Research Note
A Note on the Spelling of the Specific Name of the Immaculate Spiny Dogfish, Squalus blainvillei (Risso 1826)

In my recent account (Trans. Roy. Soc. N.Z., 88 (3): pp. 519–557, 1960) of the species of Squalus from New Zealand, I used the name S. blainvillii for the immaculate species described by Risso (Hist. Nat. l'Europe Meridionale, 3: 133, 1826). I now find that my spelling of the specific name of Risso's species is incorrect, though it has long been in use and appears to date from Bonaparte (Iconograf. Fauna. Italica, 3: 49, pl. 140, 1834). The same incorrect spelling was followed by Muller & Henle (Syst. Beschr. Plagiostomen, p. 84, 1841), by Dumeril (Hist. Nat. Poiss., 1: 438, 1865) and by most modern authors. I have been able to examine Risso's account, which was not available to me previously, and discover that he described his species under the specific name blainville. According to current rules of nomenclature, a specific name based on a modern surname may not consist solely of the unchanged surname, and if so formed is to be corrected by subsequent authors. The correction in the case of the name of Risso's species involves the addition of a terminal i, hence Risso's species is to be recognised as Squalus blainvillei.

J. A. F. Garrick.