186 Mr. 0. Thomas — Notes on Babirussa. 



is probably also more convenient to spell the vernacular name 

 ■\vitii a tl()ul)le s. 



The typical species Sus hahyrussa, Linn., was largely based 

 on two figures of skulU, one by Grew and the other by Seba, 

 so that the skulls depicted would have been co-types of the 

 species. Of these two skulls, one — that figured by Seba — is 

 still in existence (B.M. no. 67. 4. 12. 223), and may with 

 ])ropriety be formally selected as a lectotyfje. It was stated 

 by Seba to have come from Buru, an assertion quite borne 

 out by its characters. 



Tiie differences between the Buru and Celebes forms have 

 been well pointed out by Deninger*, who siiows how, by the 

 more iiiwaid-pointing direction of the up])er canines in the 

 Babirussa of Celebes the nasals are pinched in mesially and 

 other characteristics are produced by which that animal can 

 generally be distinguished. The canines themselves are very 

 much finer, and I may further note that well-marked l)asial 

 pits apjiear always to be present in this species, while the 

 bullte in section are of the uarrow-oval shape found in the 

 Tali Aboe skulls. 



Deninger named the Celebean form cehheusis^ although 

 staling that the description by Lesson of J3. alfnrus applied 

 to that animal, and not to the Buru one. With some hesita- 

 tion 1 am prepared to accept his view that none the less 

 (ilfnriis should be considered a synonyn) of babyrusm, on the 

 ^luund that Lesson was distinctly giving a new specific name 

 — as was necessary under the code of that day — to Sus hahy- 

 riitiscif whose spccitic name he was using as a generic one. 

 Lesson's book contained descriptions of all mammals known 

 to bin), and the accidtnt that his dcscri{)tion of some Babi- 

 jussas seen in Java is thought by Deninger to apply best to 

 ctlehensis does not, I think, alter the fact that Lesson was 

 distinctly' renaming Linnc's Sus hahyrussa, of which, there- 

 fore, alfurus would be a synou} ni. 



Now, with regard to tiie Tali Aboe Babiiussas, I find that, 

 80 far as the canines and nasals are concerned, they are 

 (•ni]ihiifically of the Buru or B. lahyrussa tyjio, without any 

 tendency tow aids the characli-ristics of the Celebes U. C'le- 

 bciisis. 



But there are certain difTerencis which, being found in so 

 fine a series as oKveii Tali Aboe !<ktdls, as coni])ared with the 

 actual type of B. babyruanu, appear to indicate that they 

 should be subspecilicaily separated from the latter. I would 

 suggest for the animal, in honour of the naturalist to whom 

 we owe its discovery, tlje name of 



♦ IkT. Nut. Ges. Fieiburg, xviii. y>. 1 (lull). 



