96 General Notes. 



THE EARLIEST NAME FOR THE CAPE RATEL. 



The name now in general use for the Cape Honey-Ratel, Mellivora ratel 

 (Sparrman). Kongl. Vet. Acad. Handl. 1777, Stockholm, p. 147, 1777, is 

 antedated by Viverra capensis Schreber. Die Saugthiere, plate 125. Of 

 late years this latter name lias been placed in synonymy, as dating from 

 177S; but according to Sherborn (P. Z. S., is'.)], p. 588) the plate was 

 published in 1 776. It is obvious that Mellivora capensis (Schreber), type 

 locality Cape of Good Hope (Schreber, III, p. 451), is the proper name 

 for the Cape Ratel. — A'. Hollister. 



A NEW RECORD FOE MICROSOREX IN NEW YORK. 



While studying the series of long-tailed shrews belonging to the Lee 

 Museum of Biology at Bowdoin College, I was surprised to find a skin 

 and skull of Microsorex hoyi from Canton, New York, received from 

 Miss M. South worth, November 9, 190:5. Through correspondence with 

 Miss Southworth I have learned that the shrew was brought in by the 

 house cat "on an eighty acre farm, well tilled and very level, with no 

 rocks nor woods, and, no doubt, it was caught in a meadow, as the house 

 is surrounded by meadows." 



Canton appears to he the second locality in New York State from which 

 Microsorex has been obtained, C. H. Merriam* having recorded three 

 specimens from Locust Grove. 



— Manton Copeland. 



* North American Fauna, No. in. 1895, p. 90. 



