156 Pabncr — New Generic Name for Bealng Sea Ftir-Seal. 



A NEW GENERIC NAME FOR THE BERING SEA 



FUR-SEAL. 



BY T. s. talmer: 



In 1S51) Dr. J. E. Gray ])laced the northern Fur-Scal in a dis- 

 tinct genus, which he called Callorhlnm;'^ and for more than 

 thirt}^ years this name has been almost universally adopted by 

 writers who recoginze the generic distinctness of the Phoca 

 ursina of Linnseus from the southern Fur-Seals of the genus 

 Arctocephalm. The fact seems to have Iteen overlooked, how- 

 ever, tliat Callirhinitsi had l)een previously used in entomology 

 l)y Blanchard, who. nine years before, proposed it as the name 

 of a genus of Coleoptera. In 1857 CallirhinusX was again used 

 in herpetology by Girard, wlio estaljlished the genus for a 

 l)eculiar snake (CalUrhinns }xit( u/oui'ensis) , collected by the Wilkes 

 Expedition on the coast of Patagonia. 



Thus the name is preoccu})ied both in entomology and her])e- 

 tology, and cannot l:)e used for a genus of mammals. Unfor- 

 tunately no synonym of CallorJilnus seems to be available, and 

 it becomes necessary to propose a new generic name for the fur- 

 seal of Bering Sea. The name CaUotaria ^ is therefore proposed 

 as a svibstitute for Callorhmus of Gray. 



* Proc. Zool. Soc, London, 1859, 359. 



t Cat. Collect. Ent., 1850, 176. 



t Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Pliila., 1857, 182. 



'i A'a/oiT, l)eantiful ; Olaria, a genus of Fur-Seals. 



