America Ji Fossil Vertebrates. — Hay. 345 
ON THE NOMENCLATURE OF CERTAIN AMERICAN 
FOSSIL VERTEBRATES. 
By O. P. Hay, Washington, D. C. 
In 1893, Prof. E. D. Cope* described from the Blanco beds 
of Texas a horse which he called Equus minutus. It will, 
however, be necessary to apply to this animal a new name, 
since the term minutus had already been employed to desig- 
nate another, probably two other, species of Equus. 
An Equus minutus was indicated by Marcelles de Serres in 
the year 1838,! but I have not been able to determine whethei 
or not this name was accompanied by a description. For our 
])resent purpose this knowledge is not important. We have the 
following facts: In 1833 P. C. Schmerlingi figured and de- 
sciibed, without naming, some teeth of a small horse, found in 
caverns of Belgium. In 1858 A. von Xordmann§ wrote as fol- 
lows: "Ftir die kleinen Pferdezahne. angezeigt von Schmer- 
ling aus den Liitticher Knochenhohlen, ist von Marcelles de 
Serres die Benennung E. minutus vorgeschlagen worden." This 
application of the name to those figured teeth would of itself 
be sufficient to give the name validity. I have been unable to 
find any mention of this Equus minutus in works more recent 
than Gervais' Zoologie et Paleontologie francais, 2nd edition, 
1859, where it is made a synonym of Equus adamaticus. This 
itself is a synonym of E. caballus. Trouessartjl credits to Du- 
bois an Equus minutus, regarding it also as a synonym of E. 
caballus, and omitting reference to place of publication. Dr. 
T. S. Palmer, of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, kindly 
informs me that Trouessart quotes the name and author from 
Roger's Verzeichniss, 1887, p. 46, in which place no additional 
information is vouchsafed. If Dubois has described as new an 
Equus minutus, it too antedates Cope's species of that name. 
For the latter I propose the name Equus phlegon.** 
*Prelim. Rept.. Vert. Palaeont. Llano Estacado, p. 67, pi. XX, figs. 
8, 8a, 8b. 
tEssai sur les cavernesde I'Audc, 1838, p. 117. (Quoted liy Gervais, 
in Zool, et Paleont. francais, ed. 2, 185Q.) 
IRecherches sur les ossemens fossiles decouverts dans Its cverns 
;k- la Province de Liege, vol. II, p. 142. pi. XX\', figs. 3, 5. 
i^Pala^ont. Siidrussiands, p. 158. 
Catalogus Mamnialium, 1898, p. 794. 
**Interca volucres Pyrois Eous et Aethon, 
Solis equi, quartuscpie Phlegon, hinnitibus auras 
F.lamniiferis inipJent, pedibusque repagula pulsant. Oi'ict. 
