254 SCIENCE. 
Il, p. 87, Dr. W. B. Scott established the 
genus Mesocyon, basing it on the same species 
coryphzus. Dr. Scott seems to have afterwards 
forgotten his genus, since he employed Eyer- 
man’s name. Indeed, all paleontologists who 
have had occasion to mention the genus have 
called it Hypotemnodon. It is obvious, however, 
that it must yield to Mesocyon. 
e 
In 1865, in Proceed. Acad. Nat. Sciences of 
Philadelphia, p. 90, Dr. Leidy described, from 
the Eocene of South Dakota, a carnivore which 
he called Amphicyon gracilis. Unfortunately 
for his species, Pomel had, as early as 1847, 
employed the same name for a fossil carnivore 
found in Europe. Cope in 1884, in his Verte- 
brata of the Tertiary Formations of the West, 
p. 916, made Leidy’s name a synonym of Gale- 
eynus gregarius. Scott and Osborn in 1887, in 
a paper in the Bulletin of the Museum Comp. 
Zoology, Harvard, Vol. XIII., p. 152, speak of 
it as a distinct species under the name Cynodic- 
tis gracilis. Matthew recently, in Bulletin of 
the American Museum, Vol. XII., p. 54, records 
it as an ‘invalid species’ and apparently as a 
synonym of Cynodictis lippincottianus. When 
those disagree who have access to the type 
specimens and to abundant materials belonging 
to related forms, it is evident that the last word 
has not been said. Until it can be determined 
with some degree of unanimlty where Leidy’s 
specimens belong, it will be better to keep them 
to themselves under a distinct name. Further- 
more, the possibility exists that the discovery 
of additional materials will prove Leidy’s form 
to be a good species. Pending this settlement of 
the question I propose to call the Amphicyon 
gracilis of Leidy Cynodictis hylactor. The specific 
name is that of one of Actzeon’s dogs. 
O. P. Hay. 
U.S. NarionaL Museum, July 27, 1899. 
THE PROPER NAME OF THE POLAR BEAR. 
THE technical name of the Polar Bear as 
usually mentioned is Thalarctos maritimus 
(Linn.), the reference being Systema Natura, 
X., 1758, p. 47. In looking up this reference 
I find it is simply mentioned under Ursus 
arctos, as follows: ‘Ursus maritimus albus 
major arcticus’ ; with a reference to Martén’s 
(N.S. Von. X. No. 243. 
Spitzbergen, and concluding with a note doubt- 
ing the specific distinctness of this bear. A 
question as to the value of this reference was 
referred to several noted authorities on the 
Mammalia, whose answer did not sustain the 
reference, and induced me to examine the case 
closer. The next date when any mention of 
the Polar Bear was made was 1776, when Miul- 
ler and Pallas each gave ita name. Miller in 
his Zoologizw Danice Prodromus, etc., p. 3, 
refers to it as a variety of U. arctos, calling it 
U. albus, but giving only a reference to Martén’s 
Spitzbergen, and a short note on its habitat. 
Pallas, in his Reise, III., bh. 2, p. 691, describes 
this species as U. marinus, with a good diagno- 
sis, which proves he knew the animal very well. 
As the name of Pallas is undoubtedly the best, 
being accompanied by a good description, there- 
fore the name of the Polar Bear should be 
Thalarctos marinus (Pallas). The reference is 
Reise, III., bh. 2, p. 691, 1776. 
JAMES A. G. REHN. 
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, 
PHILADELPHIA, August 7, 1899. 
THE INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE OF SCIEN- 
TIFIC LITERATURE, 
To THE EpIToR oF SCIENCE: A few days 
after contributing to your esteemed journal my 
remarks upon the bibliographical methods pro- 
posed for the Catalogue of Scientific Papers I 
received a report of a committee of Dutch sci- 
entists, whose conclusions are diametrically op- 
posed in certain points to the opinions which I 
expressed. Impartiality requires that I should 
not pass this criticism unnoticed. 
Let me translate from the French text : ‘‘ The 
adoption of the Dewey Decimal Classification 
having been favored by certain persons, we 
wish to state our opinion in regard to this sys- 
tem. This opinion is very unfavorable. In our 
opinion the adoption of the system would lead 
to the failure of the enterprise. 
“Our conviction in this matter is based upon 
the faulty manner in which the system has 
been worked out for various sciences in the 
‘Decimal Classification and Relative Index’ of 
Mr. Dewey (1894, Library Bureau, 146 Franklin 
Street, Boston ; 21 Bloomsbury Street, London). 
