Vol. XXIV, pp. 225-230 October 31, 1911 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



GENERAL NOTES. 



THE NOMENCLATURE OF THE CHEETAHS. 



Two forms of cheetahs are commonly recognized, Cynailurus jubatus of 

 India and C. guttatus of Africa. A review of the nomenclature of the 

 genus results in an unavoidable and entire change of names. The generic 

 name Acinonyx Brookes, Catalogue of the Anatomical and Zoological 

 Museum of Joshua Brookes, Esq., p. 16, 1828, proves, on examination of 

 this work, t'> lica valid name, and it has priority over Cynailurus Wagler, 

 1830. The first name to be applied to a cheetah was Felis jubata Schreber, 

 pi. cv, I>ie Siiugthiere, 177<>. From the text of this plate, published in 

 1 777, the typedocality may be settled definitely as the Cape of Good Hope. 

 Schreber says: " Das Vaterland dieses Thieres ist das siidliche Afrika; 

 man bekommt die Felle voni Vorgebirge der guten Hofnung" (vol. Ill, 

 pp. 392-393). This is followed by a statement that Pennant says it is 

 also found in India, and an account of its use for hunting. The name 

 jubata must, therefore, be transferred to the African cheetah. The earliest 

 name for the Indian form is Felis venalica Hamilton Smith, 1S27. At 

 the time this name was proposed, jubata was restricted to Africa. 



Of the remaining names which have, at various times, been used for 

 cheetahs, four apply to African animals, one to the Indian species, and 

 three may be disregarded as not originally applying to cheetahs or as 

 indeterminable. Felis guttata Hermann, Obs. Zooh, p. 38, 1804, is based 

 primarily on " Prosp. Alpini Aegypt. tab. xv, fig. 1, p. 238" (really fig. 

 2). The editor of Hermann's work, Frid. Lud. Hammer, has supplied 

 a description in brackets. Alpinus' plate proves to be a drawing of a 

 spotted cat, which the text explains was one of a litter of five seen in 

 Cairo in the possession of a Greek courtesan. These kittens were said to 

 have recently been born of a panther and were purchased of Arabs. The 

 description and account which follows is very confusing and it is prol >ably 

 impossible to identify the animal. The name can not, at any rate, be 

 applied to a cheetah. In Griffith's Cuvier, V, p. 175, I find the statement 

 that " F. guttata, of Hermann, figured by Schreber, is stated by M. F. 

 Cuvier to be a young panther." Felis chalybeata Hermann, Obs. Zooh, 

 p. 36, is likewise not determinable, andean be ignored as a cheetah name. 

 It probably really refers to an American spotted cat, though the name 

 later applied to such an animal by various authors is said not to be the 



43— Pkoc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXIV, 1911. (225) 



