Vol. XV, pp. 153-156 June 20, 1902 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



L 



GENERAL NOTES. 



The Generic names of the Peccaries, Northern Fur Seal, and Sea 



Leopard. 



Dr. Gill's ruling* about the names of the Peccaries surely introduces 

 a very dangerous principle, which might carry us a great deal further 

 than at first appears. Tayassu (1814) and Dicotyles (1817) each contain 

 exactly the same species, and the later one should therefore be con- 

 sidered as a full synonym of the earlier. To permit any later restric- 

 tion of the synonymic name to reinstate it as a valid one side by side 

 with the ea^rlier would be a plan quite opposed to the usual custom, and 

 one fraught with the danger of much further disturbance to nomen- 

 clature. 



Nothing is more likely to introduce confusion and doubt into nomen- 

 clatural decisions than any paltering with the good old principle of 

 "once a synonym always a synonym." 



Consequently I think Dr. Merriam perfectly correct in his contention 

 that Tayassu and Dicotyles are strictly synonymous, but Fischer's 

 Notfyphorus\ introduces a new element into the case. 



In giving this name, Fischer no doubt intended merely to replace his 

 earlier but barbarous Tayassu by a classical term, but he happened to 

 mention only one species as belonging to it, viz: "■Sus tajassu Lin. Gmel." 



*General Notes, supra p. 38. 



fG. Fisch. Mem. Soc. Moscow, V, p. 418, 1817. 



28— BioL. Soc. Wash. Vol. XV, 1902. (153) 



