Allen Certain Generic and Specific Names. 93 



Opossum, named D. mrgiiiiana by Kerr in 1792. This leaves 

 of the identifiable forms included under the original D. mar- 

 supialis Linn, the large Opossum of Mexico, namely the Tla- 

 cuatzin of Hernandez, to which the name marsupialis must evi 

 dently restricted. As T). karkinophaya has obtained some cur 

 rency for the large Opossums of northeastern South America, 

 and as D. Virginians has been currently accepted for the Opos 

 sum of the United States, the present ruling very little disturbs 

 the nomenclature of the group. The restriction of D. marsu 

 pialis to the large Mexican Opossum simply takes the place of 

 Didelphis caUfornica of Bennett, which as a specific designa 

 tion has never had much currency.* 



*For a fuller discussion of this case see Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. 

 Hist., XIV, pp. 163, 164, June, 1901. 



