fy,u{^i^ Vol. 83, No. 18, pp. 195-202 27 May 1970 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON THE CORRECT NAME FOR THE LEAST SHORT-TAILED SHREW {CRYPTOTIS PARVA) OF GUATEMALA (MAMMALIA: INSECTIVORA) By Charles O. Handley, Jr., and Jerry R. Choate Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., and Museum of Natural Histoiy, The University of Kansas, Lawrence The nomenclatorial history of the least short-tailed shrew of Guatemala (a subspecies of Cryptotis parva Say) is com-plicated, and the name currently used for that animal is invaHd. To summarize briefly. Gray (1843 and 1862) used a nomen nudum, Corsira tropicalis, for a shrew from Coban, Guatemala. Tomes ( 1862 ) described a shrew from Dueiias ( later corrected by Alston to Coban), Guatemala, as Sorex micrurus. Alston (1877) observed that the names Corsira tropicalis Gray and Soi-ex mici'urus Tomes represented the same taxon, and on Coues' advice placed them in the genus Blarina. Sorex mia'urus Tomes 1862 thus became a secondary homonym of Galemys micrurus Pomel 1848 ( = Sorex talpoides, now Blarina brevicauda talpoides, Capper), a fact noted by Merriam (1895) when he revised the genus Blarina. After being vaHdated by Merriam's description, Blarina tropicalis (later Cryptotis tropicalis) was used for the Guatemalan least short-tailed shrew until Miller (1924) disregarded the rule "once a homonym, always a homonym" and resurrected the name Sorex micrurus Tomes. This name has continued to be used to the present time in violation of the International Code of Zoologi-cal Nomenclature. The nomenclatorial history of the Guatemalan least short-tailed shrew began with the pubhcation of the following unsigned notice in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (1843:79): "Various species of Mammalia from 18— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. 83, 1970 (195.><jS^HSO/V/> N 1 1970
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