Vol. XIII, pp. 71-73 September 28, L899 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THK 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 





NOTP]S OX TATOUA ANT) OTHER GENERA OF 



EDENTATES. 



BY T. S. PALMER. 



Some months ago Mr. Gerrit S. Miller, Jr., published a i)aper 

 entitled ' Notes on the Naked-tailed Armadillos,'* in which lie 

 showed that three generic names had been proposed for the 

 group: AV/mr((.sby Wagierin 1830, Tatoua by Gray in 1865, and 

 Lysi.uras by Ameghino in 1891. These names were all based 

 on Ddsypus unicinclus Fiinnaius, and Xeniirios being preoccupied 

 in ornithology, Taioua Avas adopted as the proper designation of 

 the genus. 



Since the appearance of this j)a})er I have made a list of the 

 genera of Edentates which has brought to light two additional 

 names based on Dasijpus luucinctas, both earlier than Taioua 

 Gray. These names are Arizostics, proposed by Gloger f in 1841, 

 and Cabassous, published by McMurtrie'l in 1831, only one year 

 after Wagler's Xenurus. C'a/;a.s-S'Ou.s (wiiich is credited to Cuvier) 

 is merely a Latinized form of a French term used by Cuvier and 

 Buffon,^ and taken from a native name. McMurtrie frequently 

 ado[)ted such names in his translation of Cuvier's' Regne Animal ' 

 and not only transformed them into Latin, but accompanied 

 them by generic diagnoses and brief descriptions of the species. 

 His reasons for adopting this course are explained as follows : 

 " The absurdity of translating into English the technical portion, 

 or the nomenclature, was too apparent to demand a moment's 



* See antea, pp. 1-2. 



fHand-u. Hilfsbuch d. Natiirgeschichte, p. 114, 1841. 



J Cuvier's xlnimal Kingdom, Am. ed., I, p. 164, 1831. 



1,S— Bioi,. Soc. Wask., Vol. XIII, 18!m (71) 



