Note 7 — Chapter II · ARTHROPODS AND THEIR CLASSES.—THE MARGINED WATER BEETLE; THE GREAT WATER BEETLE; THE COCKTAIL BEETLE

‘Dytiscus’ is written of set purpose. It is not, as some people tell us, a miswriting for Dyticus; but a properly formed diminutive, from the Greek dutēs = a diver; like paidiskos = a little boy. Linnaeus consistently calls the genus Dytiscus from 1735 onwards. Dyticus only dates from Geoffroy’s Histoire Abrégée des Insectes, first published anonymously in 1762. On this question of nomenclature I am glad to have the support of the Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, F.R.S., who, in answer to my inquiries, kindly wrote, ‘Darwin uses “Dytiscus” in the Origin of Species, and I should decidedly recommend its being upheld.’