Vol. XIX, pp. 199-200 December 31, 1906 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



GENERAL NOTES. 



TYPE OF THE GENUS ATHERURUS, BRUSH-TAILED 



PORCUPINES. 



The latest publisheH statement of the type of the genus Atherurus F. 

 Cuvier, so far as I am aware, is that by Dr. T. S. Palmer in his excellent 

 Index Genennn Mammalium (North American Fauna, No. 23, 1904, p. 127), 

 where it is erroneously given as Hystrlx fasciculata Shaw (Gen. Zool. II, 

 pt. 1, 1801, p. 11), from JNIalacca. By reference to Shaw's descriptions, which 

 are accompanied by good figures showing the peculiar tail bristles of the 

 genera Atlienwus and Trichi/s, H. fasciculaia is readily seen to be a member 

 of the genus Tnchys. F. Cuvier (Diet. Sci. Nat., 59, 1829, p. 483), mentions 

 no type for the genus Atherurus, but says of the tail, " est longue et termi- 

 nee par un faisceau de lanieres cornees, aplaties et etranglees d'espace en 

 espace," which agrees with Shaw's figure and description of Hi/sfrix mn- 

 croura Linnaeus based on Seba's Porous aciUeatus sylvestris etc. (Seba I, p- 

 84, pi. 52), and not with Shaw's Hi/strix fasciculatn, the tail of which is 

 " terminated by a tuft of long, flat hairs, or rather small, white laminae re- 

 sembling strips of parchment." F. Cuvier refers Atherurus back to his 

 brother's Les Atherures (Regne Animal, 1829, p. 215), which refers in turn 

 to Buflfon (Supplement, VII, p. 303, pi. 77). But Buffon's Malacca porcu- 

 pine with its parallel-sided tail bristles is clearly Giinlher's genus Trichys, 

 and not Cuvier's " Les Atherures." As the only name available for the 

 porcupine with the beaded tail bristles at the time of Cuvier's description 

 is Hystrlx macroura Linnaeus, this name should stand as the type of 

 Cuvier's genus J//t^rurus. See Jentink (Notes Leyden Museum, 1894, p. 

 207), who pointed out the type of Atherurus to be Linnaeus' Hystrix ma- 

 croura. — Marcus W. Lyon, Jr. 



NOTE ON LIMNOMYS. 



In the Annals for March* I founded a new genus for a water-rat from 

 New Guinea allied to Hydromys and gave it the name Limnomys. But I 

 now find that this name was preoccupied for a genus of Muridae from the 

 Philippines discovered and described by Dr. E. A. Mearns.f I therefore 

 propose to rename the Papuan genus Drosomys, its type species becoming 

 Drosnmys asprr. — Old field Thomas. 



* A.mi. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (7) XVII, p. 3-25, 1906. 

 t Proc. U. i5. Nat. Miis. XXVIII. p. ^ol, 1905. 



30— Pl;<.c. Hioi.. Sue. Wash., Vol.. XIX. 1900. (199) 



