Vol. XXlll, pp. 123-124 September 2, 1910 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



7^ 



GENERAL NOTES. 



J'i^' 



NOTES ON SOME N.OIES OF LIONS. 



The names for tliree snbsiiecie.s of lions, Fells leo barharus for tlie animal 

 of extreme northern Africa, Felis Jeo persicus for the form found in western 

 Asia, and Felin h'o senecjnlensis for the Senegal Lion, have lieretofore <lated 

 from Fischer's " Synop.-is ]\ramnialium," 1829. Through the courtesy of 

 Dr. C. W. Richmond I have been able to examine a work by J. N. von 

 ^leyer, published in ^'ienna about August 1, ISi'G, in which all three of 

 these forms are properly named and diagnosed. Fortunately the names 

 here used are exactly the same as those in current use, witli the exception 

 of the first, which is given as harhnricus instead of barharus. The title of 

 the work is as follows: "Dissertatio inauguralis anatomico-medica de 

 Genere Felium," etc., by Joannes Nep. nobilis de Meyer. There can be 

 no po.s.«ible doubt as to the time of publication as the introduction is dated 

 July 12, 182G, and the title page advertises a discussion at the Vienna 

 University for August 5, 1826. The descriptions occur on page (i. These 

 three subsjiecies of the lion will stand as Fdis Jeo harhnricus ]\Ieyer, type 

 locality Barbary ; Felis leo persicus Meyer, type locality Per.'^ia; and Feli.-< 

 leo senegiileusis ^leyev, type locality Senegal. 



The lion of the Cape Region of South Africa was llrst named by Fischer 

 in his "Synopsis ^Mammalium," p. 565, 1829, as Felis leo var e capensis, 

 and was later recognized as a distinct species by Fitzinger (Sitzb. Akad. 

 Wiss., LVIII, p. 436, 1868), who called it Leo capensis. The form 

 nowadays is generally considered a subspecies, under the name Felis leo 

 capensis. The name Felis capensis was, however, previously used by 

 F'orster (Thil. Trans. R. Soc, LXII, p. 1, 1781) and (imelin (Syst. Nat., 

 I, p. 81, 1788) for the .'^erval of .South Africa. The name caprnsi.'t obvinusly 

 can not be used for any form of the lion. 



A valid specific name for the Cape Lion is found in the Leo melano- 

 chaitus of Charles Hamilton Smith in his " Introduction to Mammalia," 

 Jardine's Naturalists Library, Vol. XV, second edition, i)age 177, 1858. 



On plate X this name occurs as Felis (Leo) melanochoetiis. As in 

 another instance in the same work tlie engraver is evidently responsilili' 

 for this dili'erence in the spelling of the specific name on the plate. T\\v 

 ('a])e Lion will therefore stand as Felis mclanocJiaitati (Smith). 



— V. IloUister. 

 ;n— rnoc. isioi.. soc. w.vsn., Vol.. xxiir, r.nd. ui-'O) 



