1853.] 415 
appeared in the Journ. A.N.S., vol. iv. p. 352. It is described by Harlan in his 
Fauna as Arvicola hortensis, and afterwards in Silliman’s Journal, vol. x. p. 285, 
under a different name, Arvicola ferrugineus. When Mr. Ord first brought this 
animal from Florida, he deposited his specimen in the Philadelphia Museum, in 
care of Mr. Peale, with a particular injunction against its getting into the hands 
of any one else. Dr. Harlan, who had free admission to this institution at all . 
times, went there when he knew no one would be present, took the specimen 
away, and afterwards described it under the very inappropriate name of Arvicola 
hortensis. ‘The consequence of this, to say the least of it, unfair conduct, was a 
positive banishment from the Museum for the future. Somewhat of a similar 
manwuvre caused him, sometime after, to be banished by the police from the city 
of Paris. 
In the plates to the voyage of the French ship Venus there is figured a rat, 
which is called Neotoma Floridana, which probably belongs to this genus, and 
may be considered as a new species. The teeth have no resemblance to those 
of a Neotoma, which, like those of Arvicola, are formed of triangles. Not being 
able to refer to the text of this work, it is impossible to say of what country it 
is a native. It may have been found on the western coast of our continent, in 
California or Oregon. 
The name by which the Sigmodon is known in Georgia is the Small Wood Rat, 
the Neotema being called simply Wood Rat. They both keep ata distance from 
houses, concealed in the woods or hedge rows. 
I conclude this rambling part of my paper by stating that, of the two Jaculi 
found in this country, the Labradore Rat of Pennant, Arct. Zool., vol. i. p. 132, 
since called Dipus, and Meriones, but now Jaculus, ‘has very large ears, and is 
the same as the Gerbillus leonurus of Rafinesque. The Jaculus Canadensis Has 
very small ears, and may thus be easily distinguished ; they are both called Deer 
Mouse by the inhabitants of Canada, 
The Committee on Major Le Conte’s paper on Crotalus durissus and 
C. adamanteus, reported in favor of publication. 
Observations on the so-called Crotalus durissus and C. adamanteus of modern 
authors. 
By Joun LE Conte. 
Cuvier, in his ‘* Régne Animal,” in a note on the genus Crotalus, observes, 
that the Linnean specific names of horridus and durissus have been in different 
ways changed between these two species. He was perfectly correct in this; 
and any one consulting the authors who have written on reptiles, will, in my 
. opinion, be at no loss to determine what the illustrious Swede meant by these 
two specific names. In the Southern States we have but two species of Crotalus, 
as the genus is now restricted. They are familiarly known as the Pine Barren 
and the Oak Ridge rattlesnakes. Until itis possible to determine how either of 
these was named by Linnzus, and I cannot doubt that he had seen them both, I 
hope I may be pardoned if I use these popular names to distinguish them from 
each other. The first has, by English authors of the last century and by Cuvier, 
been considered the horridus, and the other by Shaw and Pennant, as the durts- 
sus ; in the last case manifestly improperly, as will appear hereafter. Jn order, 
however, to elucidate this matter, I will commence with the descriptions given 
by Linneus in the twelfth edition of his Systema Nature, the publication of 
which he superintended himself in the year 1766, and by Gmelin in his edition 
of the year 1798. 
| 
CroraLus Horripus. Scutis 167, scutellis 23. 
Mus. Ad. Frid., p. 39. Brad. Natur., tab. ix. fig. le Seba, Mus., vol. ii. tab. 
xey. fig. 1. \ 
