1902.] Allen, Nomenclatorial Notes on Mammals. ^3 



barous ' names should not be retained in zoological nomen- 

 clature and accordingly changed several of his own names, as 

 well as those of other authors, to conform to what he con- 

 sidered a correct principle of nomenclature. Among the 

 names thus changed is his Tayassu, for which he substituted 

 Notophorus (Me'm. Soc. Imp. des Nat. Moscou, V, 1817, p. 

 418), considering as the equivalents of this name " Les Pec- 

 aris, Dicotyles, Cuv. Regne an. p. 237." Thus Notophorus 

 is not only a pure synonym of Dicotyles, but was intended 

 simply as a substitute for Tajassu, of which it is a pure 

 synonym. The only species mentioned in this connection 

 is "Sus tajassu Lin. Gmel.," but this can hardly be con- 

 sidered as limiting Notophorus to this species, it being given 

 merely as an illustration of the group, as in the majority of 

 the hundred or more other genera recognized in this me- 

 moir. Besides, " Sus tajassu Lin. Gmel." is unidentifiable, as 

 shown above (see last footnote, p. 162); if Sus tajassu Gmel. 

 was intended, the case is not helped, as Gmelin's Sus tajassu 

 is composite and stands for all the Peccaries then known. 



Hence it was not permissible for Gray in 1868 (P. Z. S., 

 1868, p. 43) to adopt for his two genera of Peccaries the 

 names Dicotyles and Notophorus, although Dr. Gill (Proc. 

 Biol. Soc. Washington, XV, p. 38, March 5, 1902) claims that 

 he "was justified by general usage in restricting the name 

 [Dicotyles] as he did, although he would have done better to 

 have given a new name to the genus he called Dicotyles and 

 [to have] retained the latter name for the one designated 

 Notophorus." This, however, is contrary to the principle 

 "once a synonym [homonym] always a synonym." Dr. 

 Merriam was thus quite justified in considering both Dicotyles 

 and Notophorus as synonyms of Tayassu, and in proposing a 

 new name, Olidosus (Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, XIV, 1901, 

 p. 119), for the group of White-lipped Peccaries. 



It is further evident that the earliest specific name of the 

 White-lipped Peccary is pecari G. Fischer, 1814. 



In establishing the genus Tayassu Fischer referred to it two 

 species, as follows: (i) Tayassu pecari: "T. corpore nigro, 

 maxilla inferiori alba;" and (2) Tayassu patira: "T. corpore 



