Tadarida Rafinesque versus Nyctinomus Geoffroy

General Notes. 217 TADARIDA RAFINESQUE VERSUS NYCTINOMUS (iEOFFROY. Tn 1814, on page 55 of Precis des Decouvertes soniiologi(jne.s f)u zoologiejues et botauiejnes, Ralinesque wrote: “Je viens de m’apercevoir que iMr. Geoflroy St. Hilaire a etabli en 1810, le G. [cure] Cephalotes avec le Pleropus pal[l]asii et une autre espece C. peronii; mais nos caracteres different en ce que dans inon C. teniotis [see page 12 of the Precis] il n’y a anenne [sic] incisive inferieure : [a gross misstatement of fact] s’il compose nn G. [enre] particnlier, il fandra le nommer Tadakida teniotis.” So far as I have been able to find this use of Tadarida is the earliest name that has been applied to the bats long known as Nyctinomus, Nyctinomus is usually considered to have been first published by E. Geoff’roy in the second volume of the natural history of the Description de I’Egypte, pages 114 and 128, the only species mentioned being Nycti¬ nomus aegyptiaciis. The date on the title page of this volume is 1812. Sherborn (Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1897, pp. 285-288) concludes that the volume did not appear until 1818, four years later than Rafinesque’s little work. Sherborn advances his opinion with excellent arguments which seem beyond refutation. Among other interesting things he shows that Gray had received a set of proofs of Geoffroy’s paper presumably later than Alarch, 1818. GeofFroy probably sent proofs to other zoologists of his time. At any rate in 1816, Oken (Lehrbuch Naturgesch, pt. 3, vol. 2, p. 924) uses Nyctinomus in the same sense as did GeofFroy, as well as the genera P/ecof tts, Stenoderma, Rhinopoma, Taphozous and Myopterus, names usually accredited to GeofFroy in 1818, but which should stand on the authority of Oken, 1816. That Geoffroy’s names were not published before 1816 or 1817, seems to be made certain by an examination of pages 125 to 130 of volume 1 of Cuvier’s Rfegne Animal, 1817 (actually appearing late in the previous year). Five of Geoff’roy’s six new genera of bats in the Description de I’Egypte are mentioned there: Les Nyctinomes. (GeofF.) p. 125; Les Stenodermes. (GeofF.) p. 125; Les Rhynopomes. (GeofF.) p. 128; Les Taphiens. (Thaphozous, Geoff’.); Les Oreillards. (Plecotus. Geoff.). The last two are the only ones in which the generic names occur in Latin form. Plate references in the Description de I’l^gypte are given by Cuvier. On those plates the names appear as French words only. No page or volume numbers of the ‘‘Description” are given, but with respect to most of the names that were in use before the appearance of the Regne Animal Cuvier gives volume and jiage references. The inference is that the plates of the mammals of the Description de I’ Egypte were in exist¬ ence before the text. Unless the above conclusions can be shown to be founded in error the bats currently called Nyctinomus should in the future be designated by Rafinesque’s name Tadarida. Dlainville (Compt. Rend. Acad. 8ci. Paris, vol. 5, p. 821, 1837), and Gray (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 3, vol. 17, p. 93, 1866) used Tadarida in 218 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. the same sense as did Kafinesqne. Gervais in 1855 (in Castelnan Ex])ed. Amer. Sud. Mamm. j). (iO) refers to Tadarida as one of Kafinesqne’s ^enera, but without niention of place or date of publication. The type of Nyctinomus Oken, 18U), (-leoffroy, 1818, is aeyypti.acus, a species with four lower incisors; the ty])eof T’adarida.liathiesqneiHteniotis, a species with six lower incisors. Recent workers (IMiller, Bull. U. 8. Nat. Mas. No. 57, p. 251, 1907) do not consider these dill'erences of generic value. — 31. W. Lyon, Jr. Cl, INTERESTING MAMMALS ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. On February 14, 1914, a polar bear was seen and shot at by an Aleut at Zapadni Rookery, St. George Island. The tracks were seen on shore in the snow by tlie writer and others. This animal was formerly an abundant inbabitant of the northern part of Bering Sea, Init rarely came south of St. Matthew Island. If native reports are to be believed, it bas been seen on St. Paul Island on at least three different occasions, but this was many years ago. From the same source of information comes the only previous record of the animal on St. George. This was about 1820, when a bear came ashore from the ice pack at the village and went westward to a small pond where it spent some time on the ice. There¬ after this has been known as Bear Lake. The numerous tracks along the beach in the snow show that the bear seen at Zapadni had been ashore also. During the winter no drift ice had been sighted from the island. But this could not have been seen unless it bad come within ten miles. Hair seals had been common about the beaches but in no unusual numbers. During the month of March, 1914, walruses were sighted three different times swimming along just off shore. They Nvere at no very remote time abundant on St. George as the skulls may yet be seen about tbe beaches. Five dead ones floated in at Garden Cove about 1907. A sperm whale or cachelot came ashore at Zapadni Rookery April 14, 1914. It was a male 47 feet long and had probably been dead a week. About five tons of the blubber were saved for fox food when the head and carcass floated away. Although other species of whales are abundant about the island, the cachelot had never been seen before by any of tbe Aleuts. — G . Dallas Hanna.