﻿12 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[Xo. 12. 



Microtiiies, it is necessary to see wlietlier the name can be applied to 

 any genus of the subfamily. Linnieus of course designated no type, 

 but subsequent usage has fixed the name on the congeners of 31ns mus- 

 adus. As no sound principle of nomenclature is thus violated, the 

 name Miis should be kept in its present signification. 



Castor Linnreus, 1758 (Syst. Xat., Ed. 10, -p. 58), was originallj^ pro- 

 posed for the si^ecies fiber and moschatns, but in the twelfth edition 

 of the Systeum others were included, among them the muskrat. The 

 name, however, could by no process of subsequent elimination be applied 

 to the latter. 



Glis Brisson, 1762 (Regn. Anim., x>p. 13, 113), is clearh' based on 

 the dormice,^ although the genus includes 4a Marmotte de Bahama,' 

 'laMarmotte d'Amerique,* 'la Marmotte de Pologne,' 4a Marmotte des 

 Alpes,* and 'la Marmotte de Strassbourg,' in addition to 'le Loir,' He 

 Lerot,' and 'le Croquenoix.' The name must, therefore, take the place 

 of Myoxus Schreber, 1781, commonly used for the dormice.^ As none of 

 the species of Brisson's Gils are Microtines, the name would not be men- 

 tioned here were it not for its bearing on Glis Erxleben, 1777.^ (See p. 13.) 



Cuniculus Brisson, 1762 (Eegn. Anim., p. 13), must also be consid- 

 ered, because it invalidates the use of Cnniciilus Wagler as the generic 

 name of a lemming (see page 16).* The genus contained an assemblage 

 of forms which are now put in six genera distributed among five fami- 

 lies. Dr. G. Hart Merriam has recently shown (Science, n. s., I, p. 



[Continuation of note from page 11.] 

 '^Habitat in Europe, Africse fossis, ripis, piscinis, hortis. 

 "Species mihi iion rite cognita. 



'^Fodit ad fossas et radicis arborum, natat, urinatnr, consumit radices, Hortis et 

 satis infestnS; capitur Nassis e A'irgulis confectis sub aqua demersis." 



The description of Mus terrestris is extended and applies to the water rat in every 

 particular, while the diagnosis of M. amjjhibius is very brief and contains a glaring- 

 error in the assertion that the animal has webbed feet. That the common water rat 

 was the animal which Linn?eus had in mind when he described Mus terrestris is 

 shown by the length and accuracy of the description and by his choice of the sx^ecific 

 name {Mns terrestris is the Latin equivalent of the Swedish jordrAtta). That he 

 never saw '2Ius ampliibius' is clearly indicated by the statement: '"Species mihi non 

 rite cognita." It is thus evident that there is no excuse for retaining the specific 

 name am2)liiiius, even though the error through which it is now generally used has 

 passed current for nearly a century. 



^In the Tabula Synoptica Quadrupedum secundum Ordines Sectiones et Genera, 

 on pages 12 and 13, the name is introduced as follows : 



Cauda longa, vestita pilis ita dispositisat caudum planum efliciant Sciurus 



Cauda longa, vestita pilis ita disiDositis at caudum rotundam efliciant Glis 



^See Merriam, Science, n. s., I, p. 376, April 5, 1895. 



'^Glis Brisson also antedates Glis Storr (Prodr. Meth. Mamm. 1780, p. 39), proiDOsed 

 for ITits tamarici7iiis, 3/. longipes, 21. cafer, 21. sagitta, 21. Jaculus, 21. nifidula, 21. 

 aveUanarius, and 21. glis. 



•*In the syno2:)tic table (pp. 12, 13) the name is introduced as follows: 

 Cauda brevissima vel nulla : 



Auriculis longis Lejnis 



Auriculis brevibus vel nullis Cuniculus 



