BvJlttin of Zoological Nomenclature 83 PROPOSED VAUDATION, UNDER THE PLENARY POWERS, OF THE GENERIC NAME " HOMALASPIS " MILNE EDWARDS (A.), 1863 (CLASS CRUSTACEA, ORDER DECAPODA) (PROPOSED VAUDATION OF AN ERROR IN " OPINION " 85) By FRANCIS HEMMING, C.M.G., C.B.E., Secretary to tM International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (Commission's reference : Z.N.(S.) 560) The purpose of the present apphcation is to seek the assistance of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature in validating the generic name Homalaspis IVIilne Edwards (A.), 1863 (A7m. Sci. nat., Paris (Zool.) (4) 20 : 279) (Class Crustacea, Order Decapoda), which was placed on the Official List of Generic Names in Zoology by the Ruling given in Opinion 85 (1925, Smithson. misc. Coll. 73 (No. 3) : 13) in the erroneous beUef that it was a nomenclatorially available name. 2. The present case first came to light in 1944 during a preliminary survey of the pre-1936 entries on the Official List of Generic Names in Zoology which I carried out at that time. Tha.t survey showed that the name Homalaspis Milne Edwards, 1863, was invahd by reason of being a junior homonym of the name Homalaspis Reinhard, 1860 {Berlin, ent. Z. 4 : 239), an emendation of the name Omalaspis Giraud, 1860 (Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien 10 (Abh.) : 155), the name of a genus in the Order HjTnenoptera (Class Insecta). 3. As a first step in the examination of the question of the action needed in the present case, I consulted Dr. R. B. Benson {British Museum {Natural History), London) for the purpose of ascertaining whether the suppression vmder the Plenary Powers of the name Homalaspis Reinhard for the purpose of validating the name Homalaspis Milne Edwards in the Class Crustacea would cause any disturbance or inconvenience in the nomenclature of the Hymenoptera. Dr. Benson repUed on 21st April 1944 as follows : — I cannot see that any possible harm could come by suppressing Homalaspis Reinhard. Omalaspis Giraud is in use for a genus of the Cynipoid family aspiceridae. The three described species, all European, are rare or, at least, little known, and they rarely appear in the literature. Since Dalla-Torre & Kiefifer's (1910) Cynipidae in Das Tierreich, where " Omalaspis " was used, I am not aware that the form of the name " Homalaspis " has ever been used. I only know of three references to " Omalaspis " (Hedicke, 1928, Bull. Soc. ent. France 1928 : 280, Weld, 1931, Proc. ent. Soc. Wash. 33 : 221 and Rohwer & Fagan, 1917, "The type species of the Genera of the Cynipidae ....", Proc. U.S. nat. Mus. 53 : 357 — 380 ; and in this type list the form of the name " Homalaspis " is not even mentioned !). I cannot Bvll. zool. Nomencl. Vol. 11, Part 3. February 1955.
Proposed validation, under the plenary powers, of the generic name Homalaspis Milne Edwards (A.), 1863 (Class Crustacea, Order Decapoda) (Proposed validation of an error in Opinion 85)
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