VOL. XIII, pp. 71-73 SEPTEMBER 28, 1899 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THK 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



NOTES ON TATOUA AND OTHER GENERA OF 

 EDENTATES. 



BY T. S. PALMER. 



Some months ago Mr. Gerrit S. Miller, Jr., published a paper 

 entitled * Notes on the Naked-tailed Armadillos,'* in which he 

 showed that three generic names had been proposed for the 

 group: Xenurusby Waglerin 1830, Tatoua by Gray in 1865, and 

 Lysiurus by Ameghino in 1891. These names were all based 

 on Dasypus unicindus Linnaeus, and Xenurus being preoccupied 

 in ornithology, Tatoua was adopted as the proper designation of 

 the genus. 



Since the appearance of this paper I have made a list of the 

 genera of Edentates which has brought to light two additional 

 names based on Dasypus unicinclus, both earlier than Tatoua 

 Gray. These names are Arizostus, proposed by Glogerf in 1841, 

 and Cabassous, published by McMurtrie J in 1831, only one year 

 after Wagler's Xenurus. Cabassous (which is credited to Cuvier) 

 is merely a Latinized form of a French term used by Cuvier and 

 Buffon, and taken from a native name. McMurtrie frequently 

 adopted such names in his translation of Cuvier's' Regne Animal ' 

 and not only transformed them into Latin, but accompanied 

 them by generic diagnoses and brief descriptions of the species. 

 His reasons for adopting this course are explained as follows : 

 " The absurdity of translating into English the technical portion, 

 or the nomenclature, was too apparent to demand a moment's 



* See antea, pp. 1-2. 



fHand-u. Hilfsbuch d. Naturgeschichte, p. 114, 1841. 



J Cuvier's Animal Kingdom, Am. ed., I, p. 164, 1831. 



18 BIOI,. Sue. WASH., Voi,. XIII, 1899 (71) 



