1853.] 415 



appeared in the Journ. A. N. S., vol- iv. p. 352. It is described by Harlan in his 

 Fauna as Arvicola hortensis, and afterwards in Silliman's Journal, vol. x. p. 285, 

 under a different name, Arvicola ferrugineus. When Mr. Ord first brought this 

 animal from Florida, he deposited his specimen in the Philadelphia Museum, in 

 care of Mr. Peale, w^ith a particular injunction against its getting into the hands 

 of any one else. Dr. Harlan, who had free admission to this institution at all 

 times, went there when he knew no one would be present, took the specimen 

 away, and afterwards described it under the very inappropriate name of Arvicola 

 hortensis. The consequence of this, to say the least of it, unfair conduct, was a 

 positive banishment from the Museum for the future. Somewhat of a similar 

 manoeuvre caused him, sometime after, to be banished by the police from the city 

 of Paris. 



In the plates to the voyage of the French ship Venus there is figured a rat, 

 which is called Neotoma Floridana, which probably belongs to this genus, and 

 may be considered as a new species. The teeth have no resemblance to those 

 of a Neotoma, which, like those of Arvicola, are formed of triangles. Not being 

 able to refer to the text of this work, it is impossible to say of what country it 

 is a native. It may have been found on the western coast of our continent, in 

 California or Oregon. 



The name by which the Sigmodon is known in Georgia is the Small Wood Rat, 

 the Neotoma being called simply Wood Rat. They both keep at a distance from 

 houses, concealed in the woods or hedge rows. 



I conclude this rambling part of my paper by stating that, of the two Jaculi 

 found in this country, the Labradore Rat of Pennant, Arct. ZooU, vol. i. p. 132, 

 since called Dipus, and Meriones, but now Jaculus, has very large ears, and is 

 the same as the Gerbillus leonurus of Rafinesque. The Jaculus Canadensis has 

 very small ears, and may thus be easily distinguished ; they are both called Deer 

 Mouse by the inhabitants of Canada. 



The Committee on Major Le Conte's paper on Crotalus durissus and 

 C. adamanteus, reported in favor of publication. 



Observations on the so-called Crotalus durissus find C. adamanteus of moderTf, 



authors. 



By John Le Conte. 



Cuvier, in .his ^' Regne Animal," in a note on* the genus Crotalus, observes, 

 that the Linnean specific names of horridus and durissiis have been in different 

 ways changed between these two species. He was perfectly correct in this ; 

 and any one consulting the authors who have written on reptiles, will, in my 

 opinion, be at no loss to determine what the illustrious Swede meant by these 

 two specific names. In the Southern States we have but two species of Crotalus, 

 as the genus is now restricted. They are familiarly known as the Pine Barren 

 and the Oak Ridge rattlesnakes. Until it is possible to determine how either of 

 these was named by Linnaeus, and I cannot doubt that he had seen them both, I 

 hope I may be pardoned if I use these popular names to distinguish them from 

 each other. The first has, by English authors of the last century and by Cuvier, 

 been considered the horridus, and the other by Shaw and Pennant, as the diiris- 

 sus ; in the last case manifestly improperly, as will appear hereafter. In order, 

 however, to elucidate this matter, I will commence with the descriptions given 

 by Linnaeus in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae, the publication of 

 which he superintended himself in the year 1766, and by Graelin in his edition 

 of the year 1798. 



Crotalus horridus. Scutis 167, scutellis 23. 



. Mus. Ad. Frid., p. 39. Brad. Natur., tab. ix. fig. 1. Seba, Mus., vol. ii. tab. 



xcv. fig. 1. 



