Vol. XIII, pp. 23-24 January 31 , 1899 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



_ _ 



NOTES ON THREE GENERA OF DOLPHINS. 

 BY T. S. PALMER. 



In looking over a list of the genera of Cetaceans recently, my 

 attention was called to several names of doubtful validity which 

 are still in common use. These names are Aeomeris, Orca, and 

 Tursio, now applied to members of the Delphinidpe, but which 

 are })reoccupied in other groups. 



Neomeris, based on Delphinusphocsenoides Cuvier, from the Cape 

 of Good Hope, was described by Gray in 1846,* but the name 

 had been previously used by Lamouroux in 1816 for a genus of 

 polyps. t In 1891 both Blanford and Lydekker mentioned that 

 Neovieris was unavailable for a genus of mammals, but not con- 

 sidering the group sufficiently distinct did not rename it. True, 

 in 1889, gave Neomeris full generic rank in his ' Review of the 

 Family Delphinidse ' (pp. 114, 178), and this course has been 

 followed by Trouessart.'l As the group is likely to be recog- 

 nized either as a genus or subgenus, it.should receive a name, 

 and may be called Neophocxna from its close relationship to 

 Phocsena, the well known genus of porpoises. 



For half a century the killers have been placed in the genus 

 Orca established by Gray in 1846 in the same paper in which 

 he named Neomeris. A somewhat careful search has failed to 

 reveal any earlier use of Orca for this group, but the name 



*Zool. Erebus & Terror, p. 30, 1846. 



t Hist. Polypiers coralligenes flexibles, 1816. 



fCatalogus Mammaliuin, fasc. V, p. 1042, Nov., 1898. 



7— Bioi,. Soc. Wash., Vol. XIII, 1899 (23) 



