10 Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 51(1) March 1994 Case 2859 Johnstonia Quatrefages, 1866 (Annelida, Polychaeta): proposed conservation Andrew S.Y. Mackie Department of Zoology, National Museum of Wales, Cathay s Park, Cardiff CFl 3NP. Wales. U.K. Judith Gobin Institute of Marine Affairs, Carenage, Trinidad and Tobago Abstract. The purpose of this apphcation is to conserve the name Johnstonia Quatrefages, 1866 for a genus of marine polychaetes (family maldanidae). Quatre-fages had earlier (1849) apphed this name in a different taxonomic sense to an indeterminate species in the nereidae. The suppression of the unused senior homonym is proposed, as is the formal rejection of the junior homonyms Johnstonia Fuhrmann, 1920 (Cestoda) and Johnstonia Basir, 1956 (Nematoda). 1 . The generic name Jolmstonia was first published by Quatrefages ( 1 849, p. 304 footnote) for a polychaete annelid of the family nereidae, evidently in honour of George Johnston (1797-1855), an authority on invertebrates. Further reference to this genus was made in a summary (Quatrefages, 1850a, p. 42 footnote) of the publication in which the type species / prolifera was described (Quatrefages, 1850b, p. 350, pi. 8, figs. 1-2). Marschall (1873, p. 434) listed Jolmstonia Quatrefages, 1849 as a synonym of Heteronereis Orsted, 1842; following recognition of the true epitokous nature of the latter genus, Ehlers (1868, p. 450) had earlier synonymised both Jolmstonia (in the sense of Quatrefages, 1849) and Heteronereis with Nereis. Mcintosh (1910, p. 277) considered Jolmstonia prolifera an epitoke of Nereis pelagica Linnaeus, 1758 or 'other species of Nereis\ No type material is present in the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, or known from elsewhere, and / prolifera must be regarded as a nomen dubium. Apart from the references cited above Jolmstonia Quatrefages, 1849 has been overlooked or misinterpreted. 2. Jay (1850, p. 95) proposed Jolmstonia as a generic name for a gastropod mollusc, but this is a nomen nudum since no description, figure or reference was given. 3. Quatrefages later introduced the name, in a different taxonomic sense from that of his previous work, in a generic key to polychaetes of the family maldanidae. It first appeared (Quatrefages, 1865a, p. 597; 1865b, p. 293) in the French spelling 'Johnstonie'. The latinised name Johnstonia was made available in January 1866 in an English translation of the second (1865b) publication (Quatrefages, 1866a, p. 21; see also Wright, 1 866, p. 720). A detailed description of Jonhstonia [sic] was given later that year (Quatrefages, [1866b], p. 244), together with that of the type species J. clymenoides (p. 245); although this work is dated 1865 it was not published until
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