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Show 1887.] NOMENCLATURE OF INDIAN MAMMALS. 635 ichneumon /3 of Schreber, at least that was the first reference, that Schreber's figures were taken from Buffon, and that one of them may hav3 been the species known as II. fasciatus, whilst the other, though probably meant for the Indian Mungoose, is not good enough for recognition. No doubt, too, under Schreber's name and references several distinct species were confounded, one of these, as I have shown elsewhere, being the small H. auropunctatus v. persicus. But Schreber's Viverra ichneumon )3 was founded on that of Linnaeus, and I have shown that the latter rests much on Kaempfer, though other references are given, all relating more or less clearly to forms of Mungoose. The conclusions to which I have come may therefore be briefly stated thus. The Viverra mungo of Gmelin comprised several species, of which the most important were Crossarchus fasciatus and the Indian Mungoose. Probably Herpestes javanicus was also included. Now in Geoffroy's paper C. fasciatus and H. javanicus were distinguished, leaving the Indian Mungoose in H. mungo, which is, I think, the proper name for the animal. If, however, the specific term be rejected as being barbarous, or as having been applied originally to a confused admixture of different species, the name next in priority is H. frederici. VIII. On the Scientific Name of the Common Fox, and on the Classification of Allied Forms. The common European Fox is usually designated either Canis vulpes or Vulpes vulgaris. The first name is the true Linnaean title, but if, in accordance with the views expressed by Prof. Huxley1, the Foxes are separated generically from the Dogs, the question arises as to whether the specific name vulgaris is rightly applicable. This term is derived from Brisson, whose specific names are not admissible, though by the British Association rules his generic terms for birds are, when they are additions to those employed by Linnaeus. The generic name Vulpes, which was employed by Brisson, is therefore available, if tbe same rule be applied to mammals as to birds, but the specific term vulgaris has no authority. All later writers, however, refer two Linnaean species, Canis vulpes and Canis alopex, to the Common Fox. The two are distinguished, according to Linnaeus, by the former having the tip of the tail white, the latter black. C. alopex is said to inhabit Europe and Asia, and appears to be merely an accidental or even an individual variety, the Fox with the characteristically black-tipped tail, C. corsac, having been known to Linnaeus and named by him. The term alopex is derived from Aristotle's name for the Fox. It appears therefore that the correct name for the Common Fox, if the genus Vulpes be admitted, is Vulpes alopex (L.). There is a curious gradation in size amongst the Foxes allied to V. alopex, the European form exceeding all the others in stature. V. flavescens from Central Asia comes next, and then the Himalayan 1 P. Z. S. 1880, p. 286. |