20 W. T. Blaiiford— On the Scientific Names, Sfc. [No. 1, 



monograph of Antilope in 1767, (Spic. Zool. No. I.) This monograph 

 includes 16 species, the last of which is A. cervicapra. 



The old Linnasan rule is that when a genus is divided, the majority of 

 the species shall be retained under the old generic name, and a new name 

 be given to the smaller section. There is another rule adopted by some 

 naturalists, viz., to keep the generic name for the species first placed in the 

 list by the original author of the genus. This last rule has led to absurdi- 

 ties, and, as Dr. GHinther has shewn, it would render the common crocodile 

 the tj'pe of the genus Lacerta. Practically it has been usual to allow any 

 one dividing one of the old genera into several to retain the original name 

 for whichever section he thought best, and the old generic name has usually 

 been preserved for the best known species and its affines. 



The first naturalist who divided the old genus Antilope was Blainville,"* 

 who in 1816 broke it up into 9 generic groups. In the first of these, Anti- 

 lope, he retained 3 species, A. cervicapra, A. saiga, and A. gutturosa. The 

 next author who divided the genus, Hamilton Smith, retained the same 

 species with some additions, but this is of small importance. Blainville 

 also established a genus Cervicapra containing a very miscellaneous collec- 

 tion of species ; A. dama, A. redunca, A. oreotragus, A. saltiana, A. suma- 

 trensis, A. quadricornis, and several others. 



Of the three species left in the genus Antilope by Blainville, A. saiga 

 was made into a distinct genus by Gray in 1843, and A. gutturosa appears 

 to belong to Gazella and not to restricted Antilope. It is placed in 

 Gazella by Sundevall and Sir V. Brooke, whilst Gray in his later catalogues 

 associates it with Procapra picticauda of Hodgson, a form which must I 

 think also be referred to the gazelles. The sole remaining representative 

 of the genus Antilope is consequently the Indian antelope, which cannot be 

 assigned to the genus Cervicapra, because it was not placed in that genus 

 by Blainville, who first used the name, nor is it congeneric with any of the 

 species assigned to Cervicapra by Blainville. Gray's genus Cervicapra falls 

 to the ground, because if the name be used at all, it can only be employed 

 for Blainville's genus or part of Blainville's genus. On all grounds, there- 

 fore, it appears that the correct generic and specific name of the Indian 

 antelope is Antilope cervicapra. 



* Bui. Soc. Phil. 1816, p. 74. I have not access to this work and quote from 

 "Wagner and Fitzinger. 



