itappearstomethatnomenclaturalstabiUtywouldbe served best bysuppressinga name used once and only once in primaryliteratureand conserving the synonym that has been used in applied work by seven authors, in additiontomy 1983paper.Thereisamanuscriptinpressbytwoadditionalauthors(G. Couturier & F. Kahn) that also uses the specific name croupius. This name has thus beenusedbyatleast 10authorsin6paperssince 1983.PerhapsitisunfortunatethatI amtheauthorofthespecificnameproposedasanadditiontotheOfficialList.Iamnot biased because of authorship and shall not be in the least perturbed on personal groundsshouldtheproposalberejected. CommentsontheproposedconservationofthegenericnameHelophorusFabricius, 1775(Insecta,Coleoptera)asthecorrectoriginalspelling (Case2796;seeBZN49: 30-31) (1) A.Smetana 1 Centrefor LandandBiological Resources Research, Biological Division, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, OntarioKIA 0C6, Canada I am in full support of the application by R.B. Angus to conserve the name Helophorus. AnguscorrectlystatesthatIlliger'semendationoftheoriginalFabriciusspellingof ElophorustoHelophorusisunjustifiedunderArticle33boftheCode.However,thefact thattheoverwhelmingmajorityofauthors, botholdand recent,used Illiger'sspelling Helophorusshouldbetakenintoconsideration.Iwouldliketoemphasizeherethatthe spellingHelophorusisusedintherecentandcomprehensivetreatmentofthegeneraof hydrophiloidbeetlesbyHansen (1991); thiswillbeused asthestandard referencefor manyyearstocome. ThespellingHelophorusisusedconsistentlyalsoinmanyrecent non-taxonomic papers in the fields of palaeontology (e.g. Schwert, 1992), ecology (Koch, 1989) and economicentomology (Booth, Cox & Madge, 1990), and in recent cataloguesandchecklists(e.g. Lucht, 1987; Roughley, 1991). Areturntotheoriginal FabriciusspellingElophoruswouldcertainlynotcontribute tothestabilityofnomenclature. . BulletinofZoologicalNomenclature49(3)September1992 231 Additionalreferences Booth, R.G., Cox, M.L. & Madge, R.B. 1991. HEguides to insects ofimportance to man. 3. Coleoptera.384pp. InternationalInstituteofEntomology,London. Hansen,M. 1991. Thehydrophiloidbeetles. Phylogeny,classificationandarevisionojthegenera (Coleoptera, Hydrophiloidea). Biologiske Skrifter 40. 367 pp. Det Kongelige Danske VidenskabernesSelskab,Copenhagen. Koch,K. 1989.DieKdferMitteleuropas.Okologie.Vol. 1.440pp. Krefeld. Lucht,W.H. 1987. DieKdferMitteleuropas. Katalog.342pp. Krefeld. Roughley, R.E. 1991. Family Hydrophilidae. Pp. 130-135 in: Bousquet, Y. (Ed.), Checklistof beetlesojCanadaandAlaska.AgricultureCanada,Ottawa. Schwert,D.P. 1992.Faunaltransitionsinresponsetoaniceage:thelateWisconsinianrecordof Coleopterainthenorth-centralUnitedStates. Coleopterists'Bulletin,46:68-94. (2) G.N. Foster TheBalfour-BrowneClub,3Eglinton Terrace,AyrKA7IJJ,Scotland, U.K. IwriteinsupportoftheproposaltoconservethespelUngHelophorus.Iwouldliketo draw the Commission's attention to the following points emphasizing the need for conservationofusage: 1 Angushasinpressthemostimportanttexttobeassembledconcerningthegenus Helophorus {Siisswasserfauna von Mitteleuropa, vol. 20, section 10, part 2). This has beenseverelydelayedalreadyandwillappearwiththenameHelophorususedthrough- out. Elophoruswouldunderminethevalueofthismagnumopus. 2. Thegenusincludesonespecies{Helophorusbrevipalpis)thatisoftenthecommon- est insect in flight in western Europe, and therefore frequently appears in ecological publications.Thegenusalsoincludesseveralcroppests.ReversiontoElophoruswould cause confusion to ecologists, some ofwhom would resist the change and others of whomwouldremaininignoranceofit. 3. Thegenusfeaturesstronglyinpalaeoecologicalstudies,anotherareainwhichit wouldbeundesirabletocauseconfusionbychangeofusage. 4. Hansen'smonograph(1991)incontrovertiblyestablishesthefamilystatusofthe HELOPHORIDAE, whereas previously manyauthors have treated Helophorus as part of theHYDROPHILIDAE.Achangeinthenamewouldcauseconfusionatthefamilylevelata timewhenmanyworkershavejustadjustedtouseofthenamehelophoridae. (3) Alfred F.Newton,Jr. FieldMuseumofNaturalHistory,RooseveltRoadatLakeShoreDrive,Chicago,Illinois 60605-2496, U.S.A. The spelling Helophorus has achieved near-universal use for this genus and as the base for the family-group name based on it (helophorinae or helophoridae). AlthoughtherehavebeenafewrecentusesofElophorus,itisstillpossibleatthistimeto avoidlong-termconfusionintheHteraturebyconservingHelophorus. M. Hansen (1991) used Helophorus and helophoridae in his recently published comprehensiveworkonhydrophiloidbeetlesandM.ThayerandIhavedonethesame in a work on family-group names in the hydrophiloidea and staphylinoidea {Fieldiana,Zoology,inpress). Bothworksarelikelytobewidelyusedasreferencesfor sometime,whicharguesfurtherforconservingHelophorus. 232 BulletinofZoologicalNomenclature49(3)September1992 J.A.Owen (4) 8KingsdownRoad,Epsom,SurreyKT173PU, U.K. IhavereadthisappHcationwithgreatinterestandwishittobeknownthatithasmy strongsupport. (5) PaulJ. Spangler Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington,D.C.20560, U.S.A. IstronglyrecommendthattheCommissionconserveHelophorusasthecorrectname ofthistaxon.Illiger's(1801)emendationhasbeenwidelyusedforverymanyyears,asis documentedintheapplication. (6) D.T. Bilton InstitutionenforGenetik, Uppsala Universitet, Box 7003, S-75007 Uppsala, Sweden I have recently seen the application to conserve the currently used spelling ofthe water beetle genus name Helophorus. As someone who has worked with aquatic ColeopteraforaconsiderabletimeIwouldliketosupportthisapplication.Helophorus is one ofthe most famihar and widespread genera ofwater beetles in the northern hemisphere,andisknowntomanypeopleotherthanstudentsofthegroup.Areturnto theoriginalFabricianspellingwouldbemostunwelcometopeoplefamiliarwiththese insects,andwouldonlyservetoconfusethosewhoarenot! (7) Support for the conservation of the spelling Helophorus has also been received from Dr Hans Silfverberg (Universitetets Zoologiska Museum, N. Jdrnvdgsgatan 13, SF-00100Helsingfors,Finland). CommentsontheproposedconservationofSchizopusLeConte, 1858(Insecta, Coleoptera) (Case2773;seeBZN48: 305-307) (1) L.B. Holthuis NationaalNatuurhistorischMuseum,Postbus9157,2300RA Leiden, TheNetherlands Theauthoroftheapplicationwrites(para. 1)thathehasnotbeenabletoascertain theexactdatesofSchizopusLeConte, 1858andSchizopusClaparede&Lachman, 1858 andhedatesthemthereforeas31 December 1858. IcanhelpwithSchizopusLeConte,whichwaspublishedinvol. 10,p.70ofProceed- ings ofthe Academy ofNatural Sciences ofPhiladelphia (1858). The Tndex to the scientificcontentsoftheJournalandProceedingsoftheAcademyofNaturalSciences ofPhiladelphia', published in 1913 by the Academy, has a chapter dealing with the datesofpublicationofthesetwoserials.Onp.xiithereisanotethatoftheProceedings (1858-=vol. 10) the receipt of the first part (pp. 1-88) was acknowledged by the AmericanAntiquarianSocietyon 19April 1858.