752 Note on Zoological Nomenclature. [Nov. 



abandoned his name, because he could not eventually so connect it : 

 and I confess I do not perceive upon what sound principle your 

 correspondent insists upon the revival and retention of that name. 



I beg to acknowledge the courtesy of your own note appended to 

 the communication in question, and to state my conviction that Du 

 Vaucel most probably obtained the horns of the Cervus Elapho'ides 

 from me. 



The observation of your correspondent — that tbe " suborbitar 

 depression on the skull of our deer is perforated by a very large oval 

 hole, which is not found in the skull of the Jara'i" — wants, I believe, 

 confirmation. Such holes are very usually found in the skulls of 

 both species ; but, so far as my experience goes, they are not proper 

 to the perfect skull of either*. After considerable inquiry amongst 

 my friends to the westward, I have determined to retain the name of 

 Bar a Sinha for the Cervus Elaphus ; those of Maha and Bahraiya for 

 Cervus Elapho'ides ; and that of Jara'i for the only type of the Rusa 

 group known to me. This animal is the Cervus Jara'i of Hodgson, 

 precisely because he has found it utterly impossible to fix the shifting 

 and insufficient specific indications of H. Smith — a difficulty, by the 

 way, which your correspondent seems to share, if I may judge by his 

 somewhat loose allusion to •• Cervus Hippelaphus and Aristotelis or 

 .Rusas" (in the plural.) May I hope for his valuable assistance in 

 my endeavours to decide, whether there be really more than one spe- 

 cies of Rusa in the Bengal Presidency ? and which of the several 

 named by H. Smith it or they be ? Let me request your correspon- 

 dent to test the above remarks on nomenclature by applying them 

 to the very difficulty just cited. I am content to abide by the 

 issue ! 



[We have to apologize for so long delaying the publication of Mr. Hodg- 

 son's note, which has been lying in type at the printer's some months. We 

 are very sure the correspondent to whom he appeals will assist in the desirable 

 object of identifying and fixing Indian Species. — Ed.] 



* If they were, we should be in the way of ascertaining the probable or pos- 

 sible truth of that startling assertion, that breathing takes place through the 

 suborbital sinus. I have examined repeatedly fresh heads of several species 

 with a view to this assertion : and my conclusion is that it cannot be true, 

 unless breath can pass through bone and skin too : for, in the perfect skull 

 there is no solution of continuity in either substance, within the limits of this 

 sinus. Without and above the sinus, there is something extremely like such a 

 solution, in the sculls of Elaphus, Ratwa, Jara'i and Elapho'ides. But, even 



here, a perfectly fresh head will exhibit osseous or quasi osseous continuity ; 



and the skin- fold is ever uninterruptedly carried through the sinus, though 



with much attenuation at the bottom of it. 



