A LIST OF THE GENERA AND FAMILIES OF MAMMALS. 61 
may be made: (1) classical names and their compounds; (2) native 
names; (3) geographical names; (4) personal names; (5) names indica- 
tive of age; (6) names indicating size, form, color, and resemblance; 
(7) names indicating habit and habitat; (8) names based on special 
characters; (9) names of fanciful or poetic application; (10) names 
founded on error or without application. These numerous subhdivi- 
sions may be arranged under two main headings: (1) names of obvious 
application, comprising the first seven groups, and (2) names of 
obscure application, comprising the last three groups. 
NAMES OF OLVIOUS APPLICATION. 
(1) Classical names.—Words of classical derivation taken from 
names of animals (see p. 44), like Cebus, Gale, Mus, and Pithecus and 
compounded with such prefixes as ev (typical), amphi (on both sides), 
para (near), pseudo (false), za (intensive prefix), etc., need no special 
explanation. Similarly, words like A/¢icola (high dweller), 7errzcola 
(ground dweller), //ydropotes (water drinker), etc., suggest their own 
application. But in some cases old names of animals have been trans- 
ferred to groups entirely different from those to which they originally 
belonged.” Thus Dasypus is now applied to the armadillos, which do 
not occur in the Old World, and Cebus (from «7 fos, which meant any 
long-tailed monkey), is now restricted to neotropical monkeys, which 
were entirely unknown to the Greeks. The connection between this 
name and its apparent compounds Arctocebus, Habrocebus, Microcebus, 
and Vycticebus, all applied to Old World lemurs, is not clear, except on 
the theory that the latter are not compounds of the modern generic 
name, but of the original «7/20s. Similarly, most of the compounds 
of zí?n«os, ape, are applied to Old World groups, while the root word 
in the form /%thecia is transferred to a South American monkey. 
(2) Native names.—Native names like Bandicota (pig rat) and Aerz- 
voula (plantain bat) constitute one of the most interesting groups (pro- 
viding their derivation can be ascertained), and they are usually based 
on such prominent characters that little explanation 1s required. 
(3) Geographical names.—Geographical names (see p. 47) are in most 
cases self-explanatory merely from the derivation, but, as already men- 
tioned, they are usually hybrid words and are sometimes compounds 
of little used names of localities, so that their application 1s not evident 
at first sight. Typical examples are Ruscinomys from Ruscino, the 
Roman name of the modern town of Perpignan in France; Avas/, a 
subgenus of monkeys from India, named from Kasi, the ancient desig- 
nation of Benares, and Argyrocetus, *silver whale? of Argentina, used 
in the sense of La Plata (silver) whale. 
(4) Personal names. —Personal. names (see pp. 48-51) fall into two 


«See Gill (Proc. Ass. Adv. Sci, XLV, sep. p. 11, 1896) for examples of such 
names in other classes of vertebrates, 
