I44 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vor. XXXV. 
is a lesser evil than the transference of Myrmecophaga to the 
Tamanduas and the dubbing of the great ant-eater with a new 
generic name. 
Dr. Allen says that while differing about Didelphis, he 
agrees with Mr. Rehn in regard to Myrmecophaga, but as he 
seems also not prejudiced (as I am) against dismissing old 
names as unrecognizable, and has probably not looked up the 
vital reference to Marcgrave, I do not feel justified in accept- 
ing Mr. Rehn's conclusions, even when backed by so great an 
authority as he is. 
As a result I claim that Myrmecophaga tridactyla Linn. 
should be the name for the great ant-eater, Uroleptes and 
Cyclopes remaining as before for the other genera of the 
family. 
II. DipErPnurs. 
In this case Dr. Allen most rightly refutes the necessity 
asserted by Mr. Rehn for calling all the large opossums 
Sarigua instead of Didelphis, but I fail to be convinced as to 
his application of the specific name marsupialis to the Virginian 
opossum. This name marsupialis hangs primarily on Seba's 
figure, and both authors claim that the latter is unrecognizable, 
Dr. Allen going on to make the remarkable statement that 
it is *not an American animal, but a species of Phalanger 
from Amboyna.” It is true that Seba said his animal was 
from Amboyna, but even at that date mistakes could be made 
as to locality, and no one familiar with Phalanger, its general 
appearance, dentition, or mammary formula, could for one 
moment suppose that Seba’s figure and description were based 
on a member of that genus. Among the whole of the Mam- 
malia the peculiar arrangement of the mammze is alone abso- 
lutely diagnostic of a Didelphis, nor have I any doubt what 
opossum it is meant to represent. 
Seba's South American animals nearly all came, as was 
natural, from Guiana, and the figure will perfectly suit the 
ordinary dark opossum of northeast South America, for which 
Dr. Allen has used the name D. karkinophaga. 
