VOL. XV, p. 196 OCTOBER 10, I902 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



A further note on the name of the Argentine Viscacha. 



As has been fully shown,* there is no doubt of the pertinence of the 

 generic name Viscaecia 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, 1816) used the same term in 1816, in nearly the 

 same sense. Oken included in his group or subgenus Vucactia only two 

 species: (1) Lepus chilemis and (2) Mus laniger. The first, notwith- 

 standing the name chiltmsis, is based, as far as the description is con- 

 cerned, wholly on "la Vizcache" of Azara, while in his diagnosis of the 

 group VixcMeia he says "Zehen vorn 4, hinten 3," which would exclude 

 his second species, the Mus laniger of Molina, and hence the Chinchilla 

 of Peru. As Bennett in 1829, made the Chinchilla the type of his genus 

 Chinchilla, the Argentine Vischacha also becomes by restriction the type 

 and only species of Oken's Vucaccia, the authority for which name is 

 thus Oken (181C) instead of Schinz (1825). 



It also unfortunately happens that Oken's name chilensu has one year's 

 priority over maximum of Desmarestf (Dipus maximum Desm. ex Blainville 

 M. S.). Hence, apparently, the Argentine Viscacha must be called 

 V-i#c.firri cMlensu (Oken). From his account of the animal, he appears 

 to have believed, as did A/ara, that it was found in Peru, and also in 

 Chili, as shown by his reference to the use made of its fur in those 

 countries. He gives its distribution correctly, however, as follows: "In 

 Paraguay ist es nur westlich des Flusses Uruguay, vom 30 B. gegeri 

 Siklen, siidlich von Buenos Ayres sehr gemein. ' ' 



Oken was almost erratic and irregular in nomenclatorial matters, viewed 

 from the standpoint of present day usuages, as was Zimmermann in his 

 "Specimen Zoologife Geographicae" 1777. His use of the generic names 

 Lepus and Mus for the species he placed under Viscaccia will not sur- 

 prise systematists who are familiar with the character of Oken's "Lehr- 

 buch, ' ' although the name Lepus cMlensis is apparently Oken's own name. 

 It appears to have heretofore escaped citation. J. A. Allen. 



*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. 181, Dec. 2, 

 1901. 



fNouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., XIII, p. 117, 1817. 



