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Lamarck and 'A Perfecting Tendency'

1898; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Volume: 7; Issue: 160 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1126/science.7.160.99-a

1095-9203

C. O. Whitman,

History of Science and Medicine

eidentally learned that the only species of Scyllarus known to Fabricius* in 1775, when he first made known that genus, was the S. arctua --the Cancer arctue of Linnseus.That, being the only species, is necessarily the type, and, therefore, the name Scyllame must be retained for it.The early carcinologists (Latreille, White) correctly recognized the type.Nevertheless, the S. arctus wm taken as the type of a aocording to Lamarck, is not the so-called ' Lamarckian factor,' but ' a perfecting Wemy.' Lamarckls Histoire Naturelle is in perfect accord with his Philosophie Zoologique, as interpreted by Professor Gtardiner.Lamarck thus describes his two factors : (1) ' Composition progreseive,' 'progresownll Lplan de la nature,' "pouvoir pi tend saw cease B compliquer I'mganisation, d accrottre Z e nombre et le perfectionnenew genus-Arctus-and the name Scylla~v~s ment des facultb, l ' I came premike et praominwas reserved for the "Sc.sculptus, latue, squamopus, equinoxialia, Haanii, Sieboldi," by Dana in 1852.He was doubtless influenced in this respect by the consideration that the arctue was the only species of its genus known to him, while most belonged to the other one.A11 succeeding carcinologista have followed him, and, indeed, the family is one of the very few for which a classification proposed nearly half a century ago has been retained intact to the present time, new species only having been added meanwhile.However, the necessity for a change will be recognized by almost every zoologist, and the sooner it is made the better it will be.I, therefore, propose to restore Scyllanu, to the t h i c a l species, and to give the new name Scy1lark-h (Scyllarus with the Greek patronymic termination -idea) to the bereft genus.Scyllarides may be typified by the S. squinoctidie (Sqllarua a?@noctialis of Nicolaus Tonder Lund).