{Authors arc responsible for /lometiclaiurc used.) kjul L I B ^ 



The Scottish Naturalist 



No. 58.] 1916 [October 



EDITORIAL. 



It is possible to derive a certain amount of amusement from 

 the efforts of our strict priority-mongers. In a communica- 

 tion by Oldfield Thomas on the generic names Rattus and 

 Phyllomys} the author confesses his disappointment at the 

 discovery that the name Rattus was used earlier than he 

 anticipated for the ordinary Rats, and, therefore, has priority 

 over Ephnys, which he hoped could be accepted. As a 

 consequence, his " attempted use of Rattus iox Azara's Spiny- 

 rat fails, and this animal will have to bear in future the 

 burden of Euryzygomatomys as its generic name." Poor 

 creature ! 



A paper entitled " Some Dental and Cranial Variations 

 in the Scotch Wild Cat {Felis sylvestris)" by R. I. Pocock- 

 will interest the student of our native mammals, although of a 

 highly technical nature. The varying characters referred to, 

 are the presence of extra premolar teeth in both upper and 

 lower jaws, the interlocking of the carnassial teeth, and the 

 junction between the frontal and squamosal bones of the 

 skull. 



The British Fishes of the Subfamily Clupeinse form the 

 subject of a recent paper by C. Tate Regan.^ The first 

 section of this paper is systematic, describing in detail six 

 species of Clupea (Herring, Sprat, etc.), five oi Alosa (Shad), 



1 Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist.., August 1916, p. 240. 



2 Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., Sept. 1916, pp. 272-277. 



3 Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., July 1916, pp. 1-19, plates i-iii. 



58 2D 



