60 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Nov. 4, 



With regard to the name of the unquestionably distinct and well- 

 marked species or subgenus of Cu7iis, represented by the remarkable 

 and well-preserved CEningen fossil, which rewarded the early geo- 

 logical pursuits of the distinguished author of the ' Silurian System,' 

 the brief notice in the original memoir conveyed the idea of its 

 specific identity with the Common Fox ; it has been cited in the 

 general catalogues of fossil mammalia, e. g, the ' Palaeologica ' of 

 H. von Meyer, as ' Canis Vulpes {communis) fossilis'' (p. 50) ; and 

 by M. Pictet in his excellent compendium, the ' Traite Elementaire 

 de Palaeontologie,' 8vo, IS*^, as the ' (Eningen species of Fox,' with 

 the expression of a doubt as to its identity with Canis Vulpes, chieflv 

 founded on M. de Blainville's passing notice of the proportions of 

 the feet. 



M, de Blainville himself speaks of the fossil as " Vulpes des 

 schistes d CEningen" which, if latinized, would give the specific 

 name " Vulpes CEningensis,'' or the ' CEningen Fox.' 



M. von Meyer has the merit of having first proposed the definite 

 binomial of Canis palustris (Leonhard and Bronn's ' Jahrbuch fur 

 Mineralogie,' IS^S, p. 701) ; but as the characters of the fossil, so 

 far as they mark a subgenus distinct from Canis, equally indicate 

 one distinct from Vulpes, it appears to me that the name proposed 

 by M. von Meyer can only be retained with the understanding that 

 the generic term Canis is used in the broad Linnaean sense. It is 

 in this sense that I should myself prefer to retain it. The modern 

 zoologists, however, who have adopted the subgeneric divisions of 

 the Linnaean Canis, known under the names of Lycaon^ Megalotis, 

 Proteles, Vulpes, &c., must, in consistency, enter the present acqui- 

 sition from a former world in their catalogues under a proper sub- 

 generic name. That therefore of Galecgnus*, as indicating the 

 aflftnity of the fossil to the Viverridce, may not be deemed unac- 

 ceptable. 



Whether the indications of the specific distinction of the ^ espece 

 d'GEningen,' by MM. de Blainville and Pictet f, will be deemed by 

 the systematic zoologist to give the nomen triviale ceningensis the 

 priority over palustris, may be doubted ; but there is room for 

 choice, and geologists will probably prefer to call the species which 

 has so long been known as the Qiningen Fox, Galecynus cenin- 

 gensis, or the Viverrine Fox of CEningen. 



It is interesting to remark, that a more ancient species of Canis, 

 from the eocene gypsum of Montmartre, apparently of the same 

 subgenus (^Canis viverroides, Cuv.), makes another step beyond the 

 present Canis palustris in the direction towards the tropical Vi- 

 verrine family of Carnivora. 



* Gr. yakri, cat or weasel, kvujv, dog. 



t " II y a au moins autant de probabilite pour admettre que I'espeee d'ffiningen 

 etait differente de celle qui vit de nos jours." (Traite Elementaire de Palaeonto- 

 logie, torn. 1. p. 162.) 



