Vol. 71, pp. 107-112 July 16, 1958 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON THE TYPE LOCALITY AND NOMENCLATORIAL STATUS OF PEROMYSCUS MANICULATUS NEBRASCENSIS (COUES) By J. Knox Jones, Jr. Two readily recognizable subspecies of Peromyscus manicu-latus inhabit the northern Great Plains, Peromyscus manicu-latus osgoodi in the west and Peromyscus maniculatus nebras-ccnsis in the east. P. m. orgoodi is the larger, both externally and cranially, and is more grayish (less buffy) dorsally. The subspecific names currently used for these two kinds of mice are misapplied as shown below. In his account of North American mammals, Baird listed in text (1858:462) the name "Hesperomys sonoriensis, var. neorascensis" without description, definition or indication and the name as used by Baird is thus a nomen nudum. Nineteen years later, Coues (1877:79) listed the same name in synonymy under Hesperomys leucopus sono-riensis as "Hesperomys sonoriensis var. neorascensis, Baird, M. N. A. 1857, 462 in text (based on the below-enumerated Nebraskan exam-ples)." Osgood (1905:77 and 1909:78-79) contended that neorascensis of Coues also was a nomen nudum, and that a redescription of neoras-censis by Mearns (1890:287), based on a specimen from Calf Creek, Montana, was in fact the original description for the western sub-species from the northern Great Plains. Accordingly, Osgood described (1905:77) the eastern subspecies under the name Peromyscus hiteus (type from Kennedy, Cherry Co., Nebraska). However, as Mearns (1911:102) pointed out, Coues gave brief critical remarks on coloration (op. cit. :28) and on length of tail (op. cit.: 80), and listed measure-ments (op. cit. :80-82) for some specimens (which at that time he referred to Hesperomys leucopus sonoriensis), thereby satisfying the minimal requirements for a valid description. Meanis applied the name neorascensis of Coues to the eastern subspecies (because he assumed it was based on specimens from Nebraska) and proposed a new-name, Peromyscus maniculatus osgoodi (type from Calf Creek, Custer Co., Montana) for the western mice. As indicated above, the arrange-ment proposed by Mearns is currently in use. Exactly what Coues intended to indicate as the "below-enumerated Nebraskan examples" is not (dear. From 1854 until L863 Nebraska Territory contained, in addition to whal is now Nebraskaj the southern half of Wyoming. Most of the specimens from the northern G 23 -Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vor. 71, 1958 (107) SMITHSONIAN »,,, -t JNSTITUTION ML 1 6 1S58
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