Who invented the mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus)? On the authorship of the fraudulent 1812 journal of Charles Le Raye

Abstract

The captivity journal of Charles Le Raye was first published in 1812 as a chapter in A topographical description of the state of Ohio, Indiana Territory, and Louisiana, a volume authored anonymously by “a late officer in the U. S. Army”. Le Raye was purported to be a French Canadian fur trader who, as a captive of the Sioux, had travelled across broad portions of the Missouri and Yellowstone river drainages a few years before the Lewis and Clark expedition (1804–1806), and his account of the land, its people, and its natural resources was relied upon as a primary source by generations of natural historians, geographers, and ethnographers. Based directly on descriptions of animals in the published journal, the naturalist Constantine S. Rafinesque named seven new species of North American mammals, including what are currently recognized as the mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and a Great Plains subspecies of white-tailed deer (O. virginianus macrourus). Unfortunately, Le Raye never existed, and historical, geographical, and ethnographical evidence indicates that the journal is fraudulent. Determining the author of this work is relevant to identifying the sources used to construct it, which may help us to understand the real animals upon which Rafinesque's species are based. Traditionally, authorship of the volume was attributed to Jervis Cutler, but his role in composing the fraudulent Le Raye journal has been called into question. In this paper, I present additional evidence supporting the hypothesis that Jervis Cutler bears primary responsibility for the Le Raye journal and that he had the background, opportunity, and potential motive to author it.

Rafinesque's names for western American mammals, including the earliest scientific name for the coyote (Canis latransSay, 1822), based on the apocryphal journal of Charles Le Raye

“…In describing the new species, Rafinesque (1817b) indicated that the primary source for his descriptions was information contained within the purported first-person captivity narrative of Charles Le Raye that was published in 1812 as a section of the anonymously authored book, A Topographical Description of the State of Ohio, Indiana Territory, and Louisiana (henceforth, A Topographical Description). The book's author is now well established to have been Jervis Cutler (Hildreth 1852, Cutler & Cutler 1888, Woodman 2015. A member of a politically connected Massachusetts family, Cutler traveled to the Ohio frontier as a pioneer and there became DOI: 10.2988/0006-324X-128.1.63 engaged in the fur trade.…”

“…Nonetheless, careful study of historical, geographical, zoological, and ethnographical aspects of the purported Le Raye journal has verified that details from a variety of contemporary sources were appropriated, intermixed, and, in the case of some ethnographical details, completely muddled in the writing of the account (Dollar 1974(Dollar , 1983Woodman 2013). The probable perpetrator of this fraud was the author of A Topographical Description, Jervis Cutler, who had the opportunity, the access to sources, and the motivation to carry it out (Woodman 2015).…”

“…While recovering from the later stages of this illness in his parents' Massachusetts home, Cutler contracted his services as an engraver of woodcuts. It was also during this time that he produced A Topographical Description (Cutler & Cutler 1888, Woodman 2015.…”