1 88 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XIII, 



1804 (Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat, Vol. XXIV, 1804, Mamm., p. 

 19), whence Muirhead evidently obtained it, as he ascribes the 

 name to Desmarest. 1 The name Sarigue was used in a vernacu- 

 lar sense by Buffon (Hist. Nat., Vol. X, p. 279 et seq.} in 1763, 

 evidently as a modification of Carigueya of Tyson, who derived it 

 from still earlier writers. 



The genus Philander is usually ascribed to Tiedemann (1808), 

 but as used by this author it is a pure synonym of Didelphis Lin- 

 naeus, being merely a renaming of the genus, as long since pointed 

 out by Mr. Thomas (Cat. Marsup. and Monotr. Br. Mus., 1888, 

 p. 336, footnote). The name Philander, however, was first em- 

 ployed in a generic sense by Brisson in 1756, who included under 

 it all of the Marsupials known to him, and again in 1762 for the 

 same species. The first use of the name Philander by Brisson 

 being previous to 1758, the name is not tenable from its first 

 date, but would be from 1762, had not Linnaeus in the meantime 

 established the genus Didelphis, for practically the same species. a 

 The exception is a species of Phalanger from the East Indies. 

 According to current usage in similar cases, 3 Philander should be 

 thrown out as untenable for any generic group, unless, by the 

 process of elimination, it can be fixed upon the group to which 

 Storr in 1780 gave the name Phalanger. This would, of course, 

 do away with any availability it might otherwise have in American 

 mammalogy. 



Dr. J. E. Gray in 1843 (List Mamm. Br. Mus., 1843, pp. xxi, 

 100) again made use of the name "Philander Brisson " for such 

 a heterogeneous assemblage as D. nudicauda Desm., D. karkino- 



*, The manner in which Dr. Muirhead used the name Sarigua is shown by the following 

 transcript from his article on the "Suborder Pedimana." 



" i. Genus SARIGUA, Desmar. DIDELPHIS, Lin. . . . [Here follows a short diagnosis of 

 the genus.] 



"i. S. marsupialiS) Didelphis marsupialis, cancrivora, Lin. Amboyna, or Molucca 

 opossum. Eight teats within the pouch. 2. S. virginiana, Didelphis virginiana, Pennant 

 and Geoff. Long-haired opossum. Body covered with long brown hair ; head white with a 

 brown spot. 3. 6". opossum, Didelphis opossum, Lin. Common or Virginian opossum. Half 



the orbits black. 6. S. brachyura, Didelphis brachyura, Lin. Short-tailed opossum. Tail 

 short ; ears naked ; body rufous. 7. 6". memmina, Didelphis memmina, Cuv. Yapoch or 

 Little otter of Guiana. Tail hairy above, naked beneath, and nearly as long as the body. 8. 

 6". crassicaudata. Thick-tailed opossum. Tail large and strong ; upper parts of the body 

 of a bright cinnamon hue, the under parts of a bright gray. q. 6". pusilla, Didelphis pusilla, 



' whitish underneath. 



a small cat . . ." 

 American Opossum. 



2 Cf. Merriam, Science, N. S., II, No. 39, p. 418, Sept. 27, 1895. 



3 See the treatment of such nearly parallel cases as Myodes Pallas and Cuniculus Wagler 

 by Mr. G. S. Miller, Jr. (N. Am. Fauna, No. 12, 1896, pp. 15 and 16). 



01 a ongni cinnamon nue, me unaer parts 01 a origni gray. 9. o. pusiiu 



Desmar. Dwarf opossum. Body of a leaden hue, and whitish underni 



" S. opossum. (PI. ccclv, Fig. 20.) This species is about the size of 



Then follows, under this name, about one column on the North Americai 



