ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



45 



THE CASE OF THK WHITE- TAILED 

 DEER. 



The general zoologist, interested ni<irc in 

 animals than in their names, who attem])ts to 

 stand midway hetween the small body of 

 technical zoologists and the masses of the nn- 

 scientiiic pnblic, is certain to be torn by 

 conflicting emotions. Compared with him, 

 Prometheus was a comfortable and even 

 happy man. He must cheerfully confront the 

 masses with the assurance that scientific zool- 

 ogy is the fountlation of all infallibility, even 

 while the vultures of Nomenclature are gnaw- 

 ing at his vitals. \\'hcther he will or no, he 

 must change the scientific names on beasts 

 and birds as often as the inexorable scientific 

 leaflet demands, and without making a wry 

 face, carry them out to three decimal places. 



There are times, however, when the general 

 zoologist is filled by a wild desire to go Ijacr- 

 sark. and say things. In his calmer moments, 

 lie firmly resolves to cut loose from all scien- 

 tific names, and make an open campaign with 

 Common sense as the only issue. He writes 

 a scorching lecture entitled " Popular versus 

 I'npoiHilar Nomenclature"; whicli so relieves 

 his mind that he calms down sufficiently to 

 go out and make a fresh lot of changes on 

 his labels. 



To-day, the Name-Makers are in strife as 

 to who wields the heaviest ])ick and shovel, 

 and who can dig" the deejiest after fossil 

 names for living animals. It matters not for 

 liow many decades, or centuries, the name of 

 a popular wild animal has been in the public 

 prints, nor how many million people are ac- 

 f|uainted with it. If your Hunter-of-Fossil- 

 Names discovers a particularly obscure de- 

 posit of antediluvian .science, straightway he 

 hies him to the unworkcd cemetery, and digs 

 anil ex]ilores. regardless of the risk of being 

 caught by many kinds of ancient germs. 



Possibly he finds that some prehistoric no- 

 body, whose scientific work died a-borning, 

 l)estowed ui)on some wild animal a Latin 

 name — or at least insinuated one — fifteen 

 minutes prior to the bestowal of the name by 

 which the millions of to-day know it. The 

 new-found name is tenderly taken up, scraped, 

 disinfected, and patched up until it will hold 

 together. It is then brought into the light of 

 day. and laid as an offering at the feet of the 

 fetish called Priority. This means that the 

 familiar name, the one in universal use. must 

 fall down, and ,give place to the new-fotnid 

 fossil. 



P>ut there is one source of grim satisfaction. 

 Each fossil name is certain to be knocked out 

 by other fossil names. — and so on. ad in- 

 finitum. This is a world of change. 



.\s an illustration, take the ^"irginia, or 

 White-Tailed Deer, a modest and unassum- 

 ing animal, and very set in its ways. To the 

 unassisted lay mind, there is no more excuse 

 for changing its name every year than there 

 is in renaming Washington at every session 

 of Congress. P>ut what do we hear? 

 In 1785, right or wrong, Hoddaert named it Cerviis 



■virj^iiiianus. 

 In 1827, and 1835, and 1841, three other authors mis- 

 takenly gave it three other names, without effect. 

 Erom 1785 to 1884, the following authors wrote of 

 this animal as Cervus virt^inianus : 



1788, GMEI.IN. 1831, GODMAN. 



1789, zimmhrm.x.v. '836, schrki'.kk. 

 1792, Kkrr. 1842, Dek.w. 

 iSol, Sh.vw. 1844, Wagnkr. 



1822, DE.MARKSr. '851, AUDl'I'.ON & 



1823, Sav. Bacii.man. 

 1825, Harlan. 1857, Baird. 

 1S30, DouoHTV. 1877. Caton, 



Dtiring the century covered as above, sev- 

 eral foreign aiuhors wnjtc of this animal 

 under other names than that recognized by 

 the arra\- of highlv respectable ;iuthorilies 

 named ab(_)ve. 



\\'ith a centtiry of general tise in .Vmerica, 

 the naiue Ccrz'iis I'iri^iiiiaiiiis had become not 

 onlv widelv known, but one might snjipose it 

 to be well fixed, also. Now mark its fall, 

 and the result. 



In 1884, Ijy common consent, the leading American mam- 

 nialogists adopted a name bestoweil upon this animal, in 



1842 r.,r,.„„< -•ir,!;hini>,us 



In 189s, Allen called it Dorcelopliin -.-iy^'iiujitiis 



In 1897, Rhoads changed it to Dorcelaphiis americiiiin 



In 1898, in a book printed on very good paper, Lydekker 

 (uf i:ngland) seriously adopts for this animal 



Miizttmti americdtiil 



In 1899, Miller dug up OdocoiUits americaiius 



In 1902, Allen proposes to call it Dama virginuuia 



What ne.xt? In the language of the gradu- 

 ating essay, whither are we drifting? 



To the general zoologist, all this naming, 

 and re-naming, and tre-naming. of which the 

 above is merelv a sample case, would be amus- 

 ing, — if it were not quite so serious ! It does 

 not phase the general ])ublic, for through all 

 this erratic bestowal and use of unpo|)ular 

 names, the good old "' ])o])ular " name. W'hite- 

 Tailed Deer, shines like a beacon, — perma- 

 nently fixed. The bother comes when a 

 zoologist is required to write a scientific as 

 well as popular label and use the latest and the 

 abs(ilutely-satisfactory-to-all scientific name. 



It looks very much as if the worship of the 

 Priority fetish lias gone quite far enough. 

 The situation is becoiuing ridiculous. There 

 are about twenty good men in the mammal- 

 ogy line who should stoj) resurrecting fossil 

 names, get together on a common-sense, prac- 

 tical basis, cremate Priority in a fiery furnace, 

 and give us some names for our most im- 

 portant tnaiumals that will go thundering 

 down the ages. W^ T. H. 



