1902.] Allen, Zimmermann s ' Zoologies Geographiccz,' etc. 19 



divides the genus into two sections, "a. Cornibus palmatis," 

 and "/?. Cornibus teretibus," placing Cervus alee, C. tarandus, 

 and C. dama in the first division and Dama virginiana and the 

 other deer then known in the second division, the name 

 Dama virginiana is published in proper binomial form, and is 

 based exclusively on the "Virginian Deer" of Pennant 

 (Synopsis, 1771, p. 51, pi. ix, fig. 2). It appears also in the 

 index as a technical binomial name, and on his map, where 

 in the ' Notarum ' it stands as Dama virginiana, and is en- 

 graved on the map (over what is now western Pennsyl- 

 vania) as Dama virg. He also employs it in his later 

 ' Geographische Geschichte' (Vol. II, 1780, p. 129), where it 

 is credited to Ray. Thus the long-current specific name for 

 the Virginia Deer is carried back from Boddaert (1784) to 

 Zimmermann (1777). That it should take precedence over 

 Erxleben's " Differtne vere americanus uti Pennanto videtur? " 

 (Syst. Regni Anim., 1777, p. 312), which some recent writers 

 have brought into question as the earliest available specific 

 name for the Virginia Deer, is beyond reasonable challenge. 

 As I have claimed (Am. Nat., XXXIV, 1900, p. 318), Erxle- 

 ben did not name, nor did he intend to name, the Virginia 

 Deer in this interrogative phrase. Even Zimmermann in his 

 ' Verzeichniss,' where he so scrupulously adopted all of Erxle- 

 ben's names, even at the sacrifice of his own of even date with 

 Erxleben's, did not cite Erxleben in this connection, for the 

 evident reason that he did not consider that Erxleben had 

 named the animal. 



What, now, is the status of Dama as used consistently and 

 repeatedly by Zimmermann, as the generic designation of 

 the Virginia Deer ? If tenable from Zimmermann it would 

 long antedate Odocoileus, and all other generic names applied 

 to the Virginia Deer and its allies. Other now current generic 

 names have quite as slight a basis; and any author who 

 would take americanus from Erxleben as the specific name of 

 the Virginia Deer could not very consistently reject Dama as 

 the generic name of the group. As shown above, Zimmer- 

 mann evidently used Dama in a generic sense, with intent, for 

 the Virginia Deer ; even those who may question his intention 



