VOL. XV, PP. 153-156 JUNE 20, 1902 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



GENERAL NOTES. 



The Generic names of the Peccaries, Northern Fur Seal, and Sea 



Leopard. 



Dr. Gill's ruling* about the names of the Peccaries surely introduces 

 a very dangerous principle^ which might carry us a great deal further 

 than at first appears. Tayassu (1814) and Dicotyles (1817) each contain 

 exactly the same species, and the later one should therefore be con 

 sidered as a full synonym of the earlier. To permit any later restric 

 tion of the synonymic name to reinstate it as a valid one side by side 

 with the earlier would be a plan quite opposed to the usual custom, and 

 one fraught with the danger of much further disturbance to nomen 

 clature. 



Nothing is more likely to introduce confusion and doubt into nomen- 

 clatural decisions than any paltering with the good old principle of 

 "once a synonym always a synonym." 



Consequently I think Dr. Merriam perfectly correct in his contention 

 that Tayassu and Dicotyles are strictly synonymous, but Fischer's 

 Notophorus f introduces a new element into the case. 



In giving this name, Fischer no doubt intended merely to replace his 

 earlier but barbarous Tayassu by a classical term, but he happened to 

 mention only one species as belonging to it, viz: "Sus tajassu Lin. Gmel." 



*General Notes, supra p. 38. 



fG. Fisch. Mem. Soc. Moscow, V, p. 418, 1817. 



28-BIOL. SOC. WASH. VOL. XV, 1902. (153) 



