diff --git a/src/neigh_list.cpp b/src/neigh_list.cpp
index 93d8289541..0aca03a382 100644
--- a/src/neigh_list.cpp
+++ b/src/neigh_list.cpp
@@ -42,7 +42,6 @@ NeighList::NeighList(LAMMPS *lmp, int size) : Pointers(lmp)
   dpages = NULL;
   dnum = 0;
 
-  skip = 0;
   iskip = NULL;
   ijskip = NULL;
 
diff --git a/src/neigh_list.h b/src/neigh_list.h
index 50a2cfac79..f2304c8beb 100644
--- a/src/neigh_list.h
+++ b/src/neigh_list.h
@@ -44,7 +44,6 @@ class NeighList : protected Pointers {
   // atom types to skip when building list
   // iskip,ijskip are just ptrs to corresponding request
 
-  int skip;              // 1 if this list skips atom types from another list
   int *iskip;            // iskip[i] if atoms of type I are not in list
   int **ijskip;          // ijskip[i][j] if pairs of type I,J are not in list
 
diff --git a/src/neighbor.cpp b/src/neighbor.cpp
index 9904e73bda..b9af0647b3 100644
--- a/src/neighbor.cpp
+++ b/src/neighbor.cpp
@@ -436,8 +436,8 @@ void Neighbor::init()
     // detect lists that are connected to other lists
     // if-then-else sequence is important
     //   since don't want to re-process skip or copy lists further down
+    // copy: point this list at request->otherlist, could be a skip list
     // skip: point this list at request->otherlist, copy skip info from request
-    // copy: point this list at request->otherlist
     // half_from_full: point this list at preceeding full list
     // granhistory: set preceeding list's listgranhistory to this list
     //   also set precedding list's ptr to FixShearHistory
@@ -457,14 +457,14 @@ void Neighbor::init()
     //   ok if parent is copy list
 
     for (i = 0; i < nlist; i++) {
-      if (requests[i]->skip) {
+      if (requests[i]->copy)
+	lists[i]->listcopy = lists[requests[i]->otherlist];
+
+      else if (requests[i]->skip) {
 	lists[i]->listskip = lists[requests[i]->otherlist];
 	lists[i]->copy_skip_info(requests[i]->iskip,requests[i]->ijskip);
 
-      } else if (requests[i]->copy)
-	lists[i]->listcopy = lists[requests[i]->otherlist];
-
-      else if (requests[i]->half_from_full)
+      } else if (requests[i]->half_from_full)
 	lists[i]->listfull = lists[i-1];
 
       else if (requests[i]->granhistory) {