The Anonymous Animal

Scientific nomenclature has a rich historiography. But what about the history of not naming species? Using the Comte de Buffon’s 18th-century description of an “anonymous animal” as a jumping-off point, this article tracks the history of leaving animals unnamed—often through the multifarious moniker of the nondescript. It does so by considering the relationship between naming animals and killing them to generate so-called type specimens. I argue that type specimens, although a genuine innovation (in the 19th century), did not solve the muddy underlying ontological problems tied to naming. As a result, the anonymous animal never disappeared. I draw throughlines between present-day systematics and earlier eras of natural history, with a particular focus on Buffon and the work of 19th-century marine zoologist John Vaughan Thompson. Current debates over specimens and naming show a reprise of the Buffonian struggle to slot ever-shifting species into discrete labeled categories.