ALLEN: mammalia: CHINCHILLID/E. 31 



Oken =Z)/>/5 maximns Desmarest (ex Blainville). Cf. Allen, Proc. 

 Biol. Soc. Wash., XV, 1902, 196. 



Viscaccia Schinz, Cuvier's Thierreich, IV, 1825, 429. Type, Viscaccia 

 americana Schinz, sp. nov. = Dipus maximns Desmarest (ex Blain- 

 ville), 181 7. Cf. Thomas, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., XIV, 25, April 

 2, 1901; Allen, ibid., 181, Dec. 12, 1901. 



Viscacia Schinz, Naturg. und Abbild. der Saug., 1824-1828, 244 [circa 

 1826). Also 2d ed., i^i^ = Viscaccia Schinz, 1825. — Lahille, 

 Congr. Cien. Lat. Amer., Ill, 1899, 192. Cf. Palmer, Science (2), 

 VI, No. 131, 21, 22, July 2, 1897. 



Viscacia Rengger, Naturg. der Saug. Paraguay, 1830, 272, footnote. = 

 Viscaccia ':ic\i\m, 1825 [= Viscaccia QV&vi, 181 6). 



Lagostomus Brookes, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, XVI, pt. i, 1829, 102. 

 Type, Lagostomus tnckodactyhts, sp. nov. = Dipus maximus Des- 

 marest, 181 7. 



As shown by the above synonymy and references, the proper generic 

 name of the Argentine Viscacha has been the subject of considerable dis- 

 cussion ; and while Schinz in 1825 adopted for it the name Viscaccia, the 

 same name appears to have been used for it nine years earlier by Oken, 

 both uses of the name having the same basis, namely "la Vizcache" of 

 Azara. Later Schinz varied the form of the name to Viscacia. 



As stated by me in 1901, the case is as follows : As has been fully 

 shown,^ there is no doubt of the pertinence of the generic name Viscaccia 

 Schinz, 1825, to "la Vizcache " of Azara, the Argentine Viscacha. But it 

 turns out that Oken (Lehrb. d. Naturg., Theil III, Abth. 2, p. 835, 18 16) 

 used the same term in 18 16, in nearly the same sense. Oken included in 

 his group or subgenus Viscaccia only two species : ( i ) Lepus cliilensis and 

 (2) Mus laniger. The first, notwithstanding the name chilensis, is based, 

 as far as the description is concerned, wholly on " la Vizcache" of Azara, 

 while in his diagnosis of the group Viscaccia he says "Zehen vorn 4, hin- 

 ten 3," which would exclude his second species, the Mus laniger of Molina, 

 and hence the Chinchilla of Peru. As Bennett, in 1829, made the Chin- 

 chilla the type of his genus Chinchilla, the Argentine Viscacha becomes 

 by restriction the type and only species of Oken's Viscaccia, the authority 

 for which name is thus Oken (1816) instead of Schinz (1825). 



' Cf. Palmer, Science, N. S., VI, p. 21, July 2, 1897 ; Thomas, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., XIV, 

 p. 25, April 2, 1901 ; Allen, ibid., p. 18 1, Dec. 2, 1901. 



