The Nomenclature of Some Coral-Inhabiting Barnacles of the Family Pyrgomatidae (Cirripedia, Balanomorpha)

In their Revision of the coral-inhabiting barnacles (Cirripedia: Balanidae) Ross & Newman (1973) placed the taxonomy of the subfamily Pyrgomatinae on a sound basis and in a later publication dealing with all Balanomorpha (Newman & Ross, 1976) elevated the Pyrgomatinae to family rank: Pyrgomatidae. The nomenclature of four of the genera recognized by the two just mention ed authors gives rise to some remarks. These genera are Creusia Leach, 1817, Pyrgoma Leach, 1817, Savignium Leach, 1825, and Boscia de F?russac, 1822. The genera Pyrgoma and Creusia are generally considered to be first described by Leach (1817, Journ. Physique, Chimie, Hist, nat., 85:68). Leach then pro vided a diagnosis of both genera but did not assign any nominal species to them. A year later Leach (1818, Suppl. 4th, 5th, 6th ?d. Encycl. Britannica, 3:171) again described the two genera and named one (new) species in each: Pyrgoma cancellata and Creusia spinulosa. Plate 57 of Leach's 1818 paper proves to have been issued and distributed before the text: a printed line at the bottom of the plate says Published by A. Constable & Co. Edin. This plate shows the figures of both Pyrgoma cancellata and Creusia spinulosa and each figure is provided with the proper species name. The specific names therefore date from 1817. Leach's (1817) article in Journal de Physique contains a short in troductory note by the editor of the journal (Rozier) stating that the article is un extrait de l'article pr?par? pour le Suppl?ment ? l'Encyclop?die britannique, et dont les figures ont ?t? envoy?es ? la plupart des zoologistes fran?ais, il y a assez peu de temps. This remark confirms that the plate to Leach's article in the Encyclopaedia Britannica was issued and distributed before the 1818 text, and furthermore it shows that the plate even appeared before Leach's 1817 French article. The plate thus forms the original publication not only of the specific names cancellata and spinulosa, but also of the generic names Pyrgoma and Creusia. The correct references to these two genera are thus as follows: