Vol. 34, pp. 135-138 June 30, 1921 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



GENERAL NOTES. 



CHOIROPOTAMUS VERSUS KOIROPOTAMUS. 



In a recent note' Mr. Hollister has rightly shown that these names, both 

 published in Gray's "List" of 1843, are valid nomenclaturally and the 

 only question is as to which of them should be granted precedence. 



Koiropotamus is given in the introductory systematic list (p. xxvii) and 

 in the index, p. 207; Choiropotamus in the body of the work, p. 185. 



Mr. Hollister says that "it seems clear that Choiropotamus is a lapsus 

 for Koiropotamus * * * since it was taken direct from the specific 

 name koiropotamus of Desmoulins," but he has no proof of this, and I 

 should rather be disposed to say that finding Koiropotamus — classically 

 incorrect — in existence, Gray deliberately corrected it by the alteration of 

 K into Ch. 



That he then later used Koiropotamus in the two indices, systematic 

 and alphabetical, — obviously both prepared and printed later than p. 185, — 

 does not affect the fact that in the first instance he used the proper classical 

 transliteration. Why he altered the name does not appear, but as he did not 

 definitely state that the change was the correction of a misprint or lapsus 

 calami I should not admit it as such, and would now maintain that Choiropo- 

 tamus is the form we ought to use. 



So far as I am aware, no general ruling has been given as to the relative 

 priority of introduction and body of work, but certainly in this case it is 

 quite clear that Choiropotamus must have been printed first, or else the 

 page number could not have been inserted in the introduction where Koir- 

 opotamus occurs. 



Perhaps an official ruling should be asked for, but pending such I should 

 propose to use Choiropotamus as the tenable name of the River Hogs. 



— Oldfield Thomas. 



A NEW NAME FOR THE WEST AFRICAN PYGMY SQUIRREL. 



The name Myosciurus minutus, now in use for the West African pygmy 

 squirrel, is preoccupied by Sciurus minutus Lartet, Notice sur la Colline de 

 Sansan, suivie d'une Recapitulation des diverses Esp^ces d'Animaux 

 Vertebras Fossiles, etc., p. 20, 1851. The African species (Sciurus minutus 

 Du Chaillu, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 7, p. 366, 1861) requires a 

 new name and may be known as Myosciurus minutulus. 



— A^. Hollister. 



iSupra, p. 77. 



26— Pboc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. 34, 1921. (135) 



