Vol. XIX, pp. 95-98 June 4, 1906 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



GENERAL NOTES. 



ON MEPHITIS OLIDA BOITARD. 



In "General Notes" of tliis publication (1906, p. 45) Mr. A. Howell has 

 objected to the employment of the name Mcpltitis nlida Boitard in the Check 

 List of Mammals, and argues that putida Boitard is the correct one to be 

 adopted. This last name was rejected in the work above cited l)ecause 

 patida Cuvier is indeterminable, therefore has no standing and may not be 

 employed. In support of this view of the case, reference was made in a 

 footnote to Dr. J. A. Allen's unanswerable argument in his paper published 

 in these Proceedings (1902, p. 06), which Mr. Howell seems to have over- 

 looked or forgotten. Until he is able to controvert successfully Dr. 

 Allen's criticism, olida Boitard for the eastern skunk is likely to stand. 



—D. G. Elliot. 



CHANGE OF NAME. 



My attention has just been directed by Prof. Theo. D. A. Cockerell to 

 the f\ict that in my " Fossil Plants of the Judith Piver Beds " (Bull. U. S. 

 Geol. Surv., No. 257, 1905, p. 143, pi. XVII, fig. 6) my Quercu.'i mnniana is a 

 homonym of the living Q. monlana Willd., Sp. PI., 1805. This requires that 

 the fossil species be given a new name and I propose for it the designation 

 Quercus Hatcheri, in honor of the late Prof. J. B. Hatcher, who was present 

 when it was collected. — F. H. Knowlton. 



TYPE OF THE GENUS PRONOLAGUS. 



In my Classification of the Hares and their Allies (Smithsonian Miscell. 

 Coll. XLV, p. 416, June 15, 1904) I based the description of the genus Pro- 

 nolagu.t on the skeleton of a hare from South Africa, No. 22,972, United 

 States National Museum, erroneously identified as Lepns crdssicaudahis 

 Geoffroy and designated that species as the type of the new genus. Messrs. 

 Thomas and Schwann (Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1905, Vol. I, pp. 272-5, 

 pi. XVI, August 10, 1905) have shown that the specimen I called Provo- 

 laguti crasslcaudaliis (Geofl'roy) is an example of Pronulagus ruddi Thomas 

 and Schwann, so that the type of the genus Pronolagus should stand as 

 Pronolagus cra.^sicandahis Lyon (not Geoffroy) = Pronolagus ruddi Thomas 

 and Schwann. — Marcus W. Lyon, Jr. 



22— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XIX, 1906. (95J 



