Equus phlegon (Hay, 1899)

Hay, OP, 1899, On the nomenclature of certain American fossil vertebrates, The American Geologist 24, pp. 345-349 : 345

In 1893, Prof. E. D. Cope* described from the Blanco beds of Texas a horse which he called Equus minutus . It will. however, be necessary to apply to this animal a new name. since the term minutus had already been employed to designate another, probably two other, species of Equus .

An Equus minutus was indicated by Marcelles de Serres in the year 1838,†but I have not been able to determine whether or not this name was accompanied by a description. For our present purpose this knowledge is not important. We have the following facts: In 1833 P. C. Schmerling‡ figured and described, without naming, some teeth of a small horse, found in caverns of Belgium, In 1858 A, von Nordmann§ wrote as follows: " Fur die kleinen Pferdezähne. angezeigt von Schmer* ling aus den Lutticher Knochenhohlen, ist von Marcelles de Serres die Benennung E. minutus vorgeschlagen Worden." This application of the name to those figured teeth would of itself be sufficient to give the name validity. I have been unable to find any mention of this Equus minutus in works more recent than Gervais' Zoologie et Paléontologie francais, 2 nd edition, 1859, Where it is made a synonym of Equus adamaticus . This itself is a synonym of E. caballus . Trouessartǁ credits to Dubois an Equus minutus , regarding it also as a synonym of E. caballus. and omitting reference to place of publication. Dr. T S. Palmer, of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, kindly informs me that Trouessart quotes the name and author from Roger's Verzeichniss, 1887, p. 46, in which place no additional information is vouchsafed. If Dubois has described as new an Equus minutus, it too antedates Cope's species of that name.

For the latter I propose the name Equus phlegon .**