256 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 660 



sentations, not of myself alone, but of Nagel 

 and of the present state of color-investiga- 

 tion, should appear in a communication de- 

 voted to exposing the scientific mistakes of 

 the popular magazines. 



George M. Stratton 

 The Johns Hopkins University 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



DIEMICTYLUS OR NOTOPHTHALMUS AS NAMES 

 OF A SALAMANDER 



The very important work of Dr. Leonhard 

 Stejneger on the " Herpetology of Japan and 

 adjacent territory " has just been published, 

 and among the many interesting points raised 

 (and mostly satisfactorily settled) is one re- 

 specting a genus represented by very common 

 American salamanders. The genus variously 

 called Diemiciylus, or Notophthalmns, being 

 represented by a couple of Japanese species, 

 is adopted with the first name. It is said, 

 " Derivation and meaning obscure. Two deri- 

 vations suggest themselves, namely, Staiiv/.zd^, 

 from dtaij.iyvup.t, or Si-ijiJ.iy-orloau, but the ap- 

 plication of neither is obvious." The deduc- 

 tion is undoubtedly correct and my familiarity 

 with names coined by Eafinesque and his 

 methods in doing so enable me to give an 

 explanation. 



Eafiiiesque (1820), in his Annals of Nature 

 (p. 5), claims that hisTriturus viridescens, type 

 of Dieniictylus, has " the posterior [feet] with 

 only three toes and two lateral knobs." The 

 name evidently is intended to allude to this 

 character and is badly condensed from 

 5(9, twice, i. e., two, r//j.c-, half, and da/-ruln^^ 

 finger, the " two lateral knobs " being con- 

 sidered as half-toes. An analogous contraction 

 is Eafinesque's Decactylus, curtailed from 5s:y.a, 

 ten, and. daxTu?.o<;, finger. 



Dr. Stejneger has not given any reason for 

 his preference of Diemictylus over Notoph- 

 ihalmus, but he may have some unknown to 

 me. I have, however, always regarded Notoph- 

 fhalmus as the proper name. \ Eafinesque 

 named both in the same article and on the 

 same page (5), Diemictylus on line eight and 

 Notophthalmns on line twenty-six. The char- 

 acters assigned to both are worthless. It was 



open to any later naturalist to adopt either 

 name. S. F. Baird, in 1850, in the Journal 

 of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- 

 delphia (N. S., I., 281, 284), recognized that 

 both Diemictylus and Notophthalmns were 

 based on the same form and preferred the 

 latter name. This, so far as I know, was the 

 first use by an original investigator of either. 



Edw. Hallowell, in 1858, in the same journal 

 (N. S., III., 362), substituted Diemyctylus 

 (changed from Diemictylus) for Baird's 

 Notophthalmns. In this course, he was fol- 

 lowed by Cope and other American zoologists. 

 J. E. Gray, however, followed Baird in accept- 

 ing Notophthalmus. 



Cope (1859) preferred "Diemyctylus, 

 though unmeaning, to the egregiously inap- 

 propriate Notophthalmns of the -same date." 

 On the contrary, I consider that Notoph- 

 thalmns is very appropriate for the type species 

 which is distinguished by the ocelliform dorsal 

 spots, figuratively known as eyes,, in accord- 

 ance with many similar cases.' It is also well 

 formed and euphonious. Perhaps Baird was 

 influenced in accepting the name for these 

 reasons as well as because the character con- 

 nected with it (" toes of the fore feet free and 

 unequal ") was less inappropriate than that 

 associated with Diemictylus (" fore feet semi- 

 palmate with four equal toes"). However 

 this may be, Notophthalmus should be retained 

 unless Dr. Stejneger knows of an earlier use 

 of Diemictylus. We are both obedient to the 

 same rule which provides for such cases, and 

 which has guided him in the same work, a few 

 pages farther on (p. 25) in accepting Hyno- 

 hius rather than Pseudosalamandra. We have 

 cause to be thankful for being freed from 

 such a barbarous compound as Diemictylus. 



Naturalists are to be congratulated because 

 Dr. Stejneger has very satisfactorily accounted 

 for the etymology of Amhystoma (p. 24). He 

 has also accepted " the shorter form " for the 

 names of families based on components end- 

 ing in stoma, as " Ambystomidse for Ambly- 

 stomatidse." I have always preferred this 

 course. 



Theo. Gill 



' E. g., eyes of tlie peacock's tail. 



