•32 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 158. 



■and several widely different species, as S. col- 

 lixi Richardson, S. hypopyrrhus Wagler and 

 •others. A curious freak in nomenclature is 

 illustrated by this series, the majority of the 

 ' subspecies ' included under arizonensis anteda- 

 ting it by many years ! 



Coming to the Chipmunljs, the author aban- 

 -dons his own earlier and, in the reviewer's judg- 

 ment, excellent division of the group into Tainias 

 and Eutamias and lumps them all under the 

 former name. In arranging the species and 

 subspecies of this perplexing group it is no 

 wonder he is somewhat mixed, and that the 

 forms are distributed without regard to their 

 raffinities. Thus pricei, at most a subspecies of 

 merriami, is given full specific rank and placed 

 between toivnsendi and macrorhabdotes. The 

 ■latter, instead of ranking as a species, should 

 stand as a synonym o { qiiadrimaculatiis. 



The Spermophiles of the lateralis group (sub- 

 genus Callospermophilus Merriam) are placed 

 in the genus Tamias, with which they have no 

 close afiinity. 



Spermophilus sonoriensis, a subspecies of tereti- 

 caudus, is placed in a diflFerent subgenus ! And 

 tereticaudus and the closely related neglectus 

 are wrongly referred to the subgenus Ictidomys. 



In many instances Dr. Trouessart adopts the 

 oldest generic name, as Ccendu for Synetheres ; 

 Ochotona for Lagomys, and so on; but in many 

 ■cases he fails to do this. Thus, 



Ccelogenns F. Cuvier, 1807, is antedated by Agouti 

 Lac^pede, 1799. 



Lagostomus Brookes, 1829, is antedated by Vizcacia 

 Scliinz, 1824. 



Myoxus Schreber, 1782, is antedated by Glis Bris- 

 son, 1762. 



Platycercomys Brandt, 1844, is antedated by Pyge- 

 retmus Gloger, 1841. 



Scirtomys Brandt, 1844, is antedated by Scarturus 

 Gloger, 1841. 



He uses also many preoccupied names. 

 Among these are: 



Arciogale Peters, 1864; replaced by Arctogatidia 

 Merriam, 1897. 



EcMothric Gray, 1867; replaced by Crauroihrix 

 Thomas, 1896. 



Sydrolagus Gray, 1867; replaced by Limnolagus 

 Mearns, 1897. 



Iclis Kaup, 1829; replaced by Ardogale Kaup, 

 1829. 



Macrorhinus F. Cuvier, 1826; replaced by Mirounga 

 Gray, 1827. 



Wagneria Jentink, 1886; replaced by Baasariscus 

 Coues, 1887. 



The authority for Tylonyx, given as a syno- 

 nym under Dicrostonyx, should be Schulze in- 

 stead of 'Huth.' 



Dr. Trouessart is not one of those who re- 

 gards as sacred the original spelling of generic 

 names. On the contrary, he accepts amended 

 names in preference to the originals and in so 

 doing operates at both ends, changing Pithecheir 

 to Pithecheirus and Endecapleura to Hendecap- 

 leura ! 



A number of generic names are given errone- 

 ous dates. For instance: 



■ Under Eehimys and the amended form Echi- 

 nomys the authorities and dates are badly mixed. 



In the case of family names the rule of priority 

 is not always followed. For instance, ' Lagos- 

 tomidss Bonaparte 1837 ' is antedated by Chin- 

 chillidx Bennett 1833 ; and Ccendidx Trouessart 

 is antedated by Erethizontidse Thomas. 



Perhaps the oddest error in the Catalogue is 

 the transposition of the Trinidad Opossum, 

 Thylamys carri Allen and Chapman, to the 

 Rodent genus Tylomys Peters ! 



The subfamily heading Murinse is omitted, 

 apparently by accident, and the resulting ar- 

 rangement as printed puts Mus as a subgenus of 

 Otomys ! 



A single new subgenus, Microlagus, is named. 

 It is based on Lepus cinerascens Allen, a form 

 whose relationship with L. trowhridgii is so ex- 

 ceedingly close that it is probably only subspe- 

 cifically separable, and yet L. trowhridgii is 

 placed in a separate subgenus [Sylvilagus Gray) ! 



A curious instance of persistent misspelling is 

 the repeated occurrence of Vernon Bailey's 

 name as Bayley, and of specific names based 



