26 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [\^ol. XLI 



and quotes as synonyms, Proteus tetradactylus Lacepede, Triton 

 lateralis Say, and Menobranchus lateralis Harlan. 



Tschudi ('38, p. 97) adopts Menobranchus lateralis. 



Holbrook ('42, vol. 5) describes two species of Menobranchus: 

 (p. Ill) M. maculat2is (Barnes) in which he makes no reference to 

 Rafinesque, and (p. 115) M. lateralis (Say). He states that the 

 two species may be only geographical varieties. 



DeKay ('42, p. 87, pi. 18, fig. 45) uses Menobranchus lateralis 

 and does not refer to Rafinesque. 



Baird ('50), in his "Revision of the Tailed-Batrachia " gives cor- 

 rect references to Rafinesque's three papers and while adopting 

 his generic name, adheres to Say's specific name (which was given 

 five years later) giving the name of the form as Necturus lateralis 

 1823, which was the date of Say's description, although Say did 

 not use the term Necturus. 



Gray ('50) gives the reference to Rafinesque's three papers and 

 is the first to adopt the correct name Necturus maculosus. How- 

 ever, in the second edition of this work (Boulenger, '82, p. 84) 

 reference is made only to Rafinesque's second ('19) paper and the 

 term Necturus maculatus is taken. 



Dumeril and Bibron ('54, p. 183) use Harlan's term Meno- 

 branchus lateralis. 



Finally, Cope ('89, p. 23) adopts the name Necturus maculatus 

 in spite of the fact that his references to synonyms shows that he 

 had consulted all of Rafinesque's papers. 



The following are part of the Laws of priority as published in 

 the International Rules of Nomenclature (:05): — 



(p. 35) ''Art 25. The valid name of a genus or species can be 

 only that under which it was first designated on the condition : (a) 

 That this name was published and accompanied by an indication 

 or a definition or a description and (b) That the author applied 

 the principles of binary nomenclature." 



(p. 36) " Art. 28. A genus formed by the union of two or more 

 genera or subgenera takes the oldest valid generic or subgeneric 

 name of its components. The same rule obtains when two or 

 more species or subspecies are united to form a single species or 

 subspecies. 



(p. 37) "Art. 32. A generic or a specific name once pubhshed 



