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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Library of the
Museum of
Comparative Zoology
Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zotflogy
AT HARVARD COLLEGE.
Vol. LXVIII. No. 1.
REVISION OF THE NEARCTIC MYRMELEONIDAE.
By Nathan Banks.
With Four Plates.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS., U. S. A.: PRINTED FOR THE MUSEUM. May, 1927.
No. 1. — Revision of the Nearctic Myrmeleonidae. By Nathan Banks.
The Myrmeleonidae or ant-lion flies are generally recognized among the Neuroptera by their slender, rather densely veined wings, the long body, and short, elavate antennae. The habits of the larvae of certain forms (particularly Myrmeleon) in digging pits to entrap wandering insects has given them their common and scientific names.
The Nearctic Myrmeleonidae are chiefly a northward extension of the Neotropical fauna, thus Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona are the most favored states. Several of the genera as Brachynemurus, Hesperoleon, Austroleon, Glenurus, and Psammoleon are common in Central and South America, but do not occur in the Old World. The genus Myr- meleon occurs in all the continents, and is everywhere fairly common. Dendroleon does not occur south of the United States, but is repre- sented in Europe and Asia, in the latter country with numerous species. It is more common in the eastern than the western states. Hesperoleon has but one or two species in the eastern states, but many in the western states.
The family, originally of but one genus, has undergone many changes, until now there are four subfamilies and nearly a dozen tribes. One of the subfamilies, the Palparinae, does not occur in America, and several tribes do not occur in the United States. The forking of the third anal vein I do not consider of tribal value; although usually quite constant there are species it would separate that are otherwise closely related, and in some species there are specimens with this vein forked in one wing and simple in the opposite wing. The absence of the small cross-veins in the apical field is also too inconstant to be even of generic value; specimens in which these are absent in only one wing are not unusual, and a fair series of any species will show variation in their number. Likewise the absence of spurs is not of tribal importance. The various genera lacking spurs show by their venation affinity to various tribes.
The origin of the radial sector in relation to the cubital fork I still consider of great importance, but for the Nearctic forms it is best used in connection with the course of the basal part of the second anal vein as indicated in the following tables. The character I used as of prime importance for African Myrmeleons, whether there is one (or two) cross-veins before the radial sector in the hind-wing or four (or more), cannot be used on American Myrmeleons, for in the group of Brachy-
4 bulletin: museum of compaeative zoology.
nemurus, which usually has two or three such veins, there is sometimes only one and sometimes four or even five. It is necessary therefore to have recourse to the characters of the second anal vein. Once outside of the subfamily Dendroleoninae the number of cross-veins before the radial sector is as useful in American JVTyrmeleons as in those of the Old World.
The characters used in the classification of genera are mostly taken from the venation and legs. The palpi, antennae, pronotum, and abdomen are used to a less extent. The species are largely based on coloration, color and length of hair, length of spurs, minor venational points, and the male appendages. Most of the characters used are readily understood, being similar to those in other insects. There is in many species the appearance of a line through the middle of the wing toward the tip. This is produced by the bending of the branches of the radial sector; it has been termed (by Tilly ard and Petersen) the Banksian or anterior Banksian line. A similar line in the cubital area is called the posterior Banksian line or intercubital line. In many of the Nearctic species these lines are hardly as useful as in Old World species. The small cross-veins in the apical field have been called gradate veins; they are of little value. Toward the outer part of the wing the median and cubital veins are connected rather more than in the rest of their courses, this is the rhegma, and there is frequently a dark spot on it, or a line up from it.
One Nearctic species was described by DeGeer, one by Drury, a few by Burmeister, Rambur, and Thomas Say. Hagen in 1861 in his Synopsis of North American Neuroptera, gave the first good account, describing twenty-five species, and later he added ten more. In recent years Mr. R. P. Currie and the writer have described several new spe- cies, while Navas has added four names, and McClendon one. One new genus, two new species, and a new variety are included in this account, a total of sixty-nine species, two varieties, and nineteen genera.
Doubtless a few more will be found in the West and in southern Texas. There are several species known from but one specimen. The genera, I think, have been divided enough, possibly it would be better to sink under Brachynemurus several of the related genera. Two of the species {delicatulus and barberi) I have not seen for some years and the original descriptions are given, supplemented by notes and drawings made ten years ago, together with some notes kindly furnished by Mr. S. A. Rohwer.
Navas has published two genera and four species as new from the United States. Neleon is a new genus for Myrmeleon immaculatus
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 5
DeGeer. This species is very close to the type of the genus in so many structural characters that if the genus is to be divided it surely will go with the genotype. The number of gradiform veinlets in the apical field is variable in this as well as in most, if not all, species of the family; the development of the plicate lines shows a gradation in the various species so that limitation is not possible. Mastega is a new genus; and M. texanus, a new species, is evidently a Cryptoleon. It is true that in C. nebuloswn (the genotype) there are nearly *al ways numerous costal cross-veins connected, but the number is variable; but in C, signatum there are usually only very few costals connected, and frequently none. With any sort of a series this character is too variable for generic importance here; in some genera the character is much more constant. As to the species texanus, it agrees generally with C. signatum, but is said to have the abdomen "fusco pilosum." This would ally it to C. nebulosum. I have seen no specimen of either species from Texas, and it is possible that texanus is a good species. The type is in the Vienna Museum.
Hesperoleon placidus is from New Jersey. This is a dark, strongly- marked specimen of H. ahdoviinalis in which the pronotal stripes are extended forward. I have several such specimens from the east, and they grade into the normal form.
Hesperoleon nivatensis is from Nevada. By the infuscated mid- and hind-femora and the long male appendages this is H. singularis Currie. The amount of infuscation in the femora is variable, but they are not dotted.
Psammoleon serpentinus agrees with P. sinuatus Currie, but this serpentine line is not constant in this species nor peculiar to it.
Synopsis of the subfamilies.
1. In the fore-wings the second anal vein runs in a fairly even curve (Plate 2,
fig. 41), and is connected to the third anal by a short cross-vein, or united to it for a short distance (Plate 2, fig. 40) ; the radial sector usually arises before the cubital fork; in hind-wings rarely four veins before the origin
of the radial sector Dendroleoninae.
In the fore-wings the second anal vein runs up to and close beside the first anal (Plate 2, fig. 39, 45), then at an angle turns down and unites with the third anal for a distance; abdomen shorter than wings 2
2. In the hind-wings but one (or rarely two) cross-veins before origin of the
■ radial sector, latter point before the cubital fork Macronemurinae.
In the hind-wings four (or more) cross-veins before radial sector, latter usually beyond fork of cubitus; antennae well separated at base.
Myrmeleoninae.
D bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Dendroleoninae.
Of Nearctic forms this is the most primitive group, the venational characters being far less constant than in the two other subfamilies. The group is principally American, only a few forms are known in Europe and Asia, and possibly in South Africa, while several striking forms of the typical tribe occur in Australia.
There are two tribes separable as follows : —
1. In the fore-wings the cubital vein shows at base a distinct fork running out a short distance and then uniting with first anal (Plate 2, fig. 41); legs
very slender, basal tarsal joint equal next two Dendroleonini.
In the fore-wings the cubital vein has no distinct fork at base, sometimes a faint trace; legs much less slender, basal tarsal joint rarely equal to next two joints united Brachynemurini.
Dendroleonini. The Dendroleonini has but one, the typical, Nearctic genus.
Dendroleon Brauer. Reise freg. Novara. Zool. theil., 1866, 2. Neur., p. 42.
Antennae rather long; pronotum longer than broad; legs very slender, femora cylindrical, tibia about as long as femur, basitarsus as long as fifth joint, spurs very long, but little curved, equal to more than two joints. Wings moderately broad, with large spots, a single costal series, in both wings the radial sector arises before the cubital fork, in hind-wing one cross-vein before radial sector, the first anal in hind-wing runs parallel to the hind-margin and into cubital fork, in fore-wing the second anal runs free of both first and third anals and connected to each by one or more cross-veins, basal fork of cubitus distinct. Banksian line fairly complete in both wings, no intercubital line; abdomen not as long as hind-wings. In the type and in Nearctic species in the hind-wing the third anal is separate from second, forked near tip, and there is a fourth anal closely parallel to hind-margin; in the exotic species the third is united to second at base, and the fourth is absent.
Type. — D. 'pantherinum (Fabricius). Europe.
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. /
Dendroleon obsoletum Say. Plate 4, fig. 101.
Formicaleo obsoletus Say, Journ. Acad. nat. sci. Phil., 1839, 8, p. 44; Ed. Lee, 2, p. 413.
Dull yellowish gray or sordid. Interantennal mark brown, not much below nor above antennae vertex hardly darkened, sometimes a yellowish band below. Pronotum usually unmarked, sometimes median or lateral short, faint lines ; rest of notum black in middle, pale on sides; pleura dark below, pale above; front- and mid-legs largely black, hind-femora black, pale at base, and a band before tip, tibia pale, a black line below, and base and tip dark; tarsi partly pale, spines slender, black, the front-tibiae are sometimes pale beneath near tip; abdomen black, sometimes showing pale spots in middle of some seg- ments, hairs black, some white intermixed, not very long. Veins white and brown interrupted, often in streaks, spot at base of stigma, one behind, and one beyond, a long mark at rhegma, often broken into several long spots, an irregular mark at end of anal, often broken, and one beyond, and one before on the hind-margin, one at origin of radial sector, and two or three smaller spots beyond, usually several small spots along cubitus; hind-wings with mostly pale venation, some dark streaks, a large spot, larger than any in the fore-wing, over the last cross-veinlet from radial sector to radius before stigma, another more irregular near tip, and three or four small spots behind these, two of which are on the hind-margin.
In the fore-wings many of the costals are forked, about four cross- veins before radial sector, about eleven branches of radial sector, apical field with a few cross-veins, anal vein with about ten branches ; in hind-wings one cross-vein before radial sector, radial sector about ten branched, anal vein with eight branches.
Length fore-wing 25 to 31 mm., width 7 to 8.8 mm.
Length hind-wing 25 to 31 mm., width 5 to 7 mm.
Length abdomen 9 and cf 15 to 17 mm.
Speciviens examined. — N. H.: Durham. Mass.: Sherborn; July Tyngsboro. Conn.: New Milford. N. Y.: Ithaca, August. Md. Travilah, July. Va.: Falls Church, July. N. C. (Morrison). 111. Galena. Mich.: Huron Co. Also Raleigh, N. C. (N. C. state coll.) Yaphank, N. Y. (Davis coll.). Florida (Slosson coll.).
8 bulletin: museum of compahative zoology.
Dendeoleon speciosum Banks. Plate 2, fig. 41. Trans. Amer. ent. soc, 1906, 32, p. 7.
This species may be compared to D. obsoletum. The interantennal mark is rather more prominent, the vertex darker, and with a white band in front; the median and lateral lines on pronotum are distinct; the front-part of the mesonotum is mostly pale in the middle; front- and mid-tibia mostly pale, and front-femora often pale below, the mid- femora with broad pale preapical band, hind-legs more pale, usually no line under tibia.
The spots on the wings are smaller and more numerous, beyond the much broken streak from the rhegma there are many spots on the fork which tend to make a row; the spot on hind-margin beyond the long curved mark at end of anal is also elongate (much longer than in obsoletum) and points to the tip of the anal mark. There is more dark in the venation, and many veinlets are more or less bordered. In the hind-wings the spots are also smaller and more numerous, and the venation largely dark (in D. obsoletum mostly pale), and many small clouds on forks toward margin.
In the fore-wing the costal area is more narrow, and the costals a little less numerous, so that these cells are not nearly as narrow as in D. obsoletum. The species is a little smaller than obsoletum.
Length fore-wing 22 to 29 mm., width 5.5 to 8 mm.
Length hind-wing 22 to 29 mm., width 4 to 6.5 mm.
Length abdomen 9 and cf 12 to 15 mm.
Specimens examined. — Colo. : Boulder, July. (Type). N. M. : Jemez Mts., July. Ariz. : Palmerlee. Calif .: Modoc Co., July.
Brachynemurini.
1. In the hind-wing the first anal runs parallel to the cubital fork for some
distance, and connected thereto by several cross- veins; Banksian lines
usually evident 2
In the hind-wing the first anal bends down to margin near the forking of the cubitus, not running parallel to the cubital fork, and not connected thereto but once or twice; Banksian lines hardly distinct 7
2. No spurs Cryptoleon.
Spurs present 3
3. Costal area of fore-wing with two or three series of cells for about half-way
or more 4
Costal area of fore-wing with but one series of cells, except sometimes near the stigma 5
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 9
4. Cross- veins before radial sector in the fore-wing mostly connected; in our
species three series of costal cells Calinemurus.
Few if any cross-veins before radial sector connected; two series of costal cells; front-coxae with macrochaetae Brachynemurus.
5. Labial palpi elongated, very much longer than the front-tarsi; spurs equal
two tarsal joints; antennae rather widely separated Scotoleon.
Labial palpi not longer than front-tarsi 6
6. Front-femur with a row of curved white bristles above as well as several
on the front-coxa Netroneurus.
Front-femur without such bristles, sometimes one or two on the front-coxa.
Hesperoleon.
7. No spurs, basal tarsal joint longer than the fifth Maracandula.
Spurs present 8
8. Front-coxa with several curved white bristles as well as a row on front-
femur above, second and third anal veins of front-wings usually united
at a point 9
Front-coxa and front-femur without the comb of white macrochaetae; in fore-wing the cubitus often has its first cross- vein obhque as though it was a cubital fork Clathroneuria.
9. Legs very slender, front-tibia equal to front-femur; mesonotum with en-
larged bristles above; abdomen shorter than hind- wings; antennae
elongate; second and third anals in fore-wing forked Chaetoleon.
Legs not especially slender, front-tibia a little shorter than front-femur; mesonotum with only simple bristles above; abdomen about equal to or longer than hind- wings; antennae very short Austroleon.
Cryptoleon Banks. Can. ent., 1901, 33, p. 330.
Last joint of labial palpi not distinctly swollen; antennae rather short, not strongly clavate; the pronotum rather broader than long in the middle; basal tarsal joint nearly as long as the next two united, no spurs; abdomen of male much longer than in female. Costal area of wings either one- or two-celled, showing much variation, Banksian line in fore-wing either faint or distinct, intercubital not definite; radial sector much before cubital fork, second anal running in even curve, connected to the third by a cross-vein, second usually simple, third forked. In hind-wings the radial sector usually before cubital fork, two cross-veins before it; first anal runs out parallel to the cubital fork for some distance and connected thereto by several cross-veins, second and third anals usually both forked.
Type. — C. nebulosum {conspersus (Rambur) (Olivier).
The three Nearctic species are distinguished in the following table:
10 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
1. Front-wings with costal area largely biareolate, usually partly in hind-
wings; pronotum with median pale mark only in front; wings heavily marked, usually some dark between subcosta and radius; hair on abdo- men mostly black nebuloswn.
Front- wings with costal area mostly uniareolate; hind-wings always so; pronotum with a pale median stripe throughout; wings very hghtly marked, no dark between subcosta and radius; hair on abdomen mostly white 2
2. Front-femora dark on outer sides; wings very slender, median vein largely
white; western henshawi.
Front-femora mostly pale, dotted with dark; wings broader, median vein largely dark; eastern signatum.
Cryptoleon nebulosum (Olivier). Plate 3, fig. 49, 56. Myrmeleon nebulosum Olivier, Encycl. meth., 1811, 8, p. 127.
Interantennal mark somewhat above and below antennae, often including a pale median dot between antennae; vertex dark brown or black; palpi marked with brown; pronotum dark, three pale spots in front-part, the median one linear and behind on each side is a pale streak; rest of notum mostly black, a few pale spots, scutelli pale each side behind; pleura also dark; legs pale, femora and tibiae heavily dotted, latter with dark tips, tips of tarsal joints black, bristles on legs mostly black, but front- and mid-femora with some white bristles; hair on pleura white; abdomen black, middle and tip of some segments pale, much more so in the male, hair long black, but some at base white. Wings heavily marked, the veins and cross-veins mostly dark and often bordered with dark; dark streaks between the subcosta and radius, large spot at base of stigma, several above the cubitus, one at rhegma extending obliquely outward, and one at end of the anal vein ; many smaller spots, and the marginal forkings dark. Hind-wings much less marked, but the venation is largely dark, the marginal forkings, outer gradates, rhegma, and several radial cross-veins more or less margined with dark. Fore-wings with costal area almost wholly biareolate, three or four cross-veins before the radial sector, outer two or three often connected, ten or eleven branches of radial sector, several cubitals connected, Banksian line fairly distinct. In hind-wings the costal area often partly biareolate, but sometimes only a few are even forked. Venation of both pairs with very long hairs. Male abdomen much longer and more slender than in the female, the
banks: revision or the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 11
last segment about twice as long as high, appendages fully one half of the last segment.
Length fore-wing 22 to 27 mm., width 6.5 to 7.8 mm.
Length hind-wing 21 to 25 mm., width 5 to 6.8 mm.
Length abdomen 9 18 to 20 mm., cf 25 to 27 mm.
Specimens examined. — N. C. : Southern Pines, May. N. J. : Laha- way, July. Ga.: Millen, July; Savannah. Fla.: Auburndale. Ohio: Columbus. Mich.: Ludington; Port Huron, Berrien Co., July; Huron Co., July. Ontario: Hamilton, Giants Tomb, July. Also Upper Wis- consin River, Lakehurst, N.J. (Davis coll.). St. Simon's Island, Ga. (Cornell univ.).
•
Cryptoleon signatum (Hagen). Plate 3, fig. 50.
Maracanda signata Hagen, Can. ent., 1887, 19, p. 215.
Interantennal mark usually broken, showing spots below antennae and a band above, vertex dark in middle, sometimes with a pale median line; palpi mostly pale, last joint of labial palpi with an outer scar; pronotum with two broad dark stripes near middle, each containing a pale spot in front; rest of notum dark, much streaked with pale, the scutelli largely pale; pleura dark, much marked with pale, the hair white; legs pale, femora and tibiae rather finely dotted with dark, tarsi dark on tips of the joints, femoral bristles partly white; abdomen black, in male much marked with pale above, hair almost wholly white, in male some on the basal segments above dark. Wings only lightly marked, although venation is mostly dark, only a few cross-veins or forks slightly margined with dark, sometimes a small spot at base of stigma, at rhegma, and at end of anal, no dark between subcosta and radius. Hind-wings less marked, usually dark dot at rhegma and stigma, the venation mostly dark. Fore-wings with the costal series normally wholly uniareolate, but in various specimens a few cells near middle may be crossed, usually three- cross-veins before radial sector, sometimes two are connected, eight to ten branches of the radial sector, often a few cubitals connected, but sometimes all free, often a few cross-veins in the anal area, hairs on venation less numerous and shorter than in C. nebulosum. Abdomen of male elongate and slender, last segment not twice as long as high, appendages more than one half of last segment.
Length fore-wing 20 to 23 mm., width 5.2 to 6 mm.
12 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Length hind-wing 19 to 22 mm., width 4 to 5 mm.
Length abdomen 9 15 to 16 mm., cf 20 to 22 mm.
Speciviens examined. — White Fish Point, Lake Superior (Type). Mich.: Ludington, Berrien Co., July; Huron Co., July. Ohio: San- dusky; Columbus. 111.: Havana. N. Y. : Roekaway Beach, Staten Island, August. R. I.: Weekapaug, July. Also Illinois (Amer. mus. nat. hist.).
Cryptoleon henshawi Hagen.
Plate 2, fig. 29. Plate 3, fig. 55.
Maracanda henshawi Hagen, Can. ent., 1887, 19, p. 216.
•
The species agrees very closely with signatum; the dark of the vertex is broken up by several pale spots, the pronotal marks are the same, the rest of thorax and pleura also about the same, the legs are pale and dotted, but the front-femora are wholly brown on the outer sides; the abdomen (male only known) is streaked with pale above as in signatum, the hair is mostly white, with some dark above toward base. The wings are plainly more slender than in signatum, the fore-wings more heavily marked, spots on several of the radial cross-veins, in front of cubitus, as well as at stigma, at end of anal and a distinct oblique line from rhegma over gradates to near the tip, the venation is mostly dark, but the median vein in both pairs is mostly pale. In the hind-wings the markings are less distinct, but more than in signatum. Structurally it is similar to signatum, the costal area wholly one-celled, and in fact only a few veins near stigma forked, there are eight branches to radial sector, in the apical field very few cross- veins.
Length fore-wing 19 mm., width 4.6 mm.
Length hind-wing 17 mm., width 3.7 mm.
Length abdomen cf 23 mm.
Specimen examined. — Ore.: Umatilla, June (Type).
Hesperoleon Banks.
Ent. news, 1913, 24, p. 64.
Antennae usually less than the diameter of the basal joints apart; labial palpi not longer than front-tarsi. Legs moderately short, basal tarsal joint rarely equal to next two united, always much shorter than apical joint; spurs variable in length, less than one to more than two joints long. Abdomen of male longer than in female and much longer than the wings. Fore-wings with one series of costal cells, except
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 13
sometimes toward the stigma, Banksian and intercubital lines usually fairly distinct, radial sector arises before cubital fork, first anal runs parallel to cubital fork for some distance, and connected thereto by less than nine cross-veins, second anal usually not forked, third usu- ally forked.
Hind-wings with two to four cross-veins before radial sector (rarely with but one), second anal usually forked; first anal runs parallel to the cubital fork for some distance; Banksian line usually fairly definite, but intercubital indistinct or absent; the radial sector Httle, if any, before forking of cubitus.
Type. — H. ferox, Walker.
In the species assigned to this genus there is quite a wide variation; certain forms have the hind-margin of hind-wings near base concave, but in abdoniinalis it is hardly so, connecting the two series. In several, as viaculosus, tenuis, coquillettei, and abdominalis, the spurs are equal to two tarsal joints, but some abdominalis hardly so, while in hlandus they are fully one and one half joints, and in others grade down to less than one joint. These forms with the long spurs have the median vein unmarked, and all, except maculosus, has the hind-margin of hind- wing concave. In viaculosus, and also in yavapai there is but one cross- vein before the radial sector in hind-wing, however these two forms are so different in spurs and other structures they should not be united against the other species. H. irregularis is the most distinct structurally, besides the irregular venation, the hind-wing is very narrow at base, the second anal not forked, and the antennae closer together than in other species; however in maculosus the second anal is also simple, and there is variation in space between antennae. The groups may be tabulated as follows : —
1. But one cross- vein before radial sector in hind-wing. . maculosus, yavapai.
2. Hind-wing with second anal not forked; antennae very close together.
irregularis.
3. Spurs equal to two tarsal joints abdominalis, coquilletti, tenuis.
4. Hind-margin of hind-wings toward base concave hlandus, papago.
5. Costal cross- veins spotted at each end; often a double costal series near
stigma versutus, mexicanus.
6. Abdomen banded with pale sackeni.
7. All the other species.
In H. coquilletti, maculosus, and yavapai there is but one cross-vein between the second and third anal in the fore-wings, in the other species there are normally two such cross-veins, but in H. papago, about half the specimens have one, and half two.
14 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
The Nearctic species, twenty-five in number, are tabulated below. Some of the characters used may prove to be more variable with more material.
1. Abdomen banded with large pale spots 2
Abdomen hardly if at all banded, marks, when present, lineate 3
2. Second and third segments pale at tip as well as in middle; second and
third anals of fore-wing connected twice sackeni.
Second and third segments broadly pale in middle only; second and third anals of fore- wings connected but once yavapai.
3. Labrum black; pronotum yellow, with narrow median stripes, and short
side stripes; femora not dotted nigrilabris.
Labrum pale 4
4. Pronotum with broad, soUd, median brown (or pink-brown) stripe; wings
heavily dotted; hind-margin of hind-wings near base concave, irregularis.
Pronotum with median stripe divided by pale hne at least in front, and
more or less distinct lateral stripes 5
5. Median vein pale (rarely marked); both scutelli with median dark line
or spot; hind-spurs equal to two joints 6
Median vein marked with dark and pale; at least mesoscutellum with two or more spots or streaks, else spurs not equal to two joints 9
6. Median stripes of pronotum distinct, united behind, divergent in front . . 7 Median stripes not visible behind furrow, only more or less distinct in
front 8
7. Wings practically without spots; hind-margin of hind-wings near base
concave coquilletti.
Wings heavily spotted; hind-margin of hind-wings near base convex.
maculosus.
8. Fore- wings with the spots arranged largely in two longitudinal areas, with
space between largely unmarked tenuis.
Fore-wings with dots scattered fairly evenly over whole wing . abdomincdis.
9. Hind-margin of hind-wing near base concave; femora dotted; costal cross-
veins without large spot at outer ends; hair of abdomen long 10
Hind-margin of hind-wing near base, straight or convex, not plainly concave 11
10. Median pronotal stripes united behind; hairs on wing unusually long;
hind-spurs hardly equal basal joint papago.
Median pronotal stripes separate; hair of wings normal; hind-spurs equal one and one half joints blandus.
11. Wings heavily spotted, the costal cross- veins spotted at each end 12
Wings less marked, costal cross- veins not spotted at each end 13
12. Clypeus black, or with two spots versutus.
Clypeus pale, unspotted mexicanus.
13. ScuteUi with no more than median dark line; pronotum with median
stripes absent or faint; vertex scarcely marked pallidus.
At least mesoscutellum with double mark 14
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 15
14. Labial palpi about as long as the front- tarsus; lateral stripes partly united
to the median pair, tibia dotted niger.
Labial palpi plainly a little shorter than the front-tarsus 15
15. Lateral and median stripes united into a very broad stripe each side
which contains a pale spot in front, and on outer sides a shorter dark
stripe; no pale between bases of antennae brunneus.
Lateral stripes more separated from the median pair, and no distinct outer dark stripe toward margin of pronotum 16
16. Mesoscutellum with five black spots; front-femora and tibiae almost
wholly pale ; hair of the abdomen very short minuscultis.
Mesoscutellum with two black stripes or a double mark 17
17. Coxae of front-legs with one or two white macrochaetae, four pronotal
stripes separate; hind-femora usually dotted; usually three cross- veins
before radial sector in hind-wings hubbardi.
Front-coxae without macrochaetae, only fine hairs 18
18. Femora dotted, sometimes on the hind-femora dense and connected, but
evidently dotted 19
At least hind-femora not dotted, but more or less evenly infuscated .... 21
19. Median stripes of pronotum united behind; hair on male abdomen long;
male appendages long douglasi.
Median stripes separated; hair on male abdomen short as in female ... .20
20. Male appendages equal to last segment of abdomen; rather larger.
carrizonus. Male appendages not one half of last segment, rather smaller. . . .texanus.^
21. Vertex with but one row of four dots; interantennal mark does not reac'
up to vertex; body very pale; male appendages short, .quadripundatus.
Vertex with two rows of marks, or interantennal mark reaches up on
vertex over first row. . .''. 22
22. Male appendages much longer than the height of last segment 23
Male appendages not longer than height of last segment 24
23. Male appendages about half as long as last segment; spines on hind-
femora black assirnilis.
Male appendages nearly equal to last segment; spines on hind-femora white singularis.
24. Male appendages not equal to one half of last segment; femoral spines
mostly black ferox.
Male appendages equal one half of last segment; femoral spines mostly white ." iniermedius.
Hesperoleon ferox Walker. Plate 1, fig. 17. Plate 3, fig. 71. Myrmeleon ferox Walker, Cat. Neur. Brit, mus., 1853, pt. 2, p. 332.
Interantennal mark with little if any extension below, above often reaching first vertex row, but typically separate from it, the latter a
16 bulletin: museum of compaeative zoology.
continuous band, second vertex row of two submedian spots with lateral extensions, and often an extension each side behind; last joint of labial palpi moderately swollen, partly black. Pronotum with four lines, usually connected at tips and sometimes in the middle, the median pair of lines rather narrowly separated. Rest of notum marked as in allied forms, mesoscutellum with two streaks, meta- scutellum with a double mark; pleura mostly dark; femora, especially hind-pair, more or less blackened, tibia sometimes with a dark line below, spines black. Abdomen with a pale stripe each side above, often not as broad as in related species, and sometimes scarcely noticeable in the female, hair very short in both sexes, mostly white, some black along the dorsal line. Wings with mostly dark veins, but little mar- gined, a spot at base of pale stigma, one at rhegma, several along cubitus, sometimes forming short streaks, sometimes an oblique line out from rhegma, anal spot usually very faint, the median vein white in long stretches, radius not dark at end of every cross-vein; hind- wings much less marked.
Vertex high, rather less so in male; pronotum broader than long in middle; hind-spurs but little longer than basitarsus; in fore-wings three cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings two, about ten branches to radial sector; a few cubital cross-veins connected; in hind- wing the cubital fork is usually equal to or a little before radial sector, but not much difference, hind-margin near base convex, first anal with five to seven branches, first long, oblique, over six times as long as the cubital cross-vein above it. Abdomen of male much longer than wings, last segment about twice as long as high, appendages very short, divergent, not half as long as in allied species.
Length fore-wing 28 to 34 mm., width 7.8 to 9 mm.
Length hind-wing 26 to 31 mm., width 5.8 to 7.5 mm.
Length abdomen 9 23 to 27 mm., cf 30 to 37 mm.
Common in far west. Brachynemurus percgrinus Hagen is a synonym of this species, I have examined both types.
Specimens examined. — Calif. : Havilah (Type of peregrinus) ; San Bernardino, July; Sierra Nevada Mts., July; Coronado, July; San Francisco. Ore.: Umatilla, June. Wash.: Camp Umatilla; Yakima; Ainsworth. Nev.: Humboldt River; Reno; Verdi, July; Ormsby Co. Ariz. : Thumb Butte; Jerome; Palmerlee; Prescott; Graham Mts., June; Tucson. Utah : Vinyard, June; Beaver Valley, August; Belle vue, June. N. M.: Jemez Mts., July; Albuquerque. Also Beaver Valley, Utah (Brooklyn mus.); California, Oregon (Amer. mus. nat. hist.). Nogales, Arizona (Cornell univ.), Las Cruces, New Mexico (N. M. agric. coll.).
banks: eevision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 17
Hesperoleon assimilis (Banks). Plate 1, fig. 19. Plate 3, fig. 65. Brachtjnemurus assimilis Banks, Proc. Ent. soc. Wash., 1903, 5, p. 174, pi. 3, fig. 1.
Interantennal mark not extending much below antennae, above usually reaching first vertex row, sometimes with a median pale spot, second vertex row of two spots laterally extended; last joint of labial palpi moderately swollen and partly brown. Pronotum with four lines, all reaching the front-margin, and there connected, and sometimes connected in middle, so that there is a pale streak or two spots each side. Rest of notum marked as usual, two streaks on the scutelli; pleura largely dark; femora more or less embrowned, not dotted, spines black, some on femora are white. Abdomen pale each side above on basal two thirds, leaving a narrow black line, hair moderately long at least in the male, mostly white, but some black along median line. Wings with large dark mark at base of the pale stigma, small spot at rhegma, and several small ones along the cubitus, veins mostly dark, but not bordered, median vein mostly dark, radius dark at end of nearly every cross-vein; hind-wings scarcely marked.
Vertex in female much elevated, in male much less so; pronotum a little broader than long in the middle, not narrowed in front; hind- spurs equal about one and one half joints; male abdomen much longer than the wings, last segment fully three times as long as high, append- ages long, slender, subparallel, not much curved, equal to about one half of last segment. In fore-wing three cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings two; radial sector with about ten branches; several cubital cross-veins connected; in hind-wings cubital fork is usually a little before the radial sector; hind-margin toward base con- vex, first anal with about six branches, the first fully six times longer than a cubital cross- vein.
Length fore-wing 30 mm., width 6 to 8 mm.
Length hind-wing 26 mm., width 5 to 7 mm.
Length abdomen 9 24 mm., cf 32 to 39 mm.
Specimens examined. — Calif .: Tehama, August. (Type). Oregon.
Hesperoleon singularis (Currie). Plate 3, fig. 62, 73. Plate 4, fig. 78. Brachynemurus singularis Currie, Proc. Ent. soc. Wash., 1903, 5, p. 284.
Interantennal mark with a slight median extension, first vertex row of an elongate spot each side, usually without median mark, second
18 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
vertex row of four usually connected spots. Last joint of labial palpi not much swollen, brown. Pronotuni with four separated brown stripes, the outer ones hardly reach in front of the furrow; rest of notum with large brown spots, often divided, two on mesoscutellum, a median one on metascutellum ; pleura much marked with brown; femora (at least hind) more or less embrowned, also with a few small spots; tibiae scarcely marked. Abdomen with pale stripe each side above reaching one half-way to end in male. Wings with dark spot before the pale stigma, at rhegma, and several along cubitus; many cross-veins dark, median interrupted with dark, but largely pale; radius dark at end of each cross-vein; hind-wings scarcely marked. Hair on female abdomen white, that of male partly black, not very short, femoral spines mostly white, tibial black.
Vertex of female considerably elevated, in male less so; pronotum broader than long in the middle; hind-tibia longer than hind-femur, hind-spurs scarcely more than the basitarsus, which is rather long. Last segment male abdomen fully twice as long as high, the append- ages as long as segment, much curved. In fore-wing three cross-veins before radial sector, two in hind-wings; radial sector usually with ten branches. In hind-wing hind-margin nearly straight or slightly convex, first anal with about five branches, first oblique and fully five times as long as a cubital cross-vein.
Length fore-wing 22 to 23 mm., width 5.5 to 6 mm.
Length hind-wing 19 to 20 mm., width 5 to 5.5 mm.
Length abdomen 9 16 mm., c^ 20 mm.
Specimens examined. — Ariz.: Florence, October; Colorado River. Also from Utah (Brooklyn mus.), Currie described it from Phoenix, Ariz.
Hesperoleon intermedius (Currie).
Plate 4, fig. 76, 88.
Brachynemurus intermedius Currie, Proc. Ent. soc. Wash., 1903, 5, p. 283.
Interantennal mark small, sometimes extending upward to the first vertex row, rarely with an extension below, second vertex row of two transverse marks; last joint of labial palpi much enlarged, partly brown. Pronotum with four straight complete stripes, connected in front. Rest of notum with streaks and spots, mesoscutellum with two streaks, metascutellum with a basal double mark; pleura largely dark; femora not dotted, but faintly embrowned, especially on hind-legs, sometimes a line below on hind-tibia. Abdomen with two large
banks: revision of the NEARCTIC MYRMELEONIDAE. 19
streaks above, reaching about to tip, at least in male, hair short, white. Wings with dark spot at base of pale stigma, a spot a rhegma with faint line extending obliquely outward, one or two marks along cubitus, and faint mark at end of anal vein, median vein mostly pale, but some dark marks, radius brown at end of each cross-vein. Vertex of female much elevated, in male less so; pronotum broader than long in middle; hind-spurs but little longer than basal joint, spines mostly black; abdomen of male a little longer than wings, last segment a little more than twice as long as high, the appendages very short, divergent. In fore-wings three cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings two; about eight branches to radial sector; several cubitals connected; in hind-wings cubital fork a little before radial sector; hind-margin of hind-wings near base convex, first anal vein with about four branches, first five times as long as a cubital cross-vein above it.
Length fore-wing 21 to 24 mm., width 5.5 mm.
Length hind-wing 19 to 22 mm., width 5 mm.
Length abdomen 9 18 mm., (^ 25 mm.
Syecimen^ examined. — Ariz. : Phoenix, April. Calif: Death Valley, Mono Co., April.
Described by Currie from Phoenix and Wickenburg, Ariz.
Hesperoleon carrizonus (Hagen). Plate 1, fig. 20. Plate 3, fig. 61. Brachynemurus carrizonus Hagen, Can. ent., 1888, 20, p. 93.
Interantennal mark with median extension below, above usually separated from the first vertex row which is a continuous line, second vertex row of two large submedian spots with lateral extensions, rarely reaching eyes; last joint of labial palpi much swollen, mostly black. Pronotum with four stripes, subequal in width, and all reach the front, usually not connected. Rest of notum spotted as usual, mesoscutellum with two stripes, metascutellum with a large double mark; pleura about one half dark; femora much dotted, tibiae less so, spines black, some white on front- and mid-femora. Abdomen with pale stripe each side above, leaving a fairly broad median line, in the female the pale less apparent, hair very short in both sexes, mostly white, but a few black ones intermixed. Wings with veins mostly dark, but not margined, spot at base of pale stigma, a small one at rhegma, and other small ones along cubitus, end of anal vein scarcely marked, median vein
20 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
mostly white, dark at ends of a few cross-veins, radius dark at end of nearly all cross-veins.
Vertex of female much elevated, in male not much less so; pronotum broader than long in the middle; hind-spurs little longer than basal joint. In fore-wings three cross-veins before radial sector, in hind- wings two; radial sector with about ten branches; in hind-wings radial sector and cubital fork are often equal or nearly so; hind-margin near base convex, first anal with about four branches, first more than four times as long as cubital cross-vein above it; in fore-wings a few cubital cross-veins connected; male abdomen a little longer than wings, last segment not twice as long as high, the appendages fully equal last segment, slender, upcurved, and toward each other.
Length fore-wing 23 to 27 mm., width 6.5 to 7 mm.
Length hind-wing 21 to 24 mm., width 5 to 5.5 mm.
Length abdomen 9 19 to 21 mm., d^ 24 to 26 mm.
Specimens examined. — Tex.: Carrizo Springs (Type); Rio Frio, May; Amarillo; Brownsville, May; San Antonio; Sabinal, May. N. M. : Mesilla, July. Ariz. : Phoenix, August.
Hesperoleon douglasi, sp. nov. Plate 1, fig. 16. Plate 3, fig. 63.
Interantennal mark not extending much below the antennae, above usually not reaching the first vertex row, latter rather broad, con- tinuous, second vertex row of two large subraedian spots with lateral extensions; last joint of labial palpi moderately swollen, partly brown. Pronotum with four stripes, the median pair united behind, divergent in front, the lateral stripes usually not connected to median ones, sometimes not reaching in front of furrow. Rest of notum spotted as usual, two stripes on the mesoscutellum and a double mark on the metascutellum; pleura largely dark; legs dotted, most prominent on femora, spines mostly black, some femoral ones white. Abdomen with pale stripe each side above, lea\'ing a rather broad median dark stripe, pale less extensive in female, the hair is mostly white, in female it is short and appressed as in H. carrizofius, in male long, more erect, three to five times as long as in male of H. carrizonus. Wings as in //. carrizonus and allies, small mark near stigma, at rhegma and several along cubitus, and one at end of anal vein, venation largely dark.
Vertex of female high, of male moderately high; pronotum broader than long in middle, not narrowed in front; hind-spurs not longer than
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 21
basitarsus. In fore-wings three cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings two; radial sector with about eleven branches; several cubital cross-veins connected; in hind-wing but little difference be- tween cubital fork and radial sector, hind-margin near base is convex, first anal with about five branches, first very oblique, six times as long as cubital cross-vein a;bove it. Abdomen of male longer than wings, somewhat longer than in //. carrizonus, last segment little if any longer than high, appendages very long, longer than last segment, slender, upcurved.
Length fore-wing 25 to 30 mm., width 7 to 8.4 mm.
Length hind-wing 22 to 26 mm., width 6 to 7 mm.
Length abdomen 9 22 to 25 mm., d" 27 to 31 mm.
Specimens examined. — Calif.: Coronado; Pasadena. Utah: St. George. Ariz. : Nogales (Type. — M. C. Z. 15,745), Phoenix; Florence.
Formerly considered H. carrizonus, but much longer hair of male abdomen, united median stripes, and minor differences separate it.
Hesperoleon quadripunctatus Currie. Plate 4, fig. 77, 96. Brachynemurus quadri-pundatus Currie, Can. ent., 1898, 30, p. 136.
Interantennal mark small, barely extending below antennae, includ- ing a pale median spot; first vertex row absent, second of four well- separated spots; last joint of labial palpi moderately swollen, partly brown ; pronotum with four well-separated brown lines, the outer ones sometimes nearly connected to inner pair at anterior end, sometimes these lines are much reduced and nothing shows in front of the furrow; rest of notum with elongate marks, two on mesoscutellum, and a double mark on metascutellum ; pleura with brown streaks; femora and usually tibiae unmarked. Abdomen with pale stripe each side on basal part, not always distinct in the female, in male sometimes reaching the tip: hair on abdomen very short, white. Wings with dark spot at base of pale stigma, at rhegma, and sometimes along the cubitus; median vein interrupted with dark a few times, radius usually dark at each cross-vein; hind-wings unmarked. Vertex not much elevated; pronotum broader than long in middle; spines on femora mostly white, on tibia black, short, few being twice the width of joint; hind-spurs but little more than basitarsus; last segment of abdomen about twice as long as high, appendages very short divergent. In fore-wings
22 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
usually tliree cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings two, about nine to eleven branches to radial sector; in hind-wing cubital fork before radial sector; hind-margin of hind-wings convex toward base, first anal vein with about four to six branches, first long, oblique, six times as long as cubital cross-vein above it.
Length fore-wing 22 to 27 mm., width 6 to 7.5 mm.
Length hind-wing 20 to 25 mm., width 5 to 6 mm.
Length abdomen 9 18 to 19 mm., cf 26 mm.
Specimens examined. — Calif: Indio, July; Lancaster, July, August. Ariz.: Phoenix, August.
Currie described a female from San Bernardino Co., California and a long series from Phoenix, Ariz.
Hesperoleon texanus Banks. Plate 1, fig. 11. Plate 4, fig. 98.
Brachynemurus texanus Banks, Proc. Ent. soc. Wash., 1903, 5, p. 175, pi. 3, fig. 3. Interantennal mark small, sometimes with median projection below, and sometimes enclosing a pale spot between antennae; first vertex row usually a continuous line^ from eye to eye, second row more broken, the middle spots sometimes more prominent; last joint labial palpi moderately swollen; mostly dark. Pronotum with four lines, submedian pair rather close to each other, sometimes broken at the furrow, laterals more separated, sometimes not reaching forward of furrow, sometimes more developed and connected at tips to submedian. Rest of notum streaked with dark, scutelli with two streaks or a double spot, mesoscutellum often with three spots behind; pleura mostly dark; femora heavily dotted, tibiae less so, spines black. Abdomen with pale stripe each side above, fainter in females, in some males so broad as to extinguish the median dark line. Wings with white stigma, dark mark at base, one at rhegma, one at end of anal vein, and usually several along the cubitus, median vein and radius largely dark, but not at every cross-vein. Hair of abdomen short, mostly white, but some black intermixed. Vertex only moderately elevated in female; pro- notum hardly as broad as long in middle, not narrowed in front; hind-spurs a little longer than basitarsus; in fore-wing three cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wing two; in hind-wing cubital fork usu- ally before radial sector, usually a few cubitals connected, in liind-wing the hind-margin toward base is convex, first anal with about five
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 23
branches, the first very obhque and fully six times as long as the cubital cross-vein above it. Male abdomen but little longer than wings, last segment about three times as long as high, the appendages very short and divergent.
Length fore-wing 18 to 20 mm., width 4.5 to 5.5 mm.
Length hind-wing 16 to 18 mm., width 4 to 5 mm.
Length abdomen 9 15 to 18 mm., cf 25 mm.
Specimens examined. — Tex.: Laredo (Type). Kans: Morton Co. N. M. : Albuquerque. Ariz. : Tempe; Phoenix, July. Also Ogden, Utah. Arizona (Amer. mus. nat. hist.). Douglas, Arizona. Clark Co., Kansas (Snow coll.).
Hesperoleon pallidus (Banks). Plate 3, fig. 51, 66. *
Brachynemurvs pallidus Banks, Ent. news, 1899, 10, p. 171.
Interantennal mark very small, and often broken or indistinct, some- times a median extension below; vertex rows faint, or absent, usually two submedian spots of second row show, and sometimes the first row connected to interantennal mark; last joint of labial palpi not much swollen, partly brown; pronotum little marked, the lateral stripes almost broken, a dark spot behind and one at the furrow, some- times the median lines show faintly in posterior part; rest of notum pale, mostly unmarked, sometimes a stripe over wing-base, scutelli with faint median line ; pleura largely pale ; femora and tibiae sparsely dotted if at all, spines black. Abdomen mostly pale on base, a median dark line above, hair in female mostly white, rather long, in male mostly black. Wings very faintly marked, stigma white, cross-veins and the connections mostly dark, but not margined; median vein marked, but not at every cross-vein, radius usually marked at each cross-vein. Vertex in female considerably elevated, less so in male; pronotum hardly as broad as long in middle, not narrowed in front; hind-spurs barely longer than basitarsus; last segment male abdomen but little longer than high, appendages fully as long, curved. In fore- wings three cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings two; radial sector with five to seven branches; few if any cubitals connected; in the hind-wings the radial sector is sometimes equal to or even a trifle before cubital fork; hind-margin faintly convex, first anal vein with about five branches, oblique, the first fully four times longer than cubital cross-vein above it.
Length fore-wing 19 to 21 mm., width 4.5 to 5 mm.
24 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Length hind-wing 16 to 18 mm., width 3.5 to 4 mm. Length abdomen 9 15 mm., cf 20 mm.
Sixx-imens examined. — Ariz.: Phoenix, August (Type); Florence, October; Prescott, August; Catahna Mts., August.
Hesperoleon minusculus (Banks). Plate 1, fig. 7. Plate 3, fig. 54, 67. Brachynemurus minusculus Banks, Trans. Amer. ent. soc, 1899, 25, p. 203.
Interantennal mark brown, emarginate below and with a short median extension, sometimes showing a faint pale spot between an- tennae; first vertex row of a long mark each side and one or two smaller in the middle, second row not as distinct, but usually the middle spots indicated; last joi#it of labial palpi much enlarged, black. Pronotum with four black lines, the lateral rather remote from the middle pair, and usually stop at the furrow. Rest of notum spotted with black, mesoscutellum with five spots or dots, the metascutellum with a large double mark; pleura largely dark; front-legs usually unmarked, but mid- and hind-femora may be dark on outer sides, spines mostly black. Abdomen with a pale streak each side above, reaching to tip in some specimens; hair very short in both sexes, white. Wings with dark spot at base of stigma, one at rhegma and sometimes oblique line outward, and more or less along cubitus ; median vein dark only at a few cross- veins, radius not dark at every cross-vein; hind-wings not marked.
Vertex moderately elevated in the female, less so in the male; pro- notum much broader than long in middle; hind-spurs but little longer than basal joint of tarsus; male abdomen a little longer than wings, the last segment about three times as long as high, the appendages very short, divergent. In fore-wings three cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings two; about nine branches to radial sector; a few cubital cross-veins connected; in fore-wing radial sector before cubital fork as usual, in hind-wing cubital fork before radial sector, however not much difference in either wing; in hind-wing the hind-margin is convex, first anal with four to five branches, unequal, the first very oblique, fully five times as long as cubital cross-vein above it.
Length fore-wing 19 mm., width 5 mm.
Length hind-wing 17 mm., width 4 mm.
Length abdomen 9 14 mm., cf 20 mm.
Speciinens examined. — Calif. : Lancaster, July. N. M. : Mesilla, September; Las Cruces.
Currie records it from Winslow, Ariz.
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 25
Hesperoleon brunneus (Currie). Plate 1, fig. 14. Plate 4, fig. 97. Brachynemurtbs brunneus Currie, Can. ent., 1898, 30, p. 273.
Interantennal mark large, usually with a median extension below, above usually extending up to and uniting with the first vertex row, sometimes a couple of pale spots before the row, second vertex row of two long spots, usually connected, a median spot behind ; last joint of labial palpi not much swollen, partly brown. Pronotum with a sub- median pair of broad stripes (really four stripes united), each stripe with a pale spot in front-part, laterally there is often a brown stripe reaching to furrow. Rest of notum with dark occupying most of surface, two spots and sometimes a median line on mesoscutellum, metascutellum mostly black; pleura largely dark, some sutures pale; femora dotted, hind-femora largely black, tibiae also dotted, spines black. Abdomen dark, in male with pale line each side above on basal part, hair rather long, largely black, in female much more white on venter. Wings with dark spot at base of the pale stigma, line up from rhegma, several spots along cubitus, and one at end of anal; some cross-veins margined, median largely or wholly dark, radius not dark at end of every cross-vein.
Vertex slightly swollen ; pronotum as broad as long in middle, some- what narrowed in front; hind-spurs scarcely longer than basitarsus. In fore-wings three cross-veins before radial sector, two in hind-wings, some cubital cross-veins connected, about ten branches to radial sector; in hind-wing radial sector usually before cubital fork, hind- margin near base slightly convex, about six to ten branches to first anal vein, but none very long, first more than three times longer than cubital cross-vein above it. Abdomen of male much longer than wings, last segment about three times as long as high, appendages short, about as long as height of segment.
Length fore-wing 24 to 28 mm., width 6 to 7 mm.
Length hind-wing 22 to 26 mm., width 5 to 6 mm.
Length abdomen 9 20 to 21 mm., cT 33 to 35 mm.
Specimens examined. — Calif.: Claremont; Dunsmuir (Cotype); Pasadena, June; Mt. Wilson, June; Modoc Co., July; San Gabriel Mts., July; San Jacinto Mts., July; Sawmill Canyon, Kern Co., June. Nev. : Reno; Verdi, July. Utah: Eureka, July; Stockton, July. Ariz.: Palmerlee, July. Colo.: Estes Park, August (Type centralis); South Park; Golden. B. Col.: Peachlands, July. Also Beaver Valley, Utah
26 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
(Brooklyn mus.), Las Cruces, N. M. (N. M. agric. coll.), Nogales, Arizona (Cornell univ.),
Currie records it from Yellowstone National Park, Sage Creek, Wyoming, Dunsmuir and Los Angeles Co., California.
HeSPEROLEON NIGER CuFfie. Plate 1, fig. G. Plate 3, fig. 59. Brachynemurvs niger Currie, Can. ent., 1898, 30, p. 134.
Interantennal mark of moderate size above and below antennae, first and second vertex rows are continuous lines from eye to eye; last joint labial palpi partly dark. Pronotum with the four stripes broad and but narrowly separated, in front the laterals connected to the median; mesonotum mostly dark with two rows of pale spots, mesoscutellum with two dark streaks, metascutellum with a large spot nearly covering it; pleura mostly dark; femora mostly dark, tibiae much spotted, tarsi largely black; abdomen lineate with pale on base, hair rather short, largely white.
Wings heavily marked, large spot at base of the stigma, spot on last connecting cross-vein to radius, line up from rhegma, basal part of cubitus almost continuous streak, and beyond another streak, a short mark up from end of the anal vein, most of the forks distinctl}^ marked ; venation largely dark, the pale spaces comparatively few and short; hind-wing with spot at base of stigma.
Vertex moderately well elevated; labial palpi elongated, basal joint as long as the apical, latter much swollen, neither as long as in Scoto- leon longipalpis; pronotum about as broad as long in the middle, not narrowed in front; hind-spurs scarcely longer than basitarsus, no coxal macrochaetae; leg-spines mostly black, some on front- and mid- femora white; in fore-wing radial sector before cubital fork, in hind- wing the cubital fork a trifle before radial sector; in fore-wing three cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wing two; about ten branches to radial sector; hind-margin of hind-wing near base convex, first anal with about eight branches,.the first fully six times as long as a cubital cross-vein.
Length fore-wing 26 mm., width 7 mm.
Length hind-wing 24 mm., width 6.3 mm.
Male unknown.
The only specimen I have seen is from Prescott, Arizona. Currie described it from Ft. Grant, and later recorded it from Camp Creek, and Prescott.
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 27
Hesperoleon nigrilabris (Hagen). Plate 1, fig. 9. Plate 3, fig. 52. Brachynemurus nigrilabris Hagen, Can. ent., 1888, 20, p. 72.
Labrum black; interantennal mark large, deep black, extending broadly below antennae, and often reaching up to first vertex row, however usually a pale spot or line before vertex row, latter broad, continuous, second vertex row of two large spots near middle, connected in front to first row, and often with extensions behind as well as laterally; last joint of palpi moderately swollen, blackish. Pronotum with four lines, the median pair united behind, slightly separated in front, laterals not reaching in front of furrow, slightly oblique. Rest of notum mostly black on sides and pale in middle, the mesoscutellum with two streaks, metascutellum with a double spot; pleura mostly dark; femora often darkened above near tips, til)ia of front pair sometimes much darkened, mid-tibia with subbasal and apical bands, hind-tibia with apical band and line below, spines black. Abdomen black, usually little if any trace of the pale streaks, hair fairly long, white above and below. Wings with large white stigma, veins partly dark, but rarely margined, median almost wholly white, radius dark at ends of cross-veins, sometimes a faint cloud near stigma and at rhegma. Vertex much elevated, some- what less so in the male; pronotum about as broad as long in the middle; hind-spurs little longer than basal joint; in fore-wings three or four cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings two or three; radial sector with about ten branches, only a few if any cubital cross-veins connected; in fore-wing radial sector only a little before cubital fork, in hind-wings the radial sector usually a little beyond cubital fork; hind-margin of hind-wings near base convex, first anal with five or six branches, the first five times as long as a cubital cross-vein. Male abdomen much longer than the wings, last segment two and one half to three times as long as high, appendages about as long as segment is high.
Length fore-wing 26 to 29 mm., width 7.5 to 9 mm.
Length hind-wing 22 to 26 mm., width 6 to 7 mm.
Length abdomen 9 20 to 24 mm., d^ 28 to 36 mm.
Specimens examined. — Colo.: Manitou (Type); Garden of Gods, July; Berkeley, June; Colorado Springs; Golden; Boulder, July; Ft. Collins, June; Denver, July; Clear Creek. S. Dak.: Custer Co. Kans.: Seward Co. Utah: Ogden, August; Farmington, July; Vin- yard, July; Stockton, June. N. M.: Albuquerque, July; Las Vegas;
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Tularosa, August; Mesilla Park, September. Ariz.: Phoenix; Palmer- lee, August; Prescott, June, September. Nev. : Franktown. Also Nebraska. In other collections Beaver Valley, Utah (Brooklyn mus.), La Cueva, Organ Mts., St. Augustine, Las Cruces, New Mexico (N. M. agric. coll.), Santa Fe, New Mexico, Nogalcs, Oracle, Catalina Mts., Arizona (Cornell univ.).
Hespekoleon blandus (Hagen). Plate 4, fig. 75, 84. Myrmeleon blandus, Hagen, Synop., 1861, p. 235.
Interantennal mark goes but little below the antennae, sometimes with short median extension, above usually reaching and including the first vertex row, second vertex row of two submedian spots with more or less distinct lateral extensions; last joint of labial palpi scarcely enlarged, partly brown. Pronotum with four stripes, the median pair well separated, the lateral shorter, rather oblique and arising from the base of the median pair; sometimes the laterals reach forward to front, almost completely uniting with the median pair. Rest of notum with large spots, two dark streaks on the mesoscutellum, a median spot, narrowed behind on metascutellum; pleura largely dark; front- femora and tibiae usually unmarked, other femora dotted, tibiae less so, spines black. Abdomen pale on base above, with a narrow, median, dark line; hair long, largely black. Wings scarcely marked, stigma yellowish, no large spots, the cross-veins partly and other \eins at con- nections and the forks dark, but not margined; hind-wings still less marked. Vertex much elevated in female, less in male; pronotum much broader than long in middle, scarcely narrowed in front; hind-spurs about equal one and one half joints; male abdomen longer than wings, last segment about three or four times as long as high; the appendages slender, curved, one half of the last segment; in fore-wing usually three cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings two; radial sector with about nine branches; few if any of cubitals connected; in fore-wing radial sector before the cubital fork, in hind-wing about equal; hind- margin of hind-wings near base concave, first anal with about six to eight branches, all short, and subequal, first about three times a cubital cross-vein.
Length fore-wing 20 to 22 mm., width 4.5 to 5.2 mm.
Length hind-wing 18 to 20 mm., width 3.8 to 4 mm.
Length of abdomen 9 19 to 20 mm., cf 25 mm
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 29
Specimens examined. — N. M. : Pecos River (Type) ; Ft. Wingate, May; Albuquerque, July. Colo.: South Park; Trinidad, June. Wyo. : Bridger Basin. Utah:Provo. Ne v. : Verdi, July, yl/^o Colorado (Cor- nell univ.).
Hesperoleon papago (Carrie). Plate 1, fig. 1. Brachynemurus papago Currie, Can. ent., 1899, 31, p. 361.
Interantennal mark with median extension usually to clypeus, and often lateral extensions down by the eyes. First vertex row of three linear spots, second row of five, more or less connected; last joint of labial palpi brown, not strongly swollen. Pronotum with four stripes, the medium pair united in posterior half, divergent in front, the lateral bowed outward in anterior part, the lower posterior sides often with one or two brown spots. Rest of notum with many brown spots, mostly linear, a pale median line, two marks on the scutelli; pleura with brown spots and streaks, but upper part largely pale; thorax with many white and some black bristles. Femora and tibiae much dotted, sometimes the dots confluent. Abdomen brown, with a pale line each side above on basal part; dorsal hair rather long, mostly black, some white intermixed, mostly black below. Wings with white stigma, dark spot at base, a spot behind, several along the cubitus, and obliquely up from end of anal. Median vein marked; radius with long streaks of pale and dark, not marked at every cross-vein; hind-wings hardly marked.
Vertex in both sexes but little swollen; pronotum fully as broad as long in middle; hind-tibia longer than femur, basitarsus about equal two joints, hind-spurs hardly equal basal joint; male abdomen longer than hind-wings, appendages very short, not one half of short last segment. All hairs on wing-veins very long, in fore-wing three cross- veins before radial sector, in hind-wings two cross-veins; eight to ten branches of radial sector; several cubital cross-veins and usually a few anals connected; in hind-wing radial sector is usually before cubital fork; near base hind-margin concave, first anal with about six branches, all rather short, subequal.
Length fore-wing 22 to 26 mm., width 5.5 to 7 mm.
Length hind-wing 20 to 23.5 mm., width 5 to 6 mm.
Length abdomen 9 22 mm., cf 26 to 27 mm.
Specimens examined, — Calif.: San Gabriel Mts., July; Laguna
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Beach; Clareinont; Stanford Univ. Utah: Coal Creek, Iron Co., June;
Hurricane, June, August; Bellevue, June; Provo. Tex.: San Antonio.
Currie described it from Madera Canyon, Santa Rita Mts., Arizona.
Hespeeoleon hubbakdi (Currie). Plate 1, fig. 13. Plate 4, fig. 90. Brachynemurus hubbardi Currie, Can. ent., 1898, 30, p. 241.
Interantennal mark emarginate below, above extending up to. and including the first vertex row, sometimes a minute pale spot between bases of antennae, second vertex row of a couple of submedian marks, laterally unmarked or faint. Last joint labial palpi not very large, partly brown. Pronotum witli four well-separated brown lines, some- times the laterals are heavier, and sometimes these or all are inter- rupted at the furrow, or in small specimens all may be faint, especially in front; rest of notum with elongate marks, two on each scutellum; pleura mostly brown, with many pale spots; femora and tibiae more or less dotted, the spines black, except some on front- and mid- femora; abdomen above on basal part largely pale, with a median dark line, dorsal hair mostly black, ventral white, all fairly long; front-coxae with one or two white macrochaetae, wings with small spot near the stigma, latter white, elsewhere unmarked; veins much interrupted with brown, median vein partly dark, radius marked at end of cross- veins; hind-wings unmarked.
Vertex but little swollen; pronotum about as broad as long; hind- spurs a little longer than basitarsus; last segment of male abdomen about four times as long as high, appendages long, slender, bent beyond middle, about equal one half of last segment. In fore-wings three or four cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings also three or four, rarely but two; in hind-wing the radial sector and cubital fork are about equal, radial sector with about ten branches; few if any cubitals con- nected; hind-margin of hind-wing slightly convex, first anal with about seven to ten branches, first more than three times longer than cubital cross-vein above it.
Length fore-wing 20 to 28 mm., width 5 to 7.5 mm.
Length hind-wing 18 to 25 mm., width 4.5 to 6 mm.
Length abdomen 9 19 to 22 mm., cf 33 to 38 mm.
Specimens examined. — Ariz.: Phoenix, August; Oracle, August; Reef; Nogales, July; Thumb Butte, July; Palmerlee, July; Huachuca Mts., August. N. M.: Albuquerque. Ivans.: Morton Co. Tex.:
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 31
Carrizo Springs. Also from Tucson, Arizona (Amer. mus. nat. hist.), Nogales, Oracle, and Huachuca ISIts., Arizona (Cornell univ.), Mesilla, La Cueva, Organ Mts., New Mexico (N. Mex. agric. coll.), Huachuca Mts., Arizona (Brooklyn mus.).
Described by Currie from Ft. Grant, Arizona. Brachyneviurus cockerelli Banks (Ent. news, 1902, 13, p. 86) is a synonym.
Hesperoleon hubbardi nubeculipennis (Currie).
Brachynemurus hubbardi nvbeculipennis Currie, Proc. Ent. soc. Wash., 1903, 5, p. 277.
In this variety there is a distinct mark on the rhegma, usually also marks along the cubitus, and more on forks of veins; the species is not as yellow as typical hvbbardi; and the pronotal stripes are rather more heavy; the male appendages are the same.
Specimens exanmied. — N. M. : Jemez Mts., July, August. Utah: Bellevue, June; Parowan Canyon, Iron Co., July.
Currie described it from Phoenix and Prescott, Arizona.
In some small specimens from Phoenix, the wings are fairly well- marked, and the insect scarcely yellow. In two from Carrizo Springs, Tex. the pronotal stripes are nearly absent.
In two males (Boulder, Colo., and Seward Co., Kans.) the coloration is as in typical hubbardi but the male appendages are much shorter, hardly longer than the height of the last segment. These merit a varietal name as much as the nubeculipc7inis and I propose Hesperoleon hubbardi var. curtus, var. nov. (Plate 4, fig. 95). The male appendages do not bend downward as in the other forms, and are much shorter, otherwise I cannot find differences.
Hesperoleon versutus (Walker). Plate 1, fig. 23. Plate 4, fig. 85. Myrmeleon versutus Walker, Cat. Neur. Brit, mus., 1853, pt. 2, p. 331.
Interantennal mark large, shining deep black, extending down on face, with the clypeus or two spots thereon black, usually leaving a pale spot on lower face; upward the mark extends over vertex, leaving a pale spot each side near eyes, in some specimens it does not reach the second vertex row of spots; last joint of labial palpi scarcely swollen, partly black. The pronotum shows the usual four stripes, often well separated, but sometimes united more or less and enclosing a pale
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stripe or two spots each side. Rest of notum marked with dark, the seutelU with two streaks ; pleura mostly dark brown ; femora and tibiae more or less dotted, rarely embrowned; abdomen in male with two pale streaks each side above on basal two thirds or more, the upper streak much the broader, the dark median line sometimes evanescent; female with one pale hne above each side on basal part, sometimes "indistinct; hair on abdomen mostly black, fairly' long, ^^'ings heavily marked with small brown spots, subequal in size; stigma yellow, no line from rhegma nor up from anal vein. Practically every fork and e\ery cross-vein is brown and more or less bordered, the costal cross- veins with spots at each end; hind-wings less heavily marked.
Vertex moderately elevated in both sexes; pronotum as broad or broader than long in middle; hind-spurs equal one and one half joints, femoral and tibial spines black. The male abdomen is but little longer than the hind-wings, the last segment less than three times as long as broad, and the appendages about two thirds of joint. In fore-wings three or four cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wing two to four; about ten branches to radial sector; usually a few cubital cross-veins connected; in hind-wings the cubital fork is usually a little before radial sector; in the costal area of fore-wings there are several cross- veins connected, but not the series of typical Brachynemurus; hind- margin of hind-wings a little convex, first anal with about six or seven branches, first fully three times longer than cubital cross-vein above it.
Length fore-wing 21 to 22 mm., width 5.5 to 7 mm.
Length hind-wing 19 to 20 mm., width 4.5 to 6 mm.
Length abdomen 9 17 mm., cf 25 mm.
Specimens exaviined.— N.M.: Pecos; Sapello Canyon. Arizona (Morrison).
Hesperoleon mexicanus (Banks).
Plate 4, fig. 87.
Brachynemurus mexicanus Banks, Proc. Cal. acad. sci., 1895, ser. 2, 5, p. 520.
Very similar to //. versutus. Literantennal mark is emarginate just below antennae, and does not extend down on face, nor is there black on clypeus, upward the mark sometimes reaches the second vertex row, sometimes the second row represented by two transverse spots. The rest of markings is the same as in H. versutus, the structure is also nearly the same in the female, but in the male the vertex is less swollen than in versutus and the male abdomen is very much longer than the wings, all the segments being lengthened, the last one three to four
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 33
times as long as higli, and the appendages two thirds as long as the segment.
Length fore-wing 23 to 28 mm., width 6.5 to 7 mm.
Length hind-wing 20 to 25 mm., width 5.5 to 6 mm.
Length abdomen 9 17 mm., cf 37 to 39 mm.
Specimens exaviined. — -Ariz. : Garcia; Palmerlee, September, October,
Hesperoleon sackeni (Hagen). Plate 1, fig, 12. Plate 3, fig. 48. Brachynemurus sackeni Hagen, Can. ent., 1888, 20, p. 94.
Interantennal mark small, emarginate below in front, the lower part often as two spots, sometimes a pale spot between antennae; first vertex row a transverse line; second row a few spots near middle, not on sides toward eyes, in middle connected to first row, and two exten- sions behind; often the spots are more or less indistinct. Last joint of labial palpi moderately swollen, partly brown. Pronotum with four lines, the middle pair close together, and sometimes united in front where they are less broad; the lateral lines rarely reach in front of furrow; in many cases the marks run together, and there is another lateral stripe, but the fine median pale line remains. Rest of notum with brown spots; mesoscutellum always largely pale, two dark spots behind, and sometimes two streaks in front; metascutellum pale, with more or less trgice of dark median line. Pleura largely dark; femora and tibiae dotted, spines black, some on front- and mid-femora white. The abdomen is banded, the second segment with pale spot at base, middle and tip, the third, fourth, and fifth segments at middle and tip; in the male the pale is more extensive, but not connected to form a stripe. Wings with the cross-veins dark and usually slightly margined so that there are many small spots, but none prominent; three or four rather larger, one at stigma, one at rhegma, one at end of anal vein, and one on cubitus half-way between the last two; median and cubital veins about half dark, but neither dark at end of every cross-vein; there is sometimes a reddish tinge to the pale of the veins. Hair of abdomen long, mostly black, but some white intermixed.
Vertex considerably elevated, less so in male; pronotum but little broader than long in the middle; hind-spurs little longer than the basi- tarsus; in fore-wing usually three cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings two; radial sector with about nine branches; cubitals have few connected ; in hind-wing the cubital fork is usually before radial
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sector, but not much diflFerence; abdomen slender, longer than wings, last segment in male very short, hardl}- one half of preceding segment, the appendages very long, curved, about twice as long as last segment. In hind-wing the hind-margin is convex, first anal vein with about four branches, first five times as long as a cubital cross-vein.
Length fore-wing 16 to 27 mm., width 5 to 8 mm.
Length hind-wing 14 to 24 mm., width 4 to 7 mm.
Length abdomen 9 14 to 22 mm., d^ 20 to 28 mm.
Very common in the West,
Specimens examined. — Calif. : Walters Station; San Diego; Johannes- burg; Laguna Beach; Havilah. Ariz.: Wenden, June; Congress; Hot Springs; Prescott. Nev. : Verdi, July; Reno. Utah : Zion's Canyon ; St. George, June; Coal Creek, Iron Co. N. M. : Ft. Wingate, June; Jemez Mts., June; Pecos, June. Colo.: South Park; Golden, July. Tex.: Brown wood; Kerrville, April; Dallas (Type); Phantom Lake, Davis Mts., June. Also from Beaver Valley, Utah (Brooklyn mus.). Las Cruces, New Mexico (N. M. agric. coll.), Nogales, Oracle, Arizona (Cornell univ.).
It was described from Texas and California.
Hesperoleon y^avapai (Currie). Plate 1, fig. 3. Plate 4, fig. 82, 91. Brachynemurus yavapai Currie, Proc. Ent. soc. Wash., 1903, 5, p. 281.
Interantennal mark with a median extension below, first vertex row of three brown spots, second row of three connected spots and con- nected to middle one of first row (in Type with posterior third and longitudinal furrow dark) ; last joint of labial palpi black, moderately swollen. Pronotum with three dark stripes, the lateral ones ending at furrow (in Type all united behind and to posterior marginal spot into one large five-pointed mark) ; rest of notum mostly dark, seutelli pale with faint median line; pleura more or less brown; legs pale, scarcely marked, tarsi paler than usual (in Type the tibiae banded with brown, tips of femora and tarsal joints also dark). Abdomen with a large pale band across middle of dorsal segments, ventral segments pale, but with dark before tip, hair very short, black and white intermixed. Fore- wings with nearly all cross-veins margined with brown; stigma white, not large, with black spot at inner side, radial sector dark at end of each cross-vein; median vein dark, marked with pale; hind-wings scarcely marked, two or three small clouds in upper tip.
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 35
Vertex (in male) but little elevated ; pronotum broader than long in middle; hind-spurs barely equal basitarsus; male abdomen short, not equal to hind-wing, appendages as long as last two segments. In fore- wings the cubital fork is before the radial sector (unusual in genus) ; a few cubital cross-veins connected, but no anals; three or four cross- veins before radial sector, latter with seven or eight branches. In the hind-wings the hind-margin is convex, first anal with about four branches, first long, oblique, fully four times the length of a cubital cross-vein; but one or two cross-veins before radial sector. In both wings the cells between medius and cubitus are very long, especially so in the hind-wings.
Length fore-wing 18 mm., width 4.5 mm.
Length hind-wing 16 mm., width 4 mm.
Length abdomen cf 15 mm.
S'pecimen examined. — Utah: Hurricane, June.
Currie's description is based on a female from Hot Springs, Arizona.
I have before me only a male, which differs considerably from the female Type in the marks of vertex, pronotum, and legs ; but doubtless they belong together.
Hesperoleon maculosus (Banks). Plate 1, fig. 8. Plate 3, fig. 60. Brachynemurus maculosus Banks, Ent. news, 1899, 10, p. 170.
Interantennal mark small, not below antennae and not much above; first vertex row broken in middle and here connected back to the two submedian spots which form the second row; last joint of labial palpi small, mostly pale. Pronotum with four lines, the middle pair united on posterior part, in front of furrow as two spots, laterals distinct, well separated, and reaching only to furrow. Rest of notum mostly pale, scutelli with median elongate spot; pleura mostly dark; femora and tibia unmarked, spines black. Abdomen with pale stripe each side on base, hair mostly white. Wings with many rather large spots, larger than in H. ahdominalis, mostly on connections of cross-veins and at forks, median wholly pale, cross-veins more widely separated than in H. ahdominalis; hind-wings with some spots along subcosta and radius, and at ends of cross-veins.
Vertex much elevated; pronotum much broader than long in middle; hind-spurs fully equal to two joints; in fore-wings three cross-veins before radius, in hind-wings but one, radial sector with seven branches,
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no cubitals connected, in fore-wing radial sector a little before cubital fork, in hind-wings the cubital fork a trifle before radial sector, in the hind-wing the radial sector arises much before that point in the fore- wing (unusual in the genus), hind-margin of hind-wings near base slightly convex, first anal with three branches, first much oblique, about fi\e times as long as a cubital cross-vein. Male unknown.
Length fore-wing 17 mm., width 4.5 mm.
Length hind-wing 15 mm., width 4 mm.
The single Type specimen from Tehama, California, August, is the only one seen.
Hespekoleon irregulakis Currle. Plate 1, fig. 4. Plate 4, fig. 94. Brachynemurus irregularis Currie, Proc. Ent. soc. Wash., 1906, 7, p. 186.
Interantennal mark brown, emarginate below, with a median pro- jection, above reaching up and including both vertex rows, or the vertex rows separate, a median brown spot behind ; last joint of labial palpi scarcely swollen, partly brown; pronotum with a broad brown median stripe, much broader behind, and narrowed at furrow. Rest of notum mostly pale brown, with a few pale streaks or spots, scutelli mostly brown, a black dot on middle of hind-margin; pleura mostly brown; femora and tibiae dotted, spines black. Abdomen yellowish brown, with long black hair above and below. Wings much marked with small brown clouds, but no larger spots nor streaks; stigma yel- lowish, the cross-veins mostly margined and the forks marked with brown, the median vein mostly dark, and radius dark at end of every cross-vein, a row of brown spots between the subcosta and radius; hind-wings less marked. Vertex considerably swollen; pronotum broader than long in middle, but little narrowed in front; hind-spurs not reaching tip of basitarsus; in both wings the radial sector arises before cubital fork; in fore-wing three or four cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings two or three; radial sector with eight or nine branches; several cubitals connected, and several cross-veins before radial sector connected; costal hairs and others very long; hind-margin of hind-wing near base concave, first anal vein with about ten branches, all short and subequal, first hardly twice length of cubital cross-vein above it.
Male unknown.
Length of fore-wing 21 mm., width 5 to 7 mm.
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 37
Length of hind-wing 20 mm., width 4 mm. Length of abdomen 9 23 mm.
The only specimen examined is from Havana, lUinois. Currie de- scribed it from Columbus, Texas and Havana, Illinois.
Hesperoleon coquilletti (Currie). Plate 1, fig. 2. Plate 4, fig. 86, 89. Brachynemurus coquilletti Currie, Can. ent., 1898, 30, p. 93.
Interantennal mark extending barely below the antennae, often with a median extension below, upward it reaches and includes the first vertex row and often the second; last joint of labial palpi but little swollen, part brown. Pronotum with median stripes united behind, forked in front, and lateral stripes to the furrow, where they are some- times connected to the median. Rest of notum mostly black, the an- terior lobe with two pale spots; scutelli pale, each with a median spot, narrowed behind. Pleura mostly black; femora and tibiae pale, rarely marked, spines black. Abdomen in male with a broad pale stripe each side above, in female less noticeable, hair long, white. Wings with yellowish white stigma, few marks, one at stigma, another at rhegma, both small, smaller marks along radius and cubitus and at forks behind ; median vein white, marked only toward tip.
Vertex strongly swollen in female, less so in male; pronotum as broad as long in the middle, not narrowed in front; hind-spurs fully equal to two joints; abdomen of male a little longer than the wings, last segment about twice as long as high, appendages very short, divergent. In fore- wing two or three cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings two; radial sector with about seven to ten branches; cubitals rarely con- nected ; in fore-wing second anal simple and usually connected but once to first anal; in hind-wing cubital fork about equal to radial sector; in hind-wings the hind-margin is slightly concave, first anal with three branches, first oblique, and fully three times as long as cubital cross- vein above it.
Length fore-wing 17 to 22 mm., width 4.5 to 6 mm.
Length hind-wing 15 to 19 mm., width 4 to 5 mm.
Length abdomen 9 16 to 20 mm., cf 26 to 28 mm.
Specimens examined. — N. M. : Jemez Mts.; Mesilla, July; Albu- querque, July. Ariz.: Phoenix, September. Tex.: Brownsville, May. Utah: Vinyard, June; St. George, June; Bellevue, June. Wash.:
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Pacoima, July. Calif.: Coronado, July. Also Hamilton Co., Kansas (Snow coll.).
Described by Currie from San Simon, Arizona, and San Bernardino
County, California.
In most specimens the last radial cross-vein before stigma is more oblique than usual, and so connected as to appear as a separate radial sector.
Hesperoleon abdominalis (Say). Plate 1, fig. 5, 18. Plate 3, fig. 53, 64.
Myrmeleon abdominalis Say, Godman's west, quart, rept., 1823, 2, p. 163; Ed. Lee, 1, p. 173.
Interantennal mark usually with a median extension below, above usually reaching to first vertex row, second vertex row of a pair of sub- median spots, little more. Last joint labial palpi scarcely swollen, mostly pale. Pronotum without median lines in main part, but in front of the groove there is usually a trace of two spots, sometimes very dis- tinct, lateral stripes very distinct, reaching only to the groove. Rest of notum largely pale, in the juvencvs form clear yellow, the mesonotal lobe more or less spotted, and brown stripes over bases of wings, scutelli with a narrow median spot or line; pleura mostly pale to mostly dark; femora pale to finely dotted, tibiae less marked, spines black. Abdomen with broad pale stripe each side above, in the juvencvs form this extends more to the tip, in the males the apical segment sometimes shows a transverse middle and basal spot. Wings hyaline to yellowish, with many small brown spots, mostly at ends of the cross-veins and on the forks of marginal vein, median vein normally pale, unmarked, radius dark at each cross-vein, stigma yellow. Hair of abdomen mostly black, but more white below.
Vertex high in both sexes, but more so in the female; pronotum about as broad as long in the middle; hind-spurs equal to about two joints; male abdomen much longer than the wings, last segment from two and a half to three and a half times as long as high, the appendages slender, upcurved, usually about one half to two thirds of last segment. In fore-wings two to four cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings two or three; about ten radial branches; usually several cubitals crossed; hind-margin of hind-wings near base scarcely concave but sometimes slightly so, first anal vein with six to nine branches, all short, subequal, the first more than three times longer than the cubital cross-vein above it.
banks: revision of the ne arctic myrmeleonidae. 39
There are two forms which, by themselves, look like separate species and were so named by Hagen. One in the south and southwest, juvencus, is rather smaller, much more yellow, the lateral marks on pronotum are very definite, and the two submedian spots in front faint or absent. In the female the hair of abdomen is almost wholly white. In the male the abdomen is rather shorter, the last segment distinctly shorter (although somewhat variable in both series) and the male appendages more than one half of the last segment.
Some specimens from the northeastern states {salvus Hagen) are much darker, the pronotal stripes rather indefinite, the median area dark or spotted, the median vein mostly dark, and usually a greater number of branches to first anal; but it grades into the normal form.
Length fore-wing 21 to 27 mm., width 5 to 7 mm.
Length hind-wing 20 to 25 mm., width 4.5 to 5.5. mm.
Length abdomen 9 19 to 25 mm., cf 25 to 33 mm.
Specimens examined. — Ontario: Go Home Bay, July. Manitoba: Treesbank, July. Mass.: West Chop, August; Lexington; Springfield, July. Conn.: New Haven, July. N. Y. : Rochelle; Sea Cliff, August. N. J. : River Edge, Sandy Hook. Md. : Bay Ridge. D. C. : Washington (Type of salvvs). Va.: Falls Church, June; Virginia Beach, August; Cape Henry, July. N. C: Southern Pines, May. Ga.: Millen, July; Albany, September. Tex.: Dallas; Waco; Pecos River (Type oi juven- cus). Kans. : Onaga. Nebr. : Cambridge; Indianola. N. Dak.: Devils Lake, July. Colo. : Ft. Collins; Clear Creek; Denver; Boulder. N. M. : Las Cruces; Zuni. Utah: Provo; Vinyard, June; Salt Lake, August; Eureka. Ore.: Ashland. Wash.: Seattle; Camp Umatilla, July. Calif.: Gazelle, September; Tehachapi, August; Lathrop, August. Also Milton, Massachusetts, Staten Island and Long Island, New York (Davis), Egg Island, Lakehurst, New Jersey (Brooklyn mus.), Raleigh, North Carolina (N. C. state coll.), Albany, Atlanta, Georgia (Cornell univ.), St. Anthony Park, Minnesota (Minn, state coll.), Clark Co , Kansas (Snow coll.), Oregon, Ontario (Amer. mus. nat. hist.).
Hesperoleon tenuis (Banks). Plate 1, fig. 10. Brachynemurus tenuis Banks, Trans. Amer. ent. soc, 1899, 25, p. 204.
Interantennal mark not much below antennae, sometimes a median line below, above often connected to the first vertex row, but sometimes with pale between, second vertex row of two rather<*mall submedian
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spots; last joint of labial palpi slender, partly dark. Pronotum without median stripes, sometimes faintly indicated in front of the furrow, lateral marks distinct, but reach only to furrow. Rest of notinn largely pale, scutelli with median line, spots over base of wings usually broken ; pleura pale, with a brown stripe above middle and the lower side brown; femora somewhat dotted, tibiae less so, spines black, some on front- and mid-femora white. Abdomen largely pale on basal part, with dark median line above, sometimes absent, hair long, white, in male mostly black. Wings with dots, but mostly in two longitudinal areas, median pale, many cross-veins also pale; most noticeable spots are a series along radius, and a series (twenty or more) rather larger ones along the cubitus, the forks are more or less dark, the stigma whitish; hind-wings with fainter dots along radius and the cubitus largely dark.
Vertex much elevated; pronotum about as broad as long in the middle, narrowed in front; hind spurs fully equal to two joints. Before radial sector in fore-wings two to five cross-veins, in hind-wings two or three; usually several cubitals connected; in hind-wings cubital fork equal to radial sector; the hind-margin near base slightly concave, first anal with about six branches, short and subequal, first about three times as long as a cubital cross-vein.
Length fore-wing 22 to 24 mm., width 6 to 6.5 mm.
Length hind-wing 20 to 22 mm., width 5 to 5.5 mm.
Length abdomen 9 18 mm., cf 28 mm.
Specimens examined. — N. M.: Mesilla, June, July. Also Douglas, Arizona (Snow coll.).
ScoTOLEON Banks. Ent. news, 1913, 24, p. 64.
Similar in most respects to Hesperoleon, but the labial palpi are greatly elongated; the legs fairly stout, fifth tarsal joint longer than basal, spurs equal to two joints; abdomen of male but little longer than of female. Costal area of wings simple, Banksian and intercubital lines fairly distinct; second anal of fore-wing runs in a nearly even curve or bends slightly to touch the third, connected twice to third, the second usually simple, the third forked ; radial sector in fore-wing much before the cubital fork, in hind-wing often beyond the fork, in hind-wing usually two cross-veins before radial sector; the first anal runs parallel to cubital fork for some distance; second and third anals usually both forked.
Type. — S. lo^ipalpis Hagen.
banks: revision of the ne arctic myrmeleonidae. 41
ScOTOLEON LONGiPAi.Pis (Hagen). Plate 3, fig. 68. Plate 4, fig. 92. Brachynemurus longipalpis Hagen, Can. ent., 1888, 20, p. 95.
Interantennal mark typically of only a median spot below antennae, but the United States specimens have a spot below each antenna, usually united to form a band; first vertex row of three usually sepa- rated spots, second row of four more or less connected spots; pronotum with four stripes, the laterals usually end at furrow in a deep black spot, the submedian pair usually show more or less definitely in front of furrow; rest of notum spotted, largely dark in front, mesoscutellum with two streaks, metascutellum with a large dark spot; pleura mostly dark; femora sometimes more or less infuscated, but often pale and dotted with dark, the hind-femora usually dark toward tip, tibiae usually but little marked. Abdomen more or less narrowly lineate on basal part, hair moderately short, mostly white, but some black above, especially in the male. Wings with distinct dark mark at base of stigma, and a dark, jagged streak (often broken into two or three sections) or a row of spots along cubitus; sometimes a definite mark at rhegma, and at end of the anal. Venation dark, much broken with pale, sometimes many small marks on cross-veins.
Vertex moderately elevated; pronotum scarcely as broad as long in middle, hardly narrowed in front; labial palpi greatly elongated, three times as long as maxillary palpi ; hind-spurs almost equal to two joints, spines of legs black; no macrochaetae on front coxae; male abdomen elongate, last segment but little shorter than the preceding, hardly three times as long as high, the appendages pale, divergent, and very short. In fore-wings the radial sector arises before the cubital fork, in the hind-wings usually the opposite; in fore-wings three cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings two; radial sector eight to ten branches; hind-margin of hind-wings near base convex, the first anal with six to eight branches, first few long and very oblique, five or six times as long as a cubital cross-vein.
Length fore-wing 19.5 to 26 mm., width 5.5 to 7.5 mm.
Length hind-wing 17 to 23 mm., width 4.5 to 6.5 mm.
Length abdomen 9 17 to 22.5 mm., cf 25 to 30 mm.
Specimens examined. — Calif.: San Bernardino; Salt Well Valley, Kern Co.; Claremont. Nev.: Humboldt Station, July (Type); Reno. Ariz.: Nogales, July; Phoenix, August; Yuma; Hot Springs, July. N. M.: Mesilla, July; Albuquerque. Utah: Bellevue. Tex.: Davis
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Mts., June; Marfa, June. Also Nogales, Oracle, Arizona (Cornell univ.), Utah (Brooklyn mus.).
There were eight types, six from Cape St. Lucas, Baja California, and two from Humboldt Station, Nevada. The Baja specimens (which should be types in case of division) have no marks below antennae, but a definite median spot below. In all the United States specimens the median mark is at best barely indicated by a line, but there is a band (or two spots) below antennae. Sometimes these spots are almost absent (Arizona) but the median spot is also absent. The Baja speci- mens have the hind-tibia simply dotted; in most of the United States specimens the hind-tibiae are dark over part or all of the apical half. In some San Bernardino specimens however the hind-tibiae are dotted. In some Arizona specimens the dark along cubitus is continuous. There is some variation in the length of the labial palpi; the Baja specimens have the enlarged part of last joint fully as long as the stem, while in some of the United States specimens the stem is plainly longer.
Netroneurus, gen. no v.
Second anal of fore-wing runs in even curve, not bent toward first anal; the radial sector before cubital fork in fore-wings, and may be also in hind-wings, about two cross-veins before radial sector in hind- wings; the first anal in hind-wings runs for some distance parallel to cubital fork; front-coxae with several curved macrochaetae, and a series of similar bristles above on front-femur; spurs about as long or little longer than basal joint.
Type. — N. carolinus Banks.
The two species may be separated as follows : —
1. Abdomen ( 9 ) longer than wings; hind-femora dotted all over; cubitals
connected; larger, eastern species carolinus.
2. Abdomen ( 9 ) shorter than wings; hind-femora with dots forming a band
near tip; few of any cubitals connected; smaller, western species; wings more spotted pulchellus.
Netroneurus carolinus Banks. Plate 1, fig. 21. Plate 3, fig. 74. Brachynemurus carolinus Banks, Trans. Amer. ent. soc, 1911, 37, p. 349.
Interantennal mark with a median line down to clypeus, where there is a transverse mark, upward it extends but a little, usually not reach-
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 43
ing the first vertex row, the latter of two long curved lines, second vertex row of large, not very definite submedian spots; last joint of labial palpi but little swollen, partly pale. Pronotum with indistinct marks; a median line, in front of it two spots; a narrow lateral stripe reaching to furrow, and outside this several more or less distinct marks. Rest of notum much marked, mesoscutellum with two streaks, and two shining black spots at base, metascutellum with a large spot; spots over base of wing much broken; pleura mostly dark; femora much dotted, tibiae hardly less so. Abdomen with two or three basal seg- ments usually pale, dark at tip, beyond dark; hair long, mostly black.
Vertex much elevated; pronotum about as long in middle as broad, narrowed in front; front-coxae with some long curved white macro- chaetae; and a crest of similar macrochaetae above on front-femora, most of other leg spines black; hind-spurs equal about one and one half joints. Abdomen of female longer than wings, that of male much longer, last segment nearly five times as long as high; appendages long slender, little curved, not one half as long as the last segment. Wings but little marked, venation interrupted with dark; in fore-wings three cross-veins before radial sector (sometimes all connected), in hind- wings two cross-veins; several cubitals connected; in hind-wings the radial sector is usually much before the cubital fork; hind-margin toward base faintly concave, first anal with eight to ten branches, short and subequal, the first not three times as long as a cubital cross- vein.
Length fore-wing 20 to 22 mm., width 4.8 to 5.9 mm.
Length hind-wing 19 to 20.5 mm., width 3.8 to 4.7 mm.
Length abdomen 9 20 to 22 mm., cf 31 to 32 mm.
Specimens examined. — N. C: Southern Pines, June (Type). Ga.: Millen, July. Fla. : Gotha, April.
Netroneurus pulchellus Banks. Plate 2, fig. 25. Brachynemurus pulchellus Banks, Trans. Amer. ent. soc, 1911, 37, p. 348.
Interantennal mark covering most of face below and upward to first vertex row, second vertex row a narrow transverse line, with a curved mark each side behind ; last joint of labial palpi much swollen, mostly dark. Pronotum with the usual four lines, the middle pair well sepa- rated throughout, the laterals connected, except at tip to the median, thus forming a broad stripe each side with a pale spot in front, outside
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of these stripes there is a streak in front and a dot behind. Rest of notum mostly dark, mesoscutelhim with two streaks and an elongate median spot behind, metascutellum mostly dark; brown over base of wings with two pale dots; pleura largely dark, sutures marked with pale; femora dotted, hind pair with band before tip; front- and mid- tibiae with mark near base and toward tip, hind-tibiae with elongate spots below. Abdomen dark, last segments with small median and apical pale spots. Wings with veins largely dark, but white in streaks and some cross-veins wholly white, stigma with large dark spot at base, short oblique stripe up from rhegma and at end of anal, several along cubitus, and some radial cross-veins margined. Hair of abdomen white.
Vertex of female but little elevated; pronotum not as broad as long in middle; front-coxae with large curved macrochaetae, also similar white macrochaetae above on front-femora, spines largely white, but some black; hind-tibae longer than hind-femora, hind-spurs barely if any longer than basal joint. Abdomen of female shorter than wings, male unknown. In fore-wings three cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings two; no cubitals connected; in hind-wing radial sector about equal cubital fork; hind-margin near base hardly concave, first anal with four or five branches, all short and subequal, first hardly three times as long as a cubital cross-vein.
Length fore-wing 13.5 mm., width 3.6 mm.
Length hind-wing 12 mm., width 2.7 mm.
Length abdomen 9 12 mm.
Only specimen seen is the Type from Brown, California, October.
Beachynemurus Hagen.
Can. ent., 1888, 20, p. 34.
Last joint of labial palpi but little swollen; antennae moderately long, clavate; pronotum usually broader than long; legs rather slender, fifth tarsal joint the longest, spurs usually equal to two tarsal joints; abdomen of male much longer than in the female, longer than the wings. Fore-wings with costal area two-celled for at least one half-way ; radial sector before cubital fork; second anal runs in even curve, con- nected twice to the third, both second and third usually forked; the Banksian and intercubital lines fairly distinct. In hind-wings usually two cross-veins before the radial sector, this usually before cubital fork; the first anal runs for some distance parallel to the cubital fork, and connected thereto by several cross-veins; Banksian and inter-
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 45
cubital lines rather less distinct than in fore-wings; second and third anal both forked.
Type.^ — B. longicaudus Burmeister.
The Nearctic species four in number are easily separated as follows : —
1. Vertex elevated angularly each side, concave in middle; anterior lobe of
mesonotum conically elevated each side; pronotum broader than long; antennae short; spines on legs very short; spurs not equal to basi tarsus.
tuberculatus.
Vertex evenly convexly elevated; pronotum as long or longer than broad;
antennae elongate; spines long; spurs longer than basitarsus 2
2. Pronotum with a continuous pale median stripe; two dark spots on clypeus;
hair on abdomen with much white intermixed; western species.
elongatus.
Pronotum with pale stripe only on anterior part if at all; hair on abdomen
mostly dark; eastern species 3
3. At least six of radial cross-vems with large dark clouds as broad as high,
also large spots at rhegma, end of anal and along the cubitus, and at
rhegma in the hind-wings ramburi.
The spots on radial cross-veins are much smaller, not half as wide as high, nor any large spots elsewhere longicaudus.
Brachynemurus longicaudus Burmeister. Plate 2, fig. 28. Plate 3, fig. 70. Myrmeleon longicaudus Burm., Handb. ent., 1839, 2, p. 994.
Interantennal mark, often not very dark, extending obliquely below antennae and sometimes with a median line below, above sometimes reaching first vertex row, usually not, vertex mostly dark, the rows more or less run together. Last joint of labial palpi but little swollen, partly brown. Pronotum with marks often indistinct, usually a very broad median stripe, with pale spots in front of furrow; laterally the pronotum has a dark streak often merging with the brown. Rest of notum largely brown, with pale, more or less indistinct spots, scutelli largely dark; pleura mostly dark; femora dotted, tibiae less so, all with long hair and spines, the latter mostly black, but some white especially on front-femora; front-coxae with several macrochaetae. Abdomen mostly dark, but with more or less definite pale stripe each side above on basal part, in male sometimes entire basal segments pale, hair long, black. Wings but little marked, spots at rhegma and along cubitus, and at end of anal sometimes more distinct; venation mostly dark.
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Vertex moderately elevated, emarginate in middle, rather concave between the two vertex rows; pronotum longer than broad; sides of anterior lobe of mesonotum roundedly humped; spurs nearly equal two tarsal joints, front-tarsus longer than front-tibia. Abdomen of male exceedingly long, slender, last segment fully four times as long as high, appendages short, divergent, hardly as long as height of seg- ment.
Wings rather broad ; two series of costal cells more than one half-way to base; in both wings radial sector before cubital fork, but not much so in hind-wings; in fore-wings three cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings two; nine or ten branches to radial sector; several cubitals connected; hind-margin of hind-wings slightly concave, first anal vein with eight to ten branches, short and subequal, first not three times as long as a cubital cross-vein; hairs of wing rather long and very numerous.
Length fore-wing 21 to 23 mm., width 4.9 to 6 mm.
Length hind-wing 20 to 22 mm., width 4.2 to 5.2 mm.
Length abdomen 9 22 to 23 mm., cf 35 to 36 mm.
S-pecimens examined. — N. J.: Lakehurst. N. C: Southern Pines, June. Ga.: Millen, July; St. Simon's Isl., September. Fla. : Ormond; Cedar Keys; Crescent City; Gotha, July. Also St. Simon's Island, Georgia (Cornell univ.) Beaufort, North Carolina (N. Car. state coll.), Florida (Brooklyn mus.).
Brachynemiirus ramburi Banks. Plate 3, fig. 58. Brachynemurus ramburi Banks, Cat. Neurop., 1907, p. 31.
Interantennal mark hardly below antennae, sometimes a median extension, and a mark across at base of clypeus, above the mark usually extends over vertex, sometimes the vertex spots are more separated, usually some pale each side near eye, behind is an oval brown spot. Last joint of labial palpi but little swollen, mostly brown. Pronotum largely brown, obscurely marked, three pale spots in front, sometimes one each side near middle. Rest of notum mostly dark; the scutelli pale, with a median dark line; pleura mostly dark; femora spotted, tibia less so, spines mostly black, some white ones on front- femora, front-coxae with several white macrochaetae. Abdomen mostly dark, some of basal segments sometimes largely pale, with dark tips, most noticeable in male; hair black. Wings heavily spotted,
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae, 47
about twelve or fourteen large spots, one each side of stigma, about six just above radial sector, one at rhegma, usually two others along cubitus, and one at end of anal. Venation mostly dark, but more white in places than in B. longicaudus, many cross-veins narrowly margined and small spots at forks; in hind-wings the cross-veins slightly margined, and the rhegma usually marked.
Vertex moderately high; pronotum longer than broad; front-spurs more than two joints, hind-spurs nearly two joints; the anterior lobe of mesonotum is hardly as plainly humped as in longicaudus; male abdomen very long (as in longicaudus), last segment about three to three and one half times longer than high, the appendages equal height of segment, rather longer than in longicaudus.
Wings fairly broad; double costal series reaching more than one half-way to base; before radial sector in fore-wings three cross-veins, in hind-wings, two; about nine branches to radial sector, usually a few cubitals connected; in both wings radial sector before cubital fork, but little so in hind-wings; hind-margin of hind-wings faintly concave, first anal with eight to ten branches, short and subequal, the first not three times as long as cubital cross-vein above; hair on wings rather long and abundant. Structurally very similar to B. longicaudus.
Length fore-wing 21 to 24 mm., width 5 to 6.5 mm.
Length hind-wing 20 to 22 mm., width 4.5 to 5.2 mm.
Length abdomen 9 23 to 25 mm., cT 35 to 37 mm.
Specimens examined. — N. C: Southern Pines, May. Ga.: Millen, July. Fla. : Gotha, April, ^/so Chester, Georgia (Cornell univ.).
Brachynemurus elongatus Banks. Plate 1, fig. 15. Plate 3, fig. 57.
Brachynemurus elongatus Banks, Trans. Amer. ent. soc, 1904, 30, p. 105, pi. 1, fig. 10. Interantennal mark extending obliquely below antennae on each side, above not reaching up on vertex, often with a pale dot between the antennae, two dark spots on the clypeus, first vertex row a con- tinuous line, second vertex row of several more or less connected spots, and behind in middle is an oval brown spot. Last joint of labial palpi but little swollen. Pronotum with four stripes, the median pair well separated, the laterals united near middle and at tip, thus leaving two pale spots each side, laterally there is another stripe. Rest of notum much spotted, mesoscutellum with two streaks, metascutellum
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with a large double mark; pleura mostly dark; femora much dotted, tibiae also much marked, but hind-tibia mostly below, spines long mostly black, but some long white ones on femora, front-coxae with several macrochaetae. Abdomen above often all dark, in some with a few pale spots and streaks above on basal part, in male with a long pale stripe each side above, hair fairly long, mostly black, but some white intermixed. Venation mostly dark, interrupted with pale, radius with long streaks of pale, a large black spot at base of stigma, a line up from rhegma, less distinct at end of anal, and several marks along cubitus, marginal forks also dark, median vein mostly dark. Ii_. Vertex high, but evenly convexly elevated; pronotum not as broad as long in the middle; front-spurs equal two joints, hind-spurs longer than basal joint. Male abdomen very much longer than wings, last segment five times as long as high, appendages short, divaricate. Wings moderately narrow; costal series double for usually one half-way, in fore-wings three cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings two, eight to ten branches of radial sector, usually a few cubitals connected, in both wings radial sector before cubital fork, in the hind-pair but slightly so; hind-margin of hind-wings scarcely concave, first anal with about ten branches, none long, but first three or four times as long as a cubital cross-vein, rather longer than usual in the genus ; hair on wing, especially costal hair, short.
Length fore-wing 23 to 25 mm., width 6 to G.5 mm.
Length hind-wing 20 to 22 mm., width 5 to 5.5 mm.
Length abdomen 9 20 to 21 mm., cf 36 mm.
S-pecimens examined. — N. M. : Mesilla (Type) ; Las Vegas, July. Ariz.: Prescott. Colo. : Golden; South Park; Platte Canyon; Berkeley. Utah: St. George, June.
Brachynemurus tuberculatus Banks. Plate 3, fig. 69, 72. Brachynemurus tuberculatus Banks, Can. ent., 1899, 31, p. 70.
Interantennal mark large, extending across below antennae and with a median line below, upward it connects with the dark of the vertex. Back of each vertex tubercle is a pale area, and in middle behind a velvety black spot crossed by a faint median line. Pronotum with the stripes more or less united to form one broad stripe, with two pale spots in front; laterally there is a dark streak. Rest of notum mostly dark, a few pale spots, scutelli mostly black, the mesoscutellum
'banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 49
with faint median line; pleura largely dark; femora becoming black toward tip, tibia with dark marks before middle and near tip, spines mostly black, all very short, none on femora as long as width of joint, front-coxa with one white macrochaeta. Abdomen dark, with a small pale spot near middle and sometimes one each side near tip of several segments, hair fairly long, mostly dark, but much white intermixed. Wings little marked; venation mostly dark, interrupted with pale, many cross-veins with dark dot in middle, median vein mostly dark, dark spot at base of stigma, a line up from rhegma, and less distinctly at end of anal.
Vertex much elevated, each side back of the antennae in a cone, between them the ridge is concave; pronotum broader than long in middle; each lateral corner of anterior lobe of the mesonotum elevated conically and the tip with a group of stiff short bristles; spurs short, not equal to basitarsus. Abdomen of female shorter than hind-wings; in male but little longer, last segment scarcely as long as high, append- ages slender, more than twice as long as last segment, down-curved, much divergent at base, below with spines, outside with fine hair.
Wings' rather narrow; in fore-wings three cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings two; about eight branches to radial sector; the crossed costals reach more than one half-way to base; in both wings the radial sector arises before cubital fork, but less so in the hind-wings ; hind-margin of hind-wings near base slightly concave, the first anal with six to eight branches, short and subequal, the first about twice as long as a cubital cross-vein.
Length fore-wing 14.5 to 21 mm., width 3.3 to 5 mm.
Length hind-wing 14 to 19 mm., width 2.9 to 4 mm.
Length abdomen 9 15 to 16 mm., cf 16 mm.
Specimens examined. — N. M.: Mesilla (Type). Ariz.: Santa Rita Mts., July.
Calinemurus Banks.
Can. ent., 1899, 31, p. 70.
Last joint of labial palpi much swollen; antennae moderately long, clavate; pronotum fully as long as broad; legs rather slender, the hind-tibia longer than the femur, basal tarsal joint much shorter than the fifth, spurs as long as basal joint or more; abdomen of female scarcely as long as wings, in male longer. Fore-wing with costal area two-celled most of way, sometimes partly three-celled, in hind-wings sometimes two-celled for a short distance near stigma; radial sector
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before cubital fork in both wings; Banksian line distinct, intercubital line rather less so; four to six cross-veins before radial sector in fore- wing, two to four in hind-wing, usually several are connected; in fore- wing the second anal runs in even curve, but usually touches the third at one point, two or three cross-veins to third, both second and third usually forked; in hind-wings the first anal runs parallel to cubital fork, and is connected thereto several times; the second anal forked, the third usually simple; much of the venation in both wings is irregular. Type.- — C. californicus Banks. Mexico.
Calinemurus fuscus Banks. Plate 4, fig. 100. Calinemurus fiiscus Banks, Trans. Amer. ent. soc, 190G, 32, p. 6.
Interantennal mark large, extending much below antennae and straight across, first vertex row a nearly continuous line, second more broken; last joint labial palpi slightly swollen, partly brown; antennae brown. Pronotum almost wholly dull brown, a median pale line, and one or two lines on the sides; rest of notum mostly dark, with some pale spots, mesoscutellum with a pair of pale submedian spots, and lateral corners pale, metascutellum mostly dark; pleura almost wholly dark; femora and tibiae heavily dotted, the spots sometimes confluent, spines mostly black, some white ones, a row of white ones above on front- femur, and a series of white macrochaetae on front-coxae. Abdomen with basal segments slightly lineate above pale, densely long-haired, almost wholly dark. Venation mostly dark, and often sightly bordered with dark, larger dark spots at base of stigma, up from rhegma, several along cubitus, and one at end of anal; space between radius and sub- costa fumose.
Vertex moderately elevated; pronotum hardly broader than long in middle, not narrowed in front; front spurs about one and one half joints, hind-spurs little longer than basitarsus; abdomen of male a little longer than hind-wings, last segment hardly twice as long as high, the appendages long, upcur\ed, rather longer than last segment. Wings long and slender; venation very dense; in fore-wings three series of costal cells for most of distance, in hind-wings two series for two thirds of distance; in both wings radial sector much before cubital fork, in fore-wings five to eight cross-veins before radial sector, several connected, in hind-wings two or three, partly connected; about thir- teen branches to radial sector; cubital cross-veins mostly connected;
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 51
in hind-wings the hind-margin near base is hardly concave, the first anal vein with about ten or eleven branches, the first about four times as long as a cubital cross-vein; hairs on veins rather short, but very numerous.
Length fore-wing 28 mm., width 6.8 mm.
Length hind-wing 25.5 mm., width 5.5 mm.
Length abdomen cf 27 mm.
Ariz.: Nogales, July (Type).
Clathroneuria Banks. Ent. news, 1913, 24, p. 64.
Last joint of labial palpi much swollen; antennae moderately short, rather strongly clavate; pronotum broader than long; legs fairly stout, fifth tarsal joint much longer than first, spurs equal to two joints. Abdomen in both sexes longer than the wings, in male much longer than in female. Costal area of wings simple; radial sector in fore-wings before the cubital fork, in hind-wings usually so; second anal of fore- wing runs in even curve, connected but once to the third, the second usually simple, the third usually forked. In hind-wing two cross-veins before radial sector; first anal bends down to the margin near cubital fork, usually both the second and third anals forked.
Type. — C. schwarzi Currie.
The two species may be separated as follows : —
1. Pronotum with median as well as lateral stripes or marks; abdomen with
pale at base and apex of segment schwarzi.
Pronotum with only the lateral marks; abdomen with pale only at tips of segments delicatulus.
Clathroneuria schwarzi (Currie). Plate 4, fig. 79, 99. Brachynemurus schwarzi Currie, Proc. Ent. soc. Wash., 1903, 6, p. 280.
Interantennal mark of moderate size, rather emarginate below, first vertex row of three brown spots, second row of four spots, in middle behind is a brown spot; last joint of labial palpi not much swollen, mostly pale; antennae pale, dark near tip. Pronotum with four or six brown stripes, the submedian pair broad, reaching to front, and close together, sometimes almost united in part, lateral stripes end at fur- row, and outside usually another, shorter stripe; rest of notum much
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marked with brown; a double stripe on mesoscutellum, and double spot on the metascutellum; pleura spotted, but about half pale; femora mostly dotted, tibiae with subbasal and preapical dark marks, spines rather long, many black, but some white ones; abdomen banded with pale at base, middle, and apex of segments, sometimes apical part is darker, hair quite long, largely black, but white in patches. Wings with pale venation, the cross-veins and connections nearly all dark brown, and often faintly bordered, no large dark marks, stigma white.
Vertex considerably elevated; antennae short, strongly clavate; pronotum about as long in middle as broad, but little narrowed in front; front-spurs equal three joints, hind-spurs equal two joints; abdomen in female as long as hind-wings, in male very much longer, last segment about four times as long as high, appendages moderately long, fully one half as long as last segment, curved near base and out- wardly near tip.
In both wings the radial sector arises a little before cubital fork ; in fore-wings three cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings two; about eight branches to radial sector; several cubitals connected; last radial cross-vein very oblique; hind-margin of hind-wings slightly concave, first anal vein with about four, short, subequal branches; hairs on veins rather long.
Length fore-wing 21 to 26 mm., width 5 to 7.5 mm.
Length hind-wing 18.5 to 23 mm., with 4.5 to 6.5 mm.
Length abdomen 9 22 to 24, d" 30 to 39 mm.
Specimens examined. — Calif.: San Gabriel Mts., September. Ariz.: Palmerlee. Utah: Eureka, July; Stockton, August. N. M. : La Luz, August; Jemez Mts., July.
Currie described it from Flagstaff and Williams, i\.rizona.
Clathroneuria delicatulus (Currie). Plate 2, fig. 30. Brachynemurus delicatulus Currie, Proc. Ent. soc. Wash., 1903, 5, p. 279.
Interantennal mark with a short median extension below, a yellow spot just above the antennae; vertex dark, a pair of pale spots at middle of hind-border, and less distinct spots on sides and front. Antennae dark, basal joint pale; palpi dark; pronotum pale, a pair of dark stripes, broad and approximate behind, narrowed and widely separate in front, and end in the furrow; rest of notum dark, spotted with pale; pleura
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 53
with yellowish spots; legs pale, unmarked, with black and some white spines. Abdomen dark, a pale line each side, and tips of the segments pale. Wings not marked, except dark at base of stigma; venation pale and dark. Spurs equal four joints; male abdomen longer than wings, appendages very short; wings slightly falcate at tip; second and third anals of fore-wings not forked, connected once; hind-wing with hind- margin concave near base, first anal with two or three short branches.
Length cf 18 mm., expanse 33 mm., width fore-wing 4.3 mm. ^
Phoenix, Arizona, May.
Austroleon Banks.
Journ. N. Y. ent. soc, 1909, 17, p. 3.
Last joint of labial palpi swollen; antennae very short, clavate; pro- notum a little longer than broad, or broader than long; legs rather stout, basal tarsal joint much shorter than the apical, spurs equal to one or more joints, front-coxae and front-femora above with a comb of long curved white bristles. Abdomen shorter than wings, in male longer. Wings rather narrow, acute at tips, costal area simple, radial sector usually before cubital fork in both pairs, second anal in fore-wing runs in a nearly even curve, with one short cross-vein to the third or touching the third; second anal forked, third usually forked. In hind- wing both second and third anals are forked, the first anal bends down . to margin near cubital fork. Before radial sector in fore-wing three cross-veins, in hind-wing two ; Banksian and intercubital lines faint or absent.
Type. — A. dispar Banks. South America.
Three Nearctic species are referable to this genus which is better represented in South America.
1. Three shining black spots on the mesoscutellum; abdomen somewhat trans-
versely banded with pale; wings broad, spots between radius and sub-
costa tripunctatus.
Not three shining spots on scutellum; the abdomen more lineate; wings narrow, less spotted, no marks between radius and subcosta 2
2. Pronotum pale through a broad middle area, dark on sides; front-spurs
equal to three tarsal joints dorsalis.
Pronotum dark, with three pale lines; labial palpi about twice as long as maxillary palpi; front-spurs equal to four tarsal joints barberi.
Description mostly from Currie.
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AusTEOLEON DORSALis (Banks). Plate 1, fig. 22. Plate 4, fig. 83. Brachynemurus dorsalis Banks, Journ. N. Y. ent. soc, 1903, 11, p. 240.
Interantennal mark a little above and below antennae, usually in- clufHng a pale transverse spot just above antennae; vertex wholly dark, rarely showing distinction into two rows; palpi pale. Pronotum with a broad pale median area, dark on the sides; rest of notiun mostly dull black, the scutelli usually with large median mark, pleura much spotted with dull black; femur of front-pair mostly dark above, others dotted, and with large spot toward tip, tibiae with subbasal and apical mark, hind-tibiae somewhat lineate below. Abdomen lineate with pale, especially with the male on basal part, but toward tip with pale median spot on segments above. Wings scarcely marked, a faint spot at rhegma and at end of anal; veins pale, interrupted with dark, cross- veins usually more or less dark. Hair of abdomen white; spines on legs mostly white.
Vertex considerably elevated; antennae short, strongly clavate; pronotum longer than broad, rather narrowed in front; legs short, front-femora plainly longer than tibiae; a row of bristles on femur above and several bristles on front-coxae; hind-spurs equal two joints; male abdomen much longer than hind-wings, last segment six or more times as long as high, appendages pale, short, divergent, about as long as height of segment. In both wings the radial sector before cubital fork; in fore-wings three cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings two; about seven branches of radial sector; last connecting veinlet between radius and radial sector is heavier and more oblique than the others so that it appears like an extra radial sector; hind-margin of hind-wing near base concave, first anal with about fi\e branches, all short and subequal.
Length fore-wing 17 to 20 mm., width 4 to 5 mm.
Length hind-wing 15 to 18 mm., width 3 to 4 mm.
Length abdomen 9 IS to 20 mm., cT 25 to 28 mm.
Spccimms examined. — Tex.: Laredo (Type); Mercedes, July; Dallas; Brownsville, May; Sabinal, September; Hondo.
The Brachynemurus currici of McClendon grades into dorsalis.
banks: revision of the nEarctic myrmeleqnidae. 55
AusTROLEON BARBERi (Currie). Plate 2, fig. 24. Brachynemurus barheri Currie, Proc. Ent. soc. Wash., 1903, 5, p. 282.
Interantennal mark small, a median extension to clypeus. Vertex dark, a band in front pale, vertex rows shining fuscous. Antennae dark, with narrow, pale annulations. Labial palpi about twice as long as maxillary, dark brown. Pronotum dark, with three pale lines, one median and two lateral ending in the furrow ; rest of notum dark, with a few pale spots. Legs with femora mostly dark, and dark bands on tibiae, spines black, but many white ones, those on front-femora above long and white. Abdomen with indistinct pale spots on middle of segments. Wings with few dark spots, mostly along cubitus, a dark spot at base of whitish stigma, and an oblique streak up from rhegma. Pronotum longer than broad ; spurs as long as first four tarsal joints in front-legs, as long as first three in other legs. Wings shorter than abdomen, narrow; in fore-wings the second anal is not forked, is con- nected but once to the third anal which is forked.
Length 9 23 mm., expanse 38 mm., width fore-wing 4.3 mm., Hot Springs, Arizona, June (Barber and Schwarz).'
Austroleon tripunctatus (Banks). Hesperoleon trij)unctatus Banks, Can. ent., 1922, 54, p. 60.
Interantennal mark rather large above and below antennae, but not reaching up on the vertex, first vertex row a continuous line, second of several spots, the largest lateral, and a median spot behind; labial palpi with tip much swollen and partly dark; pronotum with four spots in front, a long median mark behind and lateral stripes, the long median mark more or less divided; rest of notum with large dark spots, tip of mesoscutellum with three shining black spots, one on the metascutel- lum, bristles on thorax large, some white; pleura largely dark; the femora and tibiae much dotted, long spines on legs mostly white, front-coxae with white macrochaetae, and a row of similar ones above on femur; abdomen with rather irregular pale marks at base and middle of segments, hair mostly black, but white on pale areas. Wings much spotted with small marks, some between subcosta and radius, larger at rhegma and end of anal; many cross-veins wholly dark; veins white, with dark streaks.
Vertex moderately elevated; antennae rather short, strongly capi- tate; pronotum a little longer than broad, hardly narrowed in front;
1 Description mostly from Currie.
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legs rather short, femur of front-pair rather longer than tibia, hind- spurs al)out equal to one and one half joints; abdomen nearly as long as hind-wings. In both wings the radial sector arises much before the cubital fork; in fore-wings three cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings but one; seven branches to radial sector; hind-margin of hind-wings near base concave, first anal with five or six branches, all short, subequal; hair on wings rather long.
Length fore-wing 22 to 25 mm., width 6 to 7.5 mm.
Length hind-wing 20 to 23 mm., width 5.5 to 6.5 mm.
Length abdomen cf 23 mm.
Specimens examined. — Ariz.: Palmerlee, June, July (Types).
At first the species looks much like II esjwrolcon sackeni; it is rather abnormal for Austroleon, and may yet form a new genus.
Chaetoleon Banks. Bull. M. C. Z., 1920, 64, p. 328.
Last joint of labial palpi swollen; antennae long, with almost capi- tate tip; pronotum longer than broad. Legs very slender, the front- tibia is equal to front-femur, latter with a crest of long white bristles, and also comb on front-coxae, spurs about equal to two joints; meso- notum with some enlarged, fusiform bristles above. Abdomen shorter than hind-wings. Wings rather narrow, acute at tips; in fore-wings the costal area simple; radial sector before cubital fork in both pairs; second anal runs in even curve, and then unites with the third anal for short distance; both the second and third anals forked. In hind-wings the first anal bends down to margin near forking of cubitus; before the radial sector in fore-wing three cross-veins, in hind-wings two; Banksian and intercubital lines faint or absent.
Type. — C. jnimilis (Burmeister).
The two closely related species can be separated as below : —
1 . Pronotum black, except anterior lateral angles, rest of notum mostly black ;
fore-wings rather heavily marked pumilus.
Pronotum much marked with pale, as also the rest of the notum; wings less marked pxisilliis.
Chaetoleon pumilis (Burmeister).
Plate 2, fig. 40.
Myrmeleon ■pumilus Burm., Handb. ent., 1839, 2, p. 995.
Interantennal mark large, much below antennae, and extending up to first vertex row and often to the second, usually' a pale spot each side
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 57
below the first vertex row; palpi mostly pale; antennae annulate, tip dark; pronotum largely dark, usually only anterior corners pale; rest of notum almost wholly dark, sometimes a pale spot above fore-wing; large heavy enlarged spines on mesonotum ; pleura mostly dark; femora largely dark, tibiae with subbasal and apical dark bands, spines long, partly white; abdomen with pale spot in middle of segments, or at least the basal ones. Wings with about a dozen fairly large spots, several between subcosta and radius, and continued on the cross-veins behind, one at rhegma, three others along cubitus, and one at end of anal, a few other smaller marks, mostly at forks of veins.
Vertex moderately elevated ; pronotum longer than broad ; legs very slender; tibiae fully equal to femora, and much longer than tarsi, hind-spurs equal to two joints, a comb of white bristles on front-coxae, and above on front-femur; abdomen of male short, not as long as hind- wings, the short, pale appendages sometimes apparent; hair of abdo- men mostly white. In both wings the radial sector arises before cubital fork; in fore-wing three cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wing but two; about six branches to radial sector; hind-wing with the hind- margin near base concave, the first anal with four to six branches, all short and subequal; hairs on wing rather long.
Length fore-wing 15.5 to 17.5 mm., width 4 to 4.5 mm.
Length hind-wing 15 to 16.5 mm., width 3 to 3.5 mm.
Length abdomen 9 12.5 to 15 mm., cf 14 mm.
Specimens examined. — South Carolinia (Type). N. C: Southern Pines, May, June. Ga. : Millen, July. Fla. : La,ke Worth, yl /so Florida (Brooklyn mus.).
Chaetoleon pusillus (Currie). Plate 2, fig. 27. Brachynemurus pusillus Currie, Can. ent., 1899, 31, p. 363.
Interantennal mark a little below and above antennae; first vertex row a continuous line; second close to it of a lateral spot and a median connection, and a median spot be-hind; palpi mostly pale; antennae pale, ringed with dark and darker at tip; pronotum with four spots in front, the submedian pair larger and nearly touching, behind them a long median spot, sometimes with median pale line, several lateral spots; rest of notum much spotted, the scutelli with large median spot, sometimes small lateral ones; pleura much spotted; front-femora mostly dark above, other femora with preapical band, all tibiae with subbasal and apical bands. Abdomen with pale irregular spots
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on middle and tip of several segments; thorax with many long mostly white bristles, some on the mesonotum black and much thickened; hair on the abdomen white, moderately long. Wings with several spots between subcosta and radius, one at base of stigma, elongate one at rhegma, and several above cubitus, and one at end of anal, small marks on forks and on some cross-^•eins, ^•eins mostly white with long streaks of dark.
Vertex moderately elevated; pronotum longer than broad; legs very slender, femur not longer than tibiae, hind-tibia much longer than tarsus, hind-spurs about equal to two joints; spines long, mostly white, front-coxae with curved macrochaetae and a row of similar ones above on front-femur. In both wings the radial sector arises much before cubital fork; in fore-wings three cross-veins before radial sector, in hind-wings two; about six branches to radial sector; hind-margin of hind-wings near base slightly concave, the first anal with five branches, short and subequal; hair on wings rather long. Abdomen of male no longer than female, much shorter than hind-wings, appendages not projecting.
Length fore-wing 14 to 18 mm., width 3.5 to 5.5 mm.
Length hind-wing 13 to 16.5 mm., width 2.9 to 4 mm.
Length abdomen 9 12 to 15 mm., d* 14 mm.
Specimens examined. — N. M. : Mesilla Park; Las Cruces. Utah: Parowan Canyon; Coal Creek, Iron Co., June; Eureka, July. Also Santa Rita Mts., Arizona (Snow coll.). Currie described it from Ft. Grant, and Madera Canyon, Santa Rita Mts., Arizona.
Maracandula Currie, Proc. Ent. soc. Wash., 1901, 4, p. 436.
Last joint of labial palpi but little swollen; antennae short, capitate; pronotum rather longer than broad; legs slender, basal tarsal joint longer than the fifth, claws small, spurs absent; abdomen short in both sexes, and shorter than wings. Wings rather short and broad; costal area simple; radial sector in both pairs before the cubital fork; neither Banksian nor intercubital lines; second anal runs in even curve and is connected twice to the third anal. In hind-wing one to three cross- veins before radial sector, and the first anal l)cnds down to the margin near cubital fork, usually both second and third anals are forked.
Type. — M. pygmaea (Hagen). Mexico.
The generic characters were drawn from hellula; when pygmaea is better known a new genus may be required. Most of the characters
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 59
apply to that species, but the apical tarsal joint is longer than the basal, and there are four cross-veins before the radial sector in hind- wing.
Maracandula bellula Banks. Trans. Amer. ent. soc, 1906, 32, p. 7,
Face pale, a brown interantennal mark, emarginate below antennae, and extending above a short distance (sometimes faint); vertex with two rounded dark spots; palpi pale; antennae brown, a pale band of about three joints beyond middle; pronotum pale, and oblique brown spot on each outer side in front, sometimes traces of median spots, and a large brown spot behind in middle (sometimes all spots are faint), hair almost wholly white; rest of notum pale to brown, more or less obscurely spotted with brown, hair white, except some dark on the anterior lobes; pleura more or less brown, with several pale spots, hair white; legs pale, the femora streaked or dark at tip, tibiae dark at tip and often near base, middle tarsal joints dark. Abdomen dull black, segments with pale spots on base above, basal segments largely pale, hair below white, above white on pale areas, rest dark. Wings with small brown spots, base of stigma black, several brown spots between the subcosta and radius and extended back on cross-veins, several along upper edge of cubitus, at rhegma, and at end of anal vein, marginal forks scarcely clouded, and sometimes faintly along hind-margin at ends of veins. Hind-wings scarcely spotted, but a cloud at rhegma, and one at stigma; venation in both wings brown and white alternating.
Pronotum little longer than broad; vertex much elevated, bilobed; legs slender, basal tarsal joint elongate. Wings broad, especially toward tip; four to six cross-veins before radial sector in fore-wing, one to three in hind-wing, some often connected; cubitals not crossed; radial sector with five branches; hind-margin of both wings concave at base; in fore-wing about seven to ten short subequal branches to the first anal vein, in hind-wing about four such branches; venation with many rather long curved hairs.
Length fore-wing 15 to 20 mm., width 4.8 to 6.2 mm.
Length hind-wing 13 to 18 mm., width 3.1 to 4.2 mm.
Length abdomen $ 10 to 14 mm., cf 13 mm.
Specimens examined. — Calif.: Three Rivers, San Jacinto Mts. Utah: Coal Creek, Iron Co.; Eureka, August; St. George, June. Ariz.: Reef, June; Palmerlee, June, July. Also Santa Rita Mts., Arizona (Snow coll.). Phoenix, Arizona (Adams coll.).
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Macronemurinae.
This subfamily is represented by four very distinct genera grouped in two tribes. In the tropics there are several other tribes and a great number of species. The Nearctic genera are tabulated as follows: —
1. Legs very slender, femora cylindric, front-femur iihout twice as long as
front-coxae and longer tlian height of thorax; pronotum usually longer
than broad {Glenurini) 2
Legs not especially slender, femora somewhat thickened, front-femur less than twice as long as front-coxae, nor longer than height of the thorax; pronotum usually broader than long (Macronemurini) 3
2. Hind-wings with large dark spot near tip; broadest at or beyond rhegma.
Glenurits. Hind-wings without large spot, broadest rather before the rhegma.
Eremoleon.
3. Fore-wing with two series of costal cells for part way; venation dense and
irregular Puren.
Fore-wing with but one series of costal cells; venation open and regular.
Psa7nmoleon.
Psammoleon Banks. Can. ent., 1899, 31, p. 69.
Labial palpi with last joint swollen; antennae moderately long, not much separated at base; pronotum rarely longer than broad; abdomen short in both sexes, and much shorter than the wings. Legs moderately stout, hind-tibia shorter than or equal to hind-femur, basal joint of tarsus short or elongate, spurs equal to two or three joints in front-legs, and to one and one half to two and one half joints in the hind-legs. Wings moderately broad to narrow, the costal area simple, radial sector much beyond the cubital fork in fore-wings, in hind-wing radial sector near base, one cross-vein before it. In fore-wing the second anal is united to third for a long distance; no distinct Banksian line; in hind-wing the second anal is forked, and the third anal is connected at tip to a short vein close to the hind-margin, and almost united to it. The fore-wings show more or less distinctly a dark line or spot at end of anal, and a similar mark up from rhegma.
Type. — P. ingeniosus (Walker). South America.
Five species are known from southern parts of the Nearctic region and may be separated as follows: —
1. Tarsi black, hind-femora, as well as others, mostly black; basal tarsal joint elongate, spurs also elongate, but little curved, hind-spurs not equal to two tarsal joints, last ventral segment of male with black hair 2
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 61
Tarsi mostly pale on basal and apical joints, hind- and mid-femora at least mostly pale, and dotted with dark, spurs curved, hind-spurs equal to or longer than two joints, basal tarsal joint less elongate, last ventral seg- ment of male with white hair as rest of venter 3
2. Abdomen wholly black, not spotted; pronotum about as long in middle as
broad, male appendages with a projection at lower corner, hind-tibia
equal hind-femur connexus.
Abdomen with two elongate pale spots on each segment above; pronotum much broader than long in middle, male appendages without projection at lower tip bistidus.
3. Abdomen with two elongate spots on each segment above; hind-spurs equal
to two joints; cubital area of hind- wing narrow, with but one series of cross-veins, superior appendages of male extended below, but no pro- jection behind minor
Abdomen with two rounded spots on some of the segments, scarcely marked toward tip; hind-spurs equal to two and one half joints; cubital area of hind-wings broad, with two or three series of cross-veins, male superior appendages with a distinct projection behind at lower tip 4
4. Fore-wings with two dark nearly parallel streaks guitipes.
Fore-wings with the two streaks connected to make a sinuous line . sinuatiis.
Psammoleon bistictus (Hagen). Plate 2, fig. 33. Myrmeleon bistidus Hagen, Synop., 1861, p. 235.
Interantennal mark extending considerably below antennae, above the surface is sericeous and on the vertex also, the vertex scars are black; last joint of labial palpi mostly black; antennae scarcely annu- late; pronotum dull black, sericeous, with pale median line, and broader pale streak on each side; rest of notum dull black, with a num- ber of pale spots, mostly through the middle area; pleura dark, with a few pale spots, hair white; legs largely black, front-femur pale in front, mid- and hind-femora with pale band or spot beyond middle, tibiae pale at base, and a pale spot or streak on outer side, tarsi almost wholly black, femora and tibiae with white hair and many black bristles. Abdomen dull black, sericeous, each dorsal segment with a long pale streak each side, sometimes divided into two spots; hair white, but in male that of last ventral is black. Wings not heavily marked, the usual two oblique lines from anal and from rhegma, latter pointing to apex of wing; a dark spot at base of stigma, some marginal forks clouded, otherwise not marked, venation dark and pale in streaks;
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hind-wings unmarked, except at stigma, the median and first anal vein wholly pale.
Pronotum plainly broader than long in middle; basal joint of tarsi elongate, spurs elongate, scarcely curved, the hind-spurs about equal one and one half joints, front-spurs equal to two joints. Fore-wings with costals simple, seven cross-veins before radial sector, ten branches to this sector; in hind-wings the cubital area is fairly broad with two or three series of cross-veins. The superior male appendages are not produced behind at lower corners.
Length fore-wing 29 mm., width 7 mm.
Length hind-wing 27 mm., width 5.7 mm.
Length abdomen 17 mm.
Specimens examined. — Fla. : Dry Tortugas, June.
Described from Cuba, where it is not uncommon.
Psammoleon minor, sp. nov. Plate 2, fig. 32, 42.
Interantennal mark extending straight across below antennae, above is a pale area before the vertex rows, which are black; palpi pale; an- tennae plainly annulate, base pale; pronotum dull black, a median pale line, and lateral spots fairly distinct; rest of notum dull black, with several pale spots, a pair on the mesoscutcllum, and the middle tips of both scutelli also pale; pleura with much pale, hair white; legs pale, femora and tibiae rather sparsely dotted, both dark at tips, tips of tarsal joints dark, femora with many black and some white bristles and appressed white hair. Abdomen dull black, much marked with pale, venter mostly pale, above each segment has the tip and an elongate spot each side pale, some apical segments with a median spot, hair white above and below in both sexes, bristles around genitalia black. Wings with the venation interruptedly pale and dark in streaks, dark spot at base of stigma, near end of anal, and a short streak up from rhegma, a few apical vcinlets margined; hind-wings scarcely marked, faint dot at stigma, rhegma, and one apical cross-vein.
Pronotum a little broader than long in middle; tarsi with basal joint somewhat elongate, more so than in guftipes the spurs also elon- gate and not much curved, the hind-spurs just about equal to two joints. Wings slender, scarcely any costals before stigma forked, six cross-veins before radial sector, latter with nine or ten branches; in hind-wings the cubital area is very narrow, and has but one series of
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 63
cross-veins. Superior appendages of the male have no projection be- hind, but are rather lobed below.
Length fore-wing 22 mm., width 5 mm.
Length hind-wing 2L5 mm., width 4 mm.
Length abdomen 12 mm.
Type.— M. C. Z. 15,746. &, 9 . Fla.: Dry Tortugas, Loggerhead Key, June (J. McClendon, and H. L. Clark).
PsAMMOLEON GUTTIPES Banks. Plate 2, fig. 38, 43. Psammoleon guttipes Banks, Psyche, 1906, 13, p. 99.
A black band below antennae, above brown up to and on vertex, usually leaving the vertex scars showing pale, but sometimes they are covered by dark velvety brown; palpi mostly pale; antennae narrowly annulate, base pale; pronotum dull brown, a faint pale median line and sometimes one or two spots on each side; rest of notum dull brown, slightly sericeous, a few pale spots, often a pair in front of the meta- scutellum; pleura dark, with a few pale spots, hair long, white; legs pale, femur and tibia much dotted, front femur sometimes dark above, tibia dark at tip, basal and apical tarsal joints mostly pale, femora and tibiae with many black bristles and hairs, and some more appressed white hair, less noticeable; abdomen dull black, a pale spot above on each side near middle of se\'eral segments shows more or less distinctly, sometimes united, hair short, mostly white. Wings but little marked, but there are two subparallel streaks or lines in front-wings, one up from the end of anal, the other from the rhegma, the latter so directed that it would end on costa long before apex of wing, usually some apical cross-veins and forkings are marked, and several radial cross-veins margined; venation dark and pale in streaks; hind-wings scarcely marked, a few cross-veins margined, a dot at rhegma, and outer marginal forks marked. Pronotum much broader than long; legs rather stout, hind-tibia not quite as long as hind-femora, basal tarsal joint short, hardly equal to next two together; spurs stout, strongly curved, in front-legs fully equal to three joints, in hind-legs about two and one half joints. The costal area of fore-wings is fairly broad, about seven cross-veins before radial sector, latter with about eleven or twelve branches; in hind-wings the cubital area is quite broad with two or three series of cross-veins. The superior appendages of the male have a projection at the lower tips.
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Length fore-wings 29 to 31 mm., width 6 to 7.5 mm.
Length hind-wings 28 to 30.5 mm., width 5 to 6 mm.
Length of abdomen 19 mm.
Specimens examined. — N. C: Tryon (Type); Southern Pines, June. Ga. : Millen. Florida. La. : Shreveport. Tex. : Travis Co. ; San Antonio ; Dalhis, August. Also Lakehurst, New Jersey (Davis coll.), Browns- ville, Texas (Brooklyn mus.), Spring Creek, Georgia (Cornell univ.).
Psammoleon sinuatus Currie. Plate 2, fig. 34. Psammoleon sinuatus Currie, Proc. Ent. soc. Wash., 1903, 6, p. 275.
This in general agrees with P. guttipcs and was described as a variety of that species. It is a western form of that species. The interantennal mark usually does not extend under tlie antennae, the vertex scars are marked deep black, the lateral marks of pronotum are usually more distinct, the legs and the abdomen are marked the same. The fore- wings have the two oblique lines, normally connected so that it makes a sinuous or serpentine mark, the outer part of this mark points toward the apex of the wing (thus differing from guttipes). In the hind-wing the rhegma is usually well marked, and the veins behind it to the margin are bordered with dark. The rest of the wings is not as much spotted as in guttipes. Structurally it is about the same as guttipes, but the superior appendages of the male have not such a long, but more acute projection at the lower tip.
Length fore-wing 29 to 35 mm., width 6.5 to 9 mm.
Length hind-wing 28 to 34 mm., width 5 to 7 mm.
Length abdomen 20 mm.
Specimens examined. — N. M. : Jemez Mts., August. Ariz.: Pal- merlee, July. Utah: Coal Creek, Iron Co., June.
Currie described it from the Santa Rita Mts., Arizona, and recorded it from Bear Creek Canyon, Colorado.
Psammoleon connexus (Banks). Plate 2, fig. 35, 44.
Purm connexus Banks, Bull. M. C. Z., 1920, 64, p. 329.
Interantennal mark deep black, extending somewhat below an- ennae, above dull black to sericeous on vertex, the vertex scars deep lack; last joint of labial palpi mostly black; antennae very narrowly
banks: revision of the ne arctic myrmeleonidae. 65
annulate; pronotum dark, a median pale line, and a streak or two pale spots on each side; rest of notum dark, a few pale spots and streaks, usually two on the mesoscutellum ; pleura largely dark, hair white; legs mostly dark, femora pale within or beneath, and some pale on tibiae behind, tarsi almost wholly black, femora and tibiae heavily clothed with long white hair, very noticeable, some black bristles below. Abdomen dull black, not spotted, hair very short, white but the last two ventral segments have dense black hair. Wings with venation mostly dark, pale in spots and patches; a dark spot at base of stigma, a short streak at end of anal, a longer one up from rhegma (in the Type these are connected in a sinuous line), the outer line points toward the apex of the wing, apical forks often marked, the radial cross-veins not margined, but often some veins behind the radial sector are margined to make a streak, and the cubitus is sometimes margined from rhegma toward base; hind-wings less marked, but sometimes the cubitus is margined toward the rhegma. Pronotum rather longer than in the other species, nearly as long in middle as broad; legs with basal tarsal joint elongate, and so are the spurs, so that they are little curved except near tip, and the hind-spurs are only equal to one and one half joints. In the fore-wings there are usually a few costals before the stigma forked; six or seven cross-veins before radial sector, the latter with about nine or ten branches; in the hind- wings the cubital area usually has two series of cross-veins, at least for part way. The superior appendages of the male have a rather short, sharp projection at the lower tips, not as long as in guttipes.
The Type specimen has a remarkable venational peculiarity ; instead of the short oblique cross-vein representing the median fork, there is a very long branch, occupying the space of about three cells and ending just before the fork of cubitus.
Length fore-wing 25 to 30.5 mm., width 5.7 to 7 mm.
Length hind-wing 24.5 to 29.5 mm., width 4.5 to 5.5 mm.
Length abdomen 19 mm.
Specimens examined. — Calif.: San Jacinto Mts., June (Type). Ariz.: Palmerlee, July. Tex.: Austiij.
Puren Navas. Revis. Chil., 1911, 15, p. 125.
Last joint of labial palpi swollen; antennae rather long, but little separated at base, pronotum scarcely broader than long; the abdomen much shorter than the wings; legs rather short, femora somewhat
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thickened, spurs elongate, but little curved, equal to two joints in front-tarsi, and little more than one in hind-tarsi, hind-tibia rather shorter than hind-femur. Wings of moderate width, in fore-wing the second anal is united to third for a long distance, basal cubital fork distinct, costal area broad, partly two-celled, radial sector much beyond the cubital fork, in fore-wing the Banksian line is fairly distinct; in hind-wings the first anal runs parallel to cubital fork for a very short distance.
Type. — P. bcllator Navas. Chile.
I have not seen the genotype, the species I have placed here differs from Psammoleon only in partly double costal area, and denser vena- tion; in tarsal and spur characters it agrees closely with Psammoleon connexns and P. histidus.
PuREN INSCRIPTUS (Hagen). Plate 4, fig. 80, 93. Myrmeleon inscriptiLS Hagen, Synop., 1861, p. 230.
Interantennal mark extending a little under the antennae, above less black up to the vertex which is sericeous, the vertex scars black; last joint of labial palpi black; antennae narrowly annulate; pronotum dull black, with a pale median line, and each side with a pale rounded spot in the front -part and a longer streak in the hind-part; rest of notum dull black, sericeous, with some pale spots mostly in middle area; pleura partly dark, with much pale below, hair white; legs mostly black, front-femur pale at base and within, hind-tibia pale at base behind, hair largely white, but some black especially on tibiae; abdo- men dull black, the apical margin of segments above pale, hair short, white. Fore-wings heavily marked, two oblique lines, one up from end of anal, the other from rhegma, and pointing toward apex of wing, sometimes the two lines faintly c(mnected; a large spot at base of stigma, and extended behind over last radial cross- vein; longitudinal veins mostly black, but marked with pale in streaks, cross-veins almost wholly black, and nearly all are slightly margined. There are about four patches of white veins, just behind the radius and over the radial sector. Hind-wings much less marked, a spot at stigma, venation mostly dark, but few veins margined except the outer forks, median vein wholly pale.
Pronotum about as long in middle as broad; tarsi with basal joint elongated, equal to next two joints or more; spurs elongate, scarcely
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 67
curved, front ones equal to two joints, hind spurs scarcely longer than basal joint. Costal area of fore-wings fairly broad, many of the costal veins forked, and about one third to one half of them crossed, mostly near the middle of length; seven cross-veins before radial sector, one or two crossed, about twelve branches of radial sector, several costals crossed; cubital area of hind-wings fairly broad, two or three series of cross-veins; all venation dense and irregular. The male superior ap- pendages have a projection at lower tip.
Length of fore-wing 28 to 31 mm., width 6 to 7.5 mm.
Length of hind-wing 26 to 29 mm., width 5 to 6 mm.
Length of abdomen 20 mm.
Specimens examined. — N. M. : Pecos River (Type); Las Vegas. Utah: St. George, May.
Glenurus Hagen. Stett. ent. zeit., 1866, 27, p. 372.
Last joint of labial palpi swollen; antennae long and slender, less than diameter of basal joint apart; pronotum longer than broad; legs very slender, basal tarsal joint elongate, sometimes equal to the fifth; spurs elongate, little curved, equal to two joints; abdomen much shorter than wings. Wings very broad toward tip, and the hind-pair at least with large spots, costal area simple, radial sector in fore-wings beyond the cubital fork, but before end of anal vein, first branch of radial sector beyond end of anal, basal cubital fork distinct, no Bank- sian nor intercubital line; in hind-wing the second anal forked, the first anal bends down to margin near cubital fork, no short vein parallel to hind-margin at base and connected to third anal.
Type. — G. gratus (Say).
In a South American species (incalis) there is the beginning of a Banksian line close to the median and curving upwards, as in the African genus, Cymothales.
The two Nearctic species belong to two different sections of the genus and may be separated as follo^vs : —
1. Extreme tips of wings dark; fore-wing with large clear space near apex rosy; hind-wings with the large dark spot leaving two clear spaces; legs dark;
first anal in hind-wings ends beyond tlie cubital fork gratus.
Extreme tip of wings pale; fore-wings with the space beyond large spot broken by many small spots; hind- wings with the large dark spot leaving three clear spaces; legs mostly pale; first anal in hind-wings ends before cubital fork snowi.
68 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology,
Glenurus gratus (Say).
Plate 2, fig. 45.
fFormicaleo grata Say, Journ. Acad. nat. sci. Phil., 1839, 8, p. 45. Ed. Lee, 2, p. 413.
Face black, the lip and a band below antennae pale; vertex dark, a pale line in front and one behind; palpi and antennae dark; pronotum black, a pale median line which is widened in front, near middle, and behind; rest of notum black, with pale mecHan line more or less com- plete, mesoscutellum with two pale spots; pleura black with scattered white hair; legs reddish brown, hind-tibia behind and the tarsi pale, hair and bristles black, front-tibia at tip beneath with yellowish hair. Abdomen black, tips of the segments sometimes narrowly pale above, hair fine short and black. Wings with a large compound dark spot just before tip in both pairs, this spot is made up of three large spots, closely united in hind-wings, less so in front-pair. In fore-wings be- yond the spot the wing is whitish with a rosy tint, the extreme apex dark, and dark clouds along outer hind-margin; at end of anal a rather large spot, a number of smaller spots along cubitus, and dark streaks between subcosta and radius, venation mostly dark, but many longi- tudinal veins are white in spots. In hind-wing beyond the large trilobed spot the wing is also pale, with less distinct rosy tint, the extreme tip also black, the large spot reaches the hind-margin in two places, and in the pale apical part there is a small dark spot, almost connected to the large trilobed spot, venation almost wholly dark. Basal tarsal joint about as long as apical, spurs equal two joints; wings broad toward tips which are almost rounded; fore-wings with about ten cross-veins before radial sector, about eleven branches to radial sector, sometimes a few cubitals are crossed. In hind-wings the cubital area is broad, with four to five series of cross-veins, the first anal running parallel to cubital fork for a short distance, and usually connected once or twice to it.
Length fore-wing 34 to 47 mm., width 9 to 15 mm.
Length hintl-wing 33 to 45 mm., width 8.4 to 13 mm.
Length abdomen 9 and c^ 24 to 25 nnn.
Spcciincns (wumincd. — Ohio: Cincinnati. Ky. : Bee Spring, Cumber- land Gap. Tenn.: liedboiling Springs. Fla. : Lake Worth.
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 69
Glenurus snowi Banks. Ent. news, 1907, 18, p. 100.
Face black, pale on side under each eye, vertex pale, the vertex scars black; palpi and antennae dark brown; pronotum black, with pale median line; rest of notum also black, and wdth an incomplete pale median line, hind-edge of the niesoscutellum pale; pleura black, hair white; legs pale, femora darkened above and near tip, tibiae dark near base and at tip, tarsal joints less distinctly dark at tip, hairs and bristles mostly black, but front-tibiae at tip beneath with yellowish hair. Abdomen dull black, some segments narrowdy pale above at tips, hair on venter white, but that on last segment dark, above with white hair near base. Fore-wings with a large dark spot near tip broken up into many small, mostly confluent, rounded spots, the space beyond pale, but with some small spots, a large spot at end of anal, two or three along margin beyond it, and several before it, a number between median and cubitus, the space between subcosta and radius dark and extending behind in several places, elsewhere (mostly in apical part) are numerous small dots at connection of veins; venation largely dark, but white in places. Hind-wing with a very large, rather four-lobed dark spot near tip, leaving a space on costal margin, the tip, and a space on hind margin pale; dark streaks between subcosta and radius; venation partly dark and pale. Legs hardly as long as in G. grains, the basal tarsal joint not as long as apical, the spurs equal two joints. The wings are less broad toward tip than in G. gratus, the apex almost acute; seven cross-veins before radial sector in fore-wing, ten branches to radial sector; in hind-wings the cubital area is broad, with three or four series of cross-veins; the first anal bends down before cubital fork.
Length fore-wing 35 mm., width 10 mm.
Length hind-wing 33.5 mm., width 8.6 mm.
Length abdomen 19 mm.
Specimen examined. — Ariz.: Baboquivari Mts. (Type),
There is a second specimen in the Snow collection.
Eremoleon Banks. Trans. Amer. ent. soc, 1901, 27, p. 365.
Last joint of labial palpi but little swollen; antennae rather long and slender, not the diameter of basal joint apart; pronotum longer than broad; legs very long and slender, hind-tibia longer than hind-femur.
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basal tarsal joint shorter or hardly eciiial to apical; spurs about eciual to two joints or more; abdomen shorter than wings. Wings moderately broad, broadest before rhegnia; costal area simple; radial sector plainly beyond the cubital fork, about opposite end of anal vein; second anal united to tiie third for a short distance, sometimes both forked; no Banksian line. In hind-wing but one cross-vein before radial sector, second anal forked, third connected at tip to a short vein parallel to margin of wing, first anal bends down at cul)ital fork.
Type. — E. vuiccr (Hagen).
Differs from Glemu'us greatly in appearance, but structurally very similar, the wings are broader toward iniddle, while in Glenurus they are broader toward tip; the venation, especially toward apex, is nuich less dense than in Glenurus, but the absence of large spots readily separates it.
The two Nearctic species are separated in the following table: —
1. Fore-wings at base with a prominent black spot, no distinct spot at end of anal, cross-veins almost entirely dark, femora plainly dotted, .^ligribasis. Fore-wings without prominent black spot at base, a distinct mark at end of anal, many cross-veins entirely pale, femora scarcely if at all dotted.
macer.
Eremoleon macer Hagen.
Plate 2, fig. 31.39.
Myrmeleon macer Hagen, .Synop., 1861, p. 236.
Face pale, interantennal mark black, extending below but scarcely above antennae; A'ertex gray, \ertex scars of first row brown or black, others scarcely marked; palpi and antennae pale, tip of latter brown; pronotum pale, scarcely marked with dark, sometimes a paler median stripe, a dark dot each side on the furrow; rest of notum pale, traces of dark spots, and a paler median line; pleura pale; legs pale, femora mi- marked except dark at tips, tibiae dark at tips and spotted on outer side, tarsi pale, tip of last joint dark, bristles and hairs black, or yellow- ish. Abdomen dull brown, segments with large pale spot above, larger on basal segments, venter mostly pale, hairs white. Wings but little marked, a brown spot at base of stigma, one at rhegma, and one at end of anal, several radial cross-veins faintly margined with brown, also some faint clouds along the cubitus, and a few elsewhere, none very definite; venation mostly pale, but with brown streaks; hind- wings unmarked, but the pale venation is broken with dark. In fore- wing nine or ten cross-veins before radial sector, none connected.
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 71
about six branches of radial sector, no cubitals crossed; hind-wings with cubital area fairly broad with about three series of cross-veins.
Spurs slender, scarcely curved except at tip, front spurs equal about two and one half joints, hind-spurs equal about two joints; in front- tarsus the basal joint is about two thirds of the last, in hind-tarsus the basal joint about equal to last.
Length fore-wing 28 mm., width 8.5 mm.
Length hind-wing 27 mm., width 7 mm.
Length abdomen 18 mm.
Specimens examined. — Ariz.: Garcia; Palmerlee. Also Mexico (Type).
It has been redescribed by Navas as Scgura vitreus, Mexico.
Eremoleon nigribasis Banks. Plate 2, fig. 26. Eremoleon nigribasis Banks, Bull. M. C. Z., 1920, 64, p. 329.
Face below yellowish, above more gray and also on vertex, almost no trace of interantennal mark, a few irregular spots on vertex; palpi and antennae pale, latter dark at tip. Pronotum reddish gray, traces of marks each side near middle, and a dark streak on each side; rest of notum reddish gray, with many small dark spots or streaks; pleura' pale, with two broken dark stripes ; legs pale, femora and tibiae dotted with brown, latter dark at tips, bristles black; abdomen reddish gray, each segment with a large black spot above, usually near tip, hair short, white.
Wings with no large marks, brown spot at base of stigma, at rhegma, and a prominent black spot at base; longitudinal veins pale, marked with brown, cross-veins almost wholly dark, in many cases very narrowly margined; hind-wings unmarked except faint spot at rhegma, veins pale, with few dark spots. In fore-wings six cross-veins before radial sector, none crossed, about eight branches of radial sector, no cubitals crossed ; in hind-wings cubital area fairly broad, with two or three series of cross-veins. Spurs more curved than in macer, front- spurs equal nearly two and one half joints, hind-spurs almost equal two joints; basal joint of front-tarsus but little more than one half of the apical, basal joint of hind-tarsus about two thirds of apical.
Length fore-wing 24 to 27 mm., width 6.3 to 7.5 mm.
Length hind-wing 22 to 25 mm., width 5 to 6 mm.
Length abdomen 14 to 15 mm.
Specimens examined. — Utah: St. George, June (Types).
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M'illMELEONINAE.
This, the most specialized subfamily, is readily separable into two tribes, each of which is found in all the regions of the world.
1. Claws much curved or bent; thorax above and on pleura, as well as the legs with very long, mostly white hair, hair on legs much longer than the black bristles; the sense-hair at base beneath of femur as long as femur; body rather stout; basal tarsal joint as broad as long. . . .Acanihaclisini. Claws scarcely curved, rarely longer than the basal joint; hair on thorax and legs short, that on legs much shorter than the black bristles; the sense-hair at base of femur beneath (when present) never as long as the femur; body rather slender; basal tarsal joint much longer than broad.
Myrmeleonini.
Myrmeleonini.
Of this the typical group only, the typical genus, Myrmeleon, occurs in the Nearctic fauna.
Myrmeleon Linne. Syst. nat., 1767, ed. 12, 1, pt. 2, p. 913.
Second anal vein of fore-wing as given for subfamily; in hind-wing at least four or five cross-veins before radial sector; antennae widely separated at base; radial sector in both pairs beyond cubital fork, but sometimes not so much so in fore-wings; a single series of costal cells; Banksian line indistinct or absent; intercubital line usually distinct; apical field with some cross-veins; in fore-wing the cubitus shows at base a branch which runs parallel to the first anal for a short distance, and is connected to cubitus by one cross-vein. In hind-wing the third anal at base runs close to the second and typically (forviicarius and im- viaculafus) is forked, but in most Nearctic species it is simple. Legs short; fifth tarsal joint plainly longer than first; the spurs about equal to the first joint.
The abdomen of male is not longer than in female; in both sexes the last segment is very short, and in the male the next to last segment is shorter than in the female.
Type. — M. forvncarivs Linne. Europe.
There are six good and one doubtful Nearctic species.
1. Cross-veins between radius and radial sector reduced in number so that some of these cells are very much longer than the normal cells behind them; first anal vein ends nearly as far out as origin of radial sector,
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 73
three connections between this anal and the cubital fork; second anal usually connected to first branch of first anal; third anal vein of hind- wings forked ; large species immaculatus.
Cross-veins between radius and radial sector normal, the cells about same size as other cells near by; third anal of hind-wings simple 2
2. Wings with veins unmarked; a yellow stripe through bases of wings; pro-
notum with a broad median dark stripe, sides broadly pale; legs reddish,
mostly unmarked; upper half of clypeus black texanus.
Wings more or less dotted or spotted on the veins; pronotum more dark than pale 3
3. Radial sector almost as far basad as the cubital fork; three or four connec-
tions between anal and cubital fork; no black on the clypeus; lateral margin of pronotum at least partly dark; tarsi partly pale; a pale spot on
each lateral lobe of the metanotum mobilis.
Radial sector much beyond cubital fork; usually black marks on the cly- peus 4
4. A fairly broad stripe of clear yellow along outer margin of pronotum back
through bases of the wings, so that the upper edges of pleura are yellow; tarsi almost wholly black ; three or four connections from anal to cubital
fork heriocles.
No such yellow stripe; the posterior corners of pronotum dark or at least dark in front of base of fore-wings; usually but two cross- veins between anal and cubital fork 5
5. No dark on clypeus; posterior part of mesonotum pale diversus.
Clypeus with dark ; mesonotum all dark 6
6. Vertex all dark; tarsi mostly dark; usually two rows of gradates in the
apical area; last joint of labial palpi not greatly swollen, and with rather
long point crudelis.
Vertex spotted with pale; tarsi marked with pale; usually but one row of gradates in the apical area; last joint of labial palpi greatly swollen and with short point rusticus.
A natural grouping of the Nearctic species would be as follows: —
a. Pronotum about twice as broad as long; usually three or four connections between first anal vein and cubital fork, large species.
b. Some hair on pronotum black immaculatus and mobilis.
bb. All hair on pronotum white; more than four cross- veins before
radial sector in hind-wing heriocles.
aa. Pronotum but little broader than long in the middle; smaller species; usually but two connections between first anal vein and cubital fork.
c. Vertex wholly dark crudelis and texanus.
cc. Vertex maculate rusticus and diversus.
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Myrmeleon immaculatus DeGeer. Plate 2, fig. 36. Myrmeleon immaculatus DeGeer, Mem., 1773, 3, p. 364, pi. 27, fig. 8.
Face shining chirk brown or blackish, sides near eyes and the clypeus pale yellowish, above the antennae dull blackish; vertex dark, with the transverse spots shining; pronotum dull black, the lateral anterior corners pale, two pale spots in front-part, and behind two farther apart and more indistinct; rest of the notuni black, the margins narrowly pale; the pleura black; legs pale, femora and til)iae more or less dotted, and dark at tips, the tibiae also dark near base, and on under side, tarsi mostly dark, but pale on bases of first and fifth joints, bristles black. Abdomen dark, sometimes pale spots at bases of segments above, hair mostly white, but in the female the last segment and tips of others above with short black hair.
Wings unmarked, stigma pale, venation with many dark spots and streaks.
Last joint of labial palpi moderately enlarged; a shallow, rounded impression in middle of face below antennae; pronotum twice as broad as long. In the fore-wing the cross-veins between radius and radial sector are reduced in number so that some of these cells are elongated; in middle of wing is a faint beginning of the Banksian line; the inter- cu})ital line (in middle part) as near (or almost so) to hind margin as to the cubitus; the radial sector much beyond cubital fork, about opposite the end of the first anal vein, about eight cross-veins before it; the second anal is connected to the first branch of the first anal vein; three or four connections l)etween first anal and cubital fork; scattered cross-veins in apical fichl. In hind-wing the intercubital much nearer cubitus than to margin; the anal tends to run into the cubital fork; the third anal vein is forked.
In the variety orcidcntnlis, there are (hirk marks between subcosta and radius, and these may be extended I)ack over .some of the radial cross-veins. However not all western specimens are thus marked, and sometimes eastern specimens are marked.
Length fore-wing 22 to 86 mm., width 5.S to 8 mm.
Length hind-wing 20 to 34 mm., width 5 to 6.8 mm.
Length abdomen 18 to 22 mm.
Occurs practically all over the Ignited States reaching into Canada in various places; more common in Southwest than elsewhere. Speci- mens examined are from the following states: — N. H., N. Y., Md.,
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 75
Mich., Va., N. C, Colo., N. M., x\riz., Utah, Nev., Wash., Ore. and Cahf. Also from B. Col., and have seen specimens from Pa., Wyo., N. J., Okla., Ohio, and Fla.
Recorded by Currie from Illinois and Louisiana.
Myrmeleon mobilis Hagen. Can. ent., 1888, 20, p. 204.
Marks of face and vertex very much as in immaculatus, the clypeus unmarked, pronotum with more pale, the pale spots larger and more or less connected, metanotum with two pale spots above, pleura some- what spotted with pale, legs less dotted than in immaculatus, femora with apical marks, tibia with subbasal and apical spots, and the tarsi more pale, bristles black. Abdomen brown, with white hair, under-side of last segments of female with short black hair, at least in apical part. Wings unmarked, stigma pale, veins marked as in ivimaculatns; the cells between radius and radial sector numerous and fairly short ; inter- cubital line distinct, much nearer to cubitus than to margin. Radial sector farther basad than in immaculatus, only a little beyond the cubital fork, about seven cross-veins before it; second anal usually connected to first branch of the first anal; three or four connections between first anal and the cubital fork; about eleven branches to radial sector; scattered cross-veins in apical field. In hind-wing the intercubital line is distinct, with only one row of cells between it and the cubitus; third anal vein not forked. Face, pronotum, and legs as in im,maculatu^. The measurements are similar to those of M. ivmiacu- latvs.
The type is from Savannah, Ga. (Winthem coll.).
Hagen received several specimens from Alabama, and I have one from Bainbridge, Ga., September.
Though generally confused with immaculatus, the numerous cross- veins between radius and radial sector, and the simple third anal vein in hind-wings, as well as color-marks, will separate it.
Myrmeleon heriocles Banks. Proc. Acad. nat. sci. Phil., 1914, p. 619.
Face rich dark brown; clypeus pale, with two dark spots, last joint of labial palpi black, above antennae and the vertex dark brown, but vertex usually a little paler than face ; basal joints of antennae more or less pale, rest black; pronotum dark, lateral margins pale, three spots
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in front, the lateral ones connected to pale margin, and two less dis- tinct behind; rest of notum and the pleura dark, the yellow of the sides of pronotum is continued back through the bases of the wing, so that the upper edge of pleura is yellow and also the connecting parts at base of the wings; hair on thorax white. Femora more or less infuscate in the middle, pale at ends, under-side and tips of ti})iae dark, and tarsi almost wholly black, bristles black. Abdomen dull blackish, with white hair, in the female the last two segments with short black hair. Wings unmarked, stigma pale; venation dotted with dark, with longer spots on main veins. No broad impression on face; pronotum about twice as broad as long. Wings with radial sector much beyond the cubital fork, about ten cross-veins before it, in hind-wings from five to eight veins before radial sector; the intercubital line distinct, much nearer to cubitus than margin; three or four connections between the first anal and the cubital fork; second anal often connected to the first branch of the first anal; about eleven branches of the radial sector, scattered cross-veins in apical field; in hind-wing the third anal is not forked.
Length fore-wing 31 to 36 mm., width 7.3 to 8.6 mm.
Length hind-wing 29 to 34 mm., width 6 to 7 mm.
Length abdomen 22 to 23 mm.
Sj)ccimc7is examined. — N. C: Southern Pines, May (Type). Fla.: Crescent City. N. J.: Lakehurst (Brooklyn mus.).
Myrmeleon TEXAN us Banks. Plate 4, fig. 8L Myrmeleon iexanum Banks, Ent. news, 1900, 11, p. 596.
Face reddislj brown, extending down on upper part of clypeus, rest of clypeus and sides of face near eyes pale yellow, above antennae dull reddish, vertex more shining reddish; last joint of labial palpi pale. Pronotum pale yellow, with a median l^rown stripe, about twice as broad behind as in front; rest of notum and the pleura a dull reddish brown ; base of wings yellowish ; all hair on thorax white. Legs reddish ; the tibiae more yellow on upper sides; bristles black; abdomen dull brown, with white hair, in the female the last segments with short black hair.
Venation of wings pale yellowish, unmarked. Last joint of labial palpi but little swollen; pronotum but little broader than long in the middle. In both wings the radial sector is beyond the end of anal, in
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 77
fore-wings about ten, and in hind-wings four cross-veins before radial sector; about twelve branches to radial sector; intercubital line dis- tinct, two or three cells from the cubitus; in hind-wing the intercubital line less distinct, irregular; in fore-wing two or three connections from first anal to cubital fork; second anal not connected to first branch of first anal; scattered cross-veins in apical field; in hind-wings the third anal not forked. In all of the few specimens seen the fork of the median in the fore-wings ends before the cubital fork (rarely so in any other species).
Length fore-wing 27 mm., width 7 mm.
Length hind-wing 25 mm., width 5.3 mm.
Length abdomen 20 mm.
Specimens examined. — Tex.: Galveston, June (Type); Austin.
Myrmeleon crudelis Walker. Plate 2, fig. 37. Myrmeleon crudelis Walker, Cat. Neur. Brit, mus., 1853, pt. 2, p. 388.
Face shining brown or blackish; clypeus with two dark spots; vertex more or less reddish brown. Pronotum narrowly pale on the sides, and more or less in front and each side near middle, but quite variable, always dark in middle and a dark stripe each side to the furrow, but these not sharply defined and sometimes confluent into one large dark middle area; clothed with white hair; rest of notum dark, scutelli narrowly bordered behind with pale; pleura dark, with two or three small pale spots. Femora broadly dark toward tip, tibiae near base, beneath, and at tip, tarsi almost wholly dark, bristles black. Abdo- men dull brown, tips of several segments above pale, hair white, in female last ventral with black hair. Venation pale, mostly dotted, but some of the principal veins with larger spots or streaks. Last joint of labial palpi moderately swollen; pronotum as long in middle as broad. In fore-wings about seven cross-veins before radial sector, four in hind-wings; ten to eleven branches of the radial sector; in fore- wings first anal is connected to cubital fork two (sometimes three) times; second anal rarely connected to first branch of first anal; scat- tered cross-veins in apical field, intercubital line much nearer to cubitus than to margin; in hind-wings the third anal vein is not forked; the intercubital line not distinct, broken by cells; in both wings the radial sector is much beyond the cubital fork.
Length fore-wing 22 to 29 mm., width 4.9 to 7 mm.
78 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Length hiiul-wing 20 to 27 mm., width 4.2 to 5.8 mm.
Length iihdomen 16 to 20 mm.
Specimens examined. — Va.: Cape Henry, July; Virginia Beach. N. C: Southern Pines, May. Ga. : Millen, July. Fla. : St. Augustine; Biscayne Bay; Crescent City; Capron; Enterprise; and Lee Co. Tex.: Brazos Co.; Laredo; San Antonio; Brownsville. Also Lakehurst, New Jersey (Davis coll.), Beaufort, Raleigh, North Carolina (N. Car. state coll.), Sandy Hook, New York, Florida (Amer. mus. nat. hist.); St. Simon's Island, (Georgia (Cornell univ.), Brownsville, Texas (Brooklyn mus., Snow coll.), Riverton, New Jersey (Johnson).
Myrmeleon rusticus Hagen. Synop., 1861, p. 233.
Face shining dark brown or black, the clypeus with two large dark spots; vertex reddish brown or black on the vertex rows; between with yellow spots, thus a yellow spot each side by eye, which normally is connected to a yellow spot between the inner and outer dark spots of first vertex row (but absent in the Type) ; two gray spots behind near middle, and a yellowish spot each side on the occiput. Pronotum with the lateral margin pale, a median spot in front, one each side, and a pair behind, sometimes these spots are connected; rest of notum dark, usually a pale median spot on the base of metanotum; pleura dark, with a few pale spots; hair of thorax white. Femora usually dark only near the tip, tibiae near base and at tip, often (especially in hind- tibia) with a streak below; tarsi mostly pale; bristles black. Abdomen brown or black, tips of some of the segments usually pale above; hair white, in the female that on the last ventral black. Wings with pale venation, dotted with dark, spotted on the larger veins, in more fully colored specimens than the Type some of the cross-veins are largely or wholly dark. Structure similar to M. crudclis, but the last joint of the labial palpi is more enlarged; the pronotum is broader, being plainly broader than long in the middle. Wings also similar to M. crudelis, but in the apical field there is a single series of gradate cross- veins.
Length fore-wing 25 to 29 mm., width 6 to 7.4 mm.
Length hind-wing 23 to 27 mm., width 5.2 to G.2 mm.
Length abdomen 18 to 19 mm.
Specimens examined. — Tex.: Pecos River (Type). N. M. : Mesilla, June. Ariz.: Nogales, June; Phoenix, September. Utah: St. George,
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 79
June; Lion's Canyon, June; Coal Creek, Iron Co., June. Calif.: Clare- niont; Coronado Beach.
The type of rusticus is rather larger and not as fully colored as the forms I described as distans and agriope. The red-brown of rusticus is black in the latter forms. However I consider them all one species.
Myrmeleon diversus Hagen. 6th rept. U. S. G. S. territ., 1873, p. 729.
The single type from the Yellowstone agrees in general with M. rusticus, but is rather smaller, with the wings faintly marked. The vertex spots are the same as in rusticus, but the large spot on face does not reach the clypeus, and there is no dark on clypeus. The pronotum is almost wholly pale, with a dark stripe on each side; the posterior part of the mesonotum is pale, and there are pale spots on the sides of the anterior lobe, and the metascutellum is also partly pale. The last joint of the labial palpi is as in M. rusticus. Probably it is but an aberrant specimen of that species.
Length fore-wing 24 mm., width 6 mm.
The length hind-wing 22 mm., width 5.2 mm.
Length abdomen 18 mm.
Acanthaclisini.
Three genera are separated as follows : —
1. Fore-wings with but one series of costal cells; apical field scarcely widened
beyond the stigma; last joint of labial palpi scarcely pedicellate; the
spurs bent at an angle (Plate 2, fig. 46) Paranthaclisis.
Fore-wings with two series of costal cells for most of the length ; apical field plainly widened beyond stigma; last joint of labial palpi long pedicellate; spurs simply curved, not bent at angle (Plate 2, fig. 47) 2
2. Hind-wings with a distinct Banksian line Heoclisis.
Hind-wings without a Banksian line Vella.
Paranthaclisis Banks. Ent. news., 1907, 18, p. 275.
Antennae fully diameter of basal joint apart ; spurs strongly bent at an angle, and before the angle swollen on inner side, equal to three tarsal joints; last joint of labial palpi not pedicellate; pronotum much broader than long, and much broader behind than in front; abdomen
80 BULLETIN: MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY.
much shorter than wings; wings fairly l)roa(l, costal area simple, and beyond the stigma the area is but little widened, Banksian and inter- cubital lines fairly distinct in both pairs; cross-veins before radial sector rarely crossed; in fore-wings the third anal is usually forked, the second usually not forked but connected to first branch of the first anal.
Type. — P. congener (Hagen).
Two species are readily separated as follows: —
1 . Many cross- veins slightly margined with dark, so the wings appear spotted ; vertex spots dull black; several abdominal segments marked with pale at tip; male appendages rather longer than height of last
segment congener.
Cross-veins not margined; spots of vertex shining black; abdominal seg- ments at most faintly pale margined; male appendages rather shorter than the height of last segment hageni.
Paranthaclisis congener (Hagen). Acanlhaclisis congener Hagen, Synop., 1861, p. 224.
Face yellowish; palpi pale; lower part of antennae pale, then annu- late, and tip dark; vertex with large spot each side and median stripe dull black; pronotum dull black, four pale spots in front, the laterals more or less continued behind, two broad pale spots on the posterior border, and usually a minute pale dot in the middle of the black; rest of notum black, much spotted with pale, anterior lobe pale each side, mesoscutellum with pale spot each side behind ; pleura mostly dark, a few pale spots; femora and much of tibiae dark above, latter usually pale at base and tip, tarsi mostly dark, except last joint, sometimes legs largely or wholly pale; hair on pleura and legs almost wholly white, some bristles on legs black; the metanotum has hair all white, but meso- and pronotum with much black hair through middle, white on sides. Abdomen dull black, two or three segments near tip with pale spot abo\e ; hair short, white, but in female the last few segments with much black hair.
The longitudinal veins of the wings with dark streaks, many cross- veins wholly dark and more or less margined with l)rown, so that the whole wing appears rather evenly spotted; hind-wings mostly un- marked, the veins being partly dark. About seven cross-veins before radial sector in the fore-wing, about six in hind-wing; nine branches to radial sector; usually a few cubitals connected; apical field with one row of cross-veins. Male appendages fully as long as height of the last segment; in the female the lower appendages are pale.
Length fore-wing 32 to 37 mm., width 9 to 11 mm.
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 81
Length hind-wing 30 to 35 mm., width 7.5 to 9 mm.
Length abdomen 25 to 27 mm.
Speciviens examined. — Cahf. : San Bernardino, July. Ariz.: Jerome, June; Verde River. Utah: Hurricane; Ore. Wash.: Ainsworth, July; Yakima River, July. Also Arizona (x\mer. mus. nat. hist.), Nogales, Arizona (Cornell univ.). Las Cruces, New Mexico (N. M. agric. coll.).
Paranthaclisis hageni (Banks). Acanthaclisis hageni Banks, Ent. news, 1899, 10, p. 170.
Face and palpi yellowish; antennae rather faintly annulate, tip dark; vertex with the spots deep shining black, with white hair be- tween them; pronotum black, with four pale spots in front, the inner pair more separated than in congener, each side behind with a large pale spot, and two on the posterior border; rest of notum spotted much as in congener; pleura dark, scarcely spotted; femora mostly brownish, often darker above, tibiae also brownish, more evenly colored than in congener, tarsi black, hair on pleura and legs white, that on hind-legs less prominent, and with many black bristles ; notum with white hair on the metanotum, that on middle area of pro- and mesonotum with much black hair mixed with the white. Abdomen black, unmarked, with very short white hair, in the female the last segments with mostly black hair. Venation of wings interruptedly black and whitish, many cross-veins wholly black, but not margined ; about eight cross-veins before radial sector in the fore-wings, in hind- wings about six, about ten branches to the radial sector, usually two or three cubitals connected, one row of cross-veins in apical field. Male appendages parallel, shorter than height of the last segment; in female the lower appendages are black.
Length fore-wing 35 to 37 mm., width 9 to 10 mm.
Length hind-wing 32 to 35 mm., width 8 to 8.5 mm.
Length abdomen 22 to 24 mm.
Specimens examined. — Ariz.: Phoenix (Type); Safford. N. M. : Albuquerque, August. Tex.: Pecos, July. Also Kansas (Snow coll.), Santa Fe and Albuquerque, New Mexico (Cornell univ.), Mesilla, New Mexico (N. Mex. agric. coll.), Brownsville, Texas (Brooklyn mus.).
Hegclisis Navas.
Mem. Pont. acad. Rom. nuovi Lincei, 1923, ser. 2, 6, p. 12.
Antennae almost diameter of basal joint apart; last joint of labial palpi long pedicellate; spurs curved, about equal to three tarsal joints; pronotum about as long in middle as broad in front, but broader
82 bulletin: museum of compakative zoology.
behind; abdomen in both sexes much shorter than wings. Fore-wings with double costal series to near base, at least to origin of radial sector; beyond the stigma the area is much widened; the Banksian and inter- cubital lines distinct in both pairs; second anal vein not forked, but connected to first branch of the first anal vein, third anal forked. Usually some cubitals and some cross-veins before the radial sector in fore-wings are crossed.
Type. — Il.fundata (Walker). x\ustralia.
Acanthuclms americana cannot remain in the typical genus if the group is divided into several genera, as is now generally accepted; it agrees well in with Heoclisis which occurs in Asia and Australia.
Hegclisis AMERICANA (Drury). Plate 2, fig. 47. Myrmeleon americanum Drury, Ins., 1770, 1, p. Ill, pi. 46, fig. 4.
Face yellowisli; last joint of labial palpi mostly black; antennae scarcely annulate; front and vertex black, latter partly shining, a pair of faint pale submedian lines behind; pronotum gray, a basal median black stripe, and the lateral margins black; rest of notum black, with some gray areas, especially each side of mesoscutellum ; pleura mostly gray, with black, and pale spots; femora brownish, tibia also, but banded with pale, tarsi black; long hair on legs, pleura, and metanotum white, on pronotum and mesonotum with black hair medially. Abdo- men black, unmarked, white hair near base, black toward tip. Vena- tion black and pale in patches, the radius and subcosta with many dark spots, and the space between largely black, space between medius and cubitus also mostly dark, beyond the rhegma two dark sj)ots and a streak in the apex of wing, another about middle near hind-margin, and a spot at end of anal vein; some of the marginal forks are clouded; the cross-vein often wholly dark, but not margined; hind-wings with spot at rhegma, and the veins partly black.
Last joint of labial palpi long, pedicellate; antennae shorter than head and thorax, not very strongly clavate; abdomen much shorter than wings, male appendages longer than height of last segment, subparallel.
Fore-wings with double costal series to origin of radial sector; apical field with one row of cross-veins, about eleven cross-veins before radial sector in fore-wings, seven in hind-wings, ten branches to radial sector, usually some cubitals crossed, along the Banksian line are some hyaline dots on the cross-veins.
banks: revision of the nearctic myrmeleonidae. 83
Length fore-wing 52 to 60 mm., width 13 to 16 mm.
Length hind-wing 49 to 57 mm., width 11 to 13.5 mm.
Length abdomen 32 mm.
Specimens examined. — N. C: Newbern; Beaufort, September; Southern Pines, July, August. Ga.: Millen. Also Virginia, Norfolk (Chittenden). Florida (x\cad. nat. sci. Phil.).
Vella Navas. Broteria, 1913, 11, p. 46.
Antennae diameter of basal joint apart; last joint of labial palpi long pedicellate; spurs curved, about equal to three tarsal joints; pronotum broader than long, narrowed in front; abdomen of both sexes much shorter than the wings. Fore-wings with a double series of costal cells for usually more than one half-way to base; apical field much broadened beyond stigma; the Banksian and intercubital lines distinct in fore-wings, in hind-wings no sign of the Banksian line, the intercubital distinct; in fore-wings the second anal vein usually not forked, the third forked, the second connected to first branch of first anal. Usually some cubitals and some cross-veins before radial sector crossed.
Type. — V.fallax (Rambur).
Our three forms are closely related and may prove with more ma- terial to be but one variable species ; they are separated as below : • —
1. Pronotum with a median dark stripe, and the lateral margin dark, pale
between ; the abdomen mostly pale 2
Pronotum with median and marginal stripes and also one each side be- tween them; abdomen mostly dark; space between the radius and sub- costa mostly dark hesperus.
2. The mesoscutellum largely dark; venation very dense; space between sub-
costa and radius little if any marked; male appendages shorter. . .fallax.
The mesoscutellum pale with middle stripe; venation more open; space
between the subcosta and radius heavily marked; male appendages
longer texana.
Of V. texana I have seen only the types, of hesperus only the three original specimens, and of fallax several from Mexico, but only one specimen from the United States. V. texana is the most heavily spotted, while hesperus has more evenly dark front-wings, fallax more faintly and irregularly marked. In texana and hesperus the space between the subcosta and radius is mostly dark, in fallax pale, rarely a few faint marks. In texana and fallax the pronotum has a dark median stripe
84 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
containing a pale line in front, and the side-margins dark; in hesperus there is besides a dark stripe on each side between the two. The abdo- men of hesperus is mostly black, with narrow pale stripes; in fallax and texana it is mostly pale, with narrow dark stripes. The male append- ages of texana and hesperus are a little longer than in fallax, V. fallax is more densely veined than the others.
In all the face is yellowish, the palpi pale, the last joint of labial palpi scarcely darkened, the vertex dull black, the notum of thorax black, with gray streaks and spots, the femora darkened above, the tibiae dark near base and at tip.
The fore-wings have a double series of costal cells rather more than one half-way to base, there are usually more than ten cross-veins before the radial sector, often several crossed, about nine branches to radial sector, the apical field with two rows of cross-veins; some of the cubitals connected; the subcosta and radius closely dotted with black; in hind- wings seven cross-veins before radial sector.
Vella texana (Hagen). Acanthaclisis texana Hagen, Can. ent., 1887, 19, p. 147.
Length fore-wing 55 mm., width 14 nun.
Length hind-wing 53 mm., width 10 mm.
Length abdomen 34 mm.
The type and others examined are from Carrizo Springs, Texas.
Vella fallax (Rambur). Myrmeleon fallax Rambur, Hist. ins. N^vr., 1842, p. 385.
The only specimen from the United States is from Phoenix, Arizona, it is smaller than Mexican specimens. Length fore-wing 48 mm., width 11 mm. Length hind-wing 45 mm., width 8 mm. Length abdomen 30 mm.
Vella hesperus (Banks). Acanthaclisis hespera Banks, Proc. Acad. nat. sci. Phil., 1914, p. 618.
Measurements about as in texanus.
The types are from Jemez Mts., N. Mex. Another from Nogales, Arizona, July (Cornell univ.).
EXPLANATION OF PLATES.
PLATE 1.
Banks. — Revision of the Nearctic Myrmeleonidae.
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PLATE 1.
Hesperoleon papago, vertex and pronotum. Hesperoleon coquilletti, vertex and pronotum. Hesperoleon yavapai, vertex and pronotum. Hesperoleon irregularis, vertex and pronotum. Hesperoleon abdominalis, vertex and pronotum. Hesperoleon niger, vertex and pronotum. Hesperoleon minusculus, vertex and pronotum. Hesperoleon maculosus, vertex and pronotum. Hesperoleon nigrilabris, vertex and pronotum. Hesperoleon tenuis, vertex and pronotum. Hesperoleon texanus, vertex and pronotum. Hesperoleon sackeni, vertex and pronotum. Hesperoleon hubbardi, vertex and pronotum. Hesperoleon brunncus, vertex and pronotum variations. Brachynemurus elongatus, i)ronotum. Hesperoleon douglasi, pronotum. Hesperoleon ferox, pronotum. Hesperoleon abdominalis, pronotum. Hesperoleon assimilis, pronotum. Hesperoleon carrizonus, pronotum. Netroncurus carolinus, pronotum. Austroleon dorsalis, vertex and pronotum. Hesperoleon versutus, vertex and pronotum.
BULL. MUS. COMP. ZOOL.
Banks. Myrmeleonidae. Plate 1
HeLIOTiPE CO. BOSTON
PLATE 2.
Banks. — Revision of the Nearctic Myrmeleonidae.
PLATE 2.
Fig. 24. Austroloon barberi, vertex and pronotum.
Fig. 25. Netroneunis pulchellus, vertex and pronotum.
Fig. 26. Eremoleon nigribasis, vertex and pronotum.
Fig. 27. Chaetoleon pusillus, vertex and pronotum.
Fig. 28. Brachynemurus longicaudus, vertex and pronotum.
Fig. 29. Cryptoleon henshawi, vertex and pronotum.
Fig. 30. Clathroneuria delicatulus, vertex and pronotum.
Fig. 31. Eremoleon maoer, vertex and pronotum.
Fig. 32. Psammoleon minor, male appendages.
Fig. 33. Psammoleon bistictus, male appendages.
Fig. 34. Psammoleon sinuatus, male appendages.
Fig. 35. Psammoleon connexus, male appendages.
Fig. 36. Myrmeleon immaculatus, anal area of hind-wings.
Fig. 37. Myrmeleon crudelis, anal area of hind-wings.
Fig. 38. Psammoleon guttipcs, male appendages.
Fig. 39. Eremoleon macer, anal area of fore-wing.
Fig. 40. Chaetoleon pumilis, anal area of fore-wing.
Fig. 41. Dendroleon speciosum, anal area of fore-wing.
Fig. 42. Psammoleon minor, spurs.
Fig. 43. Psammoleon guttipes, spurs.
Fig. 44. Psammoleon connexus, spurs.
Fig. 45. Glenurus gratus, anal area of fore-wing.
Fig. 46. Paranthaclisis, spurs and labial palpus.
Fig. 47. Heoclisis americana, spurs and labial palpus.
BULL. MUS. COMP. ZOOL.
Banks. Myrmeleonidae. Plate 2
HELIOTYPE CO. BOSTON
PLATE 3.
Banks. — Revision of the Nearctic Myrmeleonidae.
PLATE 3.
Fig. 48. Hesperoleon sackeni, tip abdomen, male.
Fig. 49. Cryptoleon nebulosum, tip abdomen, male.
P'ig. 50. Cryptoleon signatum, tip abdomen, male.
Fig. 51. Hesperoleon pallidus, tip abdomen, male.
Fig. 52. Hesperoleon nigrilabris, tip abdomen, male.
Fig. 53. Hesperoleon abdominalis, tip abdomen, male.
Fig. 54. Hesperoleon minusculus, tip abdomen, male.
Fig. 55. Cryptoleon henshawi, tip abdomen, male.
Fig. 56. Crjrptoleon nebulosum, labial palpus.
Pig. 57. Brachynemurus elongatus, tip abdomen, male.
Fig. 58. Brachynemurus ramburi, tip abdomen, male.
Fig. 59. Hesperoleon niger, labial palpus.
Fig. 60. Hesperoleon maculosus, hind tarsus.
Fig. 61. Hesperoleon carrizonus, tip abdomen, male.
P"ig. 62, Hesperoleon singularis, tip abdomen, male.
Fig. 63. Hesperoleon douglasi, tip abdomen, male.
Fig. 64. Hesperoleon abdominalis, tip abdomen, male.
Fig. 65. Hesperoleon assimilis, tip abdomen, male.
P'ig. 66. Hesperoleon pallidus, front of head.
Fig. 67. Hesperoleon minusculus, hind tarsus.
Fig. 68. Scotoleon longipalpis, labial palpus.
P'ig. 69. Brachynemurus tuberculatus, tip abdomen, male.
Fig. 70. Brachynemurus longicaudus, tip abdomen, male.
Fig. 71. Hesperoleon ferox, tip abdomen, male.
Fig. 72. Brachynemurus tuberculatus, front of head.
Fig. 73. Hesperoleon singularis, front of head.
Fig. 74. Netroneurus carolinus, front of head.
BULL. MUS. COMP. ZOOL.
Banks. Myrmeleonidae. Plate 3
49
50
HELIOTYPE CO. BOSTON
PLATE 4.
Banks. — Revision of the Nearctic Myrmeleonidae.
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PLATE 4.
Hesperoleon blandus, pronotum. Hesperoleon intermedius, pronotum. Hesperoleon quadripunctatus, pronotum. Hesperoleon singularis, pronotum. Clathroneuria schwarzi, pronotum. Puren inscriptus, pronotum. Myrmeleon texanus, pronotum. Hesperoleon yavapai, hind-wing, apical area. Austroleon dorsalis, male abdomen, tip. Hesperoleon blandus, male abdomen, tip. Hesperoleon versutus, male abdomen, tip. Hesperoleon coquilletti, front tarsus. Hesperoleon mexicanus, male abdomen, tip. Hesperoleon intermedius, male abdomen, tip. Hesperoleon coquilletti, male abdomen, tip. Hesperoleon hubbardi, male abdomen, tip. Hesperoleon yavapai, male abdomen, tip. Scotoleon longipalpis, male abdomen, tip. Puren inscriptus, hind tarsus. Hesperoleon irregularis, front tarsus. Hesperoleon hubbardi curtus, male abdomen, tip. Hesperoleon quadripunctatus, male abdomen, tip. Hesperoleon brunneus, male abdomen, tip. Hesperoleon texanus, male abdomen, tip. Clathroneuria schwarzi, male abdomen, tip. Calinemurus fuscus, male abdomen, tip. Dendroleon obsoletum, hind tibia and tarsus.
BULL. MUS. COMP. ZOOL.
Banks. Myrmeleonidae. Plate 4
^^gLIOTYPg CO. BOSTON
Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoolo8:y
AT HARVARD COLLEGE.
Vol. LXVIII. No. 2.
THE DISTRIBUTION AND RELATIONSHIPS OF THE TRINUCLEIDAE.
By Henry C. Stetson.
With One Plate.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS., U. S. A.:
PRINTED FOR THE MUSEUM.
July, 1927.
No. 2. — The Distribution and Relationships of the Trinucleidae.
By Henry C. Stetson.
This study is an attempt to trace the migrations of the members of a family of trilobites from the time of their first appearance to extinc- tion. Such an attempt involves the assembling of a list of the species, with their geological and geographical distribution, and the correlation of the strata in which they occur in various countries. Furthermore, it was necessary to ascertain which characteristics are primitive and which specialized in the family, and the relationships of the species to one another. This involved a study of the ontogeny and phylogeny. I have applied Raymond's generic criteria to all known species, and have indicated such modifications as it seems necessary to make in the existing scheme. Starting with the most primitive forms, I have tried to trace the hypothetical lines of evolution, with especial reference to places of origin and migration.
To Dr. Raymond's constant advice and criticism this paper is largely due. I wish to thank Dr. F. R. C. Reed for his kindness in allocating some of the British species to their proper horizons.
The Trinucleidae were grouped by Raymond (35) in three genera, Trinucleus, Cryptolithus, and Tretaspis. In addition to the charac- teristics noted by him, I have paid especial attention to the structure of the brim, this proving to be a feature of great importance in working out the phylogeny.
Tretaspis has a flask-shaped glabella, deep glabellar furrows, and simple eyes, which persist to the adult stage. The brim is marked by concentric rows of pits. Tretaspis scticornis (Hisinger) is the type. Trinucleus has a similar flask-shaped glabella, bearing furrows. It is distinguished by a much more simple type of brim, with radial fur- rows. It lacks eyes and eye-lines. The type is Trinucleus fimbriatvs Murchison. Cryptolithus has a large glabella, not constricted at its posterior end, and with the glabellar furrows shown by very faint grooves or spots. The wide brim has numerous concentric rows of small pits. The type is Cryptolithus tessellatus Green. Reed's (47, p. 118) three groups, distinguished by the ornamentation in the genal areas, correspond in the main with Raymond's, although based on different characteristics. His Group I is the equivalent of Trinucleus, Group II of Tretaspis, and Group III of Cryptolithus. However, Reed
88 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
only applied this classification to a few English species, and it is im- possible to tell from figures alone, whether or not it would hold for other species in other countries.
LIST OF THE SPECIES OF THE TRINUCLEIDAE, WITH THEIR GEOLOGIC RAxNGES.
Arenig.
England: — Trinucleus murchisoni Salter, from the Shelve Region of Shropshire.
Wales: — Trinucleus viurckisoni Salter, from Montgomeryshire; Trinuclcus gihhsii Salter, Trinucleus scdgwicki Salter, and Tri- nucleus etheridgi Hicks, from St. David's Head, Pembrokeshire.
Llandeilo.
England: — Cryptolithus lloydii (Murchison), from the mining dis- trict of Shropshire; Cryptolithus favus (Salter) from Meadow- town.
Wales: — Cryptolithus lloydii (Murchison) from Carmarthenshire; Cryptolithus favus and Trinucleus fimbriatus Murchison, from Builth.
Scotland: — Tretaspis subradiata (Reed) from the Balclatchie beds of the Girvan District.
Ireland: — Cryptolithus thersitcs (Salter) from Tramore, Trinuclcus fimbriatus Murchison, from Wexford, Tyrone, and Wicklow, and Trinucleus hibernicus Reed from Tramore.
Bala or Caradoc.
England: — Cryptolithus caractaci (Murchison) from Onney River, Shropshire, and Cheney Longville; Cryptolithus nicholsoni (Reed) from the Dufton Shales near Melmerby, Cumberland.
Wales: — Cryptolithus caractaci (Murchison) from the Sholeshook limestone, Pembrokeshire; Cryptolithus interniedius (Wade), and Cryptolithus arcuatus (Smith) from Trilobite Dingle, Mont- gomeryshire; Cryptolithus yibbifrons (McCoy) Caradoc sandstone; Tretaspis radiata (Murchison) from Welshpool, and the Caradoc and Meifod Hills.
stetson: trinucleidae. 89
Scotland : — Trimwlcus alhidus Reed from the Whitehouse Group, Girvan District.
Ireland: — Cryptolithus elongatus (Portlock) from Tyrone and Pom- eroy; Cryptolithus caractaci (Murchison) from Wexford, Tyrone, and Waterford; Trinucleus latus Portlock from Tyrone; and Tretaspis portrainensis (Reed) from Dublin County.
ASHGILLIAN.
England : — Tretaspis seticornis (Hisinger) from the Coniston lime- stone.
Scotland : — Tretaspis seticornis and Tretaspis bucklandi (Barrande) from the Drummock Group, Girvan District.
Ireland : — Tretaspis seticornis from Pomeroy, Chair of Kildair, Wexford, Tyrone ; Cryptolithus portlocki (Salter) from Tyrone and Pomeroy; Cryptolithus arcualus (Smith) from Pomeroy.
Arenig. France: — Cryptolithus primitivus (Born) from Montagues Noires.
Llandeilo. Schistes a Calymenes.
France: — Cryptolithus hureaid (Oehlert) from the top of the ardoises d'Angers at Andouille, and also from the Valley of the Laize in the lower part of the Gres de May, with Synhomalonotus tristani; Cryptolithus grenieri (Bergeron) Schistes d'Ecalgrain, Manche, where it is associated with the group of Synhomalonotus tristani (Oehlert 30, p. 307); Cryptolithus goldfussi (Barrande) from the Gres de Bas Pont near Vitre, at the top of the Gres de May.
Bala. Sandstones of Riadan.
France : — Cryptolithus pongerardi (Rouault) from Ille-et-Vilaine in the Gres de Bas Pont {i.e., top of the Gres de May), as far as the schistes ardoisiers superieurs de Riadan and of Renaze; Crypto- lithus goldfussi from the same horizon, and Cryptolithus ornatus (Sternberg) associated with it; Cryptolithus seunesi (Kerforne) from May sur Orne.
90 bulletin: museum of COMP.^JlATIVE ZOOLOGY.
ASHGILLIAN.
France: — Trctaspis seticornis (Hisinger) from the Ardennes.
D 1 7 BoHEML\: — Tninucleoides rcussi (Barrande); Trinucleus praecede7is Kloucek.
D2
Bohemia: — Cryptolithus goldfussi (Barrande); Cryptolitkus alfrcdi (Zelizko).
D3
Bohemia: — Cryptolithus goldfussi (Barrande).
D4
Bohemia: — Cryptolithus ornatus (Sternberg); Cryptolithus goldfussi (Barrande).
D5 Bohemia: — Cryptolithus goldfussi (Barrande); Cryptolithus ornatus (Sternberg); Cryptolithus ultinms (Barrande); Trctaspis bucklandi (Barrande).
Lower Dicellograptus Zone.
Saveden: — Trinucleus cosdnorrhinus Angelin; FogelsUng in Scania, Trinucleus efflorcscens Hackling from Jeintland.
Lower Chasmops Zone.
Sweden: — Trctaspis carinata (Angelin) and Trctaspis ccrioides (An- gelin) from Kinnekulle, Vastergotland.
Norway: — Trctaspis wahlcnburgi (Rouaiilt) and Trinucleus buccu- Icntcs Angelin from the Oslo District; Trinucleus foveolatus Angelin from the Ogygia shale, 50 miles north of Oslo.
Trinucleus Shale.
Sweden: — Trctaspis affinis (Angelin) from Dalecarlia; Trctaspis ccri- oides (Angelin) from Kinnekulle, Vastergotland; Trctaspis buck- landi (Barrande) from Scania; Trctaspis cliptifrons (Olin) from Scania; Trctaspis wahlcnburgi (Rouault) from Mosseburg, Bil- lingen, and Alleberg in Vastergotland; Tretasjyis scticoruisiWhm- ger, from Draggabro, Furndal; Trcstuspis latilimba (Linnarsson) from Scania.
stetson: trinucleidae. . 91
Norway: — Tretaspis seticornis (Hisinger) from the Oslo District. Denmark: — Tretaspis ivahlcnburgi (Rouault) and Tretaspis hucklandi
(Barrande) from Bornholm. Esthonia: — Tretaspis seticornis (Hisinger) from Lyckholm strata,
western Esthonia.
Ordovician Superieue.
Portugal: — Cryptolithus pongerardi (Rouaidt) ; Cryptolithus goldfussi (Barrande) from Bussaco; Cryptolithus hureaui (Oehlert) from Bussaco and Tagus Basin; Cryptolithus seunesi (Kerforne) from Tagus Basin.
NOEMANSKILL.
U. S. A. : — Trinudeus diademata (Ruedemann) and Tretaspis reticu- lata Ruedemann from Rysedorph Hill, near Albany, N. Y. ; Tri- i}uclcus acerrulosus Raymond from the Athens of central Virginia and eastern Tennessee.
Trenton.
U. S. A. : — Cryptolithus tessellatus Green, 40 to 80 feet above the base of the Trenton at Quebec, Montreal, Champlain Valley, Saratoga, and in the Mohawk Valley, Amsterdam to Trenton Falls; 150 feet above the base of the Trenton at Martinsburg, N. Y. ; 50 feet above the base of the Trenton in northwestern New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania; at the base of the Trenton at Belle- fonte. Pa., and for 40 miles south; 125 feet above the base of the Trenton in Catawba Valley, Va., and continues at same horizon southward along the line of strike to about 50 miles north of Knoxville, Tenn. ; 25 feet above the base of the Trenton in central Kentucky near Frankfort; Viola limestone of Oklahoma; top of the Trenton in Kentucky on the Ohio River in the vicinity of Cincinnati, at Bellefonte, Pa., and the Appalachian Valley from Chambersburg, Pa. to Staunton, Va.; Cryptolithus bellulus (Ulrich) from the Eden of the Cincinnati District, and the Mo- hawk Valley in New York.
Lorraine.
U. S. A. : — Cryptolithus lorrainensis (Ruedemann) west of Adiron- dacks of New York.
92 bulletin: museum of compakative zoology.
Correlation.
In correlating I have taken English series as a basis. Only those strata containing the Trinucleidae are considered.
The identification of the Arenig in France and Bohemia is at best complicated. Pocta (32, p. 137), having studied the Ordovician of the west of France with Oehlert, says that it is impossible to correlate directly between France and Bohemia. The lowest stage in Bohemia, Dl, is divided into three parts a, j3, and 7. Dl /3 at Rokycan contains the Euloma-Niobe fauna which is lowest Arenig (Holub, 19). Dl /3 is therefore older than the Arenig Trinucleus horizons of Wales, and older than the horizon of Cryptolithus primitiims of the Montagues Noires. The crux of the situation is whether Dl 7 is upper Arenig or lower Llandeilo. Until more work is done, the question rests on a rather unsatisfactory basis. Dl 7 comes directly above /3 so that from its position it might be judged to be Arenig. Brogger (8) lists from it the typical Arenig trilobites : — Asaphellus, Megalaspis, and Platypeltis. With them occur Bidymograptxis geininus, and Cryptograjitus tricornis, which are supposedly guide fossils to the lower Llandeilo. He is of the opinion that the trilobites are more to be relied on. Freeh (11, p. 112- 115) likewise puts it in the Arenig. I find the same situation in France, where the lowest beds of the Calymene schists (slates of Angers) con- tain Didymograpius murcMsoni, D. nanus, D. cuodus, and D.furcillatus, most of which are Arenig, but, nevertheless, have D. vinrchisoni associ- ated with them (Barrois 4, p. 75-191). This horizon is the equivalent of Dl 7, and they must be either both Arenig or both Llandeilo. In the Calymene schists, Synhomalonotiis arago characterizes the base and S. tristani the summit (Haug, 15, p. 63G), and it is with the latter that Cryptolithus burcaui and C. grenieri are associated. Whatever the age of the bottom of the Calymene schists may be, there is no doubt but that the top is Llandeilo. The consensus of opinion seems to be that Dl 7 is Arenig and is so considered here.
Another Arenig species that has caused uncertainty is Cryptolithus primitivus, from the Montagues Noires. Born (7) states that it occurs with Phyllograptus which should put it definitely in the Arenig. But the trilobites with it are the Llandeilo species, Dcdmauitrs socialis, Ogygia glabrata, and Synhomalonotus arago. However, as Phyllograptus is so good a guide fossil, I have accepted it as Arenig.
There seems to be no difficulty with the Llandeilo. Freeh (11, p. 112-115) says it corresponds with D2 in Bohemia. In Scandinavia it corresponds with the lower Dicellograptus zone, and with the Norman-
stetson: trinucleidae. 93
skill in the United States (Raymond, 37). I have already taken up the case of France.
The Bala according to Freeh (11, p. 112-115) corresponds with D3 and D4 in Bohemia. It is in D4 that Cryptolitlms ornatus first appears associated with C. goldfussi; C. goldfussi first occurs in Bohemia in D2, and in France in the sandstones of Bas Pont {i.e., at the top of the Gres de May) (Haug, 15, p. 636). In the latter case C. goldfussi continues up to the upper slaty shales of Riadan where C. ornatus is associated with it (Oehlert, 30, p. 310). Therefore, D4 is probably the equivalent of this latter horizon. Furthermore, C. pongerardi occurs in the sandstones of Riadan which is just above the Gres de May (Haug, 15, p. 636), and which in many cases terminates the upper Ordovician (Oehlert, 30, p. 310). Geikie (12, p. 972) considers this Bala. The Bala is also the equivalent of the Chasmops beds in Scandi- navia, and of the Trenton in the United States (Raymond, 37).
Except in the United States, the Ashgillian is characterized by Tretaspis scticornis. It is probably the equivalent of D5 in Bohemia, and of the Trinucleus shale in Scandinavia. In France there is but one occurrence of T. seticornis, in the Ardennes. Elsewhere the Ashgillian seems to be lacking.
In Portugal, I have taken Delgado's Ordovicien superieur to be the equivalent of the Bala. There is no evidence from other fossils asso- ciated with the Trinucleidae that it can be the equivalent of the Ashgillian. Therefore, as Cryptolithus pongerardi and C. seunesi occur in France in what is the equivalent of the Bala, this also is probably Bala. Crypiolithus goldfussi occurs in the equivalent of the Llandeilo, as well as the Bala, but on this basis C. bureaui would occur in France at a lower horizon than in Portugal.
Ontogeny.
As the ontogeny of only two species of Cryptolithus has been studied, very little information can be derived from this source. The young of Cryptolithus tessellatus described by Beecher show the "eye-lines." In the specimen figured (Beecher, 5, pi. 3, fig. 1), the brim is narrow with only two rows of pits. A more complete series of specimens shows the ontogeny of Cryptolithus ornatus from Bohemia. The specimens range from the brimless forms, through those with a narrow brim bearing a single row of pits, to individuals with the brim fully devel- oped. As the young get larger, the brim grows, and successive rows of pits appear. Eyes and eye-lines are lacking in C. ornatvs at all stages.
94 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
I liave h;i<l opportunity to study many young of tliis species from specimens in the ]\I. C. Z. and was able to assemble such a series as Barrande (2, pi. 30) figured.
From their first appearance, the Trinucleidae are a highly specialized family. The later species differ from the earlier only in the form of the brim, this being the one feature that shows any progressive modifica- tion. All four genera seem to point to a Cambrian ancestral type with a narrow brim, either unornamented, or with a single row of small pits. The glabella possibly was constricted at the neck and carried furrows, although the youngest forms figured by Barrande show no trace of these features. It may not have been as prominent as is the case with later forms. Simple eyes may or may not have been present. The earlier species show no trace of "eye-spots." In attempting to trace the line of descent the Arenig species are of course the most important. Unfortunately this horizon is the most poorly represented, which adds a considerable degree of uncertainty to the transition into theLlandeilo.
The four British species of Trinucleus that appear in the Arenig do not bear out the ontogeny to any marked extent. The brim is wide in T. sedgwicki and T. gibbsi (Plate, fig. 2, 3) and bears at least four rows of pits set in faint radial furrows. In T. dhcridgi and T. murchisoni (Plate, fig. 1) it is narrow, but can scarcely be called simple, bearing as it does deep radial furrows, bifurcating in front. All that can be in- ferred from ontogeny at the most is that the hypothetical ancestor of this family was a form with a narrow brim, unornamented, or bearing a single row of pits, that the head-shield and pygidium would be equal in size, and the glabella unsegmented. Trinucleus, on the whole, is more primitive than either Cryptolithus or Tretaspis in that the l)rim is relatively smaller and less specialized. Geologically it was the first to appear and the first to become extinct. In discussing known trilo- bites as hypothetical ancestors, certainly Eodiscus conforms with the hypothetical ancestor suggested by the ontogeny better than any other form. It has the head-shield and pygidium of equal size, the brim is narrow and bears a single row of furrows or pits, and the glabella is un- furrowed. Orometopus on the other hand has none of the charac- teristics of the young stages, and its supposed ancestral position seems to be inferred merely from a general resemblance in shape to the adult Trinucleid.
Phylogeny.
The oldest members of the family, the four British speciea^of Tri- nucleus from the Arenig, fall into two natural groups as described
stetson: trinucleidae. 95
above, using the brim as a basis of subdivision. Trhuwlcus pracccdens from Dl 7 in Bohemia is not figured, but as nearly as I can make out from the description, it is much Hke T. murchisoni. As one ascends higher in the stratigraphic series, it becomes increasingly apparent that the nature of the brim is an important means of holding like spe- cies together.
Starting from one of the two distinct types of Trinucleus in the Arenig, a possible line of descent of Cryptolithus can be seen. In Cryptolithus the brim is wide, bearing numerous rows of pits, arranged concentrically, although in some species it is possible to trace a radial arrangement as well. This is most marked directly in front of the glabella. Cryptolithus caractaci, typical C. favus, C. alfredi, C. goldfussi, C. grenieri, C. hurcaui, C. thersites, and C. lloydi are the probable descend- ants in the Llandeilo of the gibbsii-sedgwicki division of Trinucleus. A loss of glabellar furrows in these two species, the addition of one or more rows of pits, and the slight disturbance of their radial arrange- ment would give the typical Cryptolithus brim. This line continues unbroken into the Bala, being represented by Cryptolithus discors, C. intermedins, C. heUulus, C. pongerardi, C. goldfmsi, C. ornatus, C. seunesi, C. tesscUatus, C. nicholsoni, C. elongatus, and C. gihhifrotu, and so into the Ashgillian, ending with C. ultimus. In certain of these species, notably C. intermedius, C. lloydi, and C. nicholsoni, traces of the radial arrangement of pits are still visible, and undoubtedly an examination of the actual specimens would reveal others showing it.
Another major line of evolution is that of Tretaspis, characterized by T. seticornis or its variety T. bucklandi (Plate, fig. 6). The brim has an outer and inner portion, the former usually consisting of one or two rows of large pits sunk in short, radial furrows. The inner portion bears several rows of smaller pits, more or less radially arranged on the anterior part of the brim, becoming very irregular at the genal angles. The glabella is markedly flask-shaped, and bears strong furrows. Eye-spots and a median pustule are present. Tretaspis occurs in the Llandeilo of Scotland (7". subradiata), but in a form so divergent from the type, i.e., T. seticornis, that it cannot be considered as a direct ancestor of the Bala species. Tretaspis subradiata differs from the type in having an extraordinarily wide inner brim, bearing numerous fine pits arranged in distinct radial rows. It resembles very closely T. radiatus of the Bala of Wales and was probably ancestral to this species. A species of Tretaspis, T. reticulata (Plate, fig. 7), occurs in the equivalent of the Llandeilo in the Ignited States, namely, the Normanskill. This species conforms to the type, but could scarcely be considered an-
96 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
cestral to the European forms. For the ancestor both of tlie European and North American species we shouhl expect a sdicorms-\ike form in the lower Lhmdeilo or upper Arenig. This hypothetical species yet remains to be discovered. In the Bala we have Trdaspis ccrioidcs, T. icahlcnhcrgei, T. portraincnsis, and T. radiahia, and in the Ashgillian T. .s'ctiroriiis, T. ccrioidcs, T. affinis, T. hucldaudi, T. clliptifrons and T. wahlcnhcrgci in good succession. Tlieir line of descent cannot be traced back of the Llandeilo with any degree of certainty. The en- larged section of the brim of Trinuclcus scdgwicki, as figured by Salter (Plate, fig. 2), seems to show a tendency towards differentiation into an inner and outer brim. On the other hand, the second group of Arenig Trinucleii bears pits at the bottom of their bifurcating ratiial furrows. As Professor Raymond recently suggested, partial elimina- tion of these furrows would leave the pits in the arms of the "Y" offset from the main line, which might conceivably be the start of a differentiation between the inner and outer brim. Triiiuclc^is cthcridgi carries on the underside of the brim long ridges with intercalated shorter ones, which show at least a tendency toward this differentiation.
Trinucleus is represented in the Llandeilo by T. fimhriatus as the type (Plate, fig. 5). The brim is relatively narrow, and strongly fur- rowed radially, the furrows usually bearing pits at the l)ottom. They become obliterated toward the genal angles, and their place is taken by very narrow, V-shaped furrows bearing pits at the bottom. The glabella is flask-shaped, and strongly furrowed. Eye-spots are lacking. Trinucleus diademata (Plate, fig. 9), T. acerimlosu.s, and T. cfflorcsccns belong to this group. In T. cfflorcsccns, and in T. alhidus of the Bala, the radial grooves become much less marked and tlie pits more promi- nent. The glabellar furrows are faint. This is especially true of 7'. cfflorcsccns where there is a concentric arrangement of pits as well (Plate, fig. 4).
In the Bala the brim undergoes some modification in that the radial grooves extend to the genal angles, eliminating tlie small V-shaped fiu'rows. Trinuclcus hihcrnicus and T. alhidus are the representatives of this group.
Returning to the Arenig for the ancestors of this line, the ethcridgi- murchisoni group, witli their deeply furrowed brim, seem the most likely. As I have said before, two or three furrows on the anterior part of the brim bifurcate, but it is easier to conceive of these becoming modified into straight ones, than that the descendants of T. gihhsi and T. scdgwicki should develop deep furrows, once having lost them.
Raymond's three genera, Cryptolithus, Trinucleus, and Tretaspis,
stetson: trinucleidae. 97
have thus come down in three fairly distinct lines of descent. There are two side branches that do not fit well in any one of these groups, and for one of them at least it is necessary to make a new genus. For this first group I propose the name of Botrioides and include in it Trinucleus coscinorrkinus of the Llandeilo as the type, and T. buccu- lentes and T. fovcolatus (Plate, fig. 10-12) of the Bala. All these are Scandinavian forms. Trinucleus coscinorrhinus is from Sweden, the other two from Norway. This group combines the characteristics of Trinucleus and Tretaspis. It differs from the former to which it is most closely allied, by the presence of lateral ocelli and a median pustule, and from the latter, by the extreme narrowness of the brim which carries either a single row of large pits, or short radial furrows. One of the most distinctive characteristics is the exaggerated appearance of the glabella," which is round and bulbous, and overhangs the brim at the anterior end. The neck of the glabella is narrow and constricted, as in Tretaspis seticornis, and is marked by strong furrows. It is not easy to see how this genus can be derived from any of the known Arenig forms, and therefore it must be referred back to the hypothetical common ancestor in the Upper Cambrian. Botrioides coscinorrhinus and B. foveolatus are more nearly like this ancestor than are any of the other described species, including those from the Arenig, and therefore they must be regarded as the culmination of an early off- shoot from the common stock. It is possible that Trinucleus hibernicus also belongs in this group. From an examination of specimens in the Sedgewick Museum, Cambridge, it appears that the brim is fairly narrow, with three pits at the bottoms of the radial furrows, the glabella is flask-shaped and furrowed. Eye-spots and a median pustule are present, and one well-preserved specimen carries the so-called " eye- line." These genal caeca, in this, and in other members of the family, are not eye-lines, as Raymond (39, p. 84, fig. 25) has shown.
Tretaspis carinata and T. latilimba (Plate, fig. 8) from Sweden have the generic characteristics of Raymond's classification. The brim, however, differs from the type {i.e., T. seticornis). It is wide, bearing four or five concentric rows of large pits, but there is no differentiation into an outer and inner border. Whether they should be placed in another genus is a matter of opinion.
No mention has yet been made of the x^renig species from the Montagues Noires called by Born Trinucleus primitivus. Under Raymond's division of genera, this would be a Cryptolithus, but it is so unlike any other Cryptolithus, and the evidence concerning it so scanty, that I have not been able to place it. x\ccording to Born the
98 bulletin: museum of compaeative zoology.
brim is dotted with numerous small pits, which are absolutely irregular in their arrangement. No Cryptolithus yet known has the pits scat- tered in this fashion, since they follow neither a radial nor a concentric pattern. There are no glabellar furrows or eye-spots. As to Trinucleus praeccdcfis Kloucek, from Bohemia, owing to the brevity of the descrip- tion it is impossible to state in which genus it belongs, or what its place would be in the line of evolution.
Professor Raymond (38, p. 204) has considered Trinucleus reussi Barrande the oldest and most primitive member of the family, and has made for it a new genus, Trinucleoides. It does not seem to me that this species belongs in the family at all, and therefore I have omitted it. From an examination of specimens in the M. C. Z., it be- comes apparent that the species bears a much closer resemblance to Dionide, notably D. speciosa Corda, and 1). formosn Barr. The brim of Trinucleoides reussi is narrow, and l)ears two concentric rows of very small pits, there being no trace of radial arrangement. We have the same type of brim in Dionide, with the addition of one or two rows of pits. Furthermore, the lateral lobes of the glabella are well defined, and are of the same shape, and in the same position, as in Dionide.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIES.
The Arenig contains five species of Trinucleus, four in Great Britain and one in Bohemia. I have not included the possible Cryptolithus in France. Neither have I included Trinucleoides' reussi. Both these species have been discussed (p. 97). Bohemia has usually been con- sidered the center of origin and distribution of this family, but it soon becomes apparent that Great Britain is the more important source, which position it holds throughout the Ordovician.
The Llandeilo contains four species of Trinucleus, two in England, and two in the United States; seven Cryptolitlii, three in (ireat Britain, four in France and Bohemia. Tretaspis appears for the first time, once in Scotland, and once in the United States. There also occur in Scandinavia two species, Trinucleus coscinorrhinus, and T. efflorescens for which I have made the genus Botrioides.
The Bala is the period in which Cryptolithus became dominant. There are fourteen distinct species in all, six in the British Isles, five in Bohemia, France, and Portugal, one in NorMi'ay, and two in the United States. There are two species of Trinucleus, one in Ireland, and one in Scotland, and five Tretaspi, one in Wales, one in Ireland, one in Norway, and two in Sweden. The Cryptolithi of Portugal are
stetson: trinucleidae. 99
the same as those of France, and the Bohemian species also occur in France. The distribution of C goldfmsi is widespread, occurring in all three countries, Bohemia, France, and Portugal. In the United States, Cryptolithus, although only represented by two species, has a remark- able distribution, occin-ring at many places from Quebec, up the St. Lawrence Valley, through New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and ending with Oklahoma.
The Ashgillian sees the dominance of Tretaspis, the wane of Crypto- lithus and the extinction of Trinucleus. It is particularly characterized by the remarkable spread of Tretaspis seticornis or its variety, T. huck- llandi, which occurs in England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Bohemia, Esthonia, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Besides this, five other species of Tretaspis occur in the Scandinavian region. Two Crypto- lithi occur in Ireland, one in Spain, three in Bohemia, and one in the United States.
It should be noted that the remarkable spread of Cryptolithus tessel- latus in North America finds its parallel in the wide distribution of Tretaspis seticornis in the Ashgillian of Europe. Except for these two instances, the distribution of the family has been along the lines of great variety of species each with a small geographical range. Variety of species should indicate diverse environmental conditions. Wide distribution of the same species should indicate uniform environment over a wide area. On this basis the Trenton seas of eastern North America, and the Ashgillian seas of Europe, were probably shallow and open, having uniform environmental conditions. The seas of the other periods were probably deeply embayed, each estuary having its own particular conditions of temperature, salinity, and sedimentation, con- trolled in part by localized currents, and in part by the position and size of the rivers entering each estuary. In such a sea the animals would respond to the particular conditions in which they happen to find them- selves, resulting in a great variety of species.
The apparently sporadic occurrences of trinucleids in Boli^'ia, Trinucleus boliviensis Lake, and Cryptolithus kruegeri (Hoek), and in China, Tretaspis richthofeni (Kayser), are cases of unexplained dis- tribution. Doubtless with further field-work, more species would be uncovered.
From the foregoing, it is obvious that the British Isles stand out as a more important distributing center than the Bohemian Basin. The French, Spanish, and Bohemian Cryptolithi, with one or two excep- tions, are characterized by the same species, so a free interchange must be assumed for these areas during Bala time. On the other hand,
100 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
not a single one of these species finds its way to the British Isles, nor does a British species appear on the continent. Furthermore, until the Ashgillian, not a single Tretaspis, and only one Trinucleus, is known from France, Spain, or Bohemia. Tretaspis is preeminently a northern genus, attaining its dominance in Scandinavia. One species, T. scti- cornis, became (p. 99) very widespread, which must indicate a free interchange between the epicontinental seas of the late Ordovician. It is also interesting to note that no species of Cryptolithus has yet been foimd in Scotland, and only one in Norway. This appears to be almost exclusively a southern genus.
Neither Trinucleus nor Tretaspis was significant in the United States, the former being restricted to two species, each with a single occurrence in the Normanskill, and the latter to one species and one occurrence. The extraordinary spread of Cryptolithus in the United States during the Trenton, is not easily explained. Furthermore its distribution is confined to a relatively narrow northeast-southwest band along the eastern side of the present continent. There seems to have been little penetration of the interior seas. It may be that un- favorable temperature conditions prevented the spread of the Trinu- cleidae into these shallow seas. That the water was warm is indicated by the presence of such corals as Columnaria, and Tetradium. In this connection it is interesting to note that in the Hull formation of Ontario, the equivalent of the Glens Falls formation of New York, (Raymond 40, p. 585), there are found Columnaria and Tetradium but no Trinucleidae, although the latter are abundant in the Glens Falls. In the Logana of Central Kentucky, these corals and some Crypto- lithi do occur together, but the latter are very scarce, showing that they could make little headway to the westward, into these warmer seas.
The migration route of the family into North America is a question very difficult to solve at present. Raymond (39, p. 101) has shown that their physical form is that of a bottom habitus. The broad head shield may have served as a snowshoe-like contrivance, preventing the animal from sinking in the mud. Not being swimmers, they must have inhabited shallow seas, except in their younger free swimming or floating stages. If the shallow border of the Arctic Ocean was the route of migration, it seems strange that Cryptolithus occurs only once in Scandinavia and not at all in Scotland. In addition, there is but a single species with one occurrence, in the United States, of Tretaspis, that typically northern genus. Schuchert found none of the Trinu- cleidae in the Ordovician of Baffinland. Dr Gustave Troedsson, in a recent letter to Professor Raymond, states that he found none in the
stetson: trinucleidae. 101
Ordovician material that Dr. Koch has recently brought back from northern Greenland. Similarly no Trinucleidae have been found in the now rather well-known faunas of Llandeilo age from Newfoundland, and so far, T^renton faunas have not been found on that island. All the evidence, therefore, seems to be against the Arctic as a route of migra- tion for members of this family.
Distribution of the protaspi by currents in the northern Atlantic seems, at present, to be the only plausible theory as to their spread. The courses of the currents that swept them into the interior sea, be- hind Appalachia, are, of course, impossible to trace. Shallow seas must have existed somewhere along the route to provide breeding grounds for the successive generations. What the intermediate stop- ping places were, between Europe and America is, for the present, unknown.
In conclusion I will briefly summarize the most salient facts of the distribution of this family: — first, the British Isles, and not the Bohemian Basin, as is commonly thought, stands out as the more important center of origin; second, Tretaspis appears to be almost ex- clusively a northern and Cryptolithus a southern form, and lastly, the weight of evidence is against the Arctic seas as a route of migration of the family into North America.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
1. Angelin, N. p. [Palaeontologia Scandinavica. Holmiae. 1851, 1854].
2. Barrande, Joachim. Systeme Silurien du centre de la Boheme. 1852, 1.
3. Systeme Silurien du centre de la Boheme. Supplement. 1872, 1.
4. Barrois, Charles. Memoire sur la distribution des graptolites en France.
Ann. Soc. geol. du Nord, 1892, 20, p. 75-191.
5. Beecher, C. E. Structure and appendages of Trinucleus. Amer. journ.
sci., 1895, ser. 3, 49, p. 307-311, pi. 3.
6. Bergeron, Jules. Description de quelques trilobites de I'Ordovicien
d'Ecalgrain. Bull. Soc. geol. Normandie, 1894, 15.
7. Born, Axel. Eine Untersilurfauna aus den montagnes noires. Sencken-
bergiana, 1921, 3, p. 181-193.^
8. Brogger, W. C. Uber die verbreitung der Euloma-Niobe fauna (der
Ceratopygenkalkfauna) in Europa. Nyt. mag. natur., 1897, 1898, 36, p. 164-240.
9. Delgado, J. F. N. Fauna Silurica de Portugal. Direc. Trabal. geol.
Portugal, 1897, 34 pp., 4 pis. 10. Fearnsides, W. G., Elles, G. L., and Smith B. Lower Palaeozoic rocks of Pomeroy. Proc. Roy. Irish acad., 1907, 26, sec. B, no. 9, p. 97-128.
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11. Fkech, Fritz. Lethaea geognostica. Theil 1. Lethaea Palaeozoica.
12. Geikie, Archibald. Textbook of geologj\ Ed. 4. 2 vols. London and
New York. 1903.
13. Green, Jacob. Sjoiopsis of the trilobites of North America. Month.
Amer. journ. geol. and nat. sci., 1832, 1, p. 558-560. '
14. H.A.DDING, AssAR. Undre DicellograptusskifTern i Skine jiimte n§,gra
darmed ekvivalenta bildningar. Lunds univ. ^rsskrift, 1913, n.f., afd. 2, 9, nr. 15, 90, [3] pp., 8 pis.
15. Haug, Emile. Traite de geologic. Paris, 1921.
16. Hicks, Henry. On the succession of the ancient rocks in the vicinity of
St. David's * * * Quart, journ. Geol. soc. London, 1875, 31, p. 167- 195, pi. 8-11.
17. HoEK, H. [Versteinerungen des Cambriums und Silurs]. Neues jahrb.
beil. bd., 1912, 34, p. 209-250, pi. 7-11.
18. HoLTEDAHL, Olaf. Stiidien iibcr die etage 4 des Norwcgischen Silur-
systems beim Mjo.sen. Vidensk.-selsk. skrifter. Math, natur. klasse, 1909, 1, no. 7, 76 pp.
19. HoLUB, Karl. Uber eine neue fauna des Untersilurs in der umgebung
von Rokycan. Bull, intern. Acad. sci. Boheme, 1911.
20. Kayser, Emanuel. Mittel- und Obersilurische versteinerungen aus dem
Gebirgsland von Tshau-Tien. Richthoften's China, 1883, 4.
21. Kerforne, F. Note sur I'Ordovician du May-sur-Orne (Calvados).
Bull. Soc. sci. med. de FOuest, 1893, 2, p. 112-116.
22. Kloucek, Celda. Uber die Dl 7 schichten und ihre trilobitenfauna. Bull.
intern. Acad. sci. Boheme, 1916, p. 1-lG.
23. Lake, Philip. Trilobites from Bolivia collected by Dr. J. W. Evans in
1901-1902. Quart, journ. Geol. soc. London, 1906, 42, p. 42.5-430, pi. 40.
24. LiNNARssoN, J. G. O. Om vestergotlands Cambriska ooh Siluriska
aflagringar. Kongl. Svensk. vet. akad. Handl., 1869, 8, no. 2, 89 pp., 2 pis.
25. McCoy, Frederick. AsjTiopsisof the Silurian fossils of Ireland. Dubhn.
1846.
26. On the classification of some British fossil Crustacea. Ann. mag. nat. hist., 1849, ser. 2, 4, p. 161-179, 330-335, 392-414.
27. A synopsis of the classification of British Palaeozoic rocks. Cambridge. 1855.
28. MuRCHisoN, R. L The Silurian .system. London. 1839.
29. Nicholson, H. A., and Etheridge, Robert, Jr. A monograph of the
Silurian fossils of the Girvan district in Ayrshire. Edinburgh and London. 1878-1880.
30. Oehlert, D. p. Sur les Trinuclcus de I'Ouest de la France. Bull. Soc.
geol. France, 1895, ser. 3, 23, p. 299-336, pi. 1, 2.
31. Olin, E. Om de Cha.smopskalken och Trinucleusskiffern motsvarande
bildningarne i Sk&ne. Lunds univ. S,rsskrift, 1906, n.f., afd. 2, 2, nr. 3, 79, [2] pp., 4 pis.
stetson: trinucleidae. 103
32. PocTA, Philippe. Parallele entre les depots Siluriens de la Bretagne et
de la Boheme. Bull. Soc. d'etudes sci. d'Angers, 1895, p. 137-146.
33. PoRTLOCK, J. E. Report on the geology of the county of Londonderry,
and of parts of Tyrone and Fermanagh. Geol. surv. Gt. Brit, and Ireland. Dublin. 1843.
34. Ravn, J. P. J. Trilobitfaunaen i den bornholmske Trinucleusskefer.
Danmark geolog. undersog. 1899, 2, no. 10, p. 49-62.
35. Raymond, P. E. A further note on Cryptolithus versus Trinucleus.
Ottawa nat., 1913, 27, p. 26-30.
36. Trilobita. Text-Book of palaeontology. Ed. 2. London. 1913, 1.
37. Expedition to the Baltic provinces of Russia and Scandinavia. Part 1. The correlation of the Ordovician strata of the Baltic basin with those of eastern North America. Bull. M. C. Z., 1916, 56, p. 177-286, pi. 1-8.
38. Beecher's classification of trilobites after twenty years. Amer. journ. sci., 1917, ser. 4, 43, p. 196-210.
39. The appendages, anatomy, and relationships of trilobites. Mem. Conn, acad., 1920, 7, p. 1-169.
40. Trenton of central Tennessee and Kentucky. Bull. Geol. soc. Amer., 1922, 33, p. 571-586.
41. Some trilobites of the Lower Middle Ordovician of eastern North America. Bull. M. C. Z., 1925, 67, p. 1-180, pi. 1-10.
42. Reed, F. R. C. New trilobites from the Bala beds of Co. Waterford.
Geol. mag., 1895, new ser. dec. 4, 2, p. 49-55, pi. 55.
43. Trinucleus seticornis. Geol. mag., 1897, new ser. dec. 4, 4, p. 427-428.
44. The Lower Palaeozoic trilobites of the Girvan district, Ayrshire^ Palaeontogr. soc, 1903, p. 1-48, pi. 1-6.
45. New fossils from the Dufton shales. Geol. mag., 1910, new ser. dec. 5, 7, p. 211-220, pi. 17.
46. Lower Palaeozoic trilobites of Girvan. Supplement. Palaeon- togr. soc, 1914.
47. Notes on the genus Trinucleus. Part 1. Geol. mag., 1912, new ser. dec. 5, 9, p. 346-353, pi. 18. Part 2. p. 385-394, pi. 19. Part 3. 1914, new ser. dec 6, 1, p. 349-353, pi. 18, 19. Part 4. 1916, new ser. dec 6, 3, p. 118-123, 169-176.
48. RouAULT, Marie. Extrait du memoire sur les trilobites du department
d'llle-et-Vilaine. Bull. Soc. geol. France, 1847, ser. 2, 4, p. 309- 319, 325-328, pi. 3.
49. RuEDEMANN, RtJDOLF. Trenton conglomerate of Rysedorph Hill,
Rensselaer co. N. Y. and its fauna. Bull. 49, N. Y. state mus., 1901, p. 3-114, pi. a, b, 1-7.
50. The Utica and Lorraine formations of New York.Pt. 1. Bull. 258, N. Y. state mus., 1925, 175 pp., 7 pis.
51. Salter, J. W. Notes on the trilobites. Quart, journ. Geol. soc. London,
1853, 9, p. 158-160, pi. 7.
104 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
52. Salter, J. W. Figures and descriptions illustrative of British organic
remains. Dec. 7. Mem. Geol. surv. Gt. Britain and Ireland. London. 1853.
53. [Fossils from North Wales]. ]\Iem. Geol. surv. Great Britain, 1866, 3, p. 239-363, 372-381, pi. 1-26.
54. A catalogue of the Cambrian and Silurian fossils in the geo- logical museum of the University of Cambridge. Cambridge. 1873.
55. Schmidt, Friedrich. Revision der Ostbaltischen Silurischen trilobiten.
Mem. Acad. imp. sci. St. Petersburg, 1907. 20, no. 8, 104 pp., 3 pis.
56. SwiNNERTON. H. H. Suggestions for a revised classification of trilobites.
Geol. mag., 1915, dec. 6, 2, p. 487-496, 538-545.
57. The facial suture of trilobites. Geol. mag., 1919, dec. 6, 6, p. 103-110.
58. Troedsson, G. T. Om SkSnes brachiopodskiffer. Lunds univ. §,rsskrift,
1918, n.f. afd. 2, 15, nr. 3, 110 pp., 2 pis.
59. Tromelin, Gaston de et Lebesconte, Paul. Observations sur les
terrains primaires du nord du department d'lUe-et-Vilaine et de quelques autres parties du massif Breton. Bull. Soc. gdol. France, 1876, ser. 3, 4, p. 583-623.
60. Ulrich, E. O. Descriptions of some new species of fossils, from the
Cincinnati group. Journ. Cine. soc. nat. hist., 1878, 1, p. 92-100, pi. 4.
61. Ordovician "hypoparian" genera of trilobites. (Abstract). Bull. Geol. soc. Amer., 1922, 33, p. 205-206.
Verneuil, Edouard de et Barrande, Joachim. Description des fos- siles trouves dans les terrains Silurien et Devonien d'Almaden, d'une partie de la Sierra Morena et des montagnes de Tolede. Bull. Soc. geol. France, 1855, ser. 2, 12, p. 964-1025, pi. 23-29. Wade, Arthur. The Llandovery and associated rocks of north-eastern Montgomeryshire. Quart, journ. Geol. soc. London, 1911, 67, p. 415-459, pi. 33-36. 64. Zelizko, J. V. Geologisch-palaeontologische verhaltnisse der nachsten uragebung von Rozmital in Bohmen. Bull, intern. Acad. sci. Boheme, 1906, 11, 14 pp., 2 pis.
62
63
EXPLANATION OF PLATE.
Stetson. — Trinucleidae.
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PLATE.
Trinucleus murchisoni Salter (From Salter). Shropshire and ^^'ales. The bifurcating furrows are not clearly shown.
Trinucleus sedgivicki Salter (From Salter). Note the differentiation of the rows of pits of the brim.
Trirnicleus gibbsii Salter (From Salter). Wales. The diagonal "eye- lines" are not present on the specimen.
Trinude^is efflorescens (Hadding) (From Hadding). Sweden. Note the tendency towards a second row of pits and the concentric type of brim. A Trinucleus approaching the Cryptolithus type.
Trinucleus fimbriaius Murchison (From Reed). Wales. The radiat- ing rows of pits are really at the bottom of shallow furrows.
Tretaspis bucklandi (Barrande) (From Olin). Note the differentia- tion of the pits of the brim into inner and outer rows. Eye-spots probably were present. Fig. 7. Tretaspis reticulata Ruedemann (From Ruedemann). Rysedorph Hill, New York. An American type of Tretaspis. The inner rows of pits are more nearly the size of the outer than in most of the European forms.
Tretaspis latUimha (Linnarsson) (From Linnarsson). Scania. A European Tretaspis resembling strongly the American.
Trinucleus diademata (Ruedemann) (From Ruedemann). Ryse- dorph Hill, New York. An American type of Trinucleus. The radiating furrows of the brim are more strongly marked than in T. fimbriatus.
Botrioides foveolatv^ (Angelin) (From Angelin). Near Oslo. Note the simple, narrow brim. A very primitive form.
Botrioides bucculentes (Angelin) (From Angelin). Near Oslo. Figure somewhat distorted. Note the bulbous, bottle-necked glabella with deep furrows and the narrow brim. Fig. 12. Botrioides coscinorrhinus (Angelin) (From Hadding). Southern Sweden. Note the simple, narrow brim. A very primitive form.
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BULL. MUS. COMP. ZOOL.
Stetson. Trinucleidae.
^^^
10
11
12
"'""^"^^"^'^'
0. BOSTON
Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology
AT HARVARD COLLEGE.
Vol. LXVIII. No. 3.
DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SOUTH AMERICAN FRESH-WATER FISHES COLLECTED BY DR. CARL TERNETZ.
By George S. Myers.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS., U. S. A.:
PRINTED FOR THE MUSEUM
July, 1927.
No. 3. — Descripiions of New South American Fresh-Water Fishes collected by Dr. Carl Ternetz}
By George S. Myers.
The present report is concerned with the description of some new species obtained for Indiana University by Dr. Carl Ternetz in the Rio Tocantins and its headwaters, the Lower Amazon as far as the mouth of the Rio Negro, the Rio Negro to the entrance of the Cassi- quiare, the Cassiquiare, and the Orinoco from Bifurcation to Caicara. Dr. Ternetz started in the headwaters of the Tocantins in September, 1923, and ended his collecting at Caicara in May, 1925. The result is a magnificent series of fishes, most of them from waters hitherto unex- plored systematically by an ichthyologist.
The collection is so vast that any attempt at an estimate of its rich- ness is impossible. The forms treated are merely some of the smaller species noticed as being of especial interest. The percentage of novelties will undoubtedly be greatly augmented when the bulk of the collection is examined, especially as practically all of the larger fishes are as yet unstudied. In the Pygidiidae only is the report at all complete.^
In the absence of Dr. Eigenmann from the University, he very kindly allowed me to describe some of the new species and authorized an agreement as to the publication of my results whereby a series of the new species was given to the M. C. Z?
A remarkable new form is the Gnathodolus hidens, with mouthparts unique among fishes; scarcely less interesting are the finless pygidiid Glanapteryx and the crenuchine characin Elachocharax. A few species collected in Peru by Dr. W. R. Allen, in Bolivia by Dr. N. E. Pearson, and at Rio de Janeiro by Mr. R. Brocca are included.
In the descriptions I have taken the scale-counts from the upper end of the gill-opening to the approximate end of the hypural bone, this being designated as " caudal base," and from the base of the first dorsal ray to the pelvic fins.
1 Contributions from the Zoological Laboratory of Indiana University, No. 217.
2 Dr. E. W. Gudger has a paper in preparation on the parasitic Pygidiidae, partially based on the present collection.
3 Dr. Eigenmann died at Coronado, California, 24 April, 1927.
108 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
ANOSTOMATIDAE.
Gnathodolus, gen. nov. yvados, jaw, and 66Xoj, a trap.
Genotype. — Gnathodolus hidens Myers.
Anostomatinae. Form heavy, compressed. Snout deep, elliptical in cross-section, truncate. Mouth-opening vertical or even inclining somewhat backward, narrow and elongate. Lower jaw rod-like, fold- ing upward to close the mouth-slit. The jaw extends up beyond the top of the snout in adult specimens, and bears at its tip two large, hooked, projecting teeth, sickle-shaped at the tip. The dentition of the upper jaw consists of three or four spear-shaped teeth on each side, dhected outward and nearly imbedded in the flesh. Gill-membranes united, confluent with the isthmus. Lateral line complete.
Gnathodolus bidens, sp. nov.
Head 3^ in body-length. Depth Sf. Eye 4 in head, \\ in snout, 2 in interorbital. Dorsal 11^. Anal 10^. Scales 5-31-5, about 12 pre- dorsal.
Eyes bulging, with a strong adipose lid, particularly anteriorly. The eyes project more anteriorly than posteriorly and thus point a little backward. The fish apparently cannot see forward. Margins of mouth- opening and of lower jaw thickly papillose. Dorsal originating an eye- diameter nearer to snout-tip than to caudal base. Pelvics inserted under third dorsal ray. Pectorals not to pelvics. Pelvics distant from anal. Adipose fin over posterior part of anal base. Caudal forked, asymmetrical, the upper lobe longer with the appearance of a piece having been bitten from its inner portion. Lower lol^e shorter, thick, and rounded. This is the formation in the Type and as it is duplicated in the one Paratype (from a different locality) that has an unbroken caudal, it seems to be natural. There are, however, traces of some slight regeneration along the whole caudal edge in both specimens, but the agreement in caudal form of the two perfect specimens could hardly be a coincidence.
Scales large, hard, similar to those of Leporinus friderici Cockerell, (Ann. Carnegie mus., 1914, 9, pi. 26, fig. 3), but longer; little exposed, most of the exposed surface being formed by a wide soft apical border; both soft and hard apical margins evenly rounded; a few nuclear polyg- onal areas giving rise to five or six apical radii, two upper and two
MYERS: SOUTH AMERICAN FRESH-WATER FISHES. 109
lower antipodal radii, and three or four basal radii. Basal notch as in Leporinus. Circuli faint, becoming obsolete or absent on the exposed sector of the scale.
Coloration dull brownish. Midpredorsal area blackish. Six to eight diffuse dark cross-bars from midline of back, becoming indistinct and fading before reaching the lateral line. A large diffuse black spot on middle of sides below posterior part of dorsal base and a similar smaller one opposite the anal. Scales with indistinct light basal areas, these forming faint lateral stripes. Suborbital area tinged with violet.
Type. — 17,670 I. U. 134 mm. Venezuela: Rio Cassiquiare, Chemoni (near Bifurcation). 13 March, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
Paratypes.— 17,671 T. U. 31,566 M. C. Z. 90,103 mm. Venezuela: Laga Tama-Tama, Bifurcation. 24 March, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
CURIMATIDAE.
Curimatus multilineatus, sp. nov.
Head 3f in body-length. Depth 3|. Eye 2f in head, equal to inter- orbital, a little longer than snout. Least depth of caudal peduncle 2| in head. Dorsal 11. Anal 9i Scales 4-3 l-4i
Ventral profile slightly more arched than the dorsal. Dorsal profile somewhat arched on head, with a slight break in the symmetry at nape. Greatest depth at dorsal origin.
Dorsal fin originating an eye-diameter nearer to snout-tip than to caudal base. Pelvics originating under middle of dorsal base. Pectorals not nearly reaching pelvics. Pelvics not nearly to anal. Adipose large, over posterior part of anal base. Anal rays not reaching caudal. De- pressed dorsal rays not reaching vertical of anal fin-origin.
A dark line from under jaw around snout to eye. Narrow dark brown longitudinal lines between the scale-rows. Iris dark interiorly, light exteriorly. Fins slightly dusky.
Type.— 17,672 I. U. 55 mm. Brazil: Rio Negro, Bucury. 7 Febru- ary, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
Bucury is evidently above Sao Gabriel, since Dr. Ternetz collected at that place on February 1, on his way up-river.
Differs from all known species in its striking coloration. Perhaps nearest C. microcephalus.
110 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
HEMIODONTIDAE.
Hemiodus ternetzi, sp. nov.
Head 4f to 4f in body-length. Depth 4f . Eye 3 in head. Scales 11-63-6. Dorsal 9. Anal 9.
Dorsal fin-origin slightly more than a snout-length nearer to snout- tip then to caudal base. Pelvics inserted under the fifth dorsal ray. Pectorals nearly their own length short of reaching pelvics.
Brown on back, the scales basally dark with a light border. Sides silvery. A conspicuous dark lateral band from eye to caudal base, expanded into a spot above the pectoral tips and again above the last half of the appressed pelvics. Lower caudal lobe dark, the upper light, the darker lateral band turning downward at caudal base and running out through the middle of the lower lobe.
Type. — 17,691 I. U. 100 mm. Brazil: Jausinho Brook, into the Tocantins, Goyaz. 22 February, 1924. Carl Ternetz.
Paratypes.— 17,692 I. U. 31,567 M. C. Z. 85-88 mm. Brazil: Jausinho Brook, into the Tocantins, Goyaz. 22 February, 1924. Carl Ternetz.
Named for Dr. Carl Ternetz, who, through his personal effort, has brought together for Indiana University one of the finest collections of South American fresh-water fishes in existence.
CHARACIDAE.
COPEINA COMPTA, sp. UOV.
Head 4| to 4f in body-length. Depth 5|. Scales 26 to caudal base, 16 rows around body before pelvics, 17 predorsal. Eye equal to snout, 3^ in head. Dorsal 10. Anal 11.
Dorsal originating 1| times as far from head as from caudal base. Anal inserted under about the fourth dorsal ray. In the adult male the fins are greatly prolonged; the produced middle rays of the dorsal reach the caudal; the pelvic rays reach the end of the anal base; the elongate pointed upper caudal lobe is If times as long as the head. The male pectorals are longer, but in neither sex do they reach the pelvics. The caudal base as well as the caudal shows a heterocercal tendency.
Coloration dark. A dark band around the chin through the eye and across the opercle, becoming diffuse posteriorly. Back brownish. A
MYERS: SOUTH AMERICAN FRESH-WATER FISHES. Ill
wide dark lateral band down the side, its upper edge well defined and continuous with the head-streak, its lower border fading gradually into the dull yellow of the venter. On the middle of the second to the sixth dorsal rays there is a black blotch, above a basal whitish one. The elongate dorsal and caudal rays of the male are slightly black tipped.
Type. — 17,693 I. U. & 71 mm. Brazil: Creek above Sao Gabriel Rapids, Rio Negro. January, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
Paratypes.— 17,694 I. U. 31,568 M. C.Z. cT 9 juv. 65-71 mm. Brazil : Creek above Sao Gabriel Rapids, Rio Negro. 28-30 January, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
This species represents the acme of gracefulness reached by chara- cins of the Pyrrhulininae. I have compared it with a single male C. amoldi from the lower Amazon, received from Mr. Arthur Rachow of Hamburg, and with many specimens of C. callolepis collected by Dr. Ternetz at various localities on the Lower Amazon. The latter is the only closely -related species. Copeina amoldi is much deeper, and both differ from C. compta in the scale-count, fin-positions, and coloration; C. carsevennensis differs much in the fin-positions.
I take this opportunity to point out the similarity of Pyrrhulina obermiilleri Myers (Copeia, 1926, no. 156, p. 150. Iquitos) to P. lugubris Eigenmann (Mem. Carnegie mus., 1922, 9, p. 231, pi. 21, fig. 1. Meta Basin), with which by an oversight I neglected to compare it. The former will probably rank as a brilliantly -colored subspecies of the latter. Both are well distinguished from P. hrevis by the narrow elongate and almost straight strongly-toothed maxillary. In P. hrevis it is short and curved.
The shape of the maxillary is important in the distinction of the species of Pyrrhulininae. In Copeina argyrops and C. guttata it is short, almost round, and toothless. In Copeina callolepis and C. compta the maxillary of the male is of a peculiar shaped having a triple curve, and it is toothed. In C. amoldi and C. metae it is toothed, somewhat elon- gate, and a little curved, like that of Pyrrhulina hrevis. That of Guiana specimens of P. semifasciata is similar, but in Guiana P. filamentosa the maxillary is toothless, although similar in shape. The maxillary of P. rachoviana, due to the short heavy head, is nearly vertical ; it is tooth- less.
Pyrrhulina rachoviana Myers (Blatt. aquar. terrar., 1926, 37, p. 441) is very similar to Steindachner's figure of the male of his P. hrevis (Sitzb. K. akad. wiss., Wien, 1875, 72, pi. 1, fig. 3), but P. rachoviana has a shorter head and the pectorals do not reach the pelvics, the latter being larger in P. hrevis. The dorsal spot of P. rachoviana is more
112 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
streak-like, and is confined to the anterior rays. I hereby restrict the name P. brevis to Steindachner's "female" (loc. cit., fig. 4) which is probably specifically different from the "male." I do not know the form Regan had (Ann. mag. nat. hist., 1912, ser. 8, 10, p. 392).
Atopomesus, gen. nov. aroiros, peculiar, and nkcros, middle.
Genotype. — Atopomesus pachyodus Myers.
Cheirodontinae. Teeth extremely massive and heavy, somewhat laterally compressed, but the major ones arising to an unexpanded, rounded crest which is compressed anteroposteriorly, this forming a rather blunt, rounded, transverse, cutting crown without any cusps or notches whatever. The three front-teeth on each side of the dentary are especially massive, each with an inner, oblique flat area. They grade downward in size toward the sides, the fifth to the eighth tooth of each side of the dentary with a falcate inner crown rather than a flat surface, this being formed by a single inner cusp. Following these at the side are two abruptly smaller conical teeth. Premaxillary teeth in a single series, seven on each side, grading from the central massive ones to smaller ones at the side, all directed obliquely backward, the tips and extreme inner bases of the teeth tinged with brown. Maxillary with six small conical or slightly notched teeth crowded to its upper end.
Mouth inferior, the lower teeth fitting up inside the retrorse upper ones. The flat areas of the mandibular dentition cannot, then, be grinding surfaces. The upper teeth are slightly visible from below when the mouth is closed, but are in no way exposed like those of Henochilus and Psalidodon, with which I at first thought this genus was related.
A series of large scales on each side of the preventral region over- lapping at the midline, as in Phenacogaster. Accessory caudal rays prominent.
Atopomesus pachyodus, sp. nov.
General appearance of a slender Creagrutus or Phenacogaster.
Head 3f in body-length. Depth 4. Dorsal 10. Anal 22. Scales 4-32-3, predorsal 9, fully scaled. Eye 2f in head, much greater than interorbital, the orbit horizontally oval.
Dorsal origin half an orbit-diameter nearer to snout-tip than to caudal base, the fin high and pointed. Anal origin under last few dorsal rays, its margin falcate, the anterior few rays long. Pelvics originating
MYERS: SOUTH AMERICAN FRESH-WATER FISHES. 113
very slightly in advance of vertical of dorsal origin, a little overlapping the anal fin-origin. Pectorals reaching pelvics. Adipose well developed, over posterior anal rays. Scales cycloid, lateral line complete. Caudal naked, the lobes pointed, the upper slightly the longer. Accessory caudal rays well developed, the upper ones especially prominent.
Great suborbital leaving a wide naked area below and a narrow one behind. Postorbitals two, the upper narrow and elongate.
Pale yellowish, a silvery lateral streak. Scales of the back dark edged. Chromatophores gathered into the lateral streak posteriorly, many at the caudal base, but no distinct caudal spot.
Type.— 17,673 I. U. 43 mm. Brazil: Cucuhy, Rio Negro, on the Colombian Border. 14 February, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
Unique in the massive retrorse dentition.
Othonocheirodus, gen. nov.
odofT} a napkin or veil, xe'Pi hand, and 68uu, tooth, i.e. the veiled hand-shaped teeth.
Genotype. — Othonocheirodus eigemnanni Myers.
Cheirodontinae. Closely allied to Monotocheirodon. Both these genera differ trenchantly from Holoshesthes, Odontostilbe, and Cheiro- don in the severely horizontal gape and the uncovered and lipless teeth of the upper jaw. In the others the gape is oblique and the premaxillary teeth are hidden wholly or partially by the normal upper lip.
To the definition of Monotocheirodon should be added the following characters: — gape horizontal; teeth of both the upper and lower jaws uncovered, lipless.^ Horizontal extent of the maxillary great, with six or seven teeth ; its vertical extent, at the curve, small, scarcely ex- tending down below the line of the base of the mandibular teeth, its end not rounded or free. Caudal lobes unequal, the upper longer.^
Othonocheirodus may be described as follows : — adipose present ; lateral line complete; predorsal area scaled; caudal naked; suborbital in contact with the preopercle below; caudal lobes equal; accessory caudal rays apparently normal. Teeth 5-pointed, similar in both jaws, contracted at the base, expanded at the tips. Gape horizontal, the horizontal extent of the maxillary small, with two teeth, its vertical extent long, extending far below the line of the bases of the mandibular teeth, its end large, rounded, and free. Premaxillary with four similar teeth on each side, in a single, not angulated series, continuous pos-
1 These characteristics are not shown in Pearson's figure of Monolocheirodon pearscni Eigen- mann, Indiana univ. studies, 1924 (1925), no. 64, pi. 11.
114 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
teriorly with the two maxillary teeth. Mandible with six similar 5- pointed teeth on each side, grading down slightly in size posteriorly. Upper jaw lipless. Under jaw with a thin deep lip which rises to cover not only the mandibular teeth but also part or all of the premaxillary teeth.
Othonocheirodus eigenmanni, sp. nov.
Head 4| in body-length. Depth 3^. Eye 3|, a little less than inter- orbital, equal to snout. Scales mostly lost, apparently 4-34 to 36-3. Dorsal 9. Anal 14.
Body fairly deep, compressed, more so than in Monotocheirodon. Snout very blunt. Dorsal originating more than an orbit-diameter nearer to caudal base than to snout-tip. Anal inserted on vertical of end of dorsal base. Pectorals not reaching pelvics by three or four scales. Pelvics not quite to anal fin. Adipose inserted behind vertical of end of anal base.
Brownish; a conspicuous black humeral blotch; a dark lateral band, faint anteriorly, ending at caudal base.
Type.— 17,674 I. U. 47 mm. Peru: Rio Cayumba. 1918. W. R. Allen.
Paratypes.— 17,675 I. U. 31,569 M. C. Z. 36-45 mm. Peru: Rio Cayumba. 1918. W. R. Allen.
Named for Dr. Carl H. Eigenmann, who has contributed more than anyone else to our knowledge of the fresh-water fishes of South America.
Elachocharax, gen. nov. iXaxvs, insignificant, and Charax, a genus of characins.
Genotype. — Elachocharax pulcher Myers.
Crenuchinae. Mouth small, with scarcely any gape, the maxillary reaching vertical of anterior border of eye. Adipose present. Dorsal long, with 18 rays. Body not notably deep but much compressed, the head especially narrow and the snout pointed. Armature of the cheeks very weak. Frontal fontanel present.
Crenuchus has very wide jaws, a long gape, and an adipose fin. Poecilocharax, which has much narrower jaws than Crenuchus, still has a large gape and long maxillary, while it possesses no adipose. Poecilocharax is certainly not closely related to Crenuchus, and Elachocharax is even more divergent. The latter, and possibly Poecilo- charax also, will eventually be removed from Crenuchus and placed near Characidium.
MYERS: SOUTH AMERICAN FRESH-WATER FISHES. 115
Elachocharax pulcher, sp. nov.
Head equal to ^epth, 3| in length to caudal base. Dorsal 18. Anal 8. Lateral line incomplete, 5 or 6 scales with pores. Scales 25 lateral, 6 transverse between dorsal and pelvics.
The long pectorals reach the distant pelvics. Pelvics reach to anal fin. Predorsal and pre ventral areas rounded, normally scaled. Caudal not deeply forked.
Scales truncate basally, with many lateral striae (circuli) above and below, somewhat similar to those of Poecilocharax, but striae deeper and more evident. The scales of Crenuchus are similar in shape, but the striae are more inclined to be concentric than merely lateral above and below.
Coloration very dark. The scale-borders, where each row touches the row above and below it, are dark, forming zig-zag lines between the series. The body is crossed by eight diffuse wide dark bands, the first behind the pectoral axil, the last at the tail-root. The two in the anal region are extended out across that fin. The one at the tail-root has two small spots in it, which project out on the fin, the entire bar being fol- lowed by a colorless area. After this follow some faint caudal bands. The dorsal, whose margin is straight and the rays subequal, has two lengthwise lines near its base. The eye is crossed by two lines, one horizontal from the chin, another vertical from the occiput.
Type. — 17,676 I. U. 21 mm. Venezuela: Cano deQuiribana, near Caicara. May, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
Paratype. — 17,677 I. U. 22 mm. Venezuela: Caiio de Quiribana, near Caicara. May, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
A pretty little species, suggestive of the North American Elassoma.
Hyphessobrycon balbus, sp. nov.
Head 3| in body-length. Depth 2| (young) to 2t (adult). Dorsal 11. Anal 19 to 21. Scales 5-31 to 34-4|. Lateral line stuttering, complete on a few specimens, usually developed on 12 to 20 scales.
Dorsal origin in middle of body-length, slightly behind vertical of origin of pelvics, which are reached by the pectorals. Pelvics reaching not quite to anal fin. Adipose over end of anal. Body deep and much compressed.
Cheeks entirely covered by the great suborbital. Five 5-pointed teeth in the inner series of the premaxillary on each side. Four smaller teeth in the outer row. One wide tooth at upper limit of maxillary.
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Exposed surfaces of scales very deep and narrow, with few radial striae, little diverging. Scales over front of anal somewhat irregular and deflected towards the fin.
Dull, dark brownish, the scales prominently bordered with dark. A long vertical dark humeral bar with the suggestion of another a little way behind it. A faint dark lateral streak down posterior part of sides, ending in a slightly darker area at caudal base. A dark line to the tips of the central caudal rays. Dorsal and anal with dusky tips.
Type. — 17,678a I. U. 47 mm. Brazil: Planaltina, Lagoa Ferve- deira, Goyaz. 14 September, 1923. Carl Ternetz.
Paratypes.— 17,678 I. U. 31,570 M. C. Z. 23-60 mm. Brazil: Planaltina, Lagoa Fervedeira, Goyaz. 14 September, 1923. Carl Ternetz.
Differing markedly from the other species in the genus in the stutter- ing lateral line, the peculiar dusky color, the great depth, and numerous other characters. It is not related to any species of Astyanax, in which genus the specimens with a complete lateral line might be wrongly placed.
Creagrutus atrisignum, sp. nov.
Head 4 in body-length. Depth 3^. Eye 3 in head, slightly less than interorbital. Depth of caudal peduncle 2 in head. Dorsal 9|. Anal 12. Scales 4^-35-3.
Dorsal origin an eye-diameter nearer to snout-tip than to caudal base, over insertion of pelvics. Pectorals not reaching pelvics by two scales. Pelvics almost reach anal fin. Anal origin far behind dorsal base, slightly anterior to vertical of tips of appressed last dorsal ray.
Great suborbital nearly or wholly as wide as eye-diameter, touching lower limb of preopercle but not ankylosed with it, leaving a consider- able naked area at the angle and behind. Premaxillary dentition re- sembling that of C. beni. Two maxillary teeth.
Yellowish, scales of the back with dark bases. A narrow silvery lateral band, faint anteriorly, ending in a small caudal spot entirely within the band (sometimes very faint) and extending outward to the end of the middle caudal rays. A dark horizontal humeral bar entirely within the lateral band, and another small fainter brown spot (some- times nearly absent) above and forward of it. Dorsal fin deeply flushed with black, pale basally. Caudal and anal dusky.
Type. — 17,679 I. U. 60 mm. Brazil: Upper Rio Maranhao (Upper Tocantins), Goyaz. 11 October, 1923. Carl Ternetz.
MYERS: SOUTH AMERICAN FRESH-WATER FISHES. 117
Paratypes.— 17,6S0 I. U. 31,571 M. C. Z. 59-67 mm. Brazil: Corrego do Monjolo, tributary of the Rio Maranhao. 30 September, 1923. Carl Ternetz.
The black dorsal and pleasing colors well mark this distinctive species.
Creagrutus phasma, sp. nov.
Head 4^ in body-length, equal to depth. Eye 3 in head, slightly greater than interorbital. Depth of caudal peduncle 2| in head.
Dorsal originating somewhat more than an eye-diameter nearer to snout tip than to caudal base, directly over insertion of pelvics. Pec- torals not reaching pelvics by one or two scales. Pelvics not reaching anal by three scales. Anal inserted far behind dorsal, under tips of de- pressed last dorsal rays. Adipose inserted over base of last anal ray.
Great suborbital nearly as wide as eye; touching, but not ankylosed to, lower limb of preopercle, leaving a narrow naked border behind. Premaxillary dentition exactly as figured by Eigenmann (Mem. M. C. Z., 43, pi. 35, fig. 4) for C. pcrvanvs.
Yellowish, the scales of the back with a dark border inside a lighter one. A large, conspicuous, vertical, dark humeral crescent (sometimes faint) over a deep black humeral spot entirely within the lateral band. A diffuse silvery band over a plumbeous one, wide anteriorly-, narrow and more plainly defined posteriorly. The band ends at caudal base, then continues out to the tips of the central rays as a black line. A yellow spot at the base of upper and lower caudal rays, continued out strongly, forming a border for the dark streak. Caudal slightly dusky above and below the yellow spots. First rays of pelvics and anal milky white. Fins otherwise hyaline.
Types. — 17,681 I. U. 61, 65 mm. Venezuela: mouth of the Cura- muni, Rio Cassiquiare. 7 March, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
A veritable ghost of the following genus, with which it was taken.
Creagrudite, gen. nov.
KpeaypevTos, tearing off the flesh, hence Creagrutus, and Sit-tj, having the force of
born of.
Genotype. — Creagrudite maxiUaris Myers.
Tetragonopterinae. A specialized Creagrutus. Premaxillary teeth in a triple series in the young, formed of an inner series of large tricuspid teeth, four on each side, and a double outer series of three small teeth
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on each side, the first and third set out to form the first series and the second one set back to form the second series. There are thus but two teeth, one on a side, in the second series. With age, this second tooth migrates forward and takes its place between the first and third tooth, so that in the adult there are but two series of premaxillary teeth.
The body-form is elongate and very little compressed, the head and jaws being particularly lengthened, so that the fish has a very char- acteristic physiognomy, resembling, but very distinct from Creagrutus. The snout is as long as the very large eye, and the widened postorbitals nearly equal it. The gape is very great. There is a considerable re- semblance of the mouth to that of Bramocharax and of Scissor. The relationship may be in this direction.
The lengthened maxillary sweeps backward and downward in a great concave curve, its horizontal extent nearly twice the vertical. The maxillary is fully toothed to Dear its end, with twelve strong backward pointing tricuspid teeth.
There are two large tricuspid teeth on each side of the mandible, these grading into a series of nine strong retrorse tricuspid teeth. The snout is pointed so that all of the tooth-series are rather acutely angled in the middle and thence extend almost straight posteriorly.
The cheeks are fully armed with the exception of a narrow border along the vertical limb of the preopercle. The preventral and pre- dorsal squamation is normal, the caudal is naked, and the lateral line complete.
This genus differs from Creagrutus in the dentition, in the long snout, and peculiar maxillary, in the elongated, uncompressed form, and in other characters. In Dr. Eigenmann's synopsis in the American Characidae, it would fall in Hemibrycon, from which it differs in the whole habitus, dentition, maxillary, and long snout.
Creagrudite maxillaris, sp. nov.
Head 3f in body-length. Depth 5. Eye 3-5^ in head-length, somewhat greater than interorbital. Dorsal 10. Anal 10| to 12|. Scales 4-41 to 42-3.
Body long, spindle-shaped, little compressed, greatest thickness 1| in depth. Eye large, equal to the long snout. Jaws about equal, the lower slightly included. Dorsal origin half an orbit-diameter nearer snout-tip than caudal base, slightly anterior to pelvic insertion in adults, over or slightly posterior to pelvics in younger specimens. Anal inserted under tip of depressed last dorsal ray. Pectoral tips half length
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of fin from pelvics. Pelvics not reaching anal by three or four scales. Adipose inserted above last anal rays. Caudal Well forked. Anal margin falcate, dorsal edge emarginate.
Yellowish, the scales of the back with a dark border inside a light one. A conspicuous vertical black humeral crescent. A diffuse silvery band, more sharply defined posteriorly, superimposed on a darkish band, ending abruptly at caudal base, discontinued for a short interval, and then continued to the tips of the central rays. A yellow spot at the base of the upper and lower caudal rays, continued faintly out to form a pale border to the caudal bar. Beyond the spots, the caudal is shaded duskily. First pelvic and anal rays milky white; fins otherwise hyaline.
Type. — 17,682 I. U. 95 mm. Brazil: Sandbank on the Colombian border, Rio Negro, Cucuhy. 14 February, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
Par ATYPES.— 17,683 l! U. 31,572 M. C. Z. 92,33 mm. Brazil: Sandbank on the Colombian border, Rio Negro, Cucuhy. 14 February, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
Paratypes. — 17,684 I. U. 49, 58 mm. Mouth of the Curamuni, Rio Cassiquiare. 7 March, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
Crcagrutus melanzonus Eigenmann, from the Upper Essequibo and Potaro Rivers in British Guiana, seems to be based on young speci- mens of this genus, and may stand as Creagrudite melanzona (Eigen- mann). They differ from young C. viaxillaris in the scale-count and in the presence of two teeth in the second premaxillary series on each side.
Carnegiella marthae, sp. riov.
Head 3f in body-length. Depth 2. Dorsal 10. Anal 22 or 23. Scales 26.
Lower profile of the disc extending downward and backward rather steeply and with but a slight curve, the lower portion somewhat trun- cated. Maxillary with a single tooth. Nine premaxillary teeth on each side in a single series. Lateral line incomplete. No adipose.
A dark line from above the first third of the pectoral to the caudal base, bounded above by a wider light line and below by a narrower one. Back above this darkly mottled, the scale-edges darker. A dark band around lower jaw to eye and another a little lower down. Two dark lines backward from eye across opercle, and another following the curve of the suborbital. Entire lower edge of body, from caudal to chin, bounded by a narrow dark line, this forking on the breast, one branch on each side, leaving a narrow median light V-shaped area below chin.
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This dark outline is bordered interiorly, from caudal to the beginning of the front profile of the breast, with a wider light area. Breast with a series of six fine curved dark lines, with wider interspaces, starting anteriorly and curving backward and upward, parallel with the lower edge of the opercle, somewhat converging, and ending above and behind the pectoral insertion. The sides are finely mottled with dark and this causes the lines to become obsolete on the middle of the sides in most specimens. The lower ones of the six are nearly always inter- rupted. At the point where the truncated lower profile starts upward towards the caudal, the light inner margin is curved inward, with an upper heavy border of crowded chromatophores, forming an incipient light spot. Pectorals mottled with dusky. Scales bluish burnished silvery. These are the typical colors. They are varied somewhat on most of the specimens by slight differences in mottling.
Type. — 17,685 I. U. 29.5 mm. Venezuela: Caiio de Quiribana, near Caicara. May, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
Paratypes.— 17,686 I. U. 31,573 M. C. Z. 27-32 mm. Venezuela: Cano de Quiribana, near Caicara. May, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
Paratypes. — 17,687 I. U. 30, 31 mm. Venezuela: Cano de Quiri- bana, opposite Pan de Azucar. 7 May, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
Paratype. — 17,688 I. U. 29 mm. Venezuela: Creek into Laguna San Raphael, Caicara. 23 April, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
This pretty and distinctive little flying fish is one of the most unex- pected novelties obtained by Dr. Ternetz. It differs trenchantly from the onl}^ other species of the genus, C. strigata, in the low scale and anal ray counts, in the truncated lower profile of the disc, and in the simi- larly patterned, but quite distinct coloration ; C. marthae entirely lacks the bold wavy cross-bands of C. strigata and is considerably smaller. An average adult C. strigata from Iquitos measures 40 mm.; T have compared it with C. strigata from Belem, Para (Ternetz), Iquitos (Allen), and Tumatumari, British Guiana (Eigenmann); C. marthae apparently replaces C. strigata in the Orinoco, but why the latter should occur in the Essequibo and the Maraiion and not in the Orinoco, when the latter is openly connected with the Amazon system through the Cassiquiare, is an interesting question. Dr. Ternetz does not appear to have obtained any Gasteropelecinae in the Upper Rio Negro or Upper Orinoco.
MYERS: SOUTH AMERICAN FRESH-WATER FISHES. 121
LoNCHOGENYS, gen. nov. X67X'7, lance, and yeuvs, cheek.
Genotype. — Lonchogenys ilisha Myers.
Characinae. Allied to Acanthocharax, Heterocharax, and Xipho- charax.
Lateral line complete. Anal origin beneath the dorsal fin. Scales large, cycloid. A strong acute point on the angle of the interopercle. Mandibular teeth in two series. Tooth-bearing margin of the mandible trilobed, the central lobe with a large and a small canine on each side of it in the inner series, the side lobes each with three large retrorse canines at their highest point, these being in the outer series. Upper jaw scalloped to receive the central lobe, the depression with two ca- nines and a few smaller teeth at each side of it. Set in front of these canines is an even row of small teeth, forming two premaxillary series at this portion of the jaw. Maxillary-premaxillary junction a right angle, the maxillary immediately curving down and sweeping back- ward. Maxillary fully toothed, without a canine, the upper teeth en- larged and grading downward.
Head much less heavy and gape considerably less than in Acantho- charax. Nape emarginate, not angulated. Snout broadened, as in Heterocharax and Xiphocharax. Cleithrum not notched. Opercle with a deep notch in its upper border, deeper than that of Hetero- charax, and corresponding to a slight emargination in the other two genera.
This genus is far removed from Acanthocharax, much nearer Xipho- charax, and closest to Heterocharax. The four genera may be arranged as follows : —
a. Genera of Characinae with the interopercle drawn out into a sharp point or spine. b. Maxillary-premaxillary junction very obtusely angled, the maxillary oblique; a small canine at the upper end of the toothed maxillary; snout not broadened; nape angulated; scales small; cleithrum notched; opercle entire; cheeks mostly naked; interopercle with a sharp spine.
AcantJwcharax Eigenmann. bb. Maxillary-premaxillary junction nearly a right angle ; the maxil- lary wdth the upper teeth enlarged, but no canine; snout broadened; nape emarginate but not angled.
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c. Cheeks naked; cleithrum notched; opercle entire; scales very small; maxillary vertical; interopercle with a sharp point
but not a spine Xiphocharax Fowler.
cc. Cheeks fully armed; cleithrum not notched; opercle notched; scales large; maxillary oblique. d. Ramus of mandible trilobed; premaxillary teeth partly in two series; interopercle with an acute point; scales
squared basally with a notch Lonchogcnys Myers.
dd. Ramus of mandible not lobed ; premaxillary teeth strictly in a single series; interopercle with a sharp spine; scales deep, oval, basally entire Hetcrocharax Eigenmann.
LONCHOGENYS ILISHA, sp. nOV.
Head ^ in body-length. Depth 2f . Eye 2^ in head, much longer than snout. Dorsal 11. Anal 35 to 38. Scales 6-34 to 35-4.
Nape slightly emarginate, not angulated. Dorsal originating very slightly nearer to caudal base than to snout-tip. Pelvics half an orbit- diameter anterior to vertical of dorsal origin. Pectorals not quite to pelvics, which scarcely reach anal. Adipose above end of anal. First few anal rays prolonged, giving a falcate margin to the first part of the fin. Dorsal high and pointed. Caudal well forked, lobes pointed. Occipital process long and pointed. Maxillary reaches nearly to below center of pupil. Predorsal line compressed, possibly nearly naked, but with scattered irregular scales; this hard to determine precisely be- cause of the black predorsal line. Scales at side of predorsal line, particularly anteriorly, becoming very oblique. Anal with a basal sheath of scales, more numerous forward. Caudal scaled. Great sub- orbital covering all but a very narrow line of the cheeks.
The scales are most remarkably different from those of Acantho- charax {cf. Cockerel!, Ann. Carnegie mus., 1914, 9, p. Ill) and of Hetcrocharax, with both of which I have directly compared them. The scales of Hetcrocharax are exactly like those of Acanthocharax except that they are less deep. The scales of Lonchogenys are rounded apically, more or less square basally, not exceptionally deep, and of course much larger than those of Acanthocharax. The nucleus is far basad, and the basal border is notched twice medially and once below, the circuli following the indentations. There are two widely separated strong apical radii, delimiting the apical sector of the scale, this area lacking circuli. Between these radii are several fine, irregular, connected radii, few reaching the margin. The circuli of the basal portion run
MYERS: SOUTH AMERICAN FRESH-WATER FISHES. 123
around and go off the scale parallel to the two strong delimiting apical radii.
Coloration brilHant silvery; a plumbeous lateral band. Fins hyaline, slightly dark tipped. Midline of back, occiput, upper iris, and tips of jaws black. Scales dark edged on back. A dusky line along anal base. A few chromatophores gathered into faint lateral scale-lines below.
Type. — 17,696a I. U. 67 mm. Brazil: Sandbank on the Colombian border, Rio Negro, Cucuhy. 14 February, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
Paratypes.— 17,696 I. U. 31,574 M. C. Z. 67-74 mm. Brazil: Sandbank on the Colombian border, Rio Negro, Cucuhy. 14 Febru- ary, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
There are many specimens from other localities. It is a common species in the Upper Rio Negro. That this species passes through the Cassiquiare to the Orinoco' is shown by a single specimen of 77 mm. from Laga Tama-Tama, Bifurcation, Upper Orinoco.
A replica in miniature of the clupeid genus Ilisha.
PIMELODIDAE.
Brachyrhamdia, gen. nov. ^paxvs, short, and Rhamdia, a genus of Pimelodidae.
Genotype. — Brachyrhamdia imitator Myers.
Pimelodinae. x\llied to Pimelodella.
Body rather compact; somewhat compressed and deep. Occipital process forming a bridge with the dorsal plate. Dorsal and pectoral spines pungent, those of the latter with thorns along the basal half of the posterior edge. Humeral process spine-like. Fontanel not con- tinued behind eyes, without a bridge. Eyes with free orbital rims. Barbels normal. Caudal deeply forked. Head entirely covered with skin.
Brachyrhamdia imitator, sp. nov.
Head 3^ in body-length. Depth 3^. Eye 3| in head, circular. Dorsal I, 6. Anal 9.
Body in general shape like Corydoras, the head deep and the skull arched. Maxillary barbel lying in a groove below eye, long, reaching tip of anal rays. Outer mental barbel nearly reaching tip of pectoral spine. Inner mental barbel shorter. Premaxillary teeth in a band, without backward projecting angles. Pectoral spines very slightly
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longer than dorsal spine, the latter smooth, the former with eight strong thorns along the basal half of the posterior margin. Dorsal origin 1^ times as far from caudal base as from snout-tip. Pelvies in- serted on vertical of next to last dorsal ray. Adipose fin high, the length of its base slightly less than length of dorsal spine.
Dull brownish yellow, light on belly. Posterior sides finely mottled. A black masque-like zone from occiput down over eyes and across cheek. Another wide black zone from dorsal origin to humeral process, this running up and involving the spine and first ray of dorsal.
Type. — 17,695 I. U. 50 mm. Venezuela: Caiio de Quiribana, near Caicara. May, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
Taken with, and very similar in color and form to Corydoras me- lanistins Regan.
DORADIDAE.
Orinocodoras, gen. nov.
Orinoco and Doras, the typical genus of the family.
Genotype. — Orinocodoras eigenmanni Myers.
Allied to Platydoras and Lithodoras. Width at cleithrum greater than head-length. Adipose fin continued forward very slightly into a keel, fairly high; without the keel it is as long as anal base. Dorsal spine strongly serrate in front and behind, the posterior serrae longer. Preorbital bones not serrate. Caudal peduncle entirely covered above and below with laminate plates. Lateral scutes very narrow, as wide as eye, leaving the greater part of the sides naked; one in feeble con- tact with the dorsal plate. Swim-bladder double, without diverticula, the posterior part small and heart-shaped. Barbels simple. Differs from Lithodoras in the armored peduncle and more numerous scutes, and from Platydoras in the narrow scutes.
Orinocodoras eigenmanni, sp. nov.
Head 3J in body-length to last scute. Eye 6| in head. Dorsal I, 5. Anal, 11. Lateral scutes 29, very even, those on the peduncle very slightly larger than the others. Dorsal spine nearly reaches beginning of adipose keel. Pectoral spines reaching pelvies. Coracoid process covered with skin. Fontanel continued as a groove to the dorsal fin. Mouth terminal. Teeth in a band, none enlarged. Maxillary barbel reaching to cleithrum. Mental barbels four, short. Eye just anterior
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to middle of head. Profile from dorsal to snout-tip an almost unin- terrupted curve. Caudal forked.
Blackish; a white line down the row of scutes, continued faintly forward to eye. Dorsal lightish mottled, the first soft ray and its membrane black. Caudal mottled lightish, with two longitudinal black bands, these continuing the black of the sides above and below the white scutes. Underside of head and coracoid process white, rest of underside darkly mottled.
Type. — 17,689 I. U. 89 mm. Venezuela: Cano de Quiribana, near Caicara. 13 May, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
Paratypes.— 17,690 I. U. 31,575 M. C. Z. 74-81 mm. Venezuela: Cano de Quiribana, near Caicara. Carl Ternetz.
Named for Dr. Carl H. Eigenmann, who recently placed the classifi- cation of the Doradidae on a firm foundation.
ASPREDINIDAE.
Bunocephalus salathei, sp. nov.
Depth of head 2| in its width, which is half again greater than its length. Upper jaw slightly longer than lower. Cranial ridges promi- nent, interorbital deeply concave, half as wide as corresponding width of head. Maxillary barbels reach almost to end of coracoid processes. Pectoral spine slightly curved, with strong serrations on both sides, not reaching pelvic fin-origin by more than half head-length. Coracoid processes parallel or slightly divergent, half as long as their distance apart, reaching as far back as middle of pectoral spine. Dorsal 4, its origin If times as far from caudal base as from snout tip. Anal 7|. Caudal peduncle little or not at all compressed, very slender, its length 4f in length to caudal base. Skin finely tubercular.
Upper half of head and body light grayish tan, lower half blackish brown. Dorsal fin dark with a lightish border. Venter light. Two of the paratypes show traces of five dark cross-bands, near the end of the pectoral spines, at the dorsal fin, above the anal origin, above its end, and at the caudal base.
Type.— 31,583 M. C. Z. 48 mm. Brazil: Morro Ajudo, "about 100 km. from Rio de Janeiro." Brocca and Salathe.
Paratypes.— 101 Coll G. S. M. 26-33 mm. Brazil: Morro Ajudo, " about 100 km. from Rio de Janeiro." Brocca and Salathe.
Allied to B. doriae Blgr. differing in the anterior dorsal, uncom- pressed peduncle, shorter dorsal, and in color.
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CALLICHTHYIDAE.
CoRYDORAS potaroensis, sp. nov.
Corydoras pundatus Eigenmann (in part 7iec Bloch) Mem. Carnegie mus., 1912, 6, p. 220, pi. 24, fig. 3. Creek below Potaro Landing and Erukin.
In his account of C. jpnndatus, Eigenmann apparently included specimens of two distinct species, neither of them the true C. punctatus of Bloch. Bloch's figure represents a fairly elongate Corydoras with a distinct black spot on the upper part of the anterior dorsal rays, with but few small dots on the sides, with no trace of a black band across the head and eyes, and with rows of dots on the caudal. It would fall in the group vim. of Mrs. Ellis's synopsis (Ann. Carnegie mus., 1913, 8, p. 398). Regan, whose paper (Ann. mag. nat. hist., 1912, ser. 8, 10, p. 209-220) appeared almost simultaneously with Eigenmann's, recog- nized that the one Guiana species he had was different from C. punc- tatus, and named it C. melanistius. I identify the more common species of Eigenmann's collections with C inelanistius, while the other I de- scribe as new; C. melanistius is a very deep species (the depth 2^ to 2|). Measuring in a horizontal plane (not over the curve of the back), the dorsal origin is midway between the vertical of the snout-tip and the tip of the adipose spine. The spine and first three dorsal rays and their membranes are black, this color extending down in a large patch on the upper part of the sides. A dark band (though never so dark as the dorsal spot) extends from the nape down through the eye onto the sub- orbital and opercle. Sides covered with many small dark spots, those above the lateral line of scute-junctures slightly larger and more dis- posed in lateral rows than those below. Fins pale, faded, but with indications in some specimens (Konawaruk) of vertical rows of spots on the caudal and anal. I have specimens from Kumaka, Malali, Konawaruk, and mud-flats on the Demerara below Wismar. All these are much paler in coloration than specimens from Cano de Quiribana, near Caicara, Orinoco, possibly due to fading, but more probably partly due to a really lighter color of the Guiana fishes. The Orinoco specimens have the caudal with bold rows of spots.
The new species, represented by Eigenmann's figure and his speci- mens from Erukin and Potaro Landing, is more elongate. Depth 2^ to 3. Measuring in a horizontal plane, the dorsal origin is midway between the vertical of the snout-tip and the base of the adipose spine. There is a masque-like black zone over the eyes as in C. melanistius, but the dorsal coloration differs widely. The entire dorsal fin, with its rays and
MYERS: SOUTH AMERICAN FRESH-WATER FISHES. 127
membranes, is black, paling toward the margin, but this color does not extend on the dorsal region of the body. There are no spots on the body or fins, the only markings being faint lines running parallel to the vertical plate-sutures.
Types.— 11,984 I. U. 31,576 M. C. Z. 43-46 mm. Br. Guiana: Creek below Potaro Landing. C. H. Eigenmann.
LORICARIIDAE.
Otothyris, gen. nov. oii%, uTos, ear, and Oupis, lattice.
Genotype. — Otothyris canaliferus Myers.
Hypoptopomatinae. Allied to Otocinclus, but the cranium sculp- tured is a most remarkable manner. Eye set high in head, without the projecting tongue of iris to the center of the pupil seen in Otocinclus.
Supraoccipital with two low spinescent keels at the summit, one on each side, parallel, diverging anteriorly and posteriorly. Out of the posterior trough of these rises a third median spinescent keel, higher than the other two and rising to the posterior tip of the supraoccipital, where it ends. The temporals are perforate, pierced by three or four large openings (sometimes confluent into one), these extending upward into a passageway which opens externally above into two small holes. The sutures of the bones are so obscured that I shall not attempt to difterentiate them further. A keel starts on each side of the snout and extends in a concave curve upward to, and encircling, the eye, thence extends backward and upward above the perforations described, end- ing in a pointed backward projection of what likely is the epiotic. Occasionally there is one perforation above this keel, this at its angle with the posterior border of the circumorbicular ridge, and extending downward into the same passageway as the others. Below the poste- riorly projecting point of the lateral cephalic keels is a cavernous bone- surrounded opening into a large chamber at the side of the anterior vertebrae. This apparently does not connect with the passageway of the perforations, agreeing in this with specimens of Otocinclus affinis Steindachner from Rio de Janeiro. Thus it apparently differs from the structure in 0. vestitus as described by Cope, although he may have been mistaken in that all of the perforations enter the large cavity.
The bony arched roof of the chamber on each side, between the lateral and supraoccipital keels, bears four very weak longitudinal
128 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology,
keels. There is a short double keel originating at the snout-tip and fading between the great bone-rimmed nasal depressions.
The adipose fin and its spine are absent. There are three large plates on the preventral area, one at each side anteriorly and one posteriorly between the pelvics. The rest of the breast is naked save occasionally for one or two rudimentary accessory plates. Lower transverse area of clavicles and coracoids exposed, rough.
This genus differs from Otocinclus in the rugose and much keeled upper surface of the head, and in the reduced number and peculiar structure of the temporal perforations and their canals.
Otothyris canaliferus, sp. nov.
Dorsal 1, 4. Anal I, 5. Lateral plates 2L
Summit of postdorsal region depressed, with a row of spines along each side. A median series of scutes down the side. Postanal region depressed, flanked on each side by a row of spines, with another double row down its center. Dorsal originating very slightly posterior to vertical of origin of pelvics. Pectoral spines extending nearly to end of pelvics. Caudal injured, possibly truncate in life.
Ornately mottled, a diffuse brown band over back at dorsal origin and another at its end. Caudal peduncle encircled by a diffuse band. A lateral brown area down the sides. A conspicuous rounded dark brown spot occupying the center of the caudal fin.
Types.— 87 Coll. G. S. M. 31,577 M. C. Z. 30 mm. Brazil: hills vicinity Rio de Janeiro. 1924. R. Brocca.
I cannot identify this species with any described from southeastern Brazil, though there is a possibility that it will prove identical with one of Ribeiro's species of Otocinclus.
PYGIDIIDAE. Glanapteryx, gen. nov. yXavis, the catfish of Aristotle; o, privative, without; and -n-repv^, wing or fin.
Genotype. — Glanapteryx anguilla Myers.
Pygidiinae. Body eel-shaped, wholly finless excepting for small rudi- mentary pectoral and pelvic flaps and a caudal fringe. No mental barbels. Nasal, rostral, and maxillary pairs of barbels present. Cheeks without spines. Teeth small, apparently conical, in both jaws.
MYERS: SOUTH AMERICAN FRESH-WATER FISHES. 129
Glanapteryx anguilla, sp. nov.
Body cylindrical anteriorly, compressed and slightly deeper in the caudal region. Eyes small and imbedded in the skin, about thrice one's diameter apart, far forward in the head near the nasal barbels. Head small and flattened, its length equal to depth of anterior part of body, which is contained about fifteen times in the body-length. Nasal barbels reaching end of head, rostral and maxillary barbels slightly longer.
No traces of dorsal or anal fins are visible. The pectorals are reduced to useless inconspicuous fleshy flaps. The caudal fin, with its many accessory rays, is present as a narrow fringe around the paudal end of the body, rounded-acuminate at the tip. What may be flap-like rem- nants of the pelvic fins are present at each side of the anus. A dissec- tion to ascertain this has not been made as the Type is uniciue. The caudal region, from vent to caudal tip, is contained 3f times in the total length of the fish.
Uniform dark brown, lighter beneath.
Type. — 17,700 I. U. 42 mm. Brazil: rock-pools below Sao Gabriel Rapids, Rio Negro. 1 February, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
This unique specimen was in a vial full of young Synhranchus marmoratus, and it was not until I noticed one of the supposed Syn- hranchus to have barbels that this peculiar species was discovered. It is undoubtedly a burrowing type and is quite the most remarkable form of the subfamily so far discovered.
OCHMACANTHUS ALTERNUS, Sp. nOV.
Head 5| in body-length. Depth 5|. Dorsal 8. Anal 8. Pectoral 6. Eye 4| in head, longer than snout, less than interorbital.
Maxillary barbels to interopercular spines; lower barbels much shorter, with a membranous flap below. Width of head equal to length with opercular spines. Ten or eleven interopercular spines. About ten opercular spines. Teeth small, in minute series. A prominent pectoral pore. Pelvics inserted midway between head and caudal base. i\nal fin-origin but slightly behind that of dorsal. Caudal rounded-truncate, with many accessory rays, not tadpole-like.
Markings very variable, typically a double or triple series of large, irregular, alternating blotches with narrow interspaces, the spots usu- ally partially coalescing forward on the back. Some specimens have the pattern broken up into comparatively fine mottling, but all show a
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trace of the typical pattern. Caudal mottled, in some with a trace of a dark median streak to the tip. Venter pale, unmarked.
Types.— 17,697 I. U. 31,578 M. C. Z. 34-40 mm. Venezuela : Cano de Quiribana, near Caicara. May, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
A larger headed, more compact species than 0. Orinoco, well dis- tinguished by its bold dark pattern.
Ochmacanthus ORINOCO, sp. nov.
Head 6 in body-length. Depth 6|. Dorsal 8. Anal 7. Pectoral 5. Eye 4 in head, equal to snout and interorbital.
Maxillary barbels reaching middle of interopercular spine-patch, lower barbels much shorter, with a membranous flap below. Head flattened, its width equal to its length with opercular spines. Ten large spines in interopercular patch, ten or twelve in the opercular patch. Teeth of premaxillary very small, in fine series as in Stego- philus. A prominent pectoral pore. Pelvics inserted midway between caudal base and front of interopercular spine-patch. Anal origin under last part of dorsal base. Caudal rounded, with many accessory rays, not tadpole-like.
Back mottled. A single series of oblong dark patches of unequal length down the middle of the sides to caudal base.
Type.— 17,698 I. U. 46 mm. Venezuela: Playa Matepalma, Orin- oco. 2 April, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
Stegophilus septentrionalis, sp. nov.
Head 5|- in body-length. Depth 6f . Dorsal 8. Anal 6. Pectoral 7. Eye equal to snout and interorbital, 4 in head.
Maxillary barbels reaching the interopercular spines, lower barbel much shorter; an attached membranous flap below the lower barbel. Head flat below, its width equal to head without the opercular spines. Ten or eleven long sharp hooks in two irregular series on the inter- opercle. About twelve shorter hooks irregularly arranged at tip of opercle. Teeth in several minute, even series in the premaxillaries, less numerous than in Haemomaster; two series on the lips. Pelvic fins inserted midway between caudal base and pectoral tips. Anal inserted under end of dorsal base. One or two prominent accessory dorsal and anal rays. Caudal emarginate.
Whitish; a series of oblong dark blotches down the middle of the side, these becoming obsolete forward. An indefinite series of small,
MYERS: SOUTH AMERICAN FRESH-WATER FISHES. 131
diflFuse streaks above the side series anteriorly, and another on midhne of back. A small black spot on base of central caudal rays, continued outward as a straight black line to the end of the central rays. Upper and lower caudal tips mottled.
Type. — 17,699 I. U. 44 mm. Venezuela: Santa Barbara, Orinoco. 4 April, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
Very close to the only other known species of the genus, S. insidiosus Reinhardt, from southeastern Brazil apparently differing only in one anal ray, the emarginate caudal, and the distinctive color.
Haemomaster, gen. no v. aipioi, blood, and naoTtip, seeker.
Genotype. — Haemomaster venezuelae Myers.
Stegophilinae. Accessory caudal rays fairly numerous, but not con- spicuous. Gill-membranes united, confluent with the isthmus. Opercle with five spines. Caudal very slightly emarginate. Pelvic fins inserted nearly twice as far from snout-tip as from caudal base. Eyes large, staring, far apart and lateral, not superior and close together as in re- lated genera. Colorless except for a caudal stripe.
In the synopsis of genera in Eigenmann's review of the family, this genus would fall in Stegophilus, but the wide-set, staring, lateral eyes are seen in no other member of the subfamily. It cannot well be Pleuro- physus Ribeiro.
Haemomaster venezuelae, sp. nov.
Head 7| in body-length. Depth 6f to 1\. Dorsal 7. Anal 5. Eye 3| in head, 2 in interorbital.
Teeth of upper jaw imbedded in soft flesh and very difficult to see except in dry specimens. The tooth-bearing area is very wide and extends to the sides of the mouth. The teeth are extremely fine and are disposed in many even series, the outer one along the lip. As many as fifteen of these series can be counted. In the middle there is a patch of enlarged retro rse teeth. In the mandible the teeth are similar, in ex- tremely fine rows, less numerous than in the upper jaw, and there ap- pears to be no enlarged central patch. The outer series is along the lip.
A very short maxillary barbel, scarcely reaching hind border of eye. Interopercular spines five, four large and one very small one above. Opercular spines six, four large ones in the second series, two smaller in the first. Dorsal inserted above middle of appressed pelvics. Anal
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inserted below end of dorsal base. Pelvics nearly twice as far from snout-tip as from caudal base. Head very flat, body compressed pos- teriorly.
Body colorless. Eyes dark. A dark line from middle of sides below dorsal, growing black at caudal base, where it widens slightly, and ex- tending out to the tips of the central caudal rays. Occiput dark.
Type. — 17,705 I. U. 61 mm. Venezuela: Playa Matepalma, Orin- oco. 2 April, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
Paratypes. — 17,706 I. U. 49, 58 mm. Venezuela: Santa Barbara, Orinoco. 4 April, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
Paratypes.— 17,707 I.U. 31,579 M. C. Z. 55-66 mm. Venezuela: Playa Tama-Tama, Bifurcation, Orinoco. 14-16 March, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
Urinophilus diabolicus, sp. nov.
Head 6f in body-length. Depth 8|. Dorsal 7. Anal 8. All rays vis- ible counted. Pectoral 7. Eye 6 in head with opercular spines, just anterior to middle of head-length.
Maxillary barbel extending not quite to tip of interopercular spines, lower barbel rudimentary. Interopercle with a single greatly enlarged spine and a very few (one or two) tiny complementary ones. Opercular patch of spines rudimentary, hidden beneath the skin and not project- ing. Five premaxillary teeth in a convex semicircle, the central one largest. Mandibles widely separated, each with a patch of small teeth. Pelvic fin-origin midway between pectoral tip and caudal tip. Anal origin beneath middle of dorsal. Dorsal origin twice as far from inter- opercular spine-patch as from caudal base. Caudal peduncle slender, with supplementary rays inconspicuous. Caudal truncate or slightly emarginate.
Brownish, with fine darker brown chromatophores on back.
T\-pe.— 17,701 I. U. 48 mm. Peru: Iquitos. September, 1920. W. R. Allen.
Dr. Allen found this specimen (called "Carnero" in Peru) halfway buried in the belly of a large river catfish, "Doncella" {Pseiidoplafys- toma). It had burrowed directly through the body-wall and was dis- tended with blood.
This species is much less elongate than U. sanguineus (Eigenmann) and U. erythrurus Eigenmann.
MYERS: SOUTH AMERICAN FRESH-WATER FISHES. 133
CYPRINODONTIDAE.
RiVULUS BENIENSIS, Sp. nOV.
Rivulus strigatus Pearson, {nee Regan) Indiana univ. studies, 1925, no. 64, p. 51. Allied to R. strigatus. Scales 34 or 35. Dorsal 7. Anal 11 or 12. Anal ending below middle of dorsal. Depth 4|. Male with dark brown longitudinal lines between the scale-rows and no caudal ocellus. The light interspaces were red in life. Fins darkish, a basal line on anal fin. Female with traces of the lateral dark lines, but this developed into a regularly mottled pattern which forms more or less well-defined squar- ish light areas on the lower posterior part of the sides. A very irregular dark streak from vmder jaw, through eye, to above pectoral. Fins speckled, anal dark edged. A very large black caudal ocellus in the female.
RiVULUS BENIENSIS BENIENSIS, Subsp. nOV.
Head 4 in body-length. Dorsal fin originating twice as far from vertical limb of preopercle as from caudal base.
Types.— 17,259 I. U. 31,580 M. C. Z. 24-40 mm. Bolivia: Ivon, Rio Beni. February, 1922. N. E. Pearson.
Rivulus beniensis lacustris, subsp. nov.
Head 4| to 4f in body-length. Dorsal fin originating twice as far from middle of pectoral as from caudal base.
Types.— 17,258 I. U. 31,581 M. C. Z. 30-42 mm. Bolivia: Lagoons along shores of Lake Rogoagua. November, 1921. N. E. Pearson.
Rivulus strigatus lacks a caudal ocellus in both male and female and the pattern consists of opposed oblique bars of dark red and blue meeting at the midline of the sides, less bright in the female. Living individuals of R. strigatus are very different from R. beniejisis.
ELEOTRIDIDAE.
Microphilypnus, gen. nov.
fiiKpos, small, and Philypnus. '
Genotype. — Microphilypnus ternetzi Myers.
Eleotridinae. Gill-openings extending forward to below hind border or center of pupil. Isthmus moderately narrow. Vomerine teeth ap-
134 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
parently absent. Skull without ridges posteriorly, slightly ridged or irregular anterior to orbits. Interorbital very narrow. Head and snout more or less elongate. Lower jaw projecting. Scales large. Opercles and occiput scaled. Cheeks and breast naked. Size minute.
Distinguished from Philypnus by the minute size, large scales, and unridged skull. These are the first small river gobies to be reported from the interior of South America.
MiCROPHILYPNUS TERNETZI, sp. nOV.
Head 3| in body-length. Depth 5f . Eye 3t in head. Dorsals V, 8. Anal 7. Scales 29 lateral, 7 between dorsal and anal.
Gill-openings extending to opposite hind border of pupil. Snout rather short, shorter than eye. Lower jaw not extremely prognathous. Maxillary extending backward to beneath anterior border of pupil. Scales ctenoid. Lateral line absent. Tongue emarginate or notched at tip. No bony point on end of lower limb of preopercle, below eye. No ridge before eye.
Scales dark edged, some with a spot on the posterior margin. Head and opercles dark spotted. A dark line midventrally, from isthmus to caudal, expanding at intervals into small elongate spots.
Types.— 17,702 LU. 31,582M. C. Z. 14-20 mm. Venezuela: Caiio de Quiribana, near Caicara. May, 1925. Carl Ternetz.
In a 20 mm. female, numerous, large, yellow ova can be seen through the abdominal wall. This species vies with Eviota and Mistichthys as the smallest known vertebrate.
MiCROPHILYPNUS AMAZONICUS, Sp. nOV.
Head 3| in body-length. Depth 6. Eye 3 in head. Dorsals VI, 8. Anal 8. Scales about 27 lateral,^ 6 or 6| between dorsal and anal.
Gill-openings extending to opposite hind-border of pupil. Snout rather short, shorter than the eye. Eye very large, elongate-oval. Lower jaw not extremely prognathous. Maxillary extending back- ward to beneath anterior border of pupil. Scales ctenoid. Lateral line absent. Tongue large, shallowly but widely bifid at the end. A bony point on end of lower limb of preopercle, below eye. Anterior border of orbit raised into a high bony ridge.
Yellowish; a series of dark spots down the middle of the side, one on
' Approximate number. Actual number possibly less. Scales mostly lost.
MYERS: SOUTH AMERICAN FRESH-WATER FISHES. 135
every third scale. Fins spotted. A line downward from eye to edge of under jaw.
Type. — 17,703 I.U. 24 mm. Brazil: Igarape do Mai Joana, Man- aos. 12 December, 1924. Carl Ternetz.
This species and the next are probably not congeneric with M. ternetzi or with each other, but I hesitate to erect new genera on the poor material available.
MiCROPHILYPNUS MACROSTOMA, sp. nOV.
Head 3f in body-length. Depth 5. Eye 3j in head. Dorsals V, 10. Anal 10. Scales 24 lateral, 5 between dorsal and anal.
Gill-openings extending forward almost to opposite end of maxillary. Head elongate, low, very pointed, snout long but shorter than the large eye. Lower jaw extremely prognathous, the lower dentition exposed. Maxillary extending backward to beneath center of pupil. Scales ctenoid. Lateral line present in the form of pits or elongate indenta- tions. Tongue large, squared or slightly emarginate at the end. A bony point on end of lower limb of preopercle, below eye. Anterior border of eye with a ridge which is raised into a blunt excrescence at one point.
Yellowish, faintly speckled.
Type.— 17,704 I. U. 20 mm. Brazil: Igarape do Mai Joana, Man- aos. 23 December, 1924. Carl Ternetz.
Very probably the type of a distinct genus.
Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology AT HARVARD COLLEGE. Vol. LXVIII. No. 4.
NOTES ON SOME ARGENTINA BIRDS.
By Herbert Friedmann.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS., U. S. A.:
PRINTED FOR THE MUSEUM.
September, 1927.
No. 4. — Notes on some Argentina Birds. By Hekbert Friedmann.
Introduction.
In early August 1923, under a grant from the National Research Council, I sailed from New York for Argentina to make an intensive study of the life-histories of the three species of cowbirds known to occur in that country. The work involved kept me in the field for ap- proximately half a year, during which time several sections of the country were visited. While the cowbirds were the main object of the expedition other birds were studied and collected whenever time per- mitted. This report deals with the latter part of the results of the trip. The work on the cowbirds forms a separate report.
Itinerary. — In the morning of August 11, 1923 I left New York on the Lamport and Holt steamer Vestris and two days later stopped at Bermuda for a few hours. On August 26 the highlands of Cape Frio appeared through the mists at dawn and about noon the boat was docked in the harbor of Rio de Janeiro. The next afternoon anchor was raised, to be lowered again on August 30 at Montevideo, where a stop was made for the day, proceeding that night to Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires was my headquarters for the duration of my stay in Argentina and to this city I returned for reoutfitting after each trip into the different sections of the country. In Buenos Aires Dr. Roberto Dabbene, the Curator of Birds in the Museo Nacional, very kindly gave me access to the splendid collections under his care and helped me greatly with advice as to the most likely places to visit for my work, and with letters of introduction to resident naturalists in the parts visited. The success of the expedition is in no small measure due to his friendly interest in it. From September 1 to 20 I was in or around Buenos Aires outfitting for my first excursion into the interior, but managed to make a few short side trips during this time. Two trips to La Plata City, Berisso, and Ensenada took up a week, while the others were one-day trips. On the morning of September 20 I left by the Central Argentine Railway for Tucuman City in the northwest part of Argentina. Arriving there the following morning after a very com- fortable and interesting journey I made the acquaintance of three resident naturalists. Dr. Lillo, Sefior Schreiter, and Senor Venturi.
140 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
The last-named invited me to join him on the next day on a short trip into the eastern foothills of the Andes at San Pablo and the Rio Lules. It was on this trip that I got my first real impressions of many Argen- tine birds and, incidentally, my last of a few species that I never saw elsewhere. On the morning of September 23 I left Venturi and went by the Central Cordoba Railway to Concepcion, province of Tucuman. Concepcion was my base from this time until December 23, just three months to a day. Here I was fortunate in obtaining the services of a peon stable-boy of Mr. Shipton's, one Pedro Carrero by name, who had assisted Mr. Shipton's collector, Juan Mogenson, and who knew the birds fairly well in an unscientific way. My work was further aided by Mr. Shipton who kindly gave me the use of horses and a two-wheeled buggy and also placed at my disposal a small brick hut. During the three months spent in this vicinity work was confined for the sake of exactness to a relatively small area between the Rio de Gastone and the sugar cane fields at La Corona, a plant of the Azucarera Argentina Company. A few side trips were made as follows : — Alpachirri, Oc- tober 27; Iltico, November 20; and Monteagudo, November 25. The country around Concepcion is fairly flat, although only a few miles to the west rise the eastern Andes, culminating in the towering peak of Aconquija, over 20,000 feet in height. Where not under cultivation (sugar cane) the country is of an open savanna type abundantly dotted with Acacia trees and intersected, here and there, by small rivulets. The only sizeable stream in the near vicinity is the Rio de Gastone, about a hundred and fifty feet wide and shallow enough to cross in a buggy with the greatest of ease. The banks are sandy and devoid of vegetation, but this barren stretch is quite narrow, and arboreal vege- tation is visible on both sides of the stream. There are several small marshy areas draining into the Rio de Gastone and on the edges of these marshes are dense thorny tangles and some real forest, forming a varied type of collecting ground. At Alpachirri and at the Rio Lules real subtropical forests are present in small, but truly magnificent patches, containing many very tall trees and great quantities of epi- phytes and hanging vines.
On December 23 I left Concepcion by the Central Cordoba Railway for Buenos Aires, arriving there on Christmas morning. A week was spent in reoutfitting and in studying certain birds at the National Museum and on January 1 I left by Parana River steamer for Santa Elena, Entre Rios, whither I went on invitation from the officers of the Bovril Company, Ltd. About noon on January 3 the boat landed at the little pier at Santa Elena and I was met by Mr. C. H. Smyth and
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 141
Mr. A. Philip of the Bovril Company. For seven weeks, from January 3 to February 23, I remained at Santa Elena almost constantly, and worked under ideal conditions, the Bovril Company's officers having put at my disposal not only horses and peon assistants but even their two gasoline launches, and the Director, Mr. D. M. Frederick, insisted on my accepting his hospitality. To these gentlemen I am greatly indebted for a wonderfully pleasant and productive seven weeks. Mr. Smyth later sent me specimens of eggs that I required, and both he and Mr. Phihp gave me much interesting and valuable information, still further increasing my indebtedness.
The country around Santa Elena is sandy and very broken and rugged, being merely a succession of barrancas overgrown with thorny bushes and dotted here and there with Acacia trees, while the monot- ony of the horizon is relieved by clumps of Eucalyptus trees wherever there are houses, chiefly ranchos. In the river Parana, just opposite to Santa Elena, is a long chain of islands, largely marshy in nature, but containing some fine patches of moist forest. These islands, recorded in this paper as the Bo\Til Islands or the Santa Elena Islands, are in the province of Santa Fe and were visited many times. One of them in particular, known as Deniz Island, was particularly rich in storks, herons, ibises, etc. Several trips were made to the Bovril Company's ranches, or as they are always called in Argentina, estancias, in eastern Santa Fe on the west bank of the river. This part of the country is a vast flat marsh with a few, but extensive, dry patches of higher land. Going across this level area on horseback from the Saladero M. Cabal on the bank of the river as far as La Noria, a good day's ride away, netted me many species not met with elsewhere.
On February 23 I left once more for Buenos Aires, my work on the cowbirds practically completed, I arrived in the Capital two days later and the next day wrote to the manager of the late Ernest Gibson's ranch for permission to conclude my field-studies in the same locality where the first careful work on the cowbirds had been done some fifty odd years before by Gibson. In the meantime the period of the Carni- val intervened and as it was observed for a longer period by the Ameri- can consulate than by the Argentine people themselves, my mail was considerably delayed. The most vexatious delay was with an invita- tion from Dr. Frank M. Chapman to join him on a trip to Chascomus. I received this note the day he returned to Buenos Aires from Chas- comus, although the letter had been left at the consulate a week pre- viously. Finally on March 8 1 left by the Southern Railway for Dolores and thence by stage to General Lavalle and to the Gibson estancia
142 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Los Yngleses at iVjo. Here I remained until the twelfth when I left by coach and train for Buenos Aires where I arrived on March 14. Three days later I sailed for New York on the S. S. Vesteis. On the way north stops were made at Santos, Rio de Janeiro, Trinidad, and Barbadoes. On the eighth of April I was once more in New York,
Annotated List of the Birds.
The collection on which this report is based is in the M. C. Z. and the systematic work was done there. I am greatly indebted to Mr. Outram Bangs and to Mr. James L. Peters for their unvarying kind- ness and for much advice and assistance.
RHEIDAE.
Rhea Americana (Linne).
The Rhea was observed in partial captivity in several places : Santa Elena, Entre Rios; near Cordoba City, Cordoba; San Pablo, Tucuman; and La Noria, Santa Fe. One was seen from a train-window on the Central Argentine Railway early in the morning on September 20 in the southeastern part of the province of Santiago del Estero and, judging by the country surrounding, was probably a wild bird. Li settled districts the Rhea is largely only a memory now, except on some of the huge holdings of some of the meat packing companies.
TINAMIDAE.
NoTHURA maculosa MACULOSA (Temminck).
M. C. Z. 96,889. Ad. 9. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 8 January, 1924.
This specimen has the tips of the feathers of the crown, back, scapu- lars, and interscapulars more grayish and less rufescent than in two specimens from Concepcion del Uruguay, Entre Rios, in M. C. Z. This difference, however, may be seasonal as the Santa Elena bird is a summer specimen in fresh plumage while the two from Concepcion del Uruguay are autumn birds. Nevertheless it would be well for some one with ample material to compare maculosa and nigrogidtafa with regard to season as well as age. Wetmore (Bull. 133, U. S. N. M., 1926, p. 33) writes that an old skin from Corrientes (north of Entre Rios)
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 143
taken in late spring or early summer is somewhat different from both maculosa and nigroguttata. It would not be at all surprising for a sedentary species like the present to break up into a large number of races, but it would be of great interest biologically if these racial differences were found to have begun as seasonal ones and were per- petuated all the year round in localities where seasonal changes were ecologically less marked.
This little tinamou was observed very frequently around Santa Elena, Entre Rios, during January and February. It occurs in open grassy country and hides in the grass rather than under bushes or shrubs. I noticed this particularly one day in a grassy field edged with thorny bushes. The birds, of which several were flushed, never seemed to consider the bushes as a possible means of concealment. Individuals were not infrequently noted on the golf course on the Bovril Com- pany's estate and one was killed by a driven ball while I was there. This tinamou runs like a quail {Colinus virginianus), giving a sweet, somewhat melancholy whistle as it runs. The flight is extremely rapid, but uneven, short periods of gliding with arched wings held motionless alternating with series of rapid wing-beats. When a bird rises close by the whirring noise is much louder than that made by a quail.
The bird collected was in breeding condition, the ovary being much enlarged. The stomach contained many small seeds, and some finely comminuted vegetable matter.
SPHENISCIDAE.
Spheniscus magellanicus (Forster).
The first penguins were seen from the steamer when off the coast of Uruguay on August 29. Five birds were then noted swimming around the ship. They sat very low in the water, and whenever a wave of any size came their way they invariably dived through it instead of riding it. The next day, on the La Plata River, several scattered groups and some single birds were observed.
COLYMBIDAE.
Aechmophorus major (Boddaert).
This grebe was first noticed on August 30 off the mouth of the La Plata River when two in non-breeding plumage were seen near the steamer. The next dav in the harbor of Buenos Aires a flock of twentv
144 bulletin: museum or comparative zoology.
was watched near the Lamport and Holt Company's dock in the north basin. Some were in full breeding plumage. Inasmuch as no specimens could be collected the identification rests chiefly on size, although a careful examination of specimens a few days later in the National Museum in Buenos Aires confirmed my identification.
This species seemed to sit higher in the water than do most grebes. Like the other members of the family they proved to be expert divers, diving without effort, or any apparent plunging.
DIOMEDEIDAE. DioMEDiA melanophris Temminck.
From southern Brazil south to the mouth of the La Plata, August 26 to 30, the Black-browed Albatross was a constant and common fol- lower of the steamer, often coming very close to pick up bits of garbage thrown overboard. When settling on the water they raise the wings and hold them vertically, until satisfied of their position on the waves, when they fold them, looking very much like great gulls.
A mixed company of albatrosses, shearwaters, and petrels illustrates very clearly the ecological value of size. The large albatrosses feed on the large morsels, the shearwaters on smaller bits, while the petrels take what the others leave and even glean a certain amount of the oily exudation of the garbage from the surface of the water. In this way nothing goes to waste for the larger birds would probably not heed the minute bits that interest the petrels. Of all the hundreds of these vari- ous birds that I watched feeding around the steamer none were ob- served to fight with individuals of other species over bits of food.
PROCELLARIIDAE.
PuFFiNUS GRISEUS (Gmelin). M. C. Z. 96,938. Ad. 9 . Uruguay: 10 miles off Cape Polonio. 30 August, 1923.
The single specimen collected flew on board the steamer and was caught by one of the stewards. The bird was very fat and in excellent condition. All the way from Rio de Janeiro southward to Buenos Aires these birds were very common, there being almost always anywhere from ten to a hundred of them around the ship. They sit rather high in the water and when rising they run with pattering feet for the first few wing-beats as though it were difficult to launch themselves into
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 145
flight. Although other seabirds, particularly Daption capensis, were common in the same place, the shearwaters kept in groups by them- selves. The one collected vomited a yellowish oil when captured and bit my fingers savagely.
Procellaria aequinoctialis aequinoctialis Linne.
These dusky birds were seen around the steamer in numbers from Brazil southward to Montevideo, August 25 to 30. They were fond of flying in circles around the boat, beating their wings only a few^ times and then sailing along with speed and grace. The yellowish color in the bill stands out in life against the otherwise uniform dusky aspect of the birds.
On August 25, when about thirty miles off the coast of Espirito Santo, one of these birds flew by the steamer, never rising more than a few feet from the water. It flew with long, easy wing-beats. Four days later, when off the coast of Rio Grande du Sol, there were about a hundred of them around the boat. That day we struck a heavy storm from the south which drove many subantarctic birds northwards and by the next morning the number of Procellarias had increased to sev- eral hundred.
Daption capensis (Linne).
Cape Pigeons, as these handsomely marked petrels are wrongly called, were first noted on August 25 when about thirty miles off the coast of Espirito Santo and some thirty miles from the Abrolhos Islands, when three birds appeared early in the morning and followed the steamer all day. That afternoon two more flew by. At 6 p.m. there were seven of them around the boat. None were noted for the next four days, but on August 29 when off the coast of Rio Grande du Sol ten were seen, and the next day, off the coast of Uruguay, about a hundred were observed following the steamer.
In flight the following marks stand out very distinctly : — tlie black heads and throats, white breasts and bellies, black wings with large white marks, the white and black vermiculated backs, black bills and feet. Few birds are more strikingly marked and my first impression of them was recorded in my field-book as "Flying Dominoes." They are to be ranked among the handsomest of all sea-birds and I doubt if any other bird ever gave me quite the thrill that the first Daption did.
They fly exceedingly gracefully, turning and wheeling sharply merely by inclining the body without flapping the wings. They fly
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with alternate periods of flapping and soaring. When soaring on motionless wings, the wings are held in a strictly horizontal plane, not even slightly bent downwards as in most birds. Several times indi- viduals were seen to plunge after food in a manner reminiscent of terns. They often rest on the water and were frequently seen riding the waves. When on the water they sit very high with the neck erect. No notes were heard from any bird.
Individuals are often caught with baited diamond-shaped pieces of tin or other bright metal thrown out on a string like a fish-hook, but although T tried this method no success attended my efforts.
OCEANITES sp.
On August 30 a small petrel, called by the sailors Motlier Carey's Chicken, flew on board the steamer and was caught by one of the crew. Knowing the bird's fate if given to me, and influenced by their super- stitious belief that to kill it would be to invite bad luck, they showed it to me and then let it go. It looked like the common Wilson's Petrel, Oceanites oceanicus, but I had a very imperfect view of it through the fingers of the hands that held it.
Wilson's Petrels accompanied the boat out of New York harbor on August 11 and were common all the way to Bermuda, August 13, after which no more were seen.
PHAETHONTIDAE.
Phaethon lepturus catesbyi Brandt.
When about fifteen miles northwest of Bermuda, August 13, a \ ellow-billed Tropic-bird flew around the steamer several times. Its flight seemed more like that of a gull than of a tern, but easily dis- tinguished from that of either. It was more graceful and much swifter than that of a gull, yet the manner of flapping the wings was very larine. The wings did not have the angular bend so characteristic of terns. Four more birds were seen during the day around Bermuda.
SULIDAE.
SuLA SULA (Linne).
Boobies were first noted off Cape Frio, Brazil, on August 26. On August 27 and 28 they were very common in the harbor of Rio de Janeiro. They flew rather low over the water and on many occasions
FKIEDMANN: notes on some ARGENTINA BIRDS. 147
I saw seven or eight strung out in single file, giving the appearance at a distance of a flock of ducks, except that the wing-beat was gull-like. When resting on the waves boobies sat very low so that only a small part of the body showed above the water, agreeing in this respect with their relatives the cormorants.
PHALACROCORACIDAE. Phalacrocorax vigua vigua (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,930. Ad. 9. Argentina: Santa Elena Island, Santa Fe. 13 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,931. Ad. cf. Argentina: Santa Elena Island, Santa Fe. 12 January,
1924.
The Vigua Cormorant was very common along the Rio Parana, both on the Entre Rios side and on the Santa Fe shore, during my stay there in January and February. In the second week of March I saw a small group on the marshes of the Ajo River, Buenos Aires. One was seen near Ensenada, Buenos Aires, on September 10, and they were always to be found in the harbor of Buenos Aires City. A small flock was noted from the steamer near Montevideo on the morning of March 18 and was the last South American species observed. Cormorants, doubtless of this species, were noted in the harbor of Rio de Janeiro on the trip south on August 2.5, 192.3, but not on the return voyage in 1924.
Single birds were frequently noted, but most of the birds were in flocks of from five to fifty, averaging about ten or twelve. In flight they resembled the Mexican Cormorant, except that they usually flew low over the water, all the members of a flock beating their wings in unison. The Mexican Cormorant (P. v. mexicanKs) may also have this habit, but I never saw them fly this way and I have watched many of them in the lower gulf region of Texas. In the marshes of the Santa Elena Islands in the Parana almost every dead tree either supported one or more of these birds, or showed by a liberal spattering of excre- ment that it had been resorted to by the Viguas. There must have been thousands of them there, but well scattered over the place.
Both specimens collected had the gonads slightly enlarged and both had been feeding on small fish.
The iris in life is light, bright emerald-green.
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ANHINGIDAE.
Anhinga anhinga (Linne).
Water-turkeys were not uncommon on the Parana at Santa Elena during January and February. They mingled with the previous species and were never seen to fight with them. Locally this bird was known as Vigua Vibora or Snake Cormorant. I was told that a large full- grown Anhinga had been caught and eaten by a Caiman not long before my arrival. When swimming these birds sit very low in the water, sometimes almost entirely submerged save for the head and neck.
FREGATIDAE.
Fregata aquila (Linne).
Frigate-birds were common in the harbor of Rio de Janeiro late in August. Most of them were seen soaring high overhead, but not a few were observed low over the water. When soaring the long tail-feathers are held parallel, but when wheeling or turning these feathers separate like the blades of a pair of scissors. While most of the Frigate-birds were soaring on motionless pinions a few were seen flying with regular, slow wing-beats. One bird was sailing over a small flock of Dominican gulls {Lams dominicanus) when one of the latter caught a fish; in- stantly the Frigate-bird closed its wings and shot down at the gull on the surface of the water and seized the fish as soon as it was dropped by the gull. On two occasions I saw Frigate-birds actually hit the water in these headlong plunges. This species was not noted south of Rio de Janeiro. About a quarter* of the individuals seen were adult males with solid black bodies, the rest being females or young with whitish abdomens and breasts, and, in the case of the young, whitish heads.
ARDEIDAE.
Nycticorax nycticorax naevius (Boddaert).
M. C. Z. 96,934. Im. cf. Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 17 January, 1924.
I have not seen sufficient comparative material to form an opinion on the distinctness of the Argentine Night Heron. The form tayvzu- guira is said to be characterized by the whiter belly and chin, but
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 149
Hartert, and, more recently, Wetmore (Bull. 133, U. S. N. M., 1926, p. 55) have considered it a synonym of naevius. I therefore follow them until more material is available. The only comparative material in the M. C. Z. is an immature bird collected by Barrows at Concepcion del Uruguay. The Santa Fe bird is lighter in general coloration, and much less streaked on the underparts.
Night Herons were very common in the islands in the Parana, oppo- site Santa Elena. Their habits seemed exactly like those of the North American bird.
The local names were Pajaro Bobo, Hoco, and Bruja.
BUTORIDES STRIATUS CYANURUS (VieiUot).
M. C. Z. 96,932. Ad. o"". Argentina: Rio de Gastone, Tucuman. 11 December,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,933. Ad. o". Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 10 February,
1924.
The specimen from Tucuman has the brown throat and chest- markings considerably darker than the bird from Santa Fe. In Tucu- man this species was fairly common in the marshy parts of the Rio de Gastone, but was not seen elsewhere in that province. In the Bovril Islands the birds were positively abundant. Their habits seemed no different from those of the Green Heron of the eastern United States.
Both birds collected were in breeding condition and both had been feeding on fish.
Gasmerodius albus egretta (Gmelin).
M. C. Z. 96,935. Ad. 9 . Argentina: La Noria, Santa Fe. 21 January, 1924.
This egret was obser\'ed at the following places : — Alto Boa Vista (near Rio de Janeiro), Brazil, August 27; Berisso, Buenos Aires, Sep- tember 6; Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, on and off during October, No- vember and December; Bovril Islands, Santa Fe, January and Febru- ary; San Joaquin, La Noria, and Saladero M. Cabal, Santa Fe, January 18 to 23.
In the extensive marshes and wet meadows of eastern Santa Fe these white herons were very common, often a hundred or more being in sight at a time. They were usually feeding in loose flock-formations or singly, never in compact masses like some of the ibises. At La Noria a few were noted with some cattle, but I doubt if this species has de-
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veloped any such relation with quadrupeds as have the African cattle egrets, Bubulcus ibis. The general habits were the same as in the North American birds. The local name for this species was Garza Blanca or White Heron.
Ardea cocoi Linne.
The Cocoi Heron was fairly common in the Bovril Islands in the Parana during my visit in January and February, but no specimens were collected. It seems to take the place of the Ardca herodias of North America in Argentina, and acts and looks very much like it. Although most of the birds observed were single individuals, a flock of six was seen one daj^ flying over at noon.
This species was called Garza Mora in Entre Rios and Sante Fe.
IxoBRYCHUs mvoLUCRis (Vieillot).
On January 19 while going up the Caraya, a stream in the Bovril Islands, one of these little bitterns was flushed from the reeds and flew off a little way when it dropped back into the cover of the marsh. A little later another popped out, and with legs dangling awkwardly in the air, laboriously flapped away and disappeared in the reeds; in all, seven of them were seen, but it was impossible to collect any on account of the depth of the water which made wading out of the question and the density of the reeds which prohibited the passage of a rowboat. The birds reminded me greatly of the Least Bittern of the eastern United States {I.vohrychus exilis), but seemed somewhat more rufous.
CICONIIDAE.
Mycteria AMERICANA Linne. M. C. Z. 96,937. Ad. d". Argentina: La Noria, Santa Fe. 21 January, 1924.
Wood ibises were noted at the following places: — one immature bird on the Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, September 30; common on the Bovril Islands, Santa Fe, during January and February; common at San Joaquin, and La Noria, Santa Fe, January 20 to 23; two on the Ajo River, Lavalle, Buenos Aires, March 10. In Santa Fe these birds were seen in company with egrets, maguari storks, and ibises, while on the
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 151
Ajo they were feeding with some Roseate Spoonbills. They were very wary and difficult to approach. The single specimen collected was shot as it flew over me.
The local names were Dorotea, Ciguena, and Tuyuyu.
EuxENURA GALATEA (Molina). M. C. Z. 96,936. Ad. 9 . Argentina: La Noria, Santa Fe. 21 January, 1924.
The Maguari Stork was very common in the Bovril Islands in the Parana and in eastern Santa Fe (Saladero M. Cabal, San Joaquin, and La Noria). Several hundred were seen during two days at La Noria and San Joaquin, together with great hordes of other wading birds, egrets, wood ibises, glossy ibises, screamers, cocoi herons, and limpkins. A Maguari in flight is a very impressive bird, a massive bulk of con- trasting black and white reheved at either end by a streak of red, the bill and feet being bright brick-red. At San Joaquin the marshes were literally dotted white with these great storks, but the birds were ex- tremely shy. Only once did I see them perching on trees; in this case about twenty-five of them were clustered on a lone spreading, flat- topped tree making a sight not soon forgotten.
When captured young these birds soon become tame and several semicaptive birds were seen in parts of Santa Fe. They clap their bills with a loud clatter and in this way give notice of any new or suspicious arrival. In other ways too they seem quite capable of acting as watch- dogs.
The specimen collected was no longer in breeding condition, and had apparently finished breeding at least a month before.
On September 12 at Berisso, Buenos Aires, three Maguaris were seen soaring high overhead. After a little while they began to flap their wings with a slow and steady rhythm and disappeared southward. Whether the birds were migrants or not it was impossible to tell.
THRESKIORNITHID AE .
Phimosus infuscatus (Lichtenstein).
M.C.Z. 96,926. Ad. d". Agentina: Deniz [island (Bovril Islands), Santa Fe. 4 January, 1924.
This species was not nearly as common as the next, but was not rare in the islands in the Parana opposite Santa Elena. On January 4 a flock of seven was seen feeding on the edge of a little pond. The birds
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stayed close together, but when I shot one the others flew off in two groups, four birds going one way and two another. The stomach of the bird collected contained some finely comminuted vegetable matter and a few pieces of gravel. In its general habits this species was similar to the next.
Plegadis guaeauna (Linne).
M. C. Z. 96,927. Ad. cf. Argentina: Saladero M. Cabal, Santa Fe. 20 January, 1924.
The White-faced Glossy Ibis was noted sparingly along the Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, in November. In January and February it was very abundant in the Bovril Islands in the Parana and in eastern Santa Fe where countless thousands were observed. Single flocks of from 800 to 1,000 birds were often seen flying overhead at La Noria on January 21. In two days at this place and at San Joaquin over 1.5,000 were noted. The flocks when feeding always broke up into little groups of from two to twenty birds. At Lavalle, Buenos Aires, in March a flock of nine was seen on the Ajo River.
PLATALEIDAE.
Ajaia ajaja (Linne).
Roseate Spoonbills were noted sparingly in Tucuman (Rio de Gastone) in November, and on the Ajo River, Buenos Aires, in March. In the Bovril Islands, Santa Fe, they were not uncommon, but very wary. Mr. Paul Haimes, an American resident in Concepcion, Tucu- man, told me that in the extreme southern part of that province he had seen great flocks of these birds, containing many hundreds of indi- viduals. In a little muddy tributary of the Ajo River I saw three spoonbills feeding on the shore. They fed with a sidewise motion of the head as though trying to strain the mud through the lateral lammellae of their bills. A little guttural croak was heard from one of the birds.
PHOENICOPTERIDAE.
Phoenicopterus chilensis Molina.
The Flamingo was noted but once — three birds on the shore of the Ajo River near Lavalle, Buenos Aires, March 10. They flew off while I was still some distance away.
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ANHIMIDAE. Chauna torquata (Oken), Ad. c?. La Noria, Santa Fe. January 22, 1924. Coll. Cornell univ.
Crested Screamers were found in Tucuman, Santa Fe, Entre Rios, and Buenos Aires. Near Concepcion, Tucuman, a pair of these great birds were seen flying high overhead on October 24. As they flew they called chaha, chaha, with the accent on the second syllable, the notes, mellowed by distance, were, nevertheless, quite clear. These were the only ones seen during three months of field-work in that region, so they must be locally scarce. In the large islands in the Parana oppo- site Santa Elena, and in eastern Santa Fe (Saladero M. Cabal, San Joaquin, and La Noria) many pairs were observed during January and February. At Lavalle, Buenos Aires, and the near by Gibson estancia Los Yngleses, in March, I found screamers congregated in large flocks, feeding on the uplands among the sheep as wild geese often do. The largest single flock seen must have contained at least three hundred birds.
In the marshes of eastern Santa Fe screamers were extremely wary and it was only after a long and tedious hunt that I was able to pro- cure a specimen. As soon as I came in sight of a pair, the birds would get restless, begin calling loudly, and long before I got within range would fly off. They were invariably in pairs, but when flying would separate temporarily and join again on landing. To look at one of these heavy, massive birds it would seem that flight would be difficult for them, but such is not the case. They are magnificent flyers and soar in upward-pointing spirals until, with all their huge bulk, they become mere animated dusky flecks in the bright sky. However, they seem to have a little trouble in rising. I once saw a pair standing in a wet meadow near a little pond, and as I came near them they raised their wings, slowly beat them forward and backward a couple of times, and then rose from the ground. As regards the wing-beat, their flight always seemed more heron-like than anserine, although their affinities are with the latter group. A few times I saw screamers perch on trees, but most of them were observed on the ground. They always stood with necks erect, and heads held high as though constantly surveying the surrounding expanse of marsh. The light cheeks, the black collar, and the crest were conspicuous at a distance.
At Lavalle, Buenos Aires, in March, screamers were in large flocks, but whenever a flock took to flight it broke up more or less into pairs. The birds were much less timid here than in the Bovril Islands.
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In skinning the bird collecterl I found, as others have previously re- corded, the skin completely underlaid with small air-sacs, which, when pressed, produced a distinct crackling sound. The intestinal caeca are peculiar, being stout and with many short, blind, pouch-like sacculae.
Screamers are often caught when young, and are domesticated as guardians of the poultry-yards by the peons. Armed with two very formidable pairs of spurs on the wings and with a voice that has the carrying power to reach both the intruder and the master at the same time, these birds are well adapted to this artificial duty. At the Sala- dero M. Cabal there was a half-grown one which had the spurs still poorly developed and which still had the piping voice of immaturity.
The common name for this bird all over Argentina is Chaja.
ANATIDAE.
Cygnus melancoriphus (Molina).
The Black-necked Swan was a rare bird in my experience. Only a single specimen was seen. On March 10 in a little marshy tributary of the Ajo River, Buenos Aires, one was feeding in the shallow water. It tipped as its head went under, groping for food along the bottom just as with our tame mute swans in park lakes. As I approached the bird flew off. In rising from the water it made a great rushing sound as the wings beat the air, and the feet slapped the surface of the water. In the air it formed a very pleasing picture, the dark neck showing distinctly black against the rest of the body, which was sparkling white.
Cairina moschata (Linne).
Muscovy ducks were seen in small numbers on the Caraya during January and February. I never saw more than three together and usually met with single birds.
The local name is Pato Real.
Dendrocygna bicolor bicolor (Vieillot).
The Fulvous Tree-duck was fairly common in the Bovril Islands, where they were seen on and off during January and February. The largest flock seen contained eight birds.
The local name in this district wasSiriri, doubtless an imitation of the call-note. Wetmore (Bull. 133, U. S. N. M., 1926, p. 72) writes that in
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 155
Paraguay this name is applied to Dendrocijgna viduata. I did not see this species in the course of my work on the Parana, but was told of another tree-duck called Siriri Pampa, which probably refers to viduata.
Nettion braziliense (Gmelin).
M. C. Z. 96,928. Ad. c?. Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 23 January, 1924.
Brazilian Teal were common in the Bovril Islands during January and February. In life the bill is unusual in color: a deep brownish purple on the maxilla and brownish red on the mandible. The birds seen were all in small flocks of from three to six, and kept close to the reedy shores of the streams where they fed on aquatic seeds and succu- lent water-plants.
The male collected had completed its moult.
The local name was Pato Silvador.
Mareca sibilatrix (Poppig).
These wigeon were common in the streams of the Bovril Islands, where they were seen in small flocks or singly throughout January and February. In their general habits they seemed similar to the North American M. americana. The white humeral patch is very diagnostic in recognizing these birds at a distance as they fly overhead.
CATHARTIDAE.
CoRAGYPS URUBU FOETENS (Lichtenstein).
Black Vultures, probably of this species, were noted in great num- bers in the harbor of Rio de Janeiro on August 27. They looked like the Black Vulture of the southern United States, had short tails, and did not soar well. All the birds seen had light spots on the underside of the basal parts of the primaries. They were particularly abundant at Pao de Assucar, Tijuca, and Corcovado. When going in the cable- suspended car from Urga to the top of Pao de Assucar many of these birds flew close by, affording exceptionally good views. On the return trip in March they were seen again in Rio de Janeiro, but strangely enough, not in the harbor of Santos or in the highlands of Sao Paulo.
At Santa Elena, Entre Rios, and on the Santa Fe side of the Parana the Cuervos were abundant. In spite of their numbers I never saw one
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on the ground, or in a tree during two months field-work. They were probably attracted by the killing and packing plant of the Bovril Company at Santa Elena, but I saw them only high up in the air.
Vultur gryphus Linne.
My field-acquaintance with the Condor was limited to a single bird seen soaring high overhead. On the morning of November 20 I went over the eastern Andes from Concepcion, Tucuman, into the eastern edge of Catamarca. While resting around noon at a vantage point in the road I focussed my camera on the snows of Aconquija and noted an image of a bird flying across the plate. Looking through my glasses I was delighted to see it resolve into a Condor. It soared around in a great circle and remained in view for about a quarter of an hour, when it disappeared around a bend in the valley.
FALCONIDAE.
MiLVAGO CHIMANGO CHIMANGO (Vieillot). M. C. Z. 96,918. Im.? 9 . Argentina: Ajo, Buenos Aires. 11 March, 1924.
My records for this species are : — Buenos Aires — Buenos Aires, Berisso, September 6, several; Dolores and Lavalle, March 8 to 11, common ; Tucuman — Tucuman City, September 21, several ; San Pablo and Rio Lules, September 22, several; Concepcion and Rio de Gastone, September 23 to December 23, common; Entre Rios — Santa Elena, January 3 to February 23, common; Santa Sofia and Viscacheros, January 27, common; Bovril Islands, San Joaquin, and La Noria, Santa Fe, January 19 to 23, common. Besides these records, Chimangos were noted from train-windows in the provinces of Cordoba, Santa Fe, Santiago del Estero, and western Buenos Aires.
These carrion hawks are abundant all over the open country, which in Argentina means practically everywhere. They go either singly or in small groups. In my experience they were in groups, chiefly toward the end of the summer and early autumn (February and March) ; in most cases these groups were probably composed of a single family. At Lavalle, Buenos Aires, I shot one out of a flock of nine; and here there must have been more than one family represented. Living in the open pampas where trees are few and far between, these hawks have become quite terrestrial and are expert runners and walkers. However, they seem to prefer elevated perches such as bushes, trees, etc., when-
friedmann: notes on some argentine birds. 157
ever they are available. For raptorial birds the Chimangos are sur- prisingly tame, but they are seldom molested as the peons do not often shoot them. In Tucuman I found small boys practicing their skill with slings on these birds. Although relatively undisturbed by man, they are much harrassed by other birds. Among the birds seen chasing the Chimangos were Lapwings {Belonopterus chilensis lampronotus), Guira Cuckoos (Guira guira), Fork-tailed Flycatchers (Muscivora tijratmus), and Cowbirds {Moloihrus honariensis honariensis) .
POLYBORUS PLANCUS PLANCUS (Miller).
Like the Chimango, the Carancho is abundantly distributed over Argentina. In the vicinity of the city of La Plata, Buenos Aires, they were fairly numerous on September 5; many were seen from the train- window in Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, and Santiago del Estero, September 20; Tucuman — Tucuman City, September 21, a few; San Pablo, Sep- tember 22, two; Concepcion and Rio de Gastone, September 23 to December 23, common ; Santa Elena — Entre Rios, January 3 to February 23, not uncommon; Bovril Islands, January 19 to 23, com- mon; Saladero M. Cabal, San Joaquin, and La Noria, January and February, very abundant ; Dolores and Lavalle, Buenos Aires, March 6 to 10, common.
Caracaras were usually very shy and difficult to approach. At Con- cepcion, one was seen perched in the top of a tall Eucalyptus tree near a poultry-yard day after day for over a week, but as far as I could find out it did not molest the poultry. According to the peons the Caranchos live mostly on carrion, but in Entre Rios I saw one pursue and kill a Guira Cuckoo. In all positions, on the wing or at rest, the Caranchos are strikingly marked birds and are easily identified far off.
One was observed sitting on its nest in the park July 9 in Tucuman City on September 22. The nest was a large structure made of twigs and was about thirty feet from the ground.
Cerchneis cinnamominus cinnamominus (Swainson). M. C. Z. 96,910. Ad. c?. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 7 January, 1924.
This sparrow hawk was noted a few times during October, Novem- ber, and December at Concepcion, Tucuman. At Santa Elena, it was very common during January, and became less numerous around the middle of February. The flight and notes are the same as in the Sparrow Hawk of eastern North America. In Entre Rios these birds
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were fond of perching on the telegraph wires and poles from which elevated positions they swept down on their prey. I saw one fly off with a Lenatero, Anumbius anumbi, and another pursue a Yellow-breasted Marsh-bird, Pseudoleistes virescens. They also fed on the locusts which were everywhere abundant, although the stomach of the single speci- men collected contained only two lepidopterous larvae.
Elanus leucurus leucurus (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,911. Ad. 9 . Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 3 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,912. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 4 October, 1923.
The White Kite, or Halcon Blanco of the Argentinians, was observed only near Concepcion, where three were seen, two of which were col- lected. The first one seen (October 3) was pursued by a small group of cowbirds, Molothrus bonariensis bonariensis. The next day another was seen in a tree near the spot where the first one was collected. It had the remains of a mouse in its stomach, while the other one had been feeding on locusts. The third individual seen was soaring around in a wide circle over a large field of sugar cane. In the air this species at times looks almost like a gull.
One of the specimens is not quite adult and has many brownish flecks on the feathers. The iris in life is bright crimson with a slight suggestion of orange. Both ovaries are present, the right one being about a third as large as the left. Neither of the two birds collected were in breeding condition.
Rostrhamus sociabilis sociabilis (Vieillot).
This race of the Everglade Kite is quite unusual in its habits in that it commonly occurs in flocks. On September 20, while going from Buenos Aires to Tucuman, I counted the individuals seen from the train-window and found the total for the day (provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, and Santiago del Estero) to be at least 1,500. Loose flocks of over 100 birds were frequent in marshy districts. In one place near Rosario I counted sixty-eight in four minutes. Fully adult birds in dark plumage comprised about 20% of the total number seen. As the train slowed up in one place I saw one of these birds sitting on what may have been its nest, a little raised mass of reeds and dead stems in an open watery part of the marsh.
Around Concepcion and Rio de Gastone these hawks were some- what uncommon, doubtless because there were no extensive marshy
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areas near by. In late December when passing through eastern Cata- marca and Cordoba I noted many of these Gavilans. In the swampy islands of the Rio Parana opposite Santa Elena, Entre Rios, and in western Santa Fe (Saladero M. Cabal, San Joaquin, and La Noria) they were very numerous, but not exactly in flocks, scattered rather evenly about a pair per acre. During January and February they maintained this somewhat scattered arrangement, but were not breed- ing so far as I could find out. Towards the middle of February they became scarce. In this district the immature, and not fully adult birds, were called Caracolero, while the dark plumaged adults were known as Caracolero Negro, being considered by the peons as a distinct species. None were observed in March at Lavalle, Buenos Aires, but the peons there knew of the Caracoleros and told me that they had all left in the beginning of February.
Rupornis magnirostris pucherani (J. and E. Verreaux).
M. C. Z. 96,917. Ad. d". Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 17 January, 1924.
This hawk was fairly common in the Bovril Islands in the Parana, where it was found chiefly in the more wooded parts. On a few occa- sions one was seen in open swampy places together with some of the preceding species.
The bird collected had been feeding on locusts.
Iris white; bill light bluish green; cere and feet yellow.
The local name was Gavilan.
Rupornis magnirostris saturata (Sclater and Salvin). M. C. Z. 96,916. Ad. 9 . Argentina: Alpachirri, Tucuman. 27 October, 1923.
This race was noted only at Alpachirri, Tucuman, where several were seen on October 27. They were attracted by the noise of the Ford car I was travelling in, and came out of the thick forest to gaze at the origin of the strange noises. The only notes heard were shrill and drawn out. The stomach of the bird collected contained the remains of a mouse and three beetles.
Iris yellowish white; bill light bluish green; cere and feet yellow.
The Alpachirri skin is much darker generally than any specimen of any race of this species in the collection of the M. C. Z. The under- parts excepting the throat are distinctly rufous. This is particularly true of the tibia and breast. The throat is black with some buffy
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whitish streaks; the crown and sides of the head are black; no hght streaks on the crown ; under wing-coverts tinged with rufous chestnut. The bar-marks on the feathers of the belly are narrow and rusty chest- nut in color.
Parabuteo unicinctus unicinctus (Temminck). M. C. Z. 96,919. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 12 October, 1923.
On October 12, one of the stable-boys at the Ingenio La Corona, near Concepcion, asked me to shoot a large Halcon that was sitting in a tall Eucalyptus tree near a poultry-yard. The bird when shot was found to be of the present species. In its stomach were the remains of three small birds.
During the next two months I saw several large hawks that may have been of this species, but they were too far away for certain identi- fication. At Santa Elena, Entre Rios, and particularly in the Bovril Islands just opposite in the Parana, this species was observed several times during January and February. In this region it was called Gavilan.
The iris in life is light hazel-brown. Both ovaries are present.
AcciPiTER pileatus (Tcmmiuck).
M. C. Z. 96,913. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 15 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,914. Im. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 7 October, 1923. M. C, Z. 96,915, Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 19 October, 1923.
This hawk was not uncommon in bushy or thinly forested country near Concepcion, Tucuman. Strangely enough I never saw the species in flight, but only perching on the topmost branches of thickly foliaged trees. Examination of the stomach-contents revealed the following: — in one were the wing-bones and some grayish feathers of at least two small birds ; in another the remains of at least two mice ; while the third contained a mass of small grayish feathers, the clavicles of a small bird, and a zygodactyl foot of a bird the size of Colaptes campestroides.
In the two adults collected both ovaries were present and slightly enlarged. The left was in each case slightly more enlarged than the right.
In life the iris is bright orange-red and the cere light greenish.
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RALLIDAE. FuLiCA RUFiFRONS Philippi and Landbeck.
In the Bovril Islands in the Parana these coots were observed in flocks of Fulica leucoptera. They were not nearly as numerous as the latter, but were not uncommon. They were much shyer and stayed closer to cover.
Local names were Gallareta and Gallineta.
Fulica leucoptera Vieillot.
White-winged Coots were very common in the Bovril Islands, Rio Parana, and in the marshes of eastern Santa Fe (Saladero M. Cabal, San Joaquin, and La Noria), where they were observed throughout January and February. In March I saw a small flock, about a dozen birds, in a marshy affluent of the Rio Ajo at Lavalle, Buenos Aires.
In January, near the Saladero M. Cabal, Santa Fe, they were breed- ing; the nests resemble those of Fulica americana. One nest contained ten eggs, dull whitish in color, clouded with specks and small blotches of hazy purplish.
When rising from the water the pattering of the feet against the surface makes a considerable splashing noise and generally results in flushing all the individuals for some distance. I once saw a group of five rise from the water and before they were really well under way coots were springing up in all directions until about 200 birds were in the air. When flying the birds were silent, but when on the water or in the reeds they were incessantly clucking to each other.
Aramides ypecaha (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,920. Ad. 9. Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 13 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,921. Ad. 9. Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 19 February,
1924. Ypecaha Rails were very commonin the marshes of the island in the Parana just opposite Santa Elena. They have the very unralline habit of roosting in trees; in fact the second one I collected was perched about fifty feet up in a Eucalyptus tree. Although the birds were common it was only on rare occasions that I was able to get a good view of one as they hid and skulked in the marshes like most rails. Once as I lay flat in a little boat I watched one of these handsome birds step out from a
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mass of reeds and walk down to the water's edge and pick up a few morsels of food. The feet were lifted fairly high, the toes drooped as the feet came up and then straightened out again as the feet were lowered. The pace was very deliberate, yet it gave the impression of delicacy and caution. The head bobbed back and forth with each step and the tail flicked sideways as the bird walked. When perched in a tree they stood with the head brought back on the shoulders, but be- fore flight, or in case of alarm the neck was stretched out and the head held high.
Hudson has described an elaborate courtship dance in this species. I never saw this, but on one occasion I saw an Ypecaha going through what may have been part of this dance. The bird was in a little clear spot in the swamp and pranced around for about thirty seconds with little change of position. The legs were brought up very high, the toes sometimes almost touching the body, and as the bird pranced the wings opened and closed more or less in time with the motion of the legs. The wings never opened more than half way. The neck was stretched, but not stiffly, and the head bobbed back and forth. A rather loud, harsh, wheezy call-note was uttered several times. Wet- more has described it as like the sound of a rusty windmill pump, which fits it quite well. Mr. Andrew Philip had several specimens in captivity at Santa Elena, but I never heard a sound from them.
The specimen collected on January 13 had a small mussel shell and some comminuted vegetable matter in its stomach, while the other bird had the claw of a crab, some small seeds, stones, and decomposed vegetable matter. The latter specimen is in worn plumage, and is noticeably paler than the bird taken a month earlier.
ARAMIDAE.
Aramus scolopaceus carau Vieillot. M. C. Z. 96,929. Ad. cf . Argentina: La Noria, Santa Fe. 21 January, 1924.
Limpkins, called Carau in Argentina, were very abundant in the extensive marshes of the Bovril Islands and in adjacent parts of eastern Santa Fe, San Joaquin and La Noria, during my visit in January and February. They are noisy birds, the call-note being a long drawn-out carr-aaow, in imitation of which the native name is doutlessly intended. This note is usually repeated two or three times, but may also be given singly. Although true marsh-birds, nesting and feeding in the marshes, Limpkins are often seen perching in trees looking, at a distance, not
fkiedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 163
unlike dark-colored ibises. When startled into flight they seem to jump off clumsily from the perches and beat the air with their wings in rapid, but irregular, fashion, as though flying were not a common habit with them. In flight the necks are held straight out, as with cranes, and the legs dangle downwards. The flight is very diagnostic and serves to identify the birds as far as they may be seen. There is a little hesi- tant pause at the top of each stroke, the wings being held erect for a second before being brought down, and when once brought down to the bottom of the stroke they seem almost to snap back as though considerable strain were involved in maintaining the downward posi- tion.
Limpkins were still breeding in the Bovril Islands when I first ar- rived early in January, but they were late individuals. Most of them were apparently through rearing their young I was shown some eggs by a peon, the eggs were blown and on a necklace, who told me he had collected them some few weeks previously. They were light grayish white, irregularly blotched with cloudy purplish and brownish. Eight to ten eggs comprise the average clutch.
At Lavalle, Buenos Aires, in early March, Limpkins were seen in small numbers in the marshes of the Ajo River.
CARIAMIDAE.
Chunga burmeisteri (Hartlaub).
At Monteagudo, Tucuman, one of these curious birds, locaUy known as Chuna, was seen running through the bushy, thinly forested plain and was soon lost to sight. According to the peons the Chuna can outrun a running horse, but this is probably an exaggeration. At most, the bird could maintain a fast pace for only a short time.
LARIDAE.
Larus dominicanus Lichtenstein.
The Dominican GuU looks like a small copy of a Black-backed Gull (L. marinus), not only in appearance, but also in habits. The species was first noted from the steamer off Cape Frio, Brazil, on August 26, when a flock of thirty hovered around the boat, feeding on bits of garbage thrown overboard. Their note seemed much clearer than that of L. marimis and was high, but not shrill, of a not unpleasant liquid
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quality. In the harbor of Rio de Janeiro these birds were abundant and from there south to Buenos Aires the ship was never without an escort of these gulls. Apparently this species is confined to the ocean coasts as it was entirely absent on the Rio Parana and quite rare at Buenos Aires.
Laeus maculipennis Lichtenstein.
This species was common on the Parana at Santa Elena, associated with the Gray-headed Gulls, L. cirrocephalus. The two species could always be told by their call-notes, the present species having much shorter and more vehement notes, the latter more drawn-out and gentler. The flight of maculipennis is slower and more deliberate than that of cirrocephalus. The former bird seems less rigidly restricted to feeding over the water than does the latter. At least, I saw the Brown- headed Gulls flying over meadows a good deal and I notice that Wet- more (Bull. 133, U. S. N. M., 1926, p. 134) found them feeding on grasshoppers.
Two were seen at Ensenada, Buenos Aires, on September 10.
Larus cirrocephalus Vieillot.
This species together with the preceding was almost always in evi- dence over the Parana at Santa Elena during January and February. As mentioned under maculipermis, the present species has a rather long drawn-out croaking call, very different from the short emphatic notes of the Brown-headed Gull. One was seen at Ensenada, Buenos Aires, September 10.
Sterna trudeaui Audubon.
At Santa Elena, Entre Rios, this species was fairly common, but was much shyer than either of the other two species of terns found there, and no specimens were obtained. On the Parana they mingled with Phaetusa simplex chloropoda and also with the Gray-headed Gulls, Larus cirrocephalus. According to information gleaned from local ob- servers these terns breed during October and November. Once I saw a Trudeau's Tern pursuing a kingfisher, Chloroceryle americana viridis, attempting to rob it of a fish it held in its beak. Unfortunately the birds disappeared around a bend in the stream and I was unable to see the finish of this interesting episode.
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Sterna superciliaris Vieillot.
M. C. Z. 96,922. Ad. cf . Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 2 February, 1924.
These little terns were very common in the islands in the Parana just opposite Santa Elena. Flocks containing as many as several hundred birds were seen. With them were usually several of the much larger Phaetusa simplex chloropoda and, more rarely, Sterna trudeaui. This species is quite similar in its general habits to the Least Tern of North America.
The specimen collected is in fresh plumage ; the crown is abundantly flecked with grayish white, the loral stripe is merely a band of discon- nected black spots, and the postorbital region is the only part of the head that is solid black. The testes were much enlarged; the bill and feet bright yellow. The stomach contained two small fish.
Phaetusa simplex chloropoda (Vieillot) .
M. C. Z. 96,923. Ad. 9. Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 2 February,
1924.
M. C. Z. 96,924. Ad. 9. Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 2 February,
1924.
M. C. Z. 96,925. Ad. cf . Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 19 January,
1924.
This tern was very common along the Parana during my stay on that river (January and February) and was also noted on the La Plata from its mouth to Buenos Aires. It is a heavy-bodied species and looks much larger than it really is, especially when seen with more slenderly built terns of other species. I found it less common than the small Sterna superciliaris, but commoner than Sterna trudeaui. On a large sand-bar on the edge of the Caraya, a stream in the Bovril Islands, I once saw a flock of about 300 terns, mostly Sterna superciliaris, but containing about thirty of the pre&ent species. The former were less shy than the latter, and allowed much closer approach.
All three specimens collected had been feeding on fish. The bill and feet are bright yellow in life, the color being the same in immature and adult birds.
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RYNCHOPIDAE.
Rynchops intercedens Saunders.
Skimmers were not uncommon on the Parana near Santa Elena, Entre Rios, where they were observed on and oflP during January and February. They seemed to be more active around dusk than during the day, an observation also made by Darwin and by Hudson, but I know of no proof for the statement that these birds fish chiefly by night. They were very shy and no specimens were collected. They did not associate with the gulls and terns, but kept much to themselves. Most of the birds seen were single individuals, but small flocks were also noted. I saw one of them skimming along over the river with its lower mandible distally immersed, leaving a shallow furrow on the water in its wake. In their general habits the species is similar to /?. nigra of North America.
JACANIDAE.
Jacana jacana jacana (Linne).
M. C. Z. 96,894. Ad. 9. Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 19 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,895. Ad. c?. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 29 September,
1923.
Jacanas were noted as follows : — Buenos Aires — Buenos Aires, En- senada, Lavalle, March 6 to 10, a few; September 11, a few; near Rosario, Santa Fe (from train-window), September 20, common; Tucuman — Rio Lules, September 22, one; Concepcion and Rio de Gastone, September 23 to December 23, common; Bovril Islands, Rio Parana, and eastern Santa Fe (Saladero M. Cabal, San Joaquin, and La Noria), common during January and February.
Jacanas walk with a slow deliberate stride, placing one foot well down before raising the other. When walking about on lily pads and other floating vegetation the birds, while by no means inconspicuous, are not very noticeable; the brown color does not attract the eye of the observer very quickly. Every once in a while they raise their wings, showing the delicate green of the remiges that was hidden before. This flash of green is hardly to be called adaptive, although it simulates the broad, flat, green leaves of the aquatic plants among which the birds live. The mere motion of raising the wings is sufficient to destroy the protective quality of the color. The birds seem to have some difficulty in starting to fly as they run several steps, wildly waving their wings.
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and meanwhile emitting a harsh, raucous, guttural screech somewhat like the sound of a distant burrowing owl, and then finally rise into the air. The flight is straight and rapid, with intervals of gliding inter- spersed between periods of rapid wing-beats.
A nest was found on October 4 in a marshy part of the Rio de Gas- tone; it was a floating structure made of dead stems and reeds and was placed on a little pile of similar reeds; the eggs, four in number, were pale tan in color, heavily spotted, and streaked with rufous brown, pointed at one end and round at the other. As I approached the nest (no bird was sitting at the time) one of the Jacanas flew up screaming loudly, fluttered around and then dropped down on a lily pad and, feigning a broken wing, half fluttered, half jumped from one leaf to another, trying to draw me away from the nest.
The body-fat in one of the birds collected was reddish orange in color. In life the bill was bright orange-yellow and the frontal shield soft and flexible and a delicate rose color.
Common names for this bird were Gallito (Tucuman and Entre Rios) and Cocha Polla (Tucuman).
HIMANTOPODIDAE.
Himantopus melanurus Vieillot.
Stilts were observed in the marshy areas of eastern Santa Fe (Sala- dero M. Cabal, San Joaquin and La Noria) and in the Bovril Islands in the Parana during January and February. In these places they were quite common and went by the name of Teru Real. They were often seen wading in the water nearly up to their bodies, but more often in shallower spots. They were very quick in their actions considering the length of leg immersed in the water. In flight they were extremely graceful. Their sharp yelps were similar to the notes of the North American H. viexicanus. Two were collected on January 20, but were too badly shot to be saved. Neither was in breeding condition.
SCOLOPACIDAE.
Tringa solitaria (Wilson) subsp.?
M. C. Z. 96,902. Ad. c?. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 29 September, 1923. I have not been able to satisfactorily determine the subspecific identity of the single specimen collected. This bird was seen only once
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and I had, therefore, no chance of getting others. However Wetmore (Bull. 133, U. S. N. M., 1926, p. 148) found all his Argentine specimens of the Solitary Sandpiper to be the western form cinnamomea.
The bird collected was flushed from a little swampy part of the Chilimayo River, near Concepcion. It was the first North American migrant I met with in Argentina, but Wetmore records it as early as late August in Paraguay.
ToTANUS flavipes (Gmelin).
M.C.Z. 96,901. Ad. 9. Argentina: SaladeroM. Cabal, Santa Fe. 20 January, 1924. About a dozen Lesser Yellowlegs were seen together along the edge of a marshy stream near the Saladero M. Cabal, eastern Santa Fe, on January 20, and one of them was collected. It proved to be a female with the ovary very small. During the rest of the month and through- out February I came across individuals from time to time, but never saw them in flocks. They were very silent, not making a sound even when flying.
PisoBiA melanotus (Vicillot).
M. C. Z. 96,903. Ad. 9. Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 19 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,904. Ad. 9. Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 19 January,
1924. Pectoral Sandpipers were noted not uncommonly in the Bovril Islands, Rio Parana, during January and February, but were never seen in large numbers. The two females collected were feeding at the waters' edge near a little pond, together with a few of the preceding species.
Capella paraguaiae (Vieillot).
This snipe was observed in small numbers in Tucuman and Santa Fe. On December 11 at Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, I saw several snipe, one which I collected was subsequently destroyed by rats. This species looks much like the Wilson's Snipe of North America, but makes a loud, reverberating, booming sound as it flies, the sound being a prolonged deep rumble increasing in volume as the bird comes near and decreasing as it flies away.
In the Bovril Islands, Rio Parana, in January and February, a few snipe, probably of this species, were noted.
fhiedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 169
The bird collected had been feeding on small worms. In the former province it was called Carrero, while in the latter place the local name was Becasina.
CHARADRIIDAE.
Charadrius coLLAJiis VieiUot.
M. C. Z. 96,896. Ad. d". Argentina: Rio de Gastone, Tucuman. 21 November, 1923.
These little plover were fairly common along the sand-flats of the Rio de Gastone in November. Little groups of six or ten were often seen running along the edge of the receding wavelets in the same way as C. semipalmatus in North America. The notes were sharp and clear and may be written j)seee. A few were seen at Saladero M. Cabal, eastern Santa Fe, in January.
The local name was Chorlito.
Pluvialis dominicus dominicus (Miiller),
M. C. Z. 96,897. Ad. 9. Argentina: Bo vril Islands, Santa Fe. 19 January, 1924.
The specimen collected has the yellow margins of the feathers of the back unusually broad and bright.
I found the Golden Plover to be rather scarce but I was not looking particularly for shore birds. In addition to the one collected a few were seen during January and February.
Belonopterus chilensis lampronotus (Wagler).
M. C. Z. 96,898. Ad. a". Argentina: BovrQ Islands, Santa Fe. 17 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,899. Ad. 9. Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 17 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,900. Ad. cf. Argentina: Rio de Gastone, Tucuman. 7 December,
1923. These large, handsome plover are exceedingly common in open country all over the northern half of Argentina, except in very dry re- gions. The local name Teru-Teru is an imitation of the call-note. It is one of the most persistent and characteristic sounds of the pampas. Bold, curious, aggressive, the Terus are birds of forceful personality and leave a striking image in the mind of the observer. Few birds are
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more conspicuously or vividly marked either when at rest or on the wing. But birds like the Lapwing need no protection, in fact their very habits seem to scorn the idea. Always the noisiest bird in its locality, color would be of no use in concealing it. At a great distance, however, when only the back is visible, the Teru is not conspicuous. However, if we accept the birds' actions as a criterion of its coloration, the Teru knows it is conspicuous and in the nesting season will leaxe its nest and fly into space when the intruder is still so far off that he can- not see where the bird arose. For this reason their nests are hard to find. Unlike many conspicuously marked birds the Lapwing prefers fight to flight. Frequently I have had several of these birds dart close to me shrilly screaming teru-teru and threatening me with their spurred wings only to veer away suddenly and then return and repeat the per- formance. While riding across country on horseback I found I could come to within twenty-five feet of them before they would fly, but on foot such proximity is rarely attained.
Around Concepcion, Tucuman, the Terus were very local and were found only in the marshy areas of the Rio de Gastone. Many were seen at various times from train-windows in parts of the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Santiago del Estero, and Cordoba. In Entre Rios the species was totally absent in the immediate vicinity of Santa Elena, although abundant in the Bovril Islands in the Parana just opposite.
The birds collected had been feeding on small beetles and other insects.
COLUMBIDAE.
Leptotila ochroptera chlorauchenia Giglioli and Salvadori.
M. C. Z. 96,891. Ad. 9. Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 13 January, 1924.
The single specimen collected is in badly worn plumage and shows relatively little iridescence on the mantle.
This pigeon, commonly known asPaloma de Monte was abundant at Santa Elena, Entre Rios, and also on the Bovril Islands in the river Parana just opposite. In the vicinity of Santa Elena it seemed con- fined to the wooded shores of the river and the more densely forested parts of the barrancas. It occupied the areas uninhabited by Zenaida auriculata, which it seemed to replace ecologically. In the islands where real forest was better developed the birds were commoner than on the
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 171
mainland, and were found in the same places as Coccopsis capitata and Compsothhjpis pitiayu mi.
Not infrequently these birds were seen opening and closing their tails with a little twitching motion, exposing the white tips of the rectrices for an instant at a time. This is apparently not a courtship antic as the female collected was observed doing it.
The specimen collected was in breeding condition. The stomach and crop contained many small seeds and some comminuted vegetable matter,
CoLUMBiNA PI GUI (Temminck).
M. C. Z. 96,890. Ad. ?. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 10 January, 1924.
This little ground dove is one of the commonest birds in many parts of Argentina. It was observed at the following localities: — Buenos Aires — Buenos Aires, La Plata, Berisso, and Ensenada, September 3-17, common; Lavalle, March 6-9, common; Tucuman — Tucuman City, San Pablo, Concepcion, and Rio de Gastone, September 21 to December 23, common, seen daily; Santa Elena, Entre Rios, January 3 to February 22, common ; La Noria, and Saladero M. Cabal, Santa Fe, common during January and February. In practically all these places the Palomita, as it is called by the people, is not only one of the most abundant birds, but also one of the tamest. In Concepcion, Tucuman, large numbers of Palomitas were always to be found around the stable- yards where, together with the cowbirds, they fed on seeds picked from horse dung or on cracked corn spilt from the troughs. Their monoto- nous cooing calls were kept up all day long without interruption, starting early in the morning and ending about 6 P.M. Probably in the winter months they are less vocally inclined. However during Novem- ber and December the birds were tireless vocally.
In the immediate vicinity of Concepcion, tw^enty-three nests were found, the earliest on October 10, the latest on December 20. The nests, like most doves' nests, are very frail, being little more than a few small twigs and coarse grasses carelessly put together. One nest found on the upper surface of a palm-leaf, fo which it was firmly attached by the dung of the parent bird, contained some cobwebs in addition to grasses and fine woody stems. I found nests as low as three feet from the ground and as high as sixteen feet above it. The first nest found (October 10) contained two young birds about a week old. The breed- ing season in Tucuman must therefore begin around the middle of September, if not earlier. The eggs, usuallv two in number (three in
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one case), are pure white with a very slight gloss. They average 23 x 18 mm. (nineteen measured). The parent birds were usually rather shy near their nests, although not suspicious elsewhere. On one occa- sion I heard an incubating bird give a cooing call, but gave no particu- lar thought to it at the time. However Wetmore (Bull. 133, U. S. N. M., 1926, p. 179) collected an incubating bird and found it to be a male.
Along in the second week in March, when I ended my field-work in Lavalle, a few birds were still cooing, although many full-grown young ones were everywhere in evidence.
The crop and stomach of the female collected contained an enormous number of small seeds, estimated roughly at not less than 5,000.
The white marks on the wings and tail serve as "flash'' colors, as they are visible only in flight. When on the wing the birds are quite conspicuously marked, but at rest or when running about they are plain sandy in hue. They bob their heads like domestic pigeons when they run or walk.
Zenaida auriculata auriculata (Des Murs).
M. C. Z. 96,892. Ad. ?. Argentina: San Sofia, Entre Rios. 26 January, 1924. M. C. Z. 96,893. Ad. cf. Argentina: San Sofia, Entre Rios. 26 January, 1924.
The two specimens collected are darker breasted than any others of the species in the collection of the M. C. Z.
This dove was very common in Entre Rios and was observed also in Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Cordoba, Santiago del Estero, Tucuman, and near Montevideo, Uruguay. In the field they always seemed very much like the Mourning Dove and I notice that Wetmore (Bull. 133, U. S. N. M., 1926, p. 181) comments on this similarity in habits. Most of the birds were seen in pairs or groups of three to five, although at Lavalle, I saw a flock of sixteen on March 9.
Both specimens collected were in breeding condition and both had been feeding on small seeds.
CUCULIDAE.
Crotophaga ani Linne.
M. C. Z. 96,883. Ad. cf. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 9 November, 1923.
In a wet meadow between Concepcion and the Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, a few Anis were seen, but they were very shy and wild. On November 9 a peon brought me a freshly killed bird in excellent
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 173
condition, which he claimed to have shot that morning. The testes were shghtly enlarged, but the bird was not yet in breeding condition. The stomach contained some small beetles.
A few were seen in the Bovril Islands opposite Santa Elena, Entre Rios, in late January.
In Tucuman the common name was Pirincho Negro and in Entre Rios, Urraca Negro.
GuiRA GuiRA (Gmelin).
M. C. Z. 96,879. Ad. cT. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 16 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,880. Ad. c?. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 16 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,881. Ad. cf. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 28 September,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,882, Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 28 September,
1923.
The Guira Cuckoo, or white Ani, was recorded as follows : — from a train-window provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, and Santiago del Estero, September 20, many; southern Tucuman, Catamarca, Cor- doba, and Buenos Aires, numbers; Buenos Aires — Palermo, Sep- tember 2, several; Quilmes, La Plata, Berisso, and Ensenada, Sep- tember 6 to 10, common; Lavalle, March 10, several; Tucuman — Tucuman City, several in the parque 9 de Julio on September 21; San Pablo, September 22, several; Concepcion and Rio de Gastone, September 2-3 to December 23, common; Alpachirri, October 27, sev- eral; Iltico, November 20, one seen; Entre Rios — Santa Elena, Jan- uary and February, common; Quebracho, February 20, several; Sal- adero M. Cabal, Santa Fe, January 18, a few.
Guiras are birds of the thinly forested plains, usually in drier locali- ties than those inhabited by their relative Crotophaga ani. The eco- logical habitats of the two genera (Guira and Crotophaga) show very clearly that each fills a separate niche in the general scheme of nature and that there could hardly be any competition between them. Guiras rest and roost in trees, but feed on the ground. Locusts, of which there are countless swarms, seem to constitute their main article of food. Several times, both in Tucuman and in Entre Rios, after in- vasions of locusts, I collected birds to see which species fed on these destructive insects, and each time the Guiras were found to consume more locusts than any other bird. Practically all the Guiras collected had locust remains in their stomachs.
174 bulletin: museum of compahative zoology.
Guiras have a great variety of notes, one set being like kee-whee-kee- kee-kee-kee-kee-koio, kow, kow, kow, the last four notes run together as in the notes of the Coccyzm erythropUhnlmus of North America. Other notes are very harsh and nasal. One set of calls reminded me somewhat of the song of the Yellow-breasted Chat, Ideria virens; it may be written peeow-peeow-wow!-peeow-peeu-peeu-peeu-peeu, the last four being clear plaintive whistles like those with which the Chat sometimes ends its long and varied song. The alarm notes are harsh and strident. The birds seem to have some difficulty in controling their tails which look excessively long. Every time a bird jumps from one branch to another the tail is violently jerked up and down, sideways, diagonally, and in every possible direction.
Guiras are always found in small flocks and they often roost in closely packed circles, all the birds facing outwards, their sides and backs touching, and their tails converging distally, giving the appear- ance at a distance of a huge, ragged, top-shaped mass with the apex downward. Such a group, when first seen, I took to be an old weather- beaten nest.
Considerable interest attaches to the nesting habits of the Guira because of its close relationship to the Ani, Crotophaga ani. However, so far as my experience goes (two nests), the Guira is monogamous. The first nest was in an Acacia tree near Concepcion, and was found on November 3. It contained six eggs of a beautiful greenish blue color, roughly scrawled and blotched with chalky white, the white flecks, deposited after the pigment, come off with handling. The eggs are elliptical, both ends being exactly alike. The nest was a crude structure of small twigs and was lined with green leaves, most of which were wilted and crushed in places. The other nest was found near the Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, November 21. It was built on a flat "leaf" of a large Opuntia cactus. Two Guiras were seen around it, but the nest was empty. It was apparently just finished as the lining of leaves was very fresh.
Guiras frequently eat eggs and young of other birds. I saw one go into a nest of a Bay-winged Cowbird, Agclaioidcs badius, and carry off a two-day-old screaming cowbird, Molothrus rufo-axillaris.
The iris is orange-red in life ; the bare skin around the eye pale pea- green; the bill orange with a pinkish tinge.
In Tucuman this bird was called Pirincho and in Entre Rios Urraca, the last in Tucuman was applied to a jay, Cyanocorax chrysops tucu- 7nanus.
fhiedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 175
Tapera naevia chochi (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,884. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 12 November,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,885. Ad. cT. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 20 November,
1923.
This peculiar cuckoo, the only one in the western hemisphere known to be parasitic, was observed on a few occasions in the bushy thickets between Concepcion and the Rio de Gastone, during November. It is a shy bird and has considerable powers of ventrilociuism which makes it a difficult species to observe. The first one collected was heard giving its two-syllabled call and the sound was followed for nearly half an hour before I caught a glimpse of the bird. It was perched in an Acacia tree, the posture being very erect for a cuckoo, and as it called, it raised and lowered its crest and swung its tail sideways like a pendu- lum. When it became aware of my proximity it suddenly cocked its tail and crouched as if to spring up into the air, but my shot ended its activities.
The egg is spotless white and is laid in the nests of several species of Synallaxis. In Argentina S. spixi is the commonest victim, but S. cinnamomea russeola and S. supcrciliosa are also parasitized. In Paraguay Philydor rufus is victimized to some extent. Usually but one of the parasitic eggs is laid in a nest, but two have been found in one nest of S. spixi. Data on some dozen victimized nests in Tucuman in- dicate that in that part of Argentina the breeding season of Tapera is. in November and December.
The stomach-contents of the birds collected showed the food to consist of small beetles and lepidopterous larvae.
The local name, onomatopoetic in origin, is Crispin.
CoccYZus MELocoRYPHUS (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,886. Ad. 9. Argentina: Rio de Gastone, Tucuman. 21 Novem- ber, 1923.
M. C. Z. 96,887. Ad. 9 . Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 16 January, 1924.
M. C. Z. 96,888. Ad. cT. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 9 November, 1923.
This cuckoo was seen several times in Tucuman and in Entre Rios. In life it greatly resembles Coccyzus americanus of North America. In Tucuman it was rather uncommon, only three birds being noted in as many months, while near Santa Elena it was fairly common in
176 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology,
the low, thick bush of the barrancas. In the latter place they fed largely on the locusts which swarmed abundantly there. In Tucuman their food was composed of caterpillars and small beetles. This species was never found in trees or on the ground, but only in low bushes, usually within four feet of the ground. In such places the birds flew among the closely intertwining branches with surprising ease and celerity. They were usually silent, but once I heard a low guttural kuk note.
On December 15 at Rio de Gastone, I found a nest, a flimsy, frail platform of twigs simliar to that built by C. americamis; it was about three and a half feet from the ground, and contained four eggs, one of which hatched as I watched it. The eggs were rather dull in finish and aquamarine in color. The nestling just hatched had snowy white trichoptiles, its skin was dusky orange, and the eye-skin dusky green- ish gray. It gave a little shrill peep note. The gape was swollen and white. On January 8 at Santa Elena another nest was found. It was in a thorn bush a few feet from the ground ; a third nest found near by on January 16, contained five eggs, an unusual number. Hudson writes that the normal clutch is three or four and that he never found more than four eggs in a nest.
In Entre Rios this species was known to the peons as Urraca Chica.
PSITTACIDAE.
CONURUS LEUCOPHTHALMUS (P. L. S. MiiUer).
M. C. Z. 96,851. Ad. o^. Argentina: San Joaquin, Entre Rios. 27 January, 1924.
It seems that this parrot has not been hitherto recorded south of the Chaco (Ocampo and Mocovi) so that the present record extends its known range southward for over a hundred miles. The specimen col- lected has a much shorter culmen than four birds from eastern Brazil in the M. C. Z. The latter have culmens of from 28 to 29 mm., while the bird from Entre Rios has a culmen of but 25 mm. (measured from the cere). Specimens in the American museum of natural history from Missiones and from Salta agree with the Entre Rios specimen in having culmens 25 mm. in length. A specimen from Rio Cosireni, Peru, (U. S. N. M. 273,074) has a culmen of 31 mm. and has also an unusual amount of red on the malar region and the black shaft-streaks of the feathers of the underparts are very marked. It may belong to an un- described race. Birds from Matto Grosso, Brazil, and from Paraguay
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 177
agree with those from Argentina. There is a good deal of variation in the length of wings and tail, which apparently has no geographical significance.
On January 27, at San Joaquin, one of the outlying estancias of the Bovril Company, I saw two Conunis levcophthalmiis in a low tree. They were very shy, but I managed to obtain one of them. They flew down to the ground as if to feed, but quickly flew back to the tree as I came nearer. As they flew they gave a harsh, raucous screech. The testes of the bird collected were slightly enlarged.
Myiopsitta monachus monachus (Boddaert).
M. C. Z. 96,848. Ad. 9 . Argentina: Ajo, Buenos Aires. 10 March, 1924. M. C. Z. 96,849. Ad. 9. Argentina : Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 13 January, 1924. M. C. Z. 96,850. Ad. cf . Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 13 January, 1924.
In the Bovril Islands opposite Santa Elena, Entre Rios, these parakeets were very common in flocks of from fifteen to fifty through- out my stay there in January and February. Flocks were also seen at La Noria and the Saladero M. Cabal, Santa Fe, and at Viscacheros, and San Sofia, Entre Rios. At the Saladero M. Cabal the children of Mr. Brown, the superintendent of the estancia, had two tame Monk Parakeets which climbed all over everyone and were very tame and affectionate. They never learned to talk or in any way modified the natural screech of their species. At Viscacheros a colony had its nest in a tall Eucalyptus tree right next to the ranch house and the birds although wild were quite used to people. The racket they made could be heard all through the house.
The nests, unusual for parrots, are huge colonial structures of twigs, looking much like gigantic synallaxine nests. Each pair of parakeets has its own private compartment, but the entire flock seem to be on intimate terms. Not infrequently other species, including the tree- ducks (Dendrocygna) occupy one or more of the nest-holes in these structures; and occasionally even some mammals such as the opossum take possession. The nest is used as Sleeping quarters all the year round and is added to from year to year until at times it breaks the support- ing branches by its weight.
Like all parrots, this species is very noisy. When one of a flock is shot the rest gather round screaming and screeching as if impelled by curiosity to disregard whatever fear they may have.
In southern Buenos Aires (near Lavalle) numbers of these Gray-
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bellied Parakeets were seen daily. There was quite a sizeable colony of them at Ajo.
All the specimens collected had soft green leguminous seeds in their stomachs. The birds taken in Santa Fe on January 13 were in breeding condition, while the one collected at Ajo on March 10 was not.
In Buenos Aires this species went by the name of Loro, a name ap- plied to all parrots, while in Entre Rios and Santa Fe the local name was Cotorra.
Myiopsitta monachu.s calita (Jardine and Selby).
This race of the Monk Parakeet was seen at the Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, on several occasions during November and December. No nests were seen and the birds seemed to be wandering about aimlessly as I never found them twice in the same place on successive days. They frequented the fairly open Acacia-dotted plains east of the river and their harsh, noisv screams were often heard when the birds them- selves were hidden by the trees. I assume the birds were of this race because calita was recorded by Hartert (Nov. zool., 1909, 16, p. 234) at Rio Colorado, about fifty miles to the south. The birds flew swiftly with rather rapid wing-beats and usually did not rise more than thirty feet from the ground.
STRIGIDAE.
Glaucidium brasilieanum tucumanum Chapman.
M. C. Z. 96,905. Ad. cf . Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 29 September, 1923.
On September 29 in a little forest near Concepcion, I saw two small owls sitting about ten feet apart high up in a tall tree. One was grayish and one rufous, but as only one was ol)tained I cannot say if they were a pair.
Rhinoptynx MIDAS (Lichtcnstein).
M. C. Z. 96,908. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 1 November,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,909. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 23 November,
1923. This owl, apparently unrecorded from western Argentina, was ob- served twice at Concepcion, during November, and each time the bird was quickly collected. This species perches in a very upright fashion in
FRIEDMA.NN : NOTES ON SOME ARGENTINA BIRDS. 179
thinly foliaged trees in open country. One was seen in a tree beside a road at the Ingenio La Corona, a large sugar mill, where dozens of peons were continually passing.
Both birds collected had rodent bones and fur in their stomachs; some of the bones were large enough to be rat bones, but most of them were probably those of mice. Neither of the two birds were in breeding condition.
Speotyto cunicularia cunicularia (Molina).
M. C. Z. 96,906. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 29 September,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,907. Ad. d". Argentina : Santa Elena, EntreRios. 9 January, 1924.
Burrowing owls were recorded as follows : — from a train-window, Buenos Aires, near Quilmes, September 6, several ; from a train-window on the Central Argentine Railway between Buenos Aires and Tucu- man, September 20, many; Tucuman — around Tucuman City, Sep- tember 21, several; San Pablo, September 22, one; Concepcion and Rio de Gastone, September 23 to December 20, common; Alpachirri, October 27, several; Iltico, November 20, one; Entre Rios — around Santa Elena, February 23, common; Quebracho, February 20, a few; Santa Fe — Bovril Islands, Rio Parana ; Saladero M. Calabal, Janu- . ary 20, one; La Noria, January 21, several; Buenos Aires — between Dolores and Lavalle, March 6-10, several.
On September 29 near Concepcion, an abandoned pasture, in which the earth had been bored into and raised in innumerable little mounds, was alive with Burrowing Owls, one or two sitting stiffly erect at the entrance of almost every burrow, their yellow eyes blinking solemnly as I approached. Some were perched in the trees, three in one small Acacia, two in another, while many trees had single birds. The birds were by no means shy and let me approach to about forty feet before flying. When a bird was finally frightened into flight it flew ofl^ about fifty feet and, landing with a few stiff-legged running steps, turned around and gazed reproachfully at the cause of its disturbance. The other owls did not fly off in unison," but each one or each pair flew off separately when approached. Their flight was always low over the ground, with rather slow, noiseless wing-beats. When excited, as on my approach, they uttered a harsh, piercing screech. This screech was always given three times in rapid succession. There must have been at least fifty pairs of owls in this field.
Some writers have claimed that the Burrowing Owl and the Vizcacha
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{Lagostomus trichodactylus) live together in colonies. I saw hundreds of the birds and as many of the rodents, but never found them together. It may be that sometimes the owls use deserted burrows of the Viz- eachas, but most of them certainly excavate their own tunnels. During November they were breeding in Tucuman and the entrances of all the occupied burrows examined were smaller than those of the Vizcacha holes.
During the great flights of locusts, which are such a great pest to the agriculturist everywhere in Argentina, the Burrowing Owl is of in- estimable value as a check upon these insects. They gorge themselves with locusts; one of the birds collected had its stomach so full of them that they formed a soHd, compact mass. The bird could not possibly have swallowed another one until those it already had were partly digested.
The burrows are diagonal, cylindrical shafts varying in length from five to ten feet, and terminate in a spherical compartment. In this compartment some dried dung, and bits of straw are laid as a carpet and on this are deposited the eggs. The eggs are pure white, although frequently soiled, and average 33 x 28 mm. (seventeen eggs measured). The largest egg seen was 35 x 30 mm. and the smallest measured 31.5 X 26.5 mm. The largest number I ever found in a nest was seven, although Serie and Smyth (El hornero, 1923, 3, p. 45) record as many as eight to a clutch.
The Burrowing Owl seems to be able to rotate its head to a greater extent than most birds. I once walked completely around one and it always faced me scjuarely turning its head as I went in a circle. It would be of interest to examine the atlas and axis of this species.
The male collected at Santa Elena had intestinal caeca measuring 52 and 58 mm., respectively, while its small intestine (pyloris to caeca) measured 254 mm. and the large intestine (caeca to anus) measured 43 mm.
The common name by which this bird is known in Argentina is Lechuza.
CAPRIMULGIDAE.
Setopagis parvulus (Gould).
M. C. Z. 96,853. Ad. d". Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 13 October, 1923.
A freshly killed specimen of this species was brought to me at Con- cepcion by a peon on October 13. It was a male in breeding condition, the testes being much enlarged. The stomach contained insect re-
FRIEDMANN: notes on some AaOENTINA BIRDS. 181
mains. The iris was reddish brown with a dark blue pupil. The in- testinal caeca were narrow and tubular and 16 mm. long; the small intestine was 58 mm. long, and the large intestine 13 mm.
Podager nacunda (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,852. Ad. ?. Argentina: Quebracho, Entre Rios. 20 February, 1924.
The single specimen collected has absolutely no white on the tail- feathers, agreeing in this respect with a female from Concepcion del Uruguay, Entre Rios, and with another from Quarahive, Uruguay, in the collection of the M. C. Z. However there is considerable variation in the amount of white in the rectrices of this species independent of sex, season, and locality, and apparently also of age. Some specimens in the series in the M. C. Z. have all but the central pair broadly tipped with white, the white area, in some, amounting to as much as a quarter of the whole feather in the outermost pair. The lower throat (immedi- ately below the white patch) in the Argentine bird is very much more buffy, less barred with black, than in the M. C. Z. series of eight specimens.
My first meeting with the Nacunda, as this bird is called in the vernacular, was a memorable experience. On the morning of January 20 while riding across country from the Saladero M. Cabal towards La Noria, Santa Fe, with one companion, I dismounted to take a photo- graph. When setting up my tripod about a hundred feet from where I left my horse I flushed one of these nightjars. It flew only a short dis- tance and settled in the grass. Going forward to where it disappeared I was startled to find that where one bird had gone down about two hundred flew up. Every step of mine flushed ten or a dozen. I ran back to my horse for the gun but was too late as the whole flock had gathered together in a loose, shifting group high up in the air and flew off across the lagoon.
Wetmore (Bull. 133, U. S. N. M., 1926, p. 205-206) writes that he found this species rather rare, and the largest flock he records con- tained only a dozen or so birds. This scarcity is probably true now for many parts of the country, but in eastern Santa Fe and northern Entre Rios the species is as common as it must have been when Hudson wrote of seeing it in great flocks.
The birds seem to see almost as well in daylight as at night, although they feed largely after dark. I frequently saw shadowy forms fluttering silently by in the dark along the roads around Santa Elena during
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February. Most of these were probably this species. On the night of February 20 I went by car from Santa Elena to Quebracho ; along the road numbers of Nacundas appeared in the lights of the car and one actually hit against the radiator and was collected. On the wing they seemed very heavy and stockily built for nightjars. The only note heard was a hiss from the bird captured after it dashed against the car. The specimen collected was a female past the breeding season. Its stomach was greatly distended and very hard and contained twelve large locusts, three scarabaeid beetles, and eight other beetles.
ALCEDINIDAE.
Megaceryle torquata cyanea (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,862. Ad. d". Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe, 12 January, 1924.
These large kingfishers were very common along the streams in the Bovril Islands during my stay there in January and February. They were never seen in groups of more than two, and single birds were the rule. A curious thing about this species is that it always pumps its tail vertically three times before flying. Invariably as I approached one it pumped its tail once, then as I came nearer it did this a second time, and finally just before flying it did it a third time. I noticed this in a great many individuals and never knew it to vary. The flight is similar to that of Ceryle alcyon of North America, and so is its rattling call, but much louder. The stomach of the bird collected contained the remains of at least two small fish.
The Santa Fe specimen has heavier black shaft-streaks on the feathers of the crown and crest than a male from Concepcion del Uruguay in the M. C. Z. However the bird from eastern Entre Rios (Concepcion del Uruguay) is a spring bird (November 30), while that from western Entre Rios is a late summer bird (January 12), It may be that this difference in plumage is due to wear, but this is not likely.
The local name of this kingfisher was Martin Pescador Grande.
Chloroceryle amazona Latham.
M. C. Z. 96,863. Ad. 9 . Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 13 January, 1924.
This kingfisher was first seen flying along a little stream near Alpachirri, Tucuman, on October 27. One was seen late in November on the Rio de Gastone, Tucuman. In January and February many
friedmann: notes on some Argentina bibds. 183
were seen in the Bovril Islands, Rio Parana, where they were very common. In this loeaUty the present species, while numerous, was not so abundant as the preceding species or the following one.
These birds were breeding in holes in banks about ten feet above the surface of the water, but by January most of them were through nesting.
In its general habits, flight, etc., the species is similar to Cerxjle alcyon, but its rattle-call is shriller. The stomach of the bird collected contained fish-bones.
The local name, Martin Pescador, is appHed to all kingfishers.
ChLOEOCERYLE AMERICANA VIRIDIS (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,864. Ad. 9. Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 13 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,865. Ad. cT. Argentina: Alpachirri, Tucuman. 27 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,866. Ad. d". Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 17 February,
1924. This little kingfisher was seen at Alpachirri, on October 27, where several were noted and one collected. It was not met with again until the following January when I found it abundant in the Bovril Islands in the Rio Parana. Throughout January and February it was seen in numbers every time I went to the islands, but I never observed it on the river itself or on the mainland either in Entre Rios or Santa Fe. Along the Caraya, a stream in the islands, all three species of king- fishers were very common. The present species seemed to be the fastest flyer of the three and was generally the most ^ctive, plunging after small fish, and hurrying up and down the stream. The three species evidently do not conflict or compete with each other, and form another illustration of the ecological significance of body-size already men- tioned under the albatross, Diomedia mehmopJiris.
This species was called Martin Pescador Chico in Entre Rios and Santa Fe.
BUCCONIDAE.
Nystalus maculatus striatipectus (Sclater).
M. C. Z. 96,861. Ad. cf. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 30 September, 1923. This bucco was seen only near Concepcion and the Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, where it was not uncommon from late September until
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the latter part of December. The first one seen was sitting in a tall bush with its head drawn down on its "shoulders" and the bill held about horizontal, looking very much like some of the small African kingfishers (Halycon sp.). The species was entirely silent in my ex- perience. Usually it was stupidly tame and unsuspicious. I doubt if it ever makes long flights. I have seen one fly from one bush to another about twenty feet away and immeditely assume its usual motionless, somnolent attitude. It can fly fairly quickly for such short distances, and probably swoops down from its perch on passing insects in the manner of the insectivorous kingfishers of the old world tropics.
The bill is bright orange-red in life.
They were known to the peons as Durmi-durmi, the name referring to their sleepy look.
* PICIDAE.
Picumnus cierhatus pilcomayensis Hargitt.
M. C. Z. 96,867. Ad. cf? Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 30 September,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,868. Ad. d". Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 12 October, 1923.
This piculet was observed only near Concepcion, where it was not uncommon in tangled thickets. The actions of this species are inter- mediate in character between those of miniature Dryobates-like wood- peckers and of Chickadees {Penthestcs atricapillus). They peck on the small twigs of bushes and on bamboo (where this plant has been intro- duced) like miniature Dryobates, but have the pose of a Penthestes. The tail is usually free of the branch and is not used as a support. The birds cling to the undersides of twigs as easily as any woodpecker and travel downwards and backwards in little jerky hops as they work along a twig. The only note heard was a rather faint, lisping tsip-tsip. This note is easily overlooked and my attention was frequently aroused by the pecking noise, or by the flitting motion of the bird as it flew from one bush to another. The species stays low down never going, so far as my experience shows, more than about eight feet from the ground.
Both birds collected had been feeding on small black beetles.
DiCTiOPicus MiXTUS (Boddaert) subsp.?
M. C. Z. 96,869. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 12 November,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,870. Ad. &. Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 17 February,
1924.
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 185
The male from the Bovril Islands is somewhat intermediate between viirtus and lignarnis. Unfortunately the entire crown and occiput are bare except for a few feathers on the posterolateral edges of the occiput. Consequently it is impossible to tell whether the red is confined to the sides of the head. In its measurements the specimen is nearer to mixtus than lignarius. I am not able to satisfy myself as to the sub- specific identity of the female collected.
It seems not improbable that mixtus and lignarius are less distinct than usually thought.
Beetles and lepidopterous larvae were found in the stomachs.
PicuLUS RUBiGiNOSUS TUCUMANUS (Cabanis). M. C. Z. 96,871. Ad. cf . Argentina: Iltico, Tucuman. 20 November, 1923.
This species was observed only once, at Iltico, Tucuman, on Novem- ber 20, where it was heard tapping on a tree in a dense part of the forest. Its stomach contained many white grubs, probably coleopter- ous larvae, and one small seed.
Trichopicus cactorum (d'Orbigny).
M. C. Z. 96,872. Ad. d". Argentina: Deniz Island, Santa Fe. 4 January, 1924. M. C. Z. 96,873. Ad. 9. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 9 February, 1924. This Yellow-throated Woodpecker was seen several times around Santa Elena and in the islands in the Parana just opposite. It fre- quented thinly wooded or open country and was always observed singly or in pairs. They climbed about like dryobatine woodpeckers, but their call-note was more like that of a White-breasted Nuthatch {Sitta carolinensis) , very nasal and drawn out. The stomach of the male collected contained several small black beetles, while that of the female held two fruit-pits about the size of cherry-pits, the remains of some reddish fruit-pulp, and some beetle remains.
Chrysoptilus melanolaimus perplexus Cory.
M. C. Z. 96,874. Ad. cf . Argentina: Deniz Island, Santa Fe. 4 January, 1924. M. C. Z. 96,875. Ad. d". Argentina: Deniz Island, Santa Fe. 4 January, 1924.
In my opinion perplexiis is a valid race and can be easily distin- guished from typical melanolaivius by the middle stripe of yellowish olive bordering the shaft on both webs on the under surface of the outer
186 bulletin: museum of compabative zoology.
rectrices. This stripe is lacking in western birds of the typical race. A specimen from Mendoza in the M. C. Z. is more or less intermediate, but nearer melanolaimus than perplexus. Other characters distinguish- ing these races are discussed by Wetmore (Bull. 133, U. S. N. M., 1926, p. 220).
The two specimens collected were the only ones observed. They were on the ground acting much like Flickers {Colaptes auratns), but were not definitely seen to probe in the earth for food. Small black beetles were found in the two stomachs.
Colaptes campestroides (Malherbe).
M. C. Z. 96,876. Ad. cf . Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 18 February,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,877. Ad. cf . Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 9 February,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,878. Ad.? 9 ? Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 9 February,
1924.
The Pampas Flicker is very similar in habits to the North American Colaptes auratns. Especially in flight is this resemblance striking when the suddenly revealed white rump-patch and the undulating progres- sion of the bird recall the North American species very vividly. The species probes in the ground for its food, but also obtains some of its diet from stumps, trees, and fence-posts. Two of the three specimens collected had dried mud on the tips of their bills. Ants were found to be the favorite food. Each of the three stomachs contained at least a hundred small black ants, while one contained a large number of white grubs in addition. The only note heard was a long, harsh keovgh, quite similar to that note in C. auratus.
The local name in Entre Rios was Carpintero, a name applied to all woodpeckers.
TROCHILIDAE.
Chlorostilbon aukeo-ventris tucumanus E. Simon.
M. C. Z. 96,854. Ad. cf. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 10 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,855. Ad. d^. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 28 September, 1923,
This little green Picaflor was quite common around Concepcion and Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, during my stay (September 23 to Decem- ber 23). During January and February I saw large numbers around
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 187
Santa Elena, Entre Rios. At San Pablo and the valley of the Rio Lules, Tucuman, September 22, it was seen frequenting the flowers of several species of Eupatorium. With it were associated numbers of the beautiful Sappho sapho. A nest with two young was found near Con- cepcion on November 27. The nest was like that of Archilocus cohihris in size and structure, being a soft, felted shallow cylinder made of downy plant-fiber and soft bits of bark. It was placed on the top of a palm-leaf about a foot from the axil. The young were evidently just hatched, and looked like newly hatched Archilocus coluhris.
The stomachs of the two birds collected contained small fragments of insect remains, some of which seemed to be pieces of the elytra of minute beetles.
Sappho sapho (Lesson).
This beautiful humming bird was observed only at the Rio Lules in the eastern foothills of the Andes in Tucuman, on September 22, As I went up the steep trail through the densely forested slopes this little species flushed from among the Eupatoriums with astonishing fre- quency, rapidly flitting here and there, the long tail glowing and sparkling as the sunbeams played on it. A most striking bird to the eye, it was also heard more than all the other birds together on that day. Its rather unpleasant harsh tscha-tscha note is surprisingly loud for a bird of its kind. Only one female was seen while about seventy or eighty males were noted.
Heliomaster furcifer (Shaw).
M. C. Z. 96,856. Ad. c?". Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 9 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,857. Ad. cf. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 29 September,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,858. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 29 September,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,859. Ad. 9. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 16 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,860. Im. cf . Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 8 February,
1924. This striking little humming bird was not uncommon in bushy fields and fairly open thickets. It was observed at Concepcion and Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, from September through December, several; also, Tucuman — Alpachirri, October 27, several; Iltico, November 20, one; Entre Rios — around Santa Elena, January and February,
188 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
fairly numerous; near the Saladero M, Cabal, Santa Fe, January 20, one.
Its flight and general habits seemed similar to those of Chlorostilbon aureoventris, but the present species appeared to be more partial to the pinkish flowers of Verbena chamaedryfolia than to Eupatoriums. It was often seen perched on the telegraph-wires along the roadbed of the Central Cordoba Railway, the edges of which were literally carpeted with patches of the Verbena.
DENDROCOLAPTIDAE.
^IPHOCOLAPTES MAJOR MAJOR (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,845. Ad. cf. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 13 October, 1923.
The study-material available in the M. C. Z. consists of two females from Tapia, Tucuman (J. L. Peters), and two specimens from the Lafresnaye collection, including the type of Dendrocolaptes ruhiginosus. These four and the Concepcion specimen exliibit considerable variation in the width of the white shaft-stripes on the breast. The two females from Tapia have these white stripes bordered with dark grayish brown ; in some feathers the dark grayish is concentrated into small black dots. The male from Concepcion is larger than these two females as the following measurements indicate: —
|
Culmen |
|||||
|
Sex |
Locality |
from base |
Wing |
Tail |
Tarsus |
|
& |
Concepcion |
56 mm. |
157 mm. |
118 mm. |
31.5 mm. |
|
9 |
Tapia |
50 mm. |
152 mm. |
121 mm. |
30.0 mm. |
|
9 |
Tapia |
51 mm. |
140 mm. |
118 mm. |
29.0 mm. |
The Carpintero Grande, as this large woodhewer was called in Tucu- man, was a scarce bird in my experience. I saw but one, feeding on the ground like a Flicker, and as I approached it flew up into a tree and perched lengthwise, woodpecker-like, on a slanting branch.
The stomach contained ants and some unidentifiable insect remains.
The iris in life was dark brown and the bill smoky blue-gray.
Lepidocolaptes angustirosrtis angustirostris (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,846. Ad. cf. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 17 November,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,847. Ad. d". Argentina : Concepcion, Tucuman. 10 October, 1923.
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 189
There is considerable variation in size in this species. Besides the two birds from Concepcion, I have examined two males from Tapia, Tucuman (J. L. Peters), and find that the wing varies in males from 92 to 98 mm., the tarsus from 15 to 17 mm.; the tail from 68 to 82 mm.; and the culmen (from base) from 28 to 33 mm. Wetmore (Bull. 133, U. S. N. M., 1926, p. 236) records a male from Tapia with a culmen of 35.7 mm. and wings measuring 99.6 mm.
This species is one of the very few in my experience in which the size relations of the two testes vary individually. One bird had the left testis very large and the right one minute, while the other had them both very large and equal in size.
This woodhewer was not uncommon in the open, bushy Acacia savannas near Concepcion. It was often observed climbing up tree- trunks in true picine fashion, but with a jerky motion not usually noticeable in the more perfected climbing of the woodpeckers. Beetles were found in the stomachs of both birds collected.
In life the iris was dark brown.
Drymornis bridgesi (Eyton). M.C.Z. 96,842. Ad. 9. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 4 February, 1924 .
This species w^as observed but once and the specimen seen was promptly collected.
The series in the M. C. Z. shows great variation in size, the culmen varying from 59 to 69 mm., the wings from 131 to 140 mm.; the tail from 109 to 123 mm.; the tarsus from 29 to 31 mm. There is also con- siderable variation in the size of the white stripes on the underparts. The four birds from eastern Entre Rios (Concepcion del Uruguay) in the M. C. Z. have these stripes the smallest, while three from Tapia, Tucuman, have them best developed. The Santa Elena specimen is intermediate in this respect.
The stomach contained the remains of several locusts, a rather un- usual choice of food for a tree-climber.
The iris was dark brown.
FURNARIIDAE.
FuRNARius RUFUS RUFUS (Gmelin).
M. C. Z. 96,838. Ad. cf . Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 10 January,
1924.
M. C. Z. 96,839. Ad. cf. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 10 January,
1924.
190 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Ovenbirds were commonly observed everywhere in Argentina. They were numerous even in the parks in the city of Buenos Aires, as well as in La Plata, and were quite tame and accustomed to people. In Tucuman they were very common and large numbers of their nests were examined. The Tucuman birds may be referable to the race commersoni, but unfortunately no specimens were taken in that prov- ince. In western Ai-gentina the bird was always called Hornero, while in eastern parts of the country two names, Hornero and Casero, were equally used.
The Hornero is one of the avian personalities of Argentina, and is one of the few birds universally regarded with friendly respect by the peons. The stories about it are numerous, one being to the effect that it never works on Sundays, but restricts its building activities to week days. In its general habits this ovenbird is somewhat like a thrush, feeding on the ground like a robin, and in flight resembles a large Hylo- cichla. When disturbed it is very vociferous, some of the loud, clear, ringing notes recalling the distress-call of the Robin (Planesticus vii- gratornts) . It both hops and runs, and on one occasion I saw an Hornero scratching among some dead leaves and stems with both feet simul- taneously like a Fox Sparrow (Passerclla iliaca).
The nest is a wonderfully well-built mud-oven with a spiral entrance on the side; it is straddled on horizontal or gently sloping branches of trees, or on the cross-bars of telegraph-poles, and even on fences and gates. In the great majority of nests found in the provinces of Buenos Aires and Entre Rios the entrance was on the left side, while in Tucu- man, Santiago del Estero, and Cordoba, about as many nests had the entrances on the right side as on the left. Of approximately 600 nests observed, some 450 had the opening on the left.
I examined the contents of no less than 217 nests. Of these only sixty-one were occupied at the time by the ovenbirds while forty-nine were occupied by other species, Machdornis rixosa, Sycalis pdzclni, Phacoprocjne tapera, etc. One contained seven little tree-frogs, Hyla nasica, and one egg of Molothnis bonariensis, while several nests, much to my discomfort, were inhabited by hornets.
The eggs of the Hornero are pure dull white and average (nine speci- mens) 30x21.5 mm. I never found more than five in a nest. This ovenbird is frequently parasitized by the cowbird, Molothrus bonari- ensis; eighteen out of sixty-one occupied nests contained one or more eggs of the parasite. Incredibly large numbers of cowbirds' eggs have been found in single nests of the Hornero — as many as thirty-seven in one case. The largest number I ever found was four. All nests in
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 191
which very large numbers of eowbird eggs are laid are usually deserted before many of the parasitic eggs are deposited, so that the number sat upon by the Hornero rarely exceeds four. The larger size of the oven- bird eggs does not seem to keep the Molothrus eggs from hatching first. I have never seen the young of the two species growing up to- gether, but have found some nests containing young cowbirds and eggs of the ovenbirds and others with young ovenbirds and eggs of the cowbirds, but never any with young of both. I have, however, heard of one such case.
At Santa Elena, Entre Rios I was told by Mr. A. Philip, a thor- oughly reliable observer, of a case where an ovenbird was watched for some days. Although it had two young of its own already out of the nest, it was seen to return to its nest with food for several days there- after. Finally a young eowbird emerged from the nest and after that the old Hornero did not return to the nest.
Ants seem to be the main article of diet, at least both birds collected had nothing but ants in their stomachs.
One of the specimens collected, which may be not fully adult, has the feathers of the malar and gular regions terminally banded with grayish brown, giving the appearance of fine indistinct bars. These bars extend across the white throat.
FuRNARius CRiSTATUS Burmeister.
On an Acacia-dotted plain on the east bank of the Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, I saw several of these Crested Ovenbirds and found seven of their nests (November 24). In general this species acts and sounds much like the preceding one, but seems less terrestrial in its feeding habits. The nests are similar to those of F. rufus, but are smaller, not more than two thirds as large as those of the common ovenbird. One of the nests contained two eggs of the eowbird, Molothrus honariensis, in addition to two of the builder. The eggs of the Crested Ovenbird are similar to those of F. nifus, but smaller, averaging 27 x 19 mm.
Synallaxis superciliosa Cabanis.
M. C. Z. 96,832. Ad. d". Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 19 October, 1923.
I have had the opportunity of comparing the Concepcion specimen with but one other (M. C. Z. 94,797), a male from Sarmiento, Tucuman. The first is in worn, while the other is in fresh, plumage. In the fresh
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plumage the crown and nape are brighter, lighter, and slightly more orange than in the worn plumage. In the former the tail is more rufous than in the latter and the secondaries are externally edged with rufous in the fresh plumage. These edges are entirely worn off in the Concepcion specimen.
Hellmayr (Cat. birds. Amer., 1925, p. 76) records measurements of five specimens of this bird, according to which the wings vary from 54-56 mm. ; the tail from 86-91 mm. ; the culmen is 12 mm. The speci- men from Sarmiento in the M. C. Z. has the wing 61 mm., the tail 81 mm., and the culmen 10 mm.
In life the iris is bright coffee-brown, the bill blackish brown, and the feet dusky horn color. The stomach of the bird collected contained insect remains.
This species was quite common around Concepcion and Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, September 23 to December 23. Many of their huge stick-nests were seen and several in process of construction were observed. The birds were always seen in pairs.
The Bay-winged Cowbird, Agelaioides hadnis badius, often uses the nests of this Synallaxis to breed in and frequently usurps occupied nests after evicting the little spine-tails. On December 9, at Concepcion, Tucuman, I heard a commotion in one of the palm-trees along a little road and, on coming closer, saw a very spirited fight. A pair of Bay- wings were in the tree near a nest of this Synallaxis, and one of the spine-tails was also there. The Bay-wings were harshly chattering at the latter which kept up a loud, incessant alarm-call. Suddenly one of the Bay-wings fiew directly at the Synallaxis, which then flew off hur- riedly to the next palm. The Bay-wing pursued it and the two birds struck each other's bodies with a distinct thud. Fighting madly with wings and feet and screaming their loudest, the Cowbird harsh and guttural, the Synallaxis clear and ringing, they half fluttered, half dropped to the ground, where they fought desperately for a minute or so. Then the Synallaxis quickly flew off across the road and dropped down in a field of sugar cane. The Bay-wing was close behind and the fight was renewed for a few seconds, when the former flew off making a wide circle of the nesting tree. Five days later the Bay-wings were found in possession of the nest and there was no sign of the original owners.
The common name for this Synallaxis throughout Argentina is Lenatero.
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 193
Synallaxis albescens albescens Temminck.
M. C. Z. 96,833. Ad. cT. ArgentiBa: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 16 January, 1924.
In the M. C. Z. there is an immature female of this species from Tapia, Tucuman (J. L. Peters). It differs from the adults in that it lacks all but a trace of the rufous on the crown, the tail is darker and more rufous, and the back is more olive-brown and brighter than in the adult birds.
This spine-tail was quite common in the thorny thickets in the sandy barrancas in western Entre Rios where it was seen flitting around in the taller bushes and in the trees. No nests were observed that were definitely attributed to this species, but the bird collected was in breeding condition.
The common name is Leiiatero.
CORYPHISTERA ALAUDINA ALAUDINA Burmeistcr.
M. C. Z. 96,843. Ad. cf. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios, 15 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,844. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 17 November, 1923.
These birds agree with a series of six from Tapia, Tucuman (J. L. Peters). Males are very slightly larger than females.
These pipit-like woodhewers were very common at Concepcion and Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, September 23 to December 23; at Santa Elena, January andli^ebruary; and at Vizcacheros, Entre Rios, Febru- ary 1. A few were noted around the city of La Plata on September 6. They are eminently terrestrial and go in small parties of six or seven (probably families), running about in the dry, open sandy places be- tween thorn bushes. They show their arboreal phlyogeny, however, at the slightest sign of danger when they take to the trees and taller bushes, where they hop and flit and clamber about with the greatest rapidity and ease. The alarm-call is a spluttering series of sharp clicks.
The nests are composed of sticks and twigs, and are very large for the size of the builders. Several nests were found, all of them empty.
Anumbius anumbi (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,834. Ad. cf . Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 15 February, 1924.
There is a good deal of variation in the markings of the breast in this species. In some birds (six specimens from General Lavalle, Buenos
194 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Aires) there are distinct necklaces of black spots and the breasts are darkly streaked and quite distinct in shade and color from the lighter, more uniform bellies. Others (three specimens from Entre Rios and three from southern Brazil) lack the black necklaces and have the breast and bellies alike in color, fairly light, like the color of the bellies of the six specimens from General Lavalle, and more or less distinctly streaked.
Although most dendrocolaptids and furnariids are commonly called Leiiateros in Argentina, the present species is the one most frequently meant when that name is used. I met it rather seldom considering its wide range and numerical status. In Tucuman I sav/ a few now and then from September through December near the Rio de Gastone. In western Entre Rios (vicinity of Santa Elena) the species was somewhat commoner and quite a number were seen during January and February. It frequents only dry Acacia savannas and thorny thickets, and each pair seems to require considerably more breeding territory than any species of Synallaxis. Near Santa Elena, a pair had a nest in a large Acacia, but the male usually perched near by on a post along a road. In flight the white in the tail shows very distinctly and serves to iden- tify the bird, but when at rest the species is very inconspicuous and easily overlooked.
Phacellodomus euber ruber (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,835. Ad, c?. Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 13 January, 1924.
The single specimen collected agrees with others in the M. C. Z. from Paraguay and Bolivia. The species has not hitherto been recorded in northw^estern Entre Rios and in as much as I saw but one during two months there, it is probably rare locally (cf. Serie y Smyth, El hornero, 1923, p. 37-55 for a Hst of bu-ds of Santa Elena).
The stomach of the specimen collected contained ants and small beetles.
The iris was bright golden yellow.
Phacellodomus rufifrons sincipitalia Cabanis.
M.C.Z. 96,836. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 30 September, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,837. Ad. cf. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 29 September, 1923.
Three birds collected in late autumn (April) at Tapia, Tucuman, by J. L. Peters, have the forehead and crown much darker and redder than
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 195
in the specimens I collected at Concepcion in the spring (September). The Red Thorn-bird is a denizen of the thickest thorny tangles and rarely exposes itself to view. It is an active, restless bird, constantly flitting and climbing among the small branches of tall bushes. This appearance of nervous activity is heightened by the jerky character of the gait. It has a sharp chvck or check note which it gives at frequent intervals, especially when alarmed.
PsEUDOSEisuRA LOPHOTES (Rcichenbach).
M. C. Z. 96,840. Ad. cf . Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 9 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,841. Im.? d'. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 10 January,
1924. The only male specimen with which I have been able to compare the two Santa Elena birds is one collected by Barrows at Concepcion del Uruguay, eastern Entre Rios, January 27, 1880. This bird is much smaller in all its measurements than the two Santa Elena specimens from western Entre Rios and is much lighter and more rufous in color. However, considerable size- variation occurs in this species. The two Santa Elena birds differ in several respects from each other; a male (M. C. Z. 96,840) in breeding condition has the cheeks dark rufous and the rufous of the gular region is dark and extends over and includes the chin; the other male (M. C. Z. 96,841) in non-breeding condition (prob- ably immature) has the cheeks brownish gray and the rufous patch on the throat is confined to the center of the throat, the chin and gular region being whitish. The rufous throat-patch is light, almost cinna- mon in color. The belly and flanks in this bird are more rufous than in the other and the feathers of the breast and lower throat are terminally banded with grayish brown. In the breeding male there are none of these terminal bands save for faint indications on the lower breast.
The Cachalote, as this bird is called, was common in the dry Acacia- dotted barrancas and savannas of western Entre Rios. At Santa Elena (January and February) they were numerous and several of their enormous nests were found. The nests are compact, horizontal, roughly cylindrical masses of sticks and twigs and often attain a length of five feet and a diameter of two and a half or three feet. The en- trance is round and just large enough to accommodate the entrance of the bird and is always at one end of the cylindrical nest. The eggs, usually three in number, are pure white and measure about 29 x 21 mm. (three specimens measured).
196 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
The flight of the Cacholote is rather slow and undulating, usually low over bushes and shrubs. Its usual call is noisy, being a loud crack- ling series of cnk notes all run together. The crest is quite noticeable in flight and is raised and lowered frequently. Perching birds also raise their crests when alarmed.
The iris in life is light brown. k
FORMICARIIDAE.
Taraba major major (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,830. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 7 October, 1923, M. C. Z. 96,831. Ad. d". Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 2 October, 1923.
These birds agree with three others from Tapia, Tucuman (J. L. Peters), in the M. C. Z. I have compared theConcepcion specimens with a series of thirteen from various parts of the range of the species and find no variation, except in the width of the bars of the outer tail-feathers. In some birds these feathers are more white than black while in others the preponderance of color is reversed. This variation is not geographi- cal.
This species was met with somewhat sparingly in Tucuman during October and November. It was found only in low hedge-like thickets alongside paths and short, little-used roads. In such places this large ant-thrush scratches among the dead leaves for bits of food. The only birds seen attracted my attention by the noise they made in scratching among the leaves. The two collected had been feeding on small beetles.
The male has a very loud call, a clear, full, penetrating whistle rapidly repeated. It sings from the bushes, not from the ground.
TYRANNIDAE. Taenioptera cesterea cinerea (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,796. Ad. cf . Argentina: San Joaquin, Entre Rios. 27 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,797. Ad. 9. Argentina: San Joaquin, Entre Rios. 27 January,
1924.
The two specimens collected are in poor plumage making comparison with others difficult. Allowing for age and condition they agree with others in the M. C. Z. series.
I met with this strikingly marked flycatcher only at San Joaquin.
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 197
They were feeding on the ground when first seen, but flew up to an old post. They were very restless and constantly darted out after passing insects returning each time to the post. On the ground they walked and acted much like Machetornis rixosa. One of the birds had been feeding on small beetles, while the stomach of the other contained some locust remains.
Iris bright red ; bill and feet black.
Taenioptera irupero (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,798. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 2 November,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,799. Ad. cf . Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 7 October, 1923.
The beautiful Viudita, as this bird is called, was common in open scrubby country wherever I went. It was recorded as follows: Con- cepcion and Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, September 23 to December 23, common in suitable localities; from train-window on the Central Cordoba Railway in the provinces of Cordoba and Buenos Aires, December 24, a few, in Entre Rios, Santa Elena. January 3 to February 23, common, and San Joaquin, January 27, one pair; La Noria, Santa Fe, January 19, one.
The pure white plumage of this species broken only by the black of the wings, coupled with its habit of perching quietly, almost motion- less, for considerable periods of time, give the bird the appearance of a white flower or of a piece of cotton caught on the end of a tall cardon or other weed. It is extremely conspicuous and doubtless its habit of nesting in holes in trees is interrelated with its coloration. In my ex- perience the species was very silent. Both birds collected had been feeding on small beetles.
Lichenops perspicillata perspicillata (Gmelin).
M. C. Z. 96,828. Ad. d'. Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 13 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,829. Im. 9 . Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 13 January,
1924.
The Pico de Plata or Silverbill was noted in many places in Argen- tina. It was first seen in the wet meadows at Berisso and Ensenada, Buenos Aires, early in September, where they were quite numerous. On September 20 I saw several from a train-window in parts of the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, and Santiago del Estero. Several were seen in Tucuman at San Pablo, on September 22, and around
198 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Concepcion and Rio de Gastone, it was very local and somewhat un- common, September 23 to December 23. On December 23 several were noted from a train-window on the Central Cordoba Railway in the provinces of Cordoba and Buenos Aires. At Santa Elena, Entre Rios, it was locally absent on account of unsuitable ecological condi- tions, but in the Bovril Islands just opposite in the Rio Parana Silver- bills were quite common. They were fairly abundant in eastern Santa Fe (Saladero M. Cabal, San Sofia, and La Noria) in January and February. Early in March several were noted at General Lavalle and Ajo, southern Buenos Aires.
Both birds collected were moulting heavily which makes comparisons useless.
This species is almost as restricted to the vicinity of water as is Fluvicola albiventer, but is frequently found in moist meadows while the latter is entirely a bird of stream-banks. In these marshy areas the little Silverbills are among the most conspicuous birds in regions where they are common. They fly low over the grass-tops and drop suddenly and vertically into the vegetation at the end of the flight. There seems to be no downward glide as in the flight of most birds. I never saw one perch in a tree or on any elevated perch so the species is probably wholly terrestrial.
The apparently bizarre coloration is very practical in the field. At a distance all the observer sees as the bird flies are the white wing- patches. The black color of the rest of the bird disappears, i.e., it seems as though the observer looks right through it to the shadows on the grass. The white patches fluttering up and down in flight look like the disconnected wings of a butterfly. When close at hand the bird is conspicuous in flight, but as soon as it alights and folds its wings the white color disappears. It is an excellent example of a flash-color like the white rump of Colaptes.
This species is usually silent, but on a few occasions I heard a feeble, squeaky series of thin notes from adult males.
Four nests were found in the Bovril Islands during January; they are deep cups of dried grasses and resemble both in appearance and in site the nests of Geothlypis trichas of North America. All were in the bases of tussocks of swamp grass and were exceedingly well hidden. It was necessary to part the grasses to see the nests; all but one of them were empty as it was late in the season, but one contained four white eggs spotted and dotted with reddish brown, chiefly at the larger end. They measured 23 x 16.7 mm.
In life the bill and eye skin are light yellow, but appear white at a little distance.
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 199
Machetornis rixosa rixosa (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,810. Im. cf . Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 31 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,811. Ad. ?. Argentina: Concepcion, Tueuman. 27 September,
1923.
The specimens collected agree with a series in the M. C. Z. This fly- catcher was very common in all parts of Argentina visited. Around the city of Buenos Aires it was noted early in September; at La Plata, Berisso, and Ensenada, Buenos Aires, it was numerous during the second week of September, was very common around Concepcion and Rio de Gastone, Tueuman, September 23 to December 23, and was equally common at Santa Elena, Entre Rios, during January and February. A few were seen in eastern Santa Fe (Saladero M. Cabal, and La Noria) during January, and early in March a few were noted around Dolores, General Lavalle, and Ajo, Buenos Aires.
In Tueuman this species was called Matero and was very common around cattle and in the stable-yards where it walked and fed on the ground together with Cohimbina picui and Molothrus bo7iariensis bona- riensis. Materos were often seen perched cowbird-fashion on the backs of horses and cows where they seemed perfectly at home and the beasts paid absolutely no attention to them.
In late September the Machetornis began to mate and thereafter was seen chiefly in pairs. The song is weak, thin, rather high, and is composed of four syllables of equal length and the same pitch. It sometimes breeds in old nests of ovenbirds and woodhewers, but fre- quently builds an open nest of straws, rootlets, and dead grass. In Tueuman I found ten occupied nests, the earliest on October 28 and the latest on December 16. Of these ten, five were old nests of Synal- laxis sp., one was an old nest of Furnarius rufus, while four were open nests built by the tyrants. The last four were all in trees, the lowest being six feet from the ground, the highest about twenty feet up. The projecting base of an old leaf and the corresponding axillar cavity of a palm-tree was a favorite nesting site. Eggs of the cowbird, Molothrus bonariensis bonariensis, were foimd in three of the four open nests and in the old oven of Furnarius. None of the old synallaxine nests were invaded by the parasite. It is easier for a parasitic bird to deposit an egg in an open nest than in a domed one, so probably the pugnacity of the Machetornis is usually sufficient to keep !the Molothrus out of nests of the latter type, while in open nests a few minutes off guard is enough to allow the parasite to lay its egg and get away. Three was the
200 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
largest number of cowbird eggs found in any nest of the Matero. The eggs of this tyrant are whitish, heavily streaked with brownish and gray- ish and are pointed at the small end. They average 22 x 17.5 mm. In a way they resemble the eggs of Myiarchus crinitus of North America.
Fluvicola albiventer (Spix).
M. C. Z. 96,800. Ad. cf. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 12 November, 1923.
This dainty little flycatcher was observed as follows: Tucuman, — Rio 3e Gastone, September 23 to December 23, locally common ; Con- cepcion, October and November, very local and uncommon; Bovril Islands, Rio Parana, Santa Fe, January and February, common. It is entirely restricted to the shores of streams or ponds. On the wooded edges of a little affluent of the Rio de Gastone, Fluvicola was c^uite common, flitting over the surface of the water after the manner of Sayornis phoehe of North America. This resemblance is restricted only to the flight of the two species. The present bird does not pump its tail vertically when perching. On December 11, at this place I found three nests. They were beautifully constructed purse-shaped affairs, made of dead grasses, fine straws, small rootlets and stems. All the nests were attached to the tips of branches overhanging the water. The entrance to the nest is on a side and the whole nest bears a general resemblance to that of Telmatodytes palustris of North America, but is slightly smaller and made of finer materials and more closely woven. The nests were all lined with feathers. One contained two eggs, one had a young bird, about eight or nine days old, and one was empty. The eggs are pure white with a few brownish flecks at the large end.
In the Bovril Islands in the Parana this bird was common in the reeds and rushes along the banks of streams. The eastern part of these islands are wooded and in the wooded portions of the streams this bird was absent. Five or six miles inland from the eastern shore of the is- lands the vegetation changes suddenly, the trees and shrubs disappear and in their place is a vast swamp of giant grasses and reeds. Here it is that this black and white tyrant makes its home. Its ceaseless activ- ity, pursuing its insect prey in true flycatcher fashion, its dainty and distinctive coloring, and its strict adherence to one type of environ- ment sharply demarcated from the rest of the island, make the bird unusually interesting and attractive in the field.
On January 12 while crossing the islands I found ten nests. Unlike those found in Tucuman, these were all vertically attached to the up-
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 201
right stalks of a tall plant called Cardon by the peons. (Cardon really means thistle which these plants certainly were not). In Tucuman this plant was not met with. The nests averaged about six or seven inches in height and three or four inches in width and were just like those found in western Argentina. Three of these nests contained three eggs each, four had two eggs apiece, one contained three young birds about four days old, and one was empty.
The specimen collected agrees with others in the M. C. Z. Its stomach contained insect remains.
SlSOPYGIS ICTEROPHRYS (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,816. Ad. cf. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 9 February, 1924.
The single specimen collected agrees with others in the M. C. Z.
The Amarillo or Yellow-browed Tyrant was first observed at Con- cepcion, Tucuman, where a few were noted during October, November, and December. They were far from common, however. At Santa Elena, Entre Rios, this species was met with but once, a male seen and collected on February 9.
On November 12 near Concepcion, Tucuman, I found a nest; it was in a crotch in a thorn tree and about ten feet from the ground. The nest was a shallow cup about six inches in diameter (outside measurements) and about two inches deep and was made of fine twigs and rootlets and lined with a few feathers and some dead grass. It contained four eggs, very pointed at the small end, light buffy white in color with several blotches of rufous brown at the large end. Around the nest the parent birds were very shy.
Knipolegus aterrimus aterrimus Kaup. M. C. Z. 96,827. Ad. cf. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 9 October, 1923. The specimen collected was the only individual of this species seen. It was in a dense thicket of thorn trees and flew from one tree to another, jerking its tail as it lit on a branch. The specimen agrees with others in the M. C. Z.
EUSCARTHMORNIS MARGARITACEIVENTER MARGARITACEIVENTER
(d'Orbigny and Lafresnaye).
M. C. Z. 96,826. Ad. d". Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 6 October, 1923.
An inhabitant of the brush and low thickets on the periphery of
wooded areas, this species feeds on small insects, combining in its
202 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
feeding habits the aerial tactics of the true flycatchers and the ter- restrial and arboreal gleaning method of vireos and warblers. The specimen collected agrees with others in the M. C. Z.
Serpophaga subcristata munda Berlepsch.
M. C. Z. 96,822. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 29 September, 1923.
The specimen collected differs from two from Mendoza (J. L. Peters) in the M. C. Z. in that it has almost no yellowish on the belly and under tail-coverts while both Mendoza birds are distinctly tinged with light yellowish. The two latter are intermediate between munda and typical snhcristata, nearer to the latter if anything; they do not seem to be immature. Wetmore (Bull. 133, U. S. N. M., 1926, p. 320) writes that in immature birds in first winter plumage the lower abdomen is very faintly washed with yellow, suggesting the condition found in sub- cristata, but lighter and more restricted in extent.
Iris dark brown; bill and feet black.
Serpophaga nigricans (Vieillot). M. C. Z. 96,823. Ad. 9 . Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 2 October, 1923.
I have compared this specimen with others from Tucuman and Entre Rios and find no differences.
This is a nervous, restjess little flycatcher and always reminded me of a gnatcatcher (Polioptila). They jerk their tails when hopping about in the branches and open and close them like a fan,
Elaenia albiceps albiceps (d'Orbigny and Lafresnaye).
M. C. Z. 96,819. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 30 September,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,820. Ad. c?. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 9 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,821. Ad. cf. Argentina: Rio de Gastone, Tucuman. 4 December,
1923. I have compared these specimens with a series of twenty-two from various parts of Argentina and find there is considerable variation in the amount of yellowish green on the flanks and bellies of the females. The males are more constant in this respect. In some females the flanks and lower abdomen are very grayish, only slightly tinged with yellow, while in others they are light greenish yellow with no indication of
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 203
gray. This variation is apparently not one of age and certainly is of no geographic significance, as both types occur together all over the range of the race.
This flycatcher was common around Concepcion and Rio de Gastone Tucuman, September 23 to December 23. It was found in scrubby, thorny patches and being shy and nervous it was rather hard to col- lect. On one occasion I saw one elevate its crown-feathers and expose the white median stripe for an instant.
SuiRiRi suiRiRi (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,815. Ad. 9. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 9 February, 1924.
The specimen collected was moulting at the time, especially in the tail. Otherwise, allowing for sexual difference, it agrees with a series from Concepcion del Uruguay, Entre Rios, in the M. C. Z.
This species somewhat resembles the preceding one in life, but is less shy and is found in more open tree-dotted savannas. On Novem- ber 29 at Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, I found a nest. It was a well- built cup of fine grasses, moss, and plant-fibers felted together and was placed in a little horizontal crotch in an Acacia tree about eight feet from the ground. It contained three eggs of the flycatcher and one of the cowbird, Molothnis honariensis bonariensis. The eggs of Suiriri suiriri are pale creamy white, flecked and dotted with reddish brown and pointed at the small end.
The female collected at Santa Elena, Entre Rios, is apparently the first record for that district, as Serie and Smyth (El hornero, 1923, 3, p. 37-56) do not mention it in their list.
Pit ANGUS sulphuratus bolivianus (Lafresnaye).
M. C. Z. 96,808. Ad. d". Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 3 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,809. Im. cT . Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 8 February, 1924. The Bienteveo, as this handsome tyrant is called, was one of the commonest birds everywhere in Argentina. It was recorded as fol- lows:— Montevideo, Uruguay, August 31, several; seen from train- windows in provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, and Santiago del Estero, September 21, many; in provinces of Tucuman, Catamarca, Cordoba, and Buenos x\ires, December 23, 24, many; Buenos .\ires — Buenos Aires City, September 1 to 20, common in parks; La Plata, Ber-
204 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology,
isso, Ensenada, September 6 to 10, common ; Dolores General Lavalle, and Ajo, early in March, common ; Tucuman — San Pablo and Rio Lules, September 22, common; Concepcion and Rio de Gastone, Sep- tember 23 to December 23, very common; Alpachirri, October 27, several; Iltico, November 20, several; at Santa JElena, Entre Rios, and the Bovril Islands in the Parana, Santa Fe, January 3 to February 23, common; Saladero M. Cabal and La Noria, Santa Fe, January 19, several.
The Bienteveo is one of the most characteristic birds of Argentina and is one that is commonly found around human habitations. In the garden of Mr. Stewart Shipton at the Ingenio La Corona near Concep- cion, Tucuman, I have seen this bird feeding on insects close to the house. In stable-yards it sometimes gleans a few flies and wasps, but it is most numerous around water. Like its Mexican subspecies, the so-called Derby Flycatcher, P. s. derbianus, it makes a large, untidy, domed nest with an entrance on one side and rather high up. The nest is composed of fluffy vegetable — fibers, woolly material, string, and feathers and averages about a foot in height and seven inches in width. No attempt is made to conceal the nest or simulate its surroundings. When building the birds are said to steal whole nests of smaller birds to use them as building material in the construction of their own nests. Of five nests examined, two contained five eggs each, one contained four eggs, and two were empty. The eggs average 30 x 21 mm. and are light buffy white, with scrawls and specks of blackish or blackish brown on the large end. Fully fledged young were seen flying around as early as the middle of No\'ember. The young birds have a harsh, beady call that may be written dzeeer.
The call-notes of the adults are varied. Some notes are harsh and grating while others are clear, loud, and ringing. The vernacular name, Bienteveo, is an imitation of the commonest type of call-note.
The female collected on October 9 had an egg ready for the shell in its oviduct.
Myiodynastes solitarius (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,806. Ad. d". Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 10 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,807. Ad. cf. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 10 October, 1923.
The two males collected agree with a series in the M. C. Z.
This species was found only at Concepcion, where it occurred in the thickets and tall bushes around wooded areas. It was suspicious and shy, retreating into the protective cover of the bushy tangles at the first sign of danger. I found three nests of this bird : — two were in
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 205
horizontal crotches of thorn trees; while one was built in a tangle of vines overgrowing a dead bush. This last nest, found on December 19, contained two eggs of the cowbird, Mohihrus honariensis bonariensis, in addition to one of the tyrant. The nest is a rather shallow bowl of small twigs, stems, and straws with a lining of smaller straws and measures (average of three nests) seven inches across. The eggs are pointed at one end, are pale cream in color, streaked and spotted with reddish purplish brown.
Myiophobus fasciatus flammiceps (Temminck).
M. C. Z. 96,824. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 7 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,825. Ad. cf? Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 30 September, 1923.
My two birds have wings of 63 ( 9 ) and 64 (cf) mm., respectively while three unsexed birds from Bahia, Brazil, have wings of from 53- 57 mm., three males from Colombia 57-59 mm., five females from Col- ombia 56-57.5 mm., two males from Venezuela have wings of 57.5 mm., and two unsexed birds from Trinidad 59 and 59.5 mm. respectively. These data together with those given by Wetmore indicate pretty clearly the subspecific distinctness of the birds of southern South America.
These little brown tyrants are inhabitants of low bushes and thickets along the banks of streams and roadsides. In their general actions they are not unlike small emipidonaxine species, but their nests are vireo- like, being deep cups suspended from two bifurcations of a terminal fork of a branch. I found two nests, the first on November 22 and the other on December 1, both near Concepcion, The first nest was about four feet from the ground and contained an egg of the cowbird, Molothms honariensis bonariensis, in addition to one of the flycatchers. The female bird was flushed from the nest and had apparently been incubat- ing for some days. The next day the eggs were found pecked and the contents drunk and the nest deserted. The other nest, found on December 1, was just finished. The next day the body of the female flycatcher was found near by, partly eaten.
Pyrocephalus rubineus rubineus (Boddaert).
M. C. Z. 96,817. Im. cf . Argentina: Santa Elena, Ehtre Rios. 15 February,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,818. Ad. d". Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 17 November,
1923.
206 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
These specimens agree with others in the M. C. Z.
In Tucuman this bird was found in open Acacia savannas and in bushy thickets. In Entre Rios it was observed in the bushy parts of the sandy barrancas close to the water, and one was seen in a wet meadow. Seven nests were found, all in crotches in Acacias, ranging from six to twelve feet from the ground. All were found near the Rio de Gastone, Tucuman. The nest is a beautiful little felted cup of mosses, spider webs, and plant-fibers, externally decorated with bits of bark and moss. Three of the nests found contained eggs, the others were empty. The largest number of eggs found in one nest was four. The eggs are white, slightly tinged with cream color, spotted with brownish black at the large end and pointed at the small end. In Entre Rios the present species was rare and was seen but once.
The stomachs of the specimens collected contained insect remains.
This species goes under several names, most of them referring to its brilliant coloration. In Tucuman it was called Pajaro de Fuego or Bird of Fire; in Entre Rios it was known as Churrinche.
Empidonomus AUTiANTio-ATROCRiSTATUS (d'Orbigny and Lafresnaye).
M. C. Z. 96,812. Ad. &. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 17 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,813. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 9 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,814. Im.? Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 9 February' 1924.
The immature bird collected at Santa Elena is interesting in its plumage characters. The underparts are uniform as in the adult aurantio-atrocristatus, but the back, wings, and tail are like those of adults of Empidonomus varius. Empidonomus varius is probably the more primitive of the two existing species of the genus and the young of the more highly evolved species reveals its ancestry just as the young of Molothrus rvfoa.villaris shows the ancestry of that species. When I was in London in 1924 I had the privilege of examining three juvenile specimens of Empidonomus at the British Museum. Until more is learned of these birds it may be tentatively stated that the immature plumages of both species are very similar, but that the young of E. varius have the underparts streaked while in E. aurantio- atrocristatus the underparts are uniform. The streaks in E. varius vary in distinctness.
This flycatcher was fairly common in open bushy districts about Concepcion and Rio de Gastone, Tucuman. It was often seen perched on the top branch of a tall bush, partly screened from view by the
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 207
foliage. It looked very sombre in life as the golden crest was not vis- ible except on rare occasions. The only notes heard were rusty squeaks. In an Acacia grove near the Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, I found six nests during November and December; they were rather loosely con- structed saucers of small twigs and stems and averaged about six inches in diameter, and were placed in horizontal crotches in the trees anywhere from six to ten feet from the ground. One of the nests, found on November 15, contained three eggs of the tyrant and one of the cowbird, Molothrus honariensis honariensis. The other nests contained from two to four eggs each, and none of the parasite. The eggs are pale creamy in color, spotted with purplish brown chiefly towards the large end. Like the eggs of many tyrants the small end is pointed.
Tyrannus melancholicus melancholicus Vieillot.
M. C. Z. 96,803. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 2 November,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,804. Ad. ?. Argentina: Santa Flena, Entre Rios. 7 February,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,805. Ad. cf . Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 9 January,
1924.
The specimens collected agree with the series in the M. C. Z.
This bird was fairly common around Concepcion, and Rio de Gas- tone, Tucuman, September 23 to December 2.3; common, but local, at Santa Elena, Entre Rios, January 3 to February 23; several at Palermo, Buenos x\ires City, March 1 ; and at El Tigre, Buenos Aires, March 4. In its general habits T. melancholicus is very similar to T. tyrannm, the common kingbird of North America. It was most numerous in thin forest and in open bushy places.
Hudson wrote that this species was never parasitized by the cow- bird, Molothrus honariensis honariensis, but out of five nests found at Concepcion, Tucuman, three contained eggs of the parasite, and ten cases in all have come to my notice. The nest is similar to that of T. tyrannus, a loose structure of stems, small twigs, and rootlets, placed in a crotch in a thorn tree, anywhere from four to ten feet from the ground. The eggs, usually not more than four in a clutch, are pointed at the small end, pure white in color with brownish spots around the large end. They average about 25.5 x 19.5 mm.
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MuscivoEA TYKANNUS (Linne).
M. C. Z. 96,801. Ad. cf . Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 4 February,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,802. Ad. cT. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 28 September,
1923.
The Tijerita, as this dainty species is called by the peons, was ob- served at the following places: — Concepcion and Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, September 23 to December 23, common; several seen from train-window in provinces of Cordoba and Buenos Aires, September 24; in Entre Rios at Santa Elena, January 3 to February 23, common; and at San Joaquin, January 27, several; few seen at Saladero M. Cabal, Santa Fe, January 19.
When I began field-work in Tucuman on September 23 I found this species quite rare, but as the days passed migrant flocks kept coming in from the north and by the end of the month the birds were common. They are extremely attractive in life and are very active and restless. When not pursuing some insect prey they are generally seen tormenting a hawk or other large bird in the way that kingbirds often do. In flight the long tail-feathers lie straight out behind, parallel to each other, but when wheeling or turning the tail opens up like the blades of scissors. The only notes heard were little explosive dzeep sounds.
I found twelve occupied nests, all near Concepcion, Tucuman. Of these twelve, four contained eggs of the cowbird, Molothrus bonariensis honariensis, in addition to the rightful eggs. The nest is intermediate in type between the poorly constructed nests of Tyrannus and the finished structure of Suiriri. It is cup-shaped and made of plant- fibers, cottony material, and thistle down, but these materials are mixed with bits of resinous bark which practically glue it together and make it rather hard and non-pliable. The eggs, never more than four in number, are creamy white in color, pointed at the small end, and spotted with brownish and reddish brown at the large end. The adult birds are very pugnacious around the nest.
Although these birds were seen chasing and capturing insects the stomachs of the three birds collected contained nothing but fruit- pits about the size of cherry-pits.
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 209
PHYTOTOMIDAE.
Phytotoma rutila rutila Vieillot. •
M. C. Z. 96,786. Ad. d". Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 13 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,787. Ad. d". Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 2 November, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,788. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 30 September,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,789. Ad. 9 . Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 17 October, 1923.
Of the two males collected, one (October 13) has the entire crown back to the posterior part of the occiput rufous orange while the other (November 2) has the rufous orange extending backwards only as far as the posterior end of the eye.
Plant-cutters were observed at the following localities : — Concep- cion and Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, September 23 to December 23, "fairly common; Santa Elena, Entre Rios, January 3 to February 23, fairly common; San Joacjuin, Entre Rios, January 27, two seen. These curious birds were found in Acacia groves and in sparse, open thickets where they were usually heard more often than seen. The song of the male is very characteristic, and quite unavian in sound. Hudson de- scribed it as like the bleat of a lamb and his description can be im- proved only by adding that the sound is hoarser than a lamb's bleat, but otherwise similar to it. It is a deep, guttural, prolonged aaaaaah gradually losing in volume and finally dying out; the "a" pronounced as in the word ant.
On November 26 near the Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, I found a nest of this bird ; it was a rather poorly constructed deep saucer of fine twigs, flimsily lined with plant-fibers and placed in the middle of a thorn bush and about seven feet from the ground. It measured seven inches across (outside measurements) and contained four eggs. The eggs measured 24 x 19 mm. and were a pale light olive with a bluish tinge, spotted and flecked with dark brown, chiefly at the large end.
The bills of all four birds collected were stained with the greenish sap of leaves and other vegetation eaten. The stomachs all contained finely comminuted vegetable matter.
210 BULLETIN: MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY.
HIRUNDINIDAE.
Iridoprocne meyeni (Cabanis).
M. C. Z. 96,784. Ad. cf . Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 28 September, 1923.
This swallow was fairly numerous around Concepcion from late September until late December. In its general habits it was quite similar to the tree swallow,' Iridoproaie hicolor, of North America. The single specimen collected agrees with others from Mendoza and Rio Negro in the M. C. Z.
Phaeoprogne tapera tapera (Linne).
M. C. Z. 96,782. Im. 9. Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 13 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,793. Ad. 9. Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 19 February,
1924.
The plumage of the immature female is like that of the adult, but darker and less brownish on the upperparts.
This brown swallow was met with only around Santa Elena, Entre Rios, and the adjacent parts of eastern Santa Fe. Here it was not un- common and was found breeding. It frequently nests in old nests of the ovenbird, Furnarius riifus, but also uses holes in trees. On January 13 I found a nest in a hole about thirty feet up in a tall tree. It contained one young bird nearly ready to leave, some fragments of egg-shells, and some feathers. The nestling was collected and found to be a female. The adult birds flew around as I robbed the nest and uttered weak chup-chup call-notes.
TROGLODYTIDAE.
Troglodytes musculus rex (Berlepsch and Leverkiihn).
M. C. Z. 96,785. Ad. cT. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 4 October, 1923.
The subspecific identification of the single specimen collected is based solely on geographic grounds, following Chapman and Griscom (Bull. A. M. N. H., 1924, 50, p. 295). However the Concepcion bird has a considerably shorter wing than any in their series of forty-six males of rex. They found the wings to vary in length from 51 to 57 mm., while the Concepcion specimen has a wing of only 48.5 mm., with
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 211
the other measurements as follows: — tail 43 mm.; tarsus 16 mm.; culmen, from base, 13.5 mm.
In its general habits, loud bubbling song, manner of flight, etc., this bird is very similar to the House Wren, Troglodytes aedon, of North America.
MIMIDAE.
MiMus TRiuRUS (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,794. Ad. o". Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 17 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,795. Ad. cf. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 31 January, 1924.
The January specimen was heavily moulting on the wings and body when collected. Both birds are slightly darker than specimens from Mendoza in the M. C. Z.
The Banded Mockingbird was not uncommon in thorny thickets around Concepcion, Tucuman, September 23 to December 23, and at Santa Elena, Entre Rios, January 3 to February 3. In the latter place it has been recorded as early as October (Serie and Smyth, El hornero, 1923, p. 52). In its general habits this species always reminded me greatly of M. polyglottos of North America. In flight the white patches on the wings and tail are very conspicuous and serve to identify the bird a long way off. The stomachs of the specimens collected contained insect remains.
On December 15 at Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, I witnessed what was probably the display antics of this mockingbird. The bird was seen on the ground in an open grassy field. It ran a few steps, singing as it went, then opened its wings and sprang up a foot or so in the air, bringing the body nearly to horizontal, then dropped down again, closed its wings and ran a few steps more. It kept this up in unbroken succession for a minute or more in which time it travelled about seventy feet from where it started to sing. No other bird of this species was seen in the place at the time.
MiMUS saturninus modulator (Gould).
M. C. Z. 96,792. Ad. d^. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 10 January, 1924.
M. C. Z. 96,793. Ad. cf . Argentina: Rio de Gastone, Tucuman. 21 Novem- ber, 1923.
The two specimens collected agree with others in the M. C. Z. This calandria was common in the vicinity of Concepcion and Rio de
212 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology;
Gastone, September 23 to December 23; and equally common at Santa Elena, January 3 to February 23. In its general habits it is quite similar to M. triurus so far as my experience shows. However its song is quite inferior to that of the last-named species. It has a peculiar way of jerking its tail as it moves about, which is not noticeable in M. triurus. It is a species of the open country wherever there are very many trees growing here and there, and it spends much of its time on the ground.
On November 30 at Rio de Gastone I found a nest about five feet up in a bush. It contained three eggs, one that of a cowbird {Molothrus honariensis honariensis). The nest was built on the top of the ruins of an old nest of a woodhewer. I arrived in Entre Rios after the bird was through breeding. Mr. C. H. Smyth, a resident egg-collector at Santa Elena, told me that nearly every nest of this bird contains one or more eggs of the cowbird. Over a dozen cowbird eggs have been found in a single nest of this species. The eggs of the calandria vary from pale bluish, greenish, or light olive to pale olive-brown, and are abundantly marked with brownish or reddish brown. They measure (average of two specimens) 27x21.5 mm.
The stomachs of the birds collected contained beetles and locust remains.
TURDIDAE.
TURDUS RUFIVENTRIS RUFIVENTRIS Vicillot.
M. C. Z. 96,770. Ad. d". Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 10 October, 1923.
The single specimen collected agrees with a series in the M. C. Z.
The Red-bellied Thrush was recorded as follows: — Buenos Aires city, September 3, one in the park near Palermo; La Plata, September 6, several; Concepcion and Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, September 23 to December 23, fairly common ; in Entre Rios, Santa Elena, January 3 to February 23, abundant; San Joaquin, January 27, one.
This thrush, everywhere known as Zorzal Colorado by the Argen- tinians, is an inhabitant of thickets, or open woodland; and around human habitations it has adapted its habits like the North American Planesticus migratorius, and has become a bird of the lawns and gardens, nesting familiarly close to houses. In Mr. Stewart Shipton's garden at the Ingenio La Corona near Concepcion, several of these thrushes used to feed on crumbs almost daily.
A nest was found in this garden on November 8. It was about eight feet up in a bushy tree and was made of rootlets, fine twigs, and stems.
FRIEDMAIfN: NOTES ON SOME ARGENTINA BIRDS. 213
the whole being strengthened by mud and dried dung. The nest was empty. Near by was a young cowbird, Molothrus honariensis bonarien- sis, just out of the nest attended by a Red-beUied Thrush.
The bird collected had one lepidopterous larva, and some vegetable matter in its stomach. Its proventriculus was infested with small parasitic worms.
Tltrdus amaurochalinus Cabanis. M. C. Z. 96,767. Ad. 9 . Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 10 October, 1923.
This thrush was recorded only around Concepcion, September 23 to December 23, where it was not uncommon in thorny thickets and thin forest. It was more strictly arboreal in its habits than the last, or next species, and was never seen on the ground.
In this region I found the Zorzal Blanco, as it was called, to be quite commonly victimized by the cowhird, Molothrus honariensis honariensis. Out of eight nests found five contained eggs of the cowbird, as well as of the thrush. All the nests were placed in the center of dense bushes and ranged from four to eight feet up from the ground. The nests were well made, durable, deep cups of rootlets, small twigs, and stems matted together and strengthened by mud and caked dry dung. The eggs are light bluish green, dotted and speckled with dark brown, and average 30.5 X 21 mm. in size. The earhest nest was found on November 14, the latest on December 20. I never found more than three eggs in a nest, but owing to the presence of the cowbird eggs the number of the thrush's may have been reduced.
The specimen collected agrees with others in the M. C. Z. It had been feeding on vegetable matter.
TuRDUS anthracinus Burmeister.
M. C. Z. 96,768. Ad. cf . Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 30 September,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,769. Ad. 9 . Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 9 October, 1923.
The Zorzal Negro, as this black robin was called, was observed only near Concepcion, where a few were seen during September and Octo- ber. They were always found on the ground in open places, sometimes associating with the Materos, Machetornis rixosa rixosa, and the Tordos, Molothrus honariensis honariensis. The call-notes are loud and clear and are quite similar to those of Planesticiis migratorius of North America. The two birds collected had been feeding on insect larvae.
214 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
SYLVIIDAE. Polioptila dumicola (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,771. Ad. c?. Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 13 January,
1924.
M. C. Z. 96,772. Ad. cf . Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 9 January,
1924.
This little gnatcatcher was observed in the following localities: — Coneepcion and Rio de Gastone, Tueuman, September 23 to December 23, common; Santa Elena, Entre Rios, January 3 to February 23, fairly common; Bovril Islands, Santa Fe, on and off during January and February, not uncommon. In its general habits and habitat this spe- cies greatly resembles P. caerulca of North America. The tail is usually held erect and jerked vigorously as the bird hops from one branch to another.
In Tueuman I found seventeen nests of this species, the earliest on October 29 and the latest on December 22. The majority were found in the last half of November and the first week in December. The nest is very similar to that of P. caerulca. It is a beautifully felted deep cup of plant-fibers, cottony, and woolly material, and downy feathers, and is usually placed about eight feet from the ground in rather small trees. Of the seventeen nests found, fifteen contained eggs. Of these, eight contained three eggs each, five two each, and two had one apiece. The eggs are light bluish white, marked and speckled with dark brownish, and average (ten specimens) 27 x 21.5 mm. in size. This species has been recorded by Hudson as a victim of the cowbird, Molothrus hon- ariensis bonariensis, but his record is neither definite nor explicit. None of the nests I found had been parasitized.
MOTACILLIDAE.
Anthus lutescens lutescens Pucheran.
M. C. Z. 96,777. Ad. cf. Argentina: Coneepcion, Tueuman. 19 December,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,778. Ad. 9. Argentina: Coneepcion, Tueuman. 19 December,
1923.
The pair collected are in worn breeding plumage, They had a nest and eggs and the female was incubating at the time when collected. Measurements of the birds are as follows: — male: wing 64; tail 45;
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 215
culmen 11; tarsus 18 mm.; female: wing 63; tail 45; culmen 11; tarsus 18 mm.
They were found in a grassy meadow near Concepcion on December 19, and the species was not met with again either there or elsewhere. The nest, a partly domed grass-cup, was placed on the ground in the midst of tall grasses. It resembled the nest of a meadowlark, Sturnella viagna, on a small scale. It contained four eggs of the pipits and one of a cowbird, Molothnis bonariensis bonariensis. This constitutes the first breeding record of this bird in Tucuman and also its first record as a victim of the cowbird.
Both birds collected had beetle remains in their stomachs.
i
CORVIDAE.
Cyanocorax chrysops tucumanus Cabanis.
M. C. Z. 96,790. Ad. d". Argentina: Iltico, Tucuman. 20 November, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,791. Im d". Argentina: Iltico, Tucuman. 20 November, 1923.
The immature bird lacks the purple at the gape and above and below the eye.
This fine jay was noted only in the forested Andean foothills in Tucuman. At Alpachirri several were noted on October 27, while at Iltico the species was common on November 20. These birds were found in the heavy forest where they were hard to see; but their char- acteristic nasal, grunt-like calls quickly gave notice of their presence, and they were easily enticed into open glades by squeaking; one was seen dusting itself on the roadside. Although single birds were noted, the species was usually found in small bunches of four or five. The specimens collected had been feeding on insects. In flight and general appearance through the trees of the forest these jays look not unlike some of the turacos (Turacus) of Africa.
CYCLARHIDAE.
Cyclarhis gujanensis viridis (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,775. Ad. cf . Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 30 September,
* 1923. M. C. Z. 96,776. Ad. cT. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 30 September, 1923 This vireo-shrike was observed only around Concepcion, September 23 to December 23, where it was an uncommon inhabitant of open bushy and shrubby areas.
216 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
One of the males (M. C. Z. 96,776) was in breeding condition while the other (M. C. Z. 96,775) was not. The latter was probably a year- old bird. In this specimen the entire crown and nape has a brownish tinge and the flanks are tinged with light buffy brown. The adult breeding bird has no brown on the crown and very little on the flanks, but has the yellow on the breast brighter than in the other.
VIREONIDAE.
ViREO CHivi CHI VI (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,773. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 9 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,774. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 9 October, 1923.
This vireo was very common in the thickets and edges of woods around Concepcion and Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, September 23 to December 23. In its habits and* appearance it greatly resembles the •North American T'. olivaceus. The song is intermediate between that of V. olivaceus and that of Lanivireo flamfrons, the first phrase being clear like that of olivaceus and the second phrase somewhat buzzy like that of flaxifrons.
The specimens from Concepcion agree with others from Tapia (J. L. Peters) in the M. C. Z.
COMPSOTHLYPIDAE. Geothlypis aequinoctialis velata (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,779. Ad. cf. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 19 November,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,780. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 9 November,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,781. Ad. cf. Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 13 January,
1924.
The three birds collected agree with a series in the M. C. Z.
This warbler was observed in the following localities : — Concepcion and Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, September 23 to December 23, not uncommon; Santa Elena, Entre Rios, January 3 to February 23, un- common, only one seen; Bovril Islands, Santa Fe, on and off during January and February, not uncommon and probably frec^uently over- looked.
In its secretive habits and its choice of marshy habitats this bird resembles its North American congener, G. trichas. All three birds collected had been feeding on insects.
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 217
COMPSOTHLYPIS PITIAYUMI PITIAYUMI (Vieillot).
This warbler was observed at Santa Elena, Entre Rios, January 3 to February 23, where it was quite common in the narrow strip of woods on the shore of the Parana. It was entirely restricted to this forested strip which in no place was more than a couple hundred yards in width. It was met with in similar moist woods in the Bovril Islands in the Parana, but was not as common there as on the mainland shore.
ICTERIDAE.
Leistes superciliaris petilus Bangs.
M. C. Z. 96,701. Ad. cT. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 28 November,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,702. Ad. cf. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 28 November,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,703. Ad. cf . Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 8 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,704. Ad. c^. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 9 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,705. Ad. 9. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 9 January, 1924.
This handsome species, called Pecho Colorado in the Argentine vernacular, was observed as follows: — Concepcion, Tucuman, Sep- tember 23 to December 23, locally common but not widely distributed; Santa Elena, Entre Rios, January 3 to February 23, common; Lavalle, Buenos Aires, March 10, a few seen.
The specimens collected agree with the characters and type of petilus Bangs and I therefore recognize this race, although Wetmore (Bull. 133, U. S. N. M., 1926, p. 375) states that he is unable to distinguish geographic forms of superciliaris; he maintains that superciliaris is specifically distinct from militaris.
This species goes in small bands of from two or three to fifteen or twenty, the usual flock containing- about eight or ten birds; they are not nearly as conspicuous in life as would seem likely from an examina- tion of skins. The brilliant color of the breast is not often seen, and at a distance the birds look like cowbirds.
One of the birds collected was infested with tapeworms, but seemed to be in good condition.
218 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
PSEUDOLEISTES VIRESCENS (VieiUot).
M. C. Z. 96,706. Im. d^. Argentina: Santa Elena, EntreRios. 7 January, 1924. M. C. Z. 96,707. Im. d". Argentina: Santa Elena, EntreRios. 7 January, 1924. M. C. Z. 96,708. Im. cf . Argentina : Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 7 January, 1924. M. C. Z. 96,709. Ad. d'. Argentina: Ajo, Buenos Aires. 11 March, 1924. M. C. Z. 96,710. Ad. 9 . Argentina: Ajo, Buenos Aires. 10 March, 1924.
The Yellow-breasted Marsh-bird was observed in the following places : — Santa Elena, Entre Rios, January 3 to February 23, common ; Ajo, Buenos Aires, March 9 to 11, common.
In Entre Rios this species was a very common breeding bird, but as it breeds early I arrived there too late to find any occupied nests. I found the birds in flocks composed largely of young birds in various stages of the post juvenile moult. They were usually seen in open places where the grass was short, feeding there like so many starlings. The birds collected had seeds and ants in their stomachs. The flocks were composed of from five to a hundred birds and often contained indi- viduals of other species such as Eeistes, Molothrus, etc. Around Ajo, Buenos Aires, all the birds had completed their moult by March 10.
Amblyrhamphus holosericeus (Scopoli). M. C. Z. 96,700. Im. c?. Argentina: Deniz Island, Santa Fe. 4 January, 1924.
The Orange-headed Blackbird was observed on and off during Janu- ary and February in the Bovril Islands in the Rio Parana, Santa Fe. They were all moulting at that season and were cjuite silent and secre- tive. However a few males were still in full plumage and added glowing bits of color to the otherwise sombre hue of the marshes. Small flocks used to come to a neglected maize-patch in a little clearing on Deniz Island and feed there on the young corn. The adult males have a song unmistakably akin to the con-gcrcccc of Agclams phoeniceus of North America, but milder and very slightly clearer and with the last syllable shorter than in the Red-winged Blackbird.
The local name for this species in Entre Rios and Santa Fe was Juan Soldado.
Agelaius thilius chrysopterus Vieillot.
The Yellow-shouldered Blackbird was quite common in the marshes of the Bovril Islands, Santa Fe, but was extremely shy. During Janu- ary and February I saw this species about a dozen times, but was
FKIEDMANN: notes on some AKGENTINA BITIDS. 219
unable to collect any. In its general habits it seemed very similar to its North American relative, A. phoeniceus. All the birds seen were moult- ing and none were heard singing. The local name is Tordo de las Alas Amarillas.
Agelaius ruficapillus Vieillot.
M. C. Z. 96,711. Ad.? 9 . Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 17 February,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,712. Ad.? 9. Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 17 February,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,713. Im. 9 . Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 17 February,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,714. Im. cf. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 17 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,715. Im. d'. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 17 October, 1923.
This bird was found around Concepcion, September 23 to December 23, in small numbers, and in the marshes of the Bovril Islands, Santa Fe, January 3 to February 23, where it was not uncommon. It was usually met with in small flocks. Hudson wrote that this species lives exclusively in the marshes and never comes near human habitations. However, in Tucuman, the only ones I saw were found feeding in a stable-yard, together with numbers of cowbirds, Molothrus bonariensis honariensis. The species seems practically restricted in its diet to insect food, and its presence in stable-yards is therefore to be accounted for by the insects rather than the grain in such places. Of course it may occasionally eat grain as do most of its relatives, but all five birds col- lected had nothing but insect remains in their stomachs.
Icterus pyrrhopterus pyrrhopterus (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,716. Ad. cf. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 17 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,717. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 30 September, 1923.
If the race Icterus p. argoptilus Oberholser is valid the female col- lected would have to be referred to that race, and /. p. pyrrhopterus would be the resident breeding bird of Tucuman and 7. p. argoptilus probably a winter visitor from the south. The fact that the ovary of the female collected was very small makes it possible that the bird was a migrant or a winter visitor. The testes of the male collected were very large.
This dark oriole was met with only around Concepcion, during September, October, and November. It was very local and showed a
220 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
decided preference for shady trees along stream-banks. Most of the individuals noted were found along the Chilimayo, a little river tribu- tary to the Rio de Gastone.
Agelaioides badius badius (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,651. Ad. cf. Argentina : Rio de Gastone, Tucuman. 4 December,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,652. Ad. 9 . Argentina: San Sofia, Entre Rios. 26 January, 1924. M. C. Z. 96,653. Im. d'. Argentina: San Sofia, Entre Rios. 26 January, 1924. M. C. Z. 96,654, Ad. cf . Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 2 November,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,655. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 28 September,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,656. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 26 September,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,657. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 17 November,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,658. Ad. cf . Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 4 February,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,659. Ad. cf . Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 16 February,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,660. Im. cf . Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 9 February,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,661. Ad. cf . Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 16 February,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,662. Ad. 9 . Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 16 February,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,663. Im. 9. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 16 February,
1924.
About thirty specimens of the Bay-winged Cowbird were taken and those listed above were saved. In as much as my notes on all three cow- birds are intended for separate publication, and are far too bulky to be incorporated here, a brief summary of my findings will suffice. The Bay-winged Cowbird was observed as follows : — from train-window in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Santiago del Estero, and Tucuman, September 20 to 21, many; Buenos Aires, Palermo, Sep- tember 2, a few; Berisso and Enserada, September 6, fairly common; Buenos Aires City, September 15 to 20, not uncommon in the parks; Ajo, March 10, a few; Tucuman — Tucuman City, September 21, several in the parque9 de Julio; San Pablo, September 22, several; Con- cepcion and Rio de Gastone, September 23 to December 23, common; Alpachirri, October 27, several ; Iltico, November 20, a few ; Entre Rios —
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 221
Santa Elena, January 3 to February 23, common; San Sofia, January 26, numerous; Bovril Islands, Santa Fe, and eastern Santa Fe (Sala- dero M. Cabal) on and off during January and February, fairly com- mon.
Cassin (Proc. Acad. nat. sci. Phil., 1866, p. 15) proposed Agelaioides for this bird, but subsequent writers have united it with Molothrus. The Bay-wing, however, seems to deserve generic distinction from the other cowbirds and the revived genus Agelaioides may be characterized as follows : — non-parasitic cowbirds with short, rounded wings, no courtship display, song utterance totally unlike that of all the other cowbirds; female-type of coloration in both sexes.
In this connection it may be noted that Wetmore (Bull. 133, U. S. N. M., 1926, p. 387) suggests that generic distinction may be warranted.
The Bay-winged Cowbird is a resident bird in all parts of its range and is probably quite sedentary, each individual spending its whole life in the vicinity of its birthplace. During the winter the species goes in small flocks which break up into pairs at the approach of the breeding season. It breeds in old nests of other birds, chiefly oven birds (Fur- narius rufus) or woodhewers (Synallaxis sev. sp., Anumbius sp., Pseu- doseisura sp., and Phacellodomus sp.), but does occasionally build a nest itself. When this happens, the result is a fairly well-built cup of straws, grasses, and twigs, about eight inches across (outside measure- ment). I have seen Bay-wings fight with woodhewers for the possession of the nests of the latter so that nest-building is apparently only a last resource to the cowbirds. However, when an old nest is occupied the cowbirds do a certain amount of nest-building, changing or adding to the lining of the nest, etc. Of this work the larger part is done by the male, although both sexes work. The breeding season is late, reaching its height during January and February, and seldom beginning before December, while that of the common cowbird, Molothrus honariensis honariensis, begins in October, rarely in September, and reaches its height in November and December.
The eggs, never more than five in number, are grayish white, heavily marked with brownish and brownish black, rather pointed at the small end, and average 25 x 20 mm. in si"2;e. Practically every nest of this species contains one or more eggs of the Screaming Cowbird, Molothrus rufo-axillaris. Out of seventy nests of the Bay-wing, sixty-five con- tained eggs of both species. The incubation period of the Bay-wing is twelve and a half to thirteen days.
This species is peculiar among the cowbirds in that the male has absolutely no courtship display. The song is a mellow, monotonous,
222 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
formless chant given in a weary sing-song manner and is frequently interrupted by a guttural chuck note. This song has no definite form as has that of the typical cowbirds (Molothrus), but is considered pleas- ing by the natives who have given the bird the name of Musico. The song is given by both sexes, but chiefly by males.
Local names for this species are numerous, the following being those most commonly used: — Tordo Colorado, Muraju (Guarani Indian), Musico, and Mulato.
Molothrus rufo-axillaris Cassin.
M. C. Z. 96,664. Ad. cf. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 16 January,
1924.
M. C. Z. 96,665. Im. 9. Argentina: Ajo, Buenos Aires. 10 March, 1924.
M. C. Z. 96,666. Ad. (f. Argentina: Ajo, Buenos Aires. 11 March, 1924.
M. C. Z. 96,667. Ad. cf . Argentina: Ajo, Buenos Aires. 10 March, 1924.
M. C. Z. 96,668. Ad. cf . Argentina: Ajo, Buenos Aires. 11 March, 1924.
M. C. Z. 96,669. Ad. d". Argentina: Ajo, Buenos Aires. 10 March, 1924.
M. C. Z. 96,670. Ad. cf . Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 4 November,
1923.
M. C. Z. 96,671. Ad. d'. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 3 November,
1923.
M. C. Z. 96,672. Ad. d. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 13 October, 1923.
M. C. Z. 96,673. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 1 November,
1923.
M. C. Z. 96,674. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 8 October, 1923.
M. C. Z. 96,675. Ad. cf. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 8 October, 1923.
M. C. Z. 96,676. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 26 September,
1923.
M. C. Z. 96,677. Ad. d. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 5 December,
1923.
M. C. Z. 96,678. Im. o". Argentina: Rosas, Buenos Aires. 12 March, 1924.
The name brevirostris d'Orbigny and Lafresnaye currently used for the present species is preoccupied by brevirostris Swainson (Animals in meng., 1837, p. 305), which is a synonym of bonariensis Cabanis.
In addition to the specimens listed above about twenty others were taken at various times as checks on field-observations, but were not saved as specimens. The Screaming Cowbird was observed as fol- lows:— Tucuman, Concepcion, and Rio de Gastone, September 23 to December 23, common; Alpachirri, October 27, a few; Iltico, No- vember 20, one seen; Entre Rios, Santa Elena, January 3 to Febru- ary 23, not uncommon; San Sofia, January 26, several; Buenos Aires
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 223
— Ajo, March 8 to 11, fairly common; Buenos Aires City, March 15, several seen at Palermo.
This species is non-migratory and quite local in its distribution. In the field it resembles Molothrus b. honaricnsis, but may readily be distinguished by its notes. The peons seldom differentiate between the two species and apply Tordo to both. A few of the peons who know the two birds call the present species Tordo Negro and the Common Cowbird simply Tordo.
The Screaming Cowbird is always found in pairs throughout most of the year, but in winter small flocks are sometimes seen. These flocks, however, are flocks of pairs rather than of individuals as the birds gen- erally fly off in pairs when disturbed. When flying they utter a harsh series of guttural chuck notes, both sexes being equally vociferous. The song of the male and the accompanying display in courtship may be de- scribed as follows : — • the male fluffs out all his body and head-feathers, bends the tail forward and under, arches the wings to a nearly hori- zontal position, and then quivers all over as though trying to catch his breath. After about a second of this quivering, without bowing forward at all, he finally emits a very rusty, but quite explosive, squeak-f/zt'tT . The quivering and the sudden delivery of the note after considerable convulsive hesitations gives the impression that the note stuck in the bird's throat and was finally expectorated. The dzeee note is quickly followed by a two-syllabled pe-tzeee sound, the first syllable very short and the second long and drawn-out, but shorter than the corresponding note in bonaricnsis and ater. These two notes are not nearly as clear and glassy in quality as the corresponding notes of either M. ater or M. honariensis and are also lower in pitch; the Screaming Cowbird does not give the preliminary bubbling guttural notes that the other two do. In Tucuman the courtship season began in early October, but the species did not begin to breed until late in December.
This species is parasitic on the Bay-winged Cowbird, and in regions where the former is at all common very few nests of the latter are not victimized. {M. rufo-axillaris has never been known to occur in places where A. badius was not present). Out of some seventy nests of the Bay-wing on which I have data-- sixty-five contained eggs of the Screaming Cowbird. Three is the largest number of rufo-axillaris eggs ever found in one nest of badius. The eggs are very similar to those of the Bay-wing. In size they average around 18 x 23 mm. and are usually less slender in appearance than those of badius. In any nest it is always easy to distinguish the eggs of the two, but if a large series were mixed together it would be practically impossible to tell defi-
224 bulletin: museum of compahative zoology.
nitely in all cases which eggs belonged to each species. However, the eggs of the Screaming Cowbird are usually less brittle, harder to pierce, and less reddish in color than those of the Bay-wing. The majority of eggs of the former that I have seen were marked with purplish brown while most of those of the latter were spotted with reddish or dark grayish brown. The ground-color of the eggs is always white. The number laid by one individual is about five and the eggs are laid at daily intervals. The incubation period is twelve and a half to thirteen days.
Although the adults of this species are very different in plumage from adult Bay-wings the young of the two are identical and are Bay-wings in appearance. The young of the two grow up together in harmony and the Bay-wings do not suffer because of the parasites. This simi- larity in plumage is undoubtedly due to community of phylogenetic descent rather than to adaptive mimicry.
MOLOTHRUS BONARIENSIS BONARIENSIS (Gmelin).
M. C. Z. 96,679. Ad. cf . Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 26 September,
1923.
M. C. Z. 96,680. Ad. c?. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 2 October, 1923.
M. C. Z. 96,681. Ad. ? . Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 3 October, 1923.
M. C. Z. 96,682. Ad. d^. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 26 September,
1923.
M. C. Z. 96,683. Ad. d^. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 2 October, 1923.
M. C. Z. 96,684. Ad. ?. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 15 October, 1923.
M. C. Z. 96,685. Ad. d^. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 26 September,
1923.
M. C. Z. 96,686. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 3 October, 1923.
M. C. Z. 96,687. Ad. d^. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 26 September,
1923.
M. C. Z. 96,688. Ad. d'. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 2 October, 1923
M. C. Z. 96,689. Ad. d^. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 26 September,. - 1923.
M. C. Z. 96,690. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 3 October, 1923.
M. C. Z. 96,691. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 19 November,
1923.
M. C. Z. 96,692. Ad. d^. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 26 September,
1923.
M. C. Z. 96,693. Ad. d'. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 3 November,
1923.
M. C. Z. 96,694:. Ad. d^. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 19 November,
1923.
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 225
M. C. Z. 96,695. Ad. 9. Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 10 February,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,696. Im. d^. .Argentina: Rio de Gastone, Tucuman. 15 December,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,697. Im. d^. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 30 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,698. Ad. cT. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 9 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,699. Im. cf . Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 5 February,
1924.
About a hundred birds of this species were collected at various times, and those listed were saved as specimens. This bird, the com- mon cowbird of Argentina, is an extremely abundant species almost everywhere north of Patagonia and to record the places and dates of its observation would be to list every spot visited during the six and a half months I spent in the country.
This cowbird is migratory in the southern part of its range as far north as Buenos Aires, the individuals breeding in the south passing the winter in Tucuman, Santiago del Estero, etc. Some are to be found the year round at Buenos Aires, but the number increases greatly during September. On September 20, from a train-window I saw great flocks of these birds flying southward. Some of the flocks must have contained at least five thousand birds. In Tucuman I was able to make an intensive study of the migration and found that the males leave for the south before the females and the old birds before the year- old birds. Even in Tucuman where the species is resident ' throughout the year the breeding individuals are not the same as those that winter there. The migrant birds arrive before the resident ones in spring. Unlike M. ater of North America it is usually possible to distinguish year-old birds from older ones in this species because in fully 75% of the cases some of the juvenile feathers are retained in the first nuptial plumage.
The courting season begins early in October in Tucuman and from this time until the middle of December males are commonly seen in- dulging in their displays. The display is quite similar to that of M. ater of North America, but the bowing is not carried to as extreme a degree, and the display is more commonly given on the ground than in trees, while in the case of the latter species the reverse is true. The song is also like that of M. ater, but less clear. It begins indefinitely well down in the throat and the first sounds are of a curious combination of purr- Birds found all the year in one place.
226 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
ing and bubbling. Three low, bubbling guttural notes are belched forth by the bird with considerable bodily quivering, and sound as though they were forced up through water. They are all alike and may be written purr purr purr but the rrrs are softened so that the bubbling sound is produced. Closely following these three notes come three high, rather glassy, thin notes, the first two short and somewhat run together, and the last one long and drawn-out — pe-tsss-tseeeeee , very much like those of M. ater, but slightly buzzier.
Like M. ater the present species is more or less monogamous, but wherever it is very common and the struggle for breeding territory keen, the sexual relations are easily distorted and a state of something akin to promiscuity results.
The eggs are subject to greater variation in size, color, and markings than are those of any other cowbird. In size they vary from 20 x 26 to 18 X 22 mm., averaging around 19 x 23 mm. In shape they may be almost spherical, rounded ovate, oval, ovate, or elliptical ovate.' The oval and ovate are the commonest types. In color they vary from pure, spotless white to very heavily marked with reddish brown. The ground- color varies from white and cream to light bluish, greenish, or very pale brownish. The pure white type of egg is geographical in occur- rence, being found almost wholly in eastern Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil and unknown throughout the rest of the range of the species. Wetmore (Bull. 133, U. S. N. M., 1926, p. 385) suggests that this white egg may have been developed because the greater number, ' ... of the tracheophone species which form so conspicuous an ele- ment among the smaller birds that breed in the area frequented by this cowbird lay white unmarked eggs." With this I disagree entirely. A study of the nests in which white cowbirds' eggs have been found shows no preponderance of tracheophones over other birds when com- pared with the results of a similar study of nests in which marked eggs have been taken. Most of the pure white eggs have not been found in nests of tracheophone species, but in nests of species of Brachyspiza, Mimus, and Pseudoleistes. It seems impossible to attach any particu- lar significance to these white eggs, but it may be that with the loss of the parental instincts and the accompanying ideas of protection which manifest themselves structurally in color, etc., as well as directly in- habit, there may be a corresponding lack of stimulus to the pigment glands of the oviduct. If this be so, then it would seem as though similarity between the eggs of the cowbird and those of its victims had no selective value and that the species was gradually losing the un-
1 Egg-contour terms according to Ridgway's Nomenclature, p. 16.
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 227
necessary pigmentation of its eggs. However, until more is known of the physiology of egg-pigmentation this matter may best be left un- explained. Any present hypothesis would be based more on lack of knowledge than on the possession of facts.
The eggs are laid at daily intervals and probably the number is not nearly as large as Hudson thought. He believed the number laid by one bird to be from 60-100 a season. I feel that it is from 6-10, a very considerable difference. My arguments and evidence are too bulky for inclusion here. Eggs of this cowbird were found in eighty nests of the following nineteen species.
Furnarius rufiis rufus, F. cristatus, Musciwra tyrannus, Suiriri suiriri, Myiophobus fasciatus flammiceps, Empidonomus aurantio-atrocristatus, Myiodynastcs solitarius, Machetornis rixosa rixosa, Tyrannus melan- cholicus melancholicus, Turdus rufiventris, T. amaurochalinus, Mimus saturniniis modulator, Anfhus lutescens, Saltator aurantiirostris, S. cae- rulcscens caerulescens, Brachyspiza capensis capensis, Sporophila cae- rulcscens, Sicalis pelzelni, Paroaria cristata. Over eighty species of birds are known to be victimized by this cowbird. The incubation period is eleven days.
THRAUPIDAE. Thraupis bonariensis (Gmehn). M. C. Z. 96,765. Ad. cf. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 5 December, 1923. This tanager was observed in the following localities : — Buenos Aires City, September 3, several in the park at Palermo; La Plata City and vicinity, September 6, several; Concepcion and Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, September 23 to December 23, not uncommon; Entre Rios — Santa Elena, January and February, few. The Naranjero, as this bird is called in the vernacular, was found only in the more wooded places in the vicinity of water, although in city parks in Buenos Aires and La Plata it was also found in very open glades. They seem to go singly or in pairs as no flocks were met with. In their general habits they resemble the Scarlet Tanager (Piranga oUvacea) of North America, feeding in the tree-tops, always active and restless. The bird collected had many small seeds in its stomach.
Thraupis sayaca obscura Naumburg. M. C. Z. 96,766. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 10 October, 1923. This light bluish bird was met with in Tucuman, and not elsewhere. At Concepcion, and the Rio de Gastone, September 23 to December 23,
228 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
it was uncommon in the open patches of scrubby forest. At La Corona it came into the orange groves at the manager's house and was said by the natives to peck at the fruit and eat the pulp. For this reason it was called Naranjero or Orange-bird. This name however, was indis- criminately apphed to all tanagers and warblers.
The bird collected agrees with the characters of obscura as given by Naumburg (Auk, 1924, 41, p. 111).
FRINGILLIDAE.
Saltator caerulescens caerulescens Vieillot.
M. C. Z. 96,761. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 30 September,
1923.
M. C. Z. 96,762. Ad. &. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 9 October, 1923.
M. C. Z. 96,763. Ad. 9 .• Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 7 October, 1923.
M. C. Z. 96,764. Ad. cf . Argentina: Bovril Islands, Entre Rios. 13 January,
1924.
The series collected shows considerable variation in the color of the underparts, some specimens being quite gray while others are brown- ish. I have not seen any comparative Argentine material and cannot decide if it has any particular significance. Around Concepcion and Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, September 23 to December 23, this bird was very common. It was usually found in bushes along roadsides, but also in real dense thickets. In western Entre Rios (Santa Elena) January 3 to February 23, it was seen occasionally. It never seems to go in flocks and most of the birds seen were single individuals. It was quite uncommon to see both members of a pair together except near the nest.
In Tucuman I found nine occupied nests. The earliest date I have for eggs is November 11, the latest December 20. The nests were in bushes and from four to seven feet up from the ground. The nests were well-made cups of straws, dead grasses, fine rootlets, etc., about three inches deep and eight inches across. The eggs are beautiful bright green or greenish blue, scrawled with zigzag black lines at the large end. They measure 26 x 19.5 mm. Of the nine nests that I found none contained more than three eggs of the Saltator. Two nests contained, in addition to the three eggs, one egg each of the cowbird Molothrus b. bonariensis. The eggs of the parasite are smaller than those of the Saltator, but yet the latter rears the young Molothrus. Whether its own young survive or not I cannot say. I have seen adults feeding
FRIEDMANN: NOTES ON SOME ARGENTINA BIRDS. 229
fully fledged three quarters grown young cowbirds on several occasions, but in none of these instances were there any of their own young pres- ent. In Tucuman this bird was called Papitero, in Entre Rios it went by the name of Juan Chiviro.
Saltator aurantiirostris aurantiirostris Vieillot.
M. C. Z. 96,757. Ad. d". Argentina : Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 16 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,758. Ad. c^. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 16 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,759. Ad. cf . Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 18 February,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,760. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 10 October, 1923.
The specimens collected agree with a series in the M. C. Z. Imma- ture birds are very buft'y below like adult females.
Around Concepcion, September 23 to December 23, I found this species somewhat uncommon, and was unsuccessful in finding nests. In western Entre Rios (Santa Elena), January 3 to February 23,. it was considerably commoner, but all the nests I found were empty as it was rather late in the season. On January 30 at Santa Elena I saw a fully grown young cowbird, Molothrus b. honariensis, being fed by an Orange-billed Saltator.
In its general habits this Saltator resembles the preceding species very closely, being found in the same type of country.
The vernacular names in Entre Rios were Juan Chiviro and Juari Chiviro de Pico Amarillo. In Tucuman it was called Papitero de Pico Colorado.
Gubernatrix CRIST at a (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,733. Ad. d^. Argentina. Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 9 February,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,734. Im. cf . Argentina: San Joaquin, Entre Rios. 27 January,
1924.
The Yellow Cardinal was observed only in western Entre Rios where I found it to be a very local and rather scarce species. During seven weeks of field-work in that region I saw it but twice: — a single male at Santa Elena on February 9, and two birds at San Joaquin on Janu- ary 27. The species seems restricted to the more open spaces in thorny tangles and usually perches in a conspicuous, elevated place. The crest, which is generally held erect, gives the bird a rather distinguished appearance.
230 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Cyanocompsa. cyanea ARGENTINA (Sharpe).
M. C. Z. 96,718. Ad. c^. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 7 October, 1923.
M. C. Z. 96,719. Ad. cf . Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 9 October, 1923.
M. C. Z. 96,720. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 12 November, 1923.
This species was met with only at Concepcion, September 23 to December 23, where it was not uncommon in bushy fields and pastures. They were rather shy and difficult to approach and very silent.
The three specimens agree with others in the M. C. Z.
Paroaria CRIST ATA (Boddacrt).
M. C. Z. 96,726. Ad. d". Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 18 October, 1923.
M. C. Z. 96,727. Ad. 9 . Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 9 October, 1923.
M. C. Z. 96,728. Im. d'. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 15 January, 1924.
The Crested Cardinal was observed at the following places: — Buenos Aires City, September 3, one; La Plata and vicinity, September 6, several; Concepcion and Rio de Gastone, Tucuman, September 23 to December 23, fairly common ; Santa Elena, January 3 to February 23, common. This Cardinal is often kept as a cage-bird in Argentina on account of its powers as a songster. The song is not nearly as fine as that of the Cardinalis cardinalis of North America, but seems quite exceptional among all the tracheophone species with which it lives. The present species is found in dry Acacia savannas as well as ifi thickets or thin forest, being completely isolated ecologically from Coccopsis capitata which so greatly resembles it in life. Several nests were found near Concepcion and the Rio de Gastone, during Novem- ber and December. They were all placed in sheltered crotches in trees and were from five to ten feet up from the ground. They were made of grasses, rootlets, and straws, rather compactly matted together, and are more solidly built than are those of the next species. The eggs, usually three in number, are white, speckled and spotted with olive- brown and olive greenish, frequently with some fine blackish pencilings at the large end. They average 24 x 18 mm. in size. One nest, found on December 3, contained one egg of the cowbird, Molothrus h. honari- ensis, in addition to one of the Cardinal. One of the birds collected had been feeding on insects; the others had seeds in their stomachs.
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 231
CoccOPSis CAPITATA (d'Orbigny and Lafresnaye). M. C. Z. 96,725. Ad. 9. Argentina: Deniz Island, Santa Fe. 4 January, 1924.
The Yellow-billed Cardinal was observed only in the Bovril Islands in the Rio Parana, where during January and February I found it not uncommon. It is entirely restricted to moist woodlands and is not foimd on either shore of the river because of the absence of proper environment. This has given it a most amazing local range : — for over a hundred miles this species occurs in a narrow strip, only a few miles wide, while on either side of it Paroaria cristata flourishes, but at no point do the two exist coincidentally. A nest was found on January 4 on Deniz Island, Santa Fe. It was about fifteen feet up in a good-sized tree in a wet forest. In it were three eggs very similar to those of Paroaria cristata.
Sporophila caerulescens (Vieillot).
The little Screaming Finch was seen a few times during November and December at Concepcion, Tucuman. On December 10 I found a nest, a very dainty, strong cup of fine grasses, in a large bush and about five feet from the ground. It was partly suspended in vireo-fashion from the tip of a branch. It contained one egg of the finch and three of the cowbird, Molothrus h. honariensis. In Entre Rios (Santa Elena and vicinity), January 3 to February 23, I found the Corbatita, as it was called there, fairly numerous, but quite shy. In Tucuman it was any- thing but shy, being one of the birds that commonly fed close to houses.
Sporophila lineola (Linne).
M. C. Z. 96,749. Ad. c?. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 5 December,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,750. Ad. &. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 5 December,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,751. Ad. &. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 5 December,
1923. M. C. Z. 96,752. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 12 December,
1923.
The small series collected agree with others in the M. C. Z. This
little finch was seen only in the garden of Mr. S. Shipton at La Corona,
a mile outside of Concepcion. It was first seen on December 5 when
about half a dozen were noted and three collected and was last seen on
232 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
December 12, when a few were noted and one collected. In as much as I had often walked in the garden during November and had not seen this bird I feel quite confident that those seen were recent arrivals. After the 12th I looked for them several times, but never saw the species again.
Catamenia analis (d'Orbigny and Lafresnaye).
M. C. Z. 96,744. Ad. d". Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman, 10 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,745. Ad. 9. Argentina : Concepcion, Tucuman. 4 October, 1923.
The male collected agrees with the type specimen. The female is darker than a female from Cochabamba, Bolivia, in the M. C. Z.
The species was observed near Concepcion, during October and November. There it was somewhat uncommon and was found in but one locality, a bushy strip along the railway embankment. It kept to the low bushes and weeds most of the time, but occasionally one mounted a tall bush or weed-stem and sang a weak, soft, twittering song. The birds collected had small seeds in their stomachs.
VoLATiNiA jacarina jacarina (Linne).
M. C. Z. 96,729. Ad. cf . Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 8 February,
1924.
M. C. Z. 96,730. Ad. cf. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 16 January,
1924.
The two males collected agree with a series in the M. C. Z. This little finch with the general manners of a Hypochera (Ploceidae) was observed only at Santa Elena. It apparently was a new-comer there as Serie and Smyth (El hornero, 1923, p. 37-55) do not list it in their account of the birds of this region. On January 8 I saw one sitting in a bush when it suddenly sprang up vertically into the air for about a yard, and as it came down again to its perch it uttered a little beady dzeee eep, the second syllable slightly higher than the first. For several minutes it kept repeating this performance at intervals of about ten seconds. Just as I was ready to believe that it never sings without leaping into the air, it sang without leaving its perch. On January 16 I saw this same performance from several different males, so that it seems that this species regularly jumps up and down while singing, much like some of the manakins.
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 233
SiCALis pelzelni Sclater.
M. C. Z. 96,721. Ad. cf. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 29 September,
192.3. M. C. Z. 96,722. Ad. cf. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 17 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,723. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 17 October, 1923.
The three birds collected agree with a series in the M. C. Z. This species was observed only at Concepcion and Rio de Gastone, Tucu- man, September 23 to December 23, where it was fairly common in open Acacia savannas. It was found breeding in old nests of Synallaxis sp. On November 23 at Rio de Gastone I found a nest occupied by Sicalis pelzelni containing an egg of the cowbird, Molothrus b. honarien- sis, as well as two of the finch. These little yellow finches are the eco- logical counterpart in the neotropics of the members of the genus Serinus in the African tropics, and like them go in small flocks and feed among the grass and weeds. In some ways, particularly in their undu- lating flight, they bear a general resemblance to goldfinches {Astraga- linus trisiis).
Arremon orbignii Sclater.
M. C. Z. 96,724. Ad. d". Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 6 October, 1923.
This bird was seen but once and then collected on sight so that I have no field-notes. It was seen in a bushy hedge at the edge of a cart-road and was on the ground. The iris in life was dark brown.
CORYPHOSPINGUS CUCULLATUS ARAGUIRA (Vieillot).
M. C. Z. 96,746. Ad. cf . Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 7 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,747. Ad. 9 . Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 10 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,748. Ad. 9 . Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 7 October, 1923.
I have not seen sufficient comparative material to be sure of the validity of araguira, but follow Wetmore in calling the birds from Argentina this race.
At Concepcion, September 23 to December 23, this species was found rather uncommonly in bushy patches in open country. It was gener- ally seen in pairs and was quite nervous and shy. It was always on the go, never still for a second, flitting from branch to branch and down to the ground and back again. Both seeds and insects were found in the stomachs of the three specimens collected.
234 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
BrACHYSPIZA CAPENSIS ARGENTINA Todd.
M. C. Z. 96,739. Im. cf . Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 18 February,
192 i.
M. C. Z. 96,740. Ad. &. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 4 October, 1923.
M. C. Z. 96,741. Ad. cf . Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 4 October, 1923.
According to >Vetmore (Bull. 133, U. S. N. M., 1926, p. 415) the resi- dent form of Tucuman (at least at Tapia) is hypoleuca Todd. However I cannot distinguish my two Concepcion birds from argentina as repre- sented in the collections of the M. C. Z. The measurements of the two males are as follows :
|
Sex |
Locality |
Wing |
Tail |
Culmen |
Tarsus |
|
& |
Concepcion |
71 |
64 |
11.5 |
18 |
|
& |
Concepcion |
69 |
59 |
12 |
18 |
The immature plumage is as follows: — underparts white, heavily spotted with grayish brown, the center of the throat unspotted, lower abdomen also unspotted but tinged with light buff; upperparts grayish brown, heavily streaked with blackish brown, the crown grayish in the middle streaked with blackish brown, the sides also streaked with blackish brown; superciliary stripe white with small brown streaks; primaries edged with rufous, the outermost five pairs having the rufous edges extremely light and narrow; the secondaries externally edged with rufous and tipped with white; tail dark grayish brown edged with pale light grayish brown.
This sparrow, the Argentina counterpart of the Song Sparrow, Melospiza melodia, was very common everywhere I went in the course of the entire trip. The song is one of the most persistent sounds in the country, and like that of the Song Sparrow is hard to describe accu- rately. It has a cadence suggestive of both Melospiza and Zonotrichia and yet easily different from either. The song consists of clear, mellow whistled notes much run together at the end and varies considerably with different individuals.
In the course of my work I found thirty-three nests of this sparrow. Of these, twenty-nine contained eggs, and of these twenty-nine no less than twenty-four had one or more eggs of the cowbird, Molothrus h. honariensis, in addition to those of the sparrow. The present species is by all odds the commonest victim of the cowbird. Probably more young cowbirds are raised by Chingolos, as these sparrows are called, than by the four next commonest victims combined. The largest number of the parasitic eggs that I ever found in one nest was eight
friedmann: notes on some Argentina birds. 235
along with one of the sparrow. The nests were mostly on the ground at the bases of weeds or small bushes, but several of them were in bushes and vines, the highest being about seven feet up. The nests are poorly built when compared to those of the Song Sparrow, and are smaller. They are made of fine grasses, thin stems, etc., and when off the ground generally have an outer layer of slightly coarser and heavier stems and rootlets. ,The eggs, of which five seem to be the maximum number to a clutch, are very variable in color, some being pale green- ish, others white, and still others light bluish. All are spotted with brownish or blackish brown. They average about 18 x 16 mm. in size. The earliest date on which I found nests with eggs was October 16, the latest, January 27.
PoosPiZA MELANOLEUCA (d'Orbiguy and Lafresnaye).
M. C. Z. 96,736. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 6 October, 1923.
M. C. Z. 96,737. Ad. d". Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 2 October, 1923.
M. C. Z. 96,738. Ad. 9. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 13 January, 1924.
The specimens collected agree with a series in the M. C. Z. This species was met with in small numbers in Tucuman and Entre Rios. They were very shy and lived in dense bushy thickets, making obser- vation difficult. When flitting about the white in the tail shows clearly.
PoosPiZA WHiTii Sclater. M.C. Z. 96,735. Ad. cf. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 7 October, 1923 .
This pleasing little finch was very uncommon in my experience. The single bird seen was collected among a clump of low bushes where it was flitting around restlessly.
Saltatkicula MULTICOLOR (Burmeister).
M. C. Z. 96,731. Ad. c?. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 15 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,732. Ad. cf. Argentina: Santa Elena, Entre Rios. 9 January,
1924.
These birds are in worn breeding plumage and lack the rufous edg- ings to the greater wing-coverts. Females have the cheeks very gray while the males have black cheeks. This species, one of the most colorful sparrows in Argentina, was fairly common in the dry thorn- bush country in western Entre Rios (near Santa Elena) during my
236 bulletin: museum of compahative zoology.
stay there in January and February. They were usually found in small groups of three or four feeding on the ground or in the lower thorny bushes. The usual call-note was a chip or tsip note given with con- siderable emphasis.
Embernagea OLivASCENS OLiVASCENS d'Orbigny.
M. C. Z. 96,753. Ad. cf. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 17 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,754. Ad. 9. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 12 October, 1923. M. C. Z. 96,755. Ad. cT. Argentina: Bovril Islands, Santa Fe. 13 January,
1924. M. C. Z. 96,756. Ad. d". Argentina: Bovril Island.s, Santa Fe. 13 January,
1924.
The four birds collected are smaller, grayer, and darker than two Lafresnaye specimens from BoliAia in the M. C. Z. These terrestrial finches were found in the following localities: Concepcion, September 23 to December 23, fairly common; Bovril Islands, Santa Fe, January and February, uncommon. In Tucuman they seemed to inhabit noth- ing but Alfalfa fields, the vegetation affording good cover, and a plenti- ful food-supply. In Santa Fe they were found in a little dry meadow in one of the higher parts of one of the Bovril Islands, but they were seen but once in this place.
The flight is peculiar. The birds seem to jump up suddenly and fly off with rapid wing-beats and dangling feet. Often they cock their tails as the}' fly.
Passer domesticus (Linne).
The Gorrion, as this bird is called, was observed in Buenos Aires City, at Concepcion, Tucuman, and at Parana, Entre Rios. At Concepcion it apparently arrived at least five years before my visit {i.e. in 1918). The species has taken to breeding in old nests of the ovenbird, Fur- naruis rufus. They were common in Buenos Aires city and uncommon at Parana.
Spinus magellanicus tucumanus Todd.
M. C. Z. 96,742. Ad. cf. Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 17 October, 1923 M. C. Z. 96,743. Ad. 9 . Argentina: Concepcion, Tucuman. 7 October, 1923.
Both specimens collected are in worn breeding plumage and lack the white edges to the secondaries present in fresh plumaged birds.
The species was not uncommon in the Acacia savannas around Con- cepcion, September 23 to December 23. They are found in small flocks much like the finch, Sicalis pelzelni. Both birds collected had been feed- ing on small grass-seeds.
Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology
AT HARVARD COLLEGE.
Vol. LXVIIT. No. 5.
NOTES ON NORTHWEST ATLANTIC SHARKS AND SKATES.
By Henry B. Bigelow and William C. Schkoeder.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS., U. S. A.: PRINTED FOR THE MUSEUM.
September, 1927.
No. 5. — Notes on Northwest Atlantic Sharks and Skates. By Henky B. Bigelow and William C. Schroeder.
IsuRiDAE. Mackerel Sharks,
During the past few years several mackerel sharks have been col- lected in the Gulf of Maine, on cruises of the U. S. B. F. Steamer EU.LCYON. And as there has been considerable confusion as to the rela- tionship between American and North European sharks of this group, as well as in the synonymy of the former, the following description and discussion is offered.
Two very different types of isurids (apart from Carcharodon) have been reported from the east coast of the United States and all the isurids so reported fall in one or other of these two categories.
A. A stout-bodied shark with first dorsal originating over or sHghtly behind the
axil of the pectoral; second dorsal originating over the origin of the anal; lower caudal lobe only about 70% as long as upper : and with all the teeth essentially similar, except for the presence or absence of lateral denticles (c/. p. 240).
B. More slender, with sharper nose; first dorsal originating well behind the
pectoral; second dorsal originating definitely in advance of the anal; lower caudal lobe 75% as long as upper; first two teeth from the median ' suture, in both jaws, notably longer and more flexuous than the others.
Five specimens of type A, recently caught on Platts Bank, off Port- land, Maine, and on Nantucket Shoals, Massachusetts, agree in all respects with the Common Porbeagle (Isurus nasus (Bonnaterre)) of the eastern Atlantic, as the following description shows : —
1. Isurus nasus (Bonnaterre). Common Porbeagle.
Four specimens, Platts Bank, 60, 52, 50, and 49 inches long, taken respectively August 15, 1924; September 3, 1925, September 3, 1925 and June 21, 1925; and one specimen, Nantucket Shoals, 51 inches long, taken June 17, 1927.
In all of these the body is fusiform, massive; the snout conical, pointed. The distance from tip of snout to anterior edge of eye is equal
240 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
to distance from tip of snout to mouth, which in turn, is about equal to length of shortest gill-slit. The origin of first dorsal stands over, or slightly behind the arm-pit (axil) of the pectoral. The height of first dorsal about equals one half the distance from the tip of snout to first gill-slit; the anterior margin of this fin is convex, its upper angle rounded, its posterior margin concave. The second dorsal is very small, its origin over, or very slightly in advance of origin of anal (the second dorsal of /. tigris is distinctly in advance of anal). The anal is very small, similar to second dorsal in outline. The lower lobe of caudal is about 70% as long as the upper lobe, each measured from its respective caudal pit; the margin lunate. The length of the ventrals is less than length of the snout; the length of the pectoral equal to, or slightly greater than, the distance from lower caudal pit to tip of lower caudal lobe. Upper and lower caudal pits are prominent; and there is a strong median lateral keel on each side of the caudal peduncle.
The teeth are all alike in shape (in /. tigris the front teeth are more slender and flexuous than the others) ; twenty-eight rows in the upper jaw and twenty-six rows in the lower in these specimens; rather widely spaced, with narrow-pointed cusps, smooth edged, each tooth, in the larger specimens, with a small sharp denticle on either side of the wide base. In the midline of each jaw there is a toothless space about as wide as one tooth. In the lower jaw the first two teeth on each side of this median gap are the largest, the remaining teeth decreasing in size toward the angle of the mouth. In the upper jaw the first two teeth on each side are the largest, the third tooth much smaller (also in /. tigris), with the remaining teeth larger but decreasing in size laterally.
In the smallest specimen, forty-nine inches in length, the basal denticles are so small that they might easily be overlooked. On the fifty-two inch fish these denticles are somewhat larger, and plainly visible on all the teeth; on the sixty-inch fish and in a forty-two inch specimen from Massachusetts Bay, in the M. C. Z., they are prominent.
The presence and size of the basal denticles thus appears to be an age-character, suggesting that small fish, less than four feet in length, might have teeth without denticles. Giinther (1870, p. 389), Day (1884, p. 297), and Smitt (1895, p. 1140) do, in fact, point out that young fish lack them.
Color gray above, gray or greenish blue along the sides; white below. Tail uniform gray-blue; pectorals dusky underneath on outer half or third; anal white or slightly dusky.
The stomach of the forty-nine inch specimen contained fish-bones and thirty-six squid-beaks.
BIGELOW AND SCHKOEDEK: SHARKS AND SKATES.
241
The measurements of three of these five fish are as follows ;
Measurements in inches
Total length Snout to caudal pit
origin of first dorsal
origin of second dorsal
anterior margin of eye
anterior margin of mouth
first gill-slit
fifth gill-slit Posterior first dorsal to anterior second dorsal Height of first dorsal Origin of first dorsal to tip Height of second dorsal Height of anal
Upper caudal pit to tip of upper caudal lobe Lower caudal pit to tip of lower caudal lobe Length of pectoral Distance between pectoral tips Width of gill-slits Position of second dorsal with respect to anal
Teeth
|
60 |
52 49 |
|
|
48 |
431 |
, |
|
20^ |
191 18 |
|
|
m |
381 |
|
|
41 |
, . |
H |
|
41 |
, . |
|
|
13| |
IH ] |
Ll |
|
17 |
14i ] |
14 |
|
16J |
13 ] |
L3| |
|
6i |
6 |
|
|
8i |
7i |
|
|
1 |
1 |
|
|
1 |
1 |
|
|
15 |
12 |
|
|
10 |
9 |
|
|
lU |
91 |
|
|
25 |
22| |
|
|
4Ho5 |
4to4| |
|
|
exactly |
dorsal origin e |
'cac |
|
opposite |
slightly in oj advance of anal |
)po |
|
28 |
28 |
28 |
|
26 |
26 |
26 |
These specimens corroborate the identifications of our predecessors,' who considered the American mackerel sharks of this general type as Isurus nasus, and prove the latter the common species of this group in the Gulf of Maine.
There is no danger of confusing I. nasus with its sharp-nosed relative, /. tigris (cf. p. 243). But certain of the published descriptions ^ sug- gest the existence in northeastern American waters of another stout- bodied mackerel shark, agreeing with I. nasus in the forward location
I Lamna cornuhica Bean, 1880, Goode & Bean, 1879, p. 29; Goode, 1884, p. 670; Jordan & Gilbert, 1883, p. 30; Jordan & Evermann, 1896, p. 59; Prince & MacKay, 1901, p. 55; Bean, 1901, p. 380; Bean, 1903, p. 39; Fowler, 1906, p. 56; Tracy, 1910, p. 60; Kendall, 1908, p. 7; Isurus nasus Garman, 1913, p. 34; Fowler, 1920, p. 143; Huntsman, 1922, p. 8 (56); Bigelow & Welsh, 192.5, p. 551; Lamna nasus Hubbs, 1923, p. 101.
^ Lamna punctata Storer, lS39a, p. 185; 1839b, p. 534; 1846, p. 504; 1867, p. 249; Oxyrhina punctata Gray, 1851, p. 60 (non Mitchill, 1815); Oxyrhina dekayi Gill, 1861; Isuropsis glaucus Gill, 1865; Isurus oxyrhynchus Jordan & Gilbert, 1883, p. 29; Isurus spallanzani Jordan & Gilbert, 1883, p. 874; Isurus punctalus Garman, 1888, 1913; p. 36; Bigelow & Welsh, 1925, p. 36, & 551.
242 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
of the first dorsal, in the situation of the second dorsal relative to the anal, and in the stout body, but differing from it, and resembling /. tigris in lacking lateral denticles on the teeth even when adult. '
An American shark of this type was described by Storer (1839, 1846, 1867). He, it is true, referred it to the Squalus punctahis of Mitchill (1815), a carcharinid (probably Scoliodon). Actually, however, Storer's fish was an isurid, as Gill (1861) pointed out, and his illustration shows the stout form, forward location of the first dorsal, and second dorsal above the anal, characteristic of /. 7iasus. It would, in fact, unhesitat- ingly be referred to that species, were not denticles lacking in the single tooth figured (Storer, 1839a, pi. 3, fig. 2). On the strength, presumably, of this. Gill (1861, 1864). successively referred Storer's jyundata to Oxyrhina L. Agassiz, and to Isuropsis Gill, genera opposed to Lamna Cuvier (containing the Common European Porbeagle, correctly known as Isurus nasus (Bonnaterre)).
Dumeril (1865, p. 409) also separated Storer's punctata generically from the latter on the same grounds, supposed absence of lateral denti- cles on the teeth. And since that time it has by some been classed as identical with the allied, but quite distinct, Isurus tigris^ dckayi Gill, partim; by some it has been regarded as a good species distinct both from /. tigris and from I. nasus -; and by others it has been considered identical with the Common Porbeagle of Europe, which, as noted above, has in fact been recorded repeatedly from the western Atlantic, under its own name, either as Isurus nasus or as Lamna cornuhica (p. 241).*
The first of these alternatives need not delay us; quite apart from the structure of the teeth, Storer's punctata is at once separable from Isurus tigris, and from the European representative of the later (/. oxyrhynchus), by the position of the first dorsal fin relative to the pectoral, and of the second dorsal relative to the anal, as well as by the blunter head, and stout body. The second alternative, that in addition to /. tigris and /. nasus, the Avestern Atlantic harbors a third mackerel shark resembling the latter in all respects except that its teeth lack the lateral denticles, is supported by Garman's description of specimens from American waters. At first sight this might seem sufficient proof that /. punctatus is in fact separable from I. nasus, though so closely allied to the latter that only by examination of the teeth can the one be separated from the other. For the following reasons, however, we be- lieve that this supposed difference, denticles present in 7iasus but
iGunther, 1870; Uhler & Lugger (1878); Jordan & Gilbert, 1883; Bean, 1903; Kendall, 1908, p. 7.
2 Garman, 1913; Nichols & Murphy, 1916; Bigelow & Welsh, 1925, p. 36.
3 Kendall, 1908; Bigelow & Welsh, 1925, p. 551.
BIGELOW AND SCHEOEDER: SHARKS AND SKATES. 243
absent in pundatus, is merely an age-character combined with indi- vidual variation: —
1. Small European specimens of 7iasus, up to about three and one half feet long, are known to lack denticles on some or all of the teeth. Young specimens from the Gulf of Maine are the same in this respect, as appears from the Halcyon series, just described (p. 240).
£. The dissection of /. imndatus, shown by Garman (1913, pi. 62, fig. 2), was from a small specimen; and one of the beautiful drawings shows small denticles on two of the teeth, when sufficiently magnified. Other Massachusetts specimens, respectively about four and eight feet long, in the M. C. Z., have the denticles well developed.
3. Not a single jaw of a large mackerel shark of the pundatus-nasus type, has been actually described as lacking denticles, since Storer's time. Garman (1913, p. 36), it is true, includes in the synonymy of /. pundatus a specimen of Lamna cornubica recorded by Jordan and Gilbert (1883, p. 29). But photographs of the jaws of this specimen, contributed by Dr. H. L. Bruner of Butler College, show prominent denticles; classing it as a typical nasus.
Except, then, for Storer's figure of a single tooth, there is no pub- lished evidence that sharks of the iiasus-pundafus type ever grow to large size in American waters without finally developing the lateral denticles on some if not on all of the teeth. And even should an odd specimen fail to develop these structures, this occasional retention, to maturity, of a juvenile character, would not warrant a separate specific name.
The present state of our knowledge is therefore best represented by definitely relegating the /. pundatus of Storer and of Garman to the synonym of /. nasus (Bonnaterre).
The presence or absence of the lateral denticles on the teeth being to some extent an inter^rading character, the difference between the one local mackerel shark which definitely lacks them (7. tigris) and the other which usually develops them (7. nasus) is regarded as specific, not generic; consequently both are included under the generic designa- tion earliest applied to either of them — Isurus (Rafinesque 1810).
Mutual relationship of the two species of Isurus so far known from the northeastern Atlantic may then be tabulated as follows: —
A. Snout only moderatelj' pointed: body massive: origin of first dorsal over axil or posterior part of pectoral: origin of second dorsal over origin of anal or very slightly in advance of latter: lower caudal lobe only about 70% as long as upper. Teeth all essentially similar in shape, with basal denticles in adult, though these denticles may be lacking on some or all of the teeth in young specimens Isurus 7iasus (Bonnaterre).
244 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
B. Snout much sharper; trunk more slender; origin of first dorsal posterior to pectoral; origin of second dorsal well anterior to anal; lower caudal lobe relatively longer than in I. nasus, or about 75% as long as upper; no lateral denticles on teeth; first two teeth from the median line of mouth longer than the others, and more flexuous I. tigris (Atwood).
2, Galeus glaucus (Linne.) Great Blue Shark,
The capture of eight Great Blue Sharks in various parts of the Gulf of Maine, during 1925 and 1926, leads to the belief that this species, heretofore regarded as a straggler there, is one of the more common of local sharks, for besides the fish actually caught, many others were seen.
Along our coast there are no records of this blue shark south of New York. Bean (1903, p. 25) and Nichols and Murphy (1916, p. 9) state that it is " occasionally" found. At Woods Hole it is reported as one of the rarer sharks. Bigelow and Welsh (1925, p. 29), summarizing its known occurrence in the western North Atlantic, mention only one record from the Gulf of Maine. But they point out that sundry speci- mens have been captured, or seen off the outer coast of Nova Scotia; several, for example at Halifax; and at Canso, where fishermen de- scribe these "blue dogs" as common on the fishing banks (Cornish, 1907); suggesting that it is actually much commoner along the eastern seaboard of North America than the paucity of definite records might suggest.
This is corroborated by the following list of Great Blue Sharks, caught or seen, from the Halcyon and Albatross II, during cod tagging operations : —
August 24, 1925, Great Rip, Nantucket Shoals, one caught (nine and one half feet) and one other observed; August 26, 1925, Stellwagon Bank, Massachusetts Bay, one caught (eleven feet) and one other ob- served; September 2, 1925, northern end of Jeffreys Ledge, two ob- served; September 3, 1925, Platts Bank, four caught (six and one half to seven feet) and about twelve others observed, at times four or five swimming close to the ship. On this occasion blue sharks were in sight at nearly all times throughout the day, swimming at the surface.
Two (about ten and one half feet long) were cailght on Georges Bank, and another seen, on August 15, 1926.
Measurements in inches of the specimens taken were as follows : —
BIGELOW AND SCHROEDER: SHARKS AND SKATES.
245
|
CO |
||||||||
|
Aug. 24. 1925 Great Rip Nantucket She |
Aug. 26, 1925 Middle Bank Massachusetts |
00 Sept. 3, 1925 O Platts Bank Gulf of Maine |
Sept. 3, 1925 Platts Bank Gulf of Maine |
Sept. 3, 1925 Platts Bank Gulf of Maine |
Sept. 3, 1925 Platts Bank Gulf of Maine |
O C3 60 0 3 « <C1 |
o a ■^05 |
|
|
1. Total length |
114 |
132 |
80 |
77 |
861 |
126 |
124 |
|
|
2. Snout to anterior eye |
10 |
n |
7 |
6^ |
7 |
91 |
9i |
|
|
3. to anterior mouth |
, . |
7§ |
7 |
7f |
lO-i |
10 |
||
|
4. to first gill-slit |
221 |
25 .| |
15f |
15f |
15 § |
161 |
231 |
23§ |
|
5. to fifth gill-slit |
291 |
33 |
19* |
191 |
18f |
20f |
30 |
29i |
|
6. to origin of first dorsal |
4.51 |
48 |
31§ |
31i |
30 |
341 |
45^ |
46 |
|
7. to origin of second dorsal |
87 |
54 |
54 |
52^ |
571 |
82 § |
8U |
|
|
8. to caudal pit |
90 |
101 i |
62 |
62^ |
60 1 |
661 |
96 |
96 |
|
9. Diameter of eye |
If |
1| |
li |
U |
||||
|
10. Distance between angles of mouth |
10 |
51 |
51 |
6 |
9 |
9 |
||
|
11. Height of first dorsal |
10 |
5^ |
6 |
5f |
5f |
12i |
9^ |
|
|
12. of second dorsal |
4 |
2 |
2 |
If |
2i |
31 |
3^ |
|
|
13. of anal |
5i |
01 -4 |
"4 |
If |
3 |
4 |
||
|
14. Posterior first dorsal to anterior |
||||||||
|
second dorsal |
24 |
29 § |
17^ |
17^ |
17 |
ISi |
. . |
|
|
15. Caudal pit to tip of lobe, upper |
30 |
34 |
2U |
20 |
19f |
23 |
31 |
30§ |
|
16. lower |
14| |
171 |
91 |
9f |
9f |
lU |
16J |
17 |
|
17. Length of pectoral |
27 |
29 |
15i |
17i |
16 |
18 |
27 |
27 |
|
18. Distance between pectoral tips |
62i |
64 |
351 |
38 |
33 i |
361 |
59 _ |
: . |
|
20. Teeth |
31 31 |
28 23 |
29 29 |
29 29 |
29 30 |
29 29 |
||
|
21. Sex |
Male |
Male |
Male |
Male |
Although the Great Blue Shark enters the Gulf of Maine in some numbers in certain summers, at least (perhaps not every summer), ap- parently it seldom comes close in to this sector of the coast line: witness the paucity of records from the pounds, traps, and weirs. This, indeed, is in line with its pelagic habit.
The maximum size to which the Great Blue Shark grows is of inter- est. Certainly very few if any of the specimens which visit the coastal zone, in either side of the North Atlantic, are more than eleven or twelve feet long. The largest specimen captured (listed above) was eleven feet. So, too, was Day's largest, from Great Britain. Couch (1862, p. 36) states " the largest I have heard of, but not seen, was
246 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
upwards of fourteen feet long." And recent authors, generally, have credited it with a usual maximum length of 10-12 feet. Among blue sharks, as among other fishes, an occasional specimen may perhaps grow much larger than the generality, for it has been reported, says Day (1884), to attain twenty-five f.'et, while Lilljeborg (1891, p. 610) credits it with 7.5 meters (about twenty-four and one half feet). But such great lengths, if not mere rumor, would be most exceptional.
3. Raja granulata Goode and Bean (Gill MS.).
In 1879 Goode and Bean, from a manuscript description by Gill, gave this name to a skate from La Have Bank, the exact relationship of which, to other northwestern Atlantic skates, has since remained some- thing of an enigma. The original very brief notice of this " remarkable species" (Goode and Bean, 1879, p. 28) merely described it as of the same type as the barn-door skate (now known as R. stahuUforis) , with ventral as well as dorsal side "covered with minute sharp granular ossifications"; "with 30-31 teeth on each side; the back granulated and slate-colored; the ventrals distinguished by reticulate markings, and the claspers slender and scarcely expanded." Subsequently Goode and Bean (1896) and Jordan and Evermann (1896) suggest that gramilatais identical with the "Barndoor" {R. stabvliforis: then known as R. laevis). Jensen (1914, p. 31), however, from examination of a specimen in the U. S. N. M., from the continental edge in the offing of Halifax (Lat.42^ 37' N; Long. 62^ 55' W), has shown that this is not the case, but that R. granulata has large middorsal thorns on the disk (seven in the specimen) as well as on the tail; besides one large preorbital, two postorbital, and two scapular spines. He also mentions the " fine, small spines" which cover the upper surface, giving "the skin to the naked eye a grained (granulated) appearance." But he states that the lower surface is perfectly smooth, not prick' y as Goode and Bean described it. The specimen examined by us, from the same locality, however, is covered almost everywhere with minute rounded tubercles, below, as well as above.
Unfortunately it seems that the original specimen of R. granulata is no longer extant. But these brief notices of the species can be supple- mented by the following description of a female specimen from the offing of Halifax, 200 fathoms, in the U. S. N. M. (Cat. 23,483).
Length of disk 1.36 in width; anterolateral margin slightly convex opposite eyes; posterolateral margin nearly straight; angles of disk
about ;;7T rows on each side. Distance between first gill-slits 3.8 and
BIGELOW AND SCHEOEDER: SHARKS AND SKATES. 247
slightly more acute than a right angle, rounded at extreme corners. Snout acute, its distance to anterior margin of eye 5.1 in the width of the disk. Interorbital (bone) transversely concave, 2.5 in snout to eye; spiracles close to eyes, the distance between their inner margins 1.3 in snout to eye. Mouth forming an obtuse angle, very wide, its width 4.8 in width of disk. Teeth rather long and pointed, with broad base, in 28 28
between fifth gill-slits, 5.6 in width of disk. Outer margin of ventrals gently rounded, the length of fin about equal to distance from eye to snout. The distance from anterior margin of anus to origin of first dorsal 2.4, and to second dorsal 2.1, in width of disk. Height of first dorsal slightly less than distance from second dorsal to end of tail; height of second dorsal equal to distance between dorsals, which equals 1.8 interorbital (bone).
Upper surface with a row of eight large spines along median line of back, the first anterior to the shoulder-girdle and the last, smaller than the others, a little posterior to the pelvic girdle. Tail with a median row of five large spines, the distance from anterior end of base of first spine to posterior fifth spine, 2.2 in distance from fifth spine to end of tail. A spine in front of and in line with inner margin of eye; a patch of three spines behind e^^e and opposite inner angle of spiracle, the middle spine much smaller than the other two. Two spines on shoulder, the anterior one the closest to the median line. Numerous small prickles with stel- late bases, on snout, on interorbital, along anterolateral margin of disk, along posterolateral disk somewhat in from the margin. A few small prickles along the back and many along the sides of tail. Naked or nearly naked areas occur between and posterior to the spiracles, be- tween the back and basal cartilage of the pectorals, along the median fine of back between the large spines, and on the ventrals. Ventral surface of body covered rather sparsely almost everywhere with mi- nute rounded tubercles.
Color in alcohol, light brown above, margins of pectorals and ven- trals somewhat darker; light below, margins of pectorals dark brown with large dark areas toward center of body and on ventrals (the visceral cavity has been cut away).
Measurements. -^^
Total length 850
Length of disk 480
Width of disk 655
248 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Snout to eye 132
Disk across middle of eyes 270
Interorbital (bone) 51
Distance between spiracles 95
" " first gill-slits 174
fifth gill-slits 117
Snout to median mouth 106
Width of mouth 135
Anterior anus to end of tail 363
" " " origin first dorsal 272
" " " " second dorsal 311
Distance between dorsals 29
Posterior margin second dorsal to end of tail 45
Height of first dorsal 42
" " second dorsal 28
Anterior base of first middorsal tail spine to posterior base of fifth 95
Fifth middorsal tail-spine to end of tail 210
BIGELOW AND SCHROEDEH: SHARKS AND SKATES. 249
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250 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
GooDE, G. B. AND Bean, T. H.
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1914. The selachians of Greenland. Mind. Japetus Steenstrup, 1914, no. 30, 40 pp., pi. Jordan, D. S. and Evermann, B. W.
1896-1900. The fishesof Northand Middle America. Bull.47,U. S. N. M., pt. 1-4, 3313 pp., 392 pis. Jordan, D. S. and Gilbert, C. H.
1883. Synopsis of the fishes of North America. Bull. 16, U. S. N. M., 1018 pp. Kendall, W. C.
1908. Fauna of New England. S. List of the Pisces. Occ. papers Bost. soc. nat. hist., 7, no. 8, 152 pp.
LiLLJEBORG, WiLHELM.
1891. Sveriges och Norges. Fiskar. Upsala, [3, pt. 2], p. 337-672. Mitchill, S. L.
1815. Fisheries of New York * * * Trans. Lit. and philos. soc. N. Y., 1, 355-492, pi. 1-6. Nichols, J. T. and Murphy, R. C.
1916. Long Island Fauna. 4. The sharks (order Selachii). Brooklyn mus. sci. bull., 3, no. 1, p. 1-34. Prince, E. E. and MacKay, A. H.
1901. The paired fins of the Mackerel shark. Contrib. Canad. biol.; 1901, p. 55-58, pi. 5-7. Rafinesque, C. S.
1810. Caratteri di alcuni nuovi generi e nuove specie di animali e piante della Sicilia * * *. Palermo, 105 pp., 20 pis.
BIGELOW AND SCHROEDER: SHARKS AND SKATES. 251
Smitt, F. a.
1895. A history of Scandinavian fishes by B. Fries and others. Ed. 2. Stockholm, 2, p. 567-1240, pis. 28-53. Stoker, D. H.
1839a. Fishes of Massachusetts. Rept. fishes, reptiles and birds of
Massachusetts, Boston, p. 5-202. 1839b. A report on the fishes of Massachusetts. Bost. journ. nat. hist., 2,
p. 289-558. 1846. A synopsis of the fishes of North America. Mem. Amer. acad.,
new ser., 2, p. 253-550. 1853-1867. A history of the fishes of Massachusetts. Mem. Amer. acad., new ser., 5-9. Separate: Cambridge and Boston, 1867. Tracy, H. C.
1910. Annotated list of fishes known to inhabit the waters of Rhode Island. 40th rept. Comm. fish. R. I., p. 35-176. Uhler, p. R. and Lugger, Otto.
1878. Additions to list of fishes of Maryland. Rept. Comm. fisheries Maryland for 1877, p. 57-94.
Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology
AT HARVARD COLLEGE.
Vol. LXVIII. No. 6.
SHALER MEMORIAL SERIES.
THE BRACHIOPODS OF THE OTTOSEE AND HOLSTON FORMATIONS OF TENNESSEE AND VIRGINIA.
By Bradford Willard.
THE BRACHIOPODS OF THE LENOIR AND ATHENS FORMATIONS OF TENNESSEE AND VIRGINIA.
By Percy E. Raymond.
With Three Plates.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS., U. S. A.:
PRINTED FOR THE MUSEUM.
May, 1928.
a
No. 6a. — The Brachiopods of the Ottosce and Holston Formations of
Tennessee and Virginia.
By Bradford Willard.
Introduction.
In the following paper will be found descriptions of certain species of brachiopods which occur in the Ottosee and Holston formations in Tennessee and Virginia. The material is part of that collected by mem- bers of the Shaler Memorial Expeditions sent from Harvard University during the field seasons of 1917, 1918 and 1921. Although several brief lists of the fossils of these formations have been published, no attempt to describe the brachiopods has previously been made.
Class BRACHIOPODA Dumeril.
Order Atremata Beecher. Superfamily Lingulacea Waagen.
Family Lingulidae Gray. Genus Palaeoglossa Cockerell.
Palaeoglossa belli (Billings).
Lingula belli Billings, Canadian nat. and geologist, ser. 1, 1859, 4, p. 431-432,
fig. 7, 8; Geol. Surv. Canada, 1863, p. 124, fig. 47a-b. Glossina belli Raymond, Ann. Carnegie mus., 1911, 8, p. 216, pi. 33, fig. 1. Oboltis belli Waleott, Mem. U.S.G.S., 1912, 51, pt. 1, p. 386, pi. 38, fig. 3, 3a-b.
Although somewhat smaller than the specimens figured by either Raymond or Waleott, the material at hand shows in all other particu- lars close similarity to the type. The specimens studied include one well-preserved pedicle valve and several fragments of both valves. They have a uniform curvature, with the pedicle valve sharply pointed posteriorly and the brachial blunt in that direction. The anterior edge shows an evenly curved outline. Surface markings are subequal growth lines. The presence of deeply impressed muscle-scars is evident in the exfoliated individuals, the shell being thicker than the typical Lingulas. The dimensions are: length 21 mm., width 17 mm., length-width index 123. The size and curved anterior margin together with the difference
256 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
in the posterior extremities in the two valves serve to distinguish the species.
Horizon and Locality: — Holston, Ross and Repubhc Quarry, 3 miles southeast of Knoxville, Tenn. ; and Chazy, Island of Montreal, Canada, and Valcour Island, N. Y.
Palaeoglossa gibbosa, sp. nov. Plate 1, fig. 3.
This is a large brachiopod, thick-shelled, with the pedicle valve the larger of the two, due to the posterior end being pointed and extended over the pedicle. The exterior is covered with strong, concentric mark- ings when not exfoliated. The dimensions are: length 26 mm., width 25 mm., height 11 mm., length-width index 104. The greatest width is two-thirds of the distance forward from the posterior limits of the shell.
Horizon and Locality: — ^Murat limestone, Lexington, Va. Holotype no. 8587, M. C. Z. '
Genus Lingula Bruguiere.
LiNGULA lyelli Billings.
Plate 1, fig. 2.
Lingula lyelli Billings, Can. nat. and geol., 1859, 4, p. 348, fig. la-d, p. 431. Geol. Canada, 1863, p. 124, fig. 49. Chapman, Canadian jour., n. s., 1863, 8, p. 195, fig. 165c. Expos, min. geol. Canada, 1864, p. 167, fig. 165c. Raymond, Ann. Carnegie mus., 1911, 7, p. 218, pi. 33, fig. 5, 6.
A Lingula somewhat doubtfully referred to this species is represented in the collection by several more or less well-preserved specimens. It agrees with L. lyelli in its elongate, narrow, almost parallel-sided form ; but no individuals yet found reach the size of the normal specimens from the Chazy of Ontario. The index of Canadian shells (pedicle valve) ranges from 180 to 215. That of the most perfect specimens from the Ottosee is 180 for the pedicle and 175 for the brachial valve. Mature examples of the species have nearly straight sides and are rather blunt in front. The valves are not evenly convex, but show flattened slopes. The surface markings are fine, concentric growth lines. Dimensions: length of brachial valve, 14 mm., width 8 mm., length-width index 175. The greatest width is just forward of the
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 257
middle. The species differs from other Lingulas of the horizon in its high index, rather small size and the flattened areas of the valves.
Horizon and Locality: — Holston, McNutt Quarry, Sharon Springs, Va. Figured specimen no. 8586 in the M. C. Z.
LiNGULA NARRAWAYI WilsOU.
Lingula narrawnyi Wilson, Canadian geol. surv., Victoria mem. miis. bull., 33, 1921, p. 49, pi. .3, fig. 4.
This species has small valves with subovate outline and faint con- centric markings, the interiors of the valves not being preserved among the materials studied. The shell is very thin and delicate, which, with its small size, are the chief distinctive features of this species. Owing to the ill state of preservation of the material, the finer details could not be determined. Dimensions: length 5.5 mm., width 2.5 mm., length-width index 220.
Horizon and Locality: — Holston, three miles east of Blacksburg, Va., and Lowville, Ottawa, Canada.
Order NEOTREMATA Beecher.
Superfamily Siphonotretacea Walcott and Schuchert.
Family Siphonotretidae Kutorga.
Genus Schizambon Walcott.
SCHIZAMBON CUNEATUS, sp. nOV.
Plate 1, fig. 4.
The species is represented by a single well-preserved individual and several fragments. The shell is oval, rather depressed and evenly curved with a deep pedicle opening. The surface is marked by heavy, compound, concentric growth lamellae and ornamented by numerous spines, averaging about 2 mm. in length. The dimensions of a pedicle valve are: length 15.5 mm., width" 13.5 mm., length-width index 114. Widest point seems to be about one-third of the length back from the anterior margin. The form differs from S. dodgci in being more pointed posteriorly and from S. dupUcimuratxis in its greater size.
Horizon and Locality: — Holston, McNutt Quarry, Sharon Springs, Va., and also from the Ottosee at the base of the formation, north of Luttrell, Tehn. Holotype, no. 8588, M. C. Z.
258 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Subfamily Acrotretacea Family Acrotretidae Schuchert. Superfamily Acrotretinae Matthew, Genus Conotreta Walcott.
Conotreta declivis, sp. nov.
Pedicle valve small, high, semioval in outline, with wide, flat or slightly concave false area, along the median line of which the course of the pedicle tube is visible. The beak is far back, above the hinge, so that the area is nearlv vertical. Surface ornamented bv fine, concentric lines.
The apex of the cast of the interior of the shell is deeply indented by a narrow fissure which extends about one-quarter of the way down to the front of the shell. On either side of it are faintly impressed, radiat- ing, longitudinal scars like those of Conotreta rusti.
Remarks.
This species differs from Conotreta rusti Walcott (Proc. U. S. nat. mus., 1890, 12, p. 365, fig. 1-4) in the semioval instead of nearly square outline, and in having the beak further back, forming a nearly vertical false area. In the latter feature it resembles C. conoidea Reed (Trans. Roy. soc. Edinburgh, 1917, 51, p. 817, pi. 4, fig. 1-5) from the Stinchar limestone of Scotland.
Measurements: — The holotype is 2.5 mm. long, 3 mm. wide and 2.5 mm. high.
Horizon and Locality: — A single specimen was found in the Holston limestone at the McNutt Quarry at Sharon Springs, Va., and is no. 8593 in the M. C. Z.
Family Acrosaccidae nov.
Shells similar in structure to Acrothele, but with the dorsal protegu- lum intramarginal.
Genus Acrosaccus nov.
Pedicle valve conical, without, or rarely with, a false cardinal area. Dorsal protegulum near the posterior margin. Genotype, Acrosaccus shuleri sp. nov.
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 259
ACROSACCUS SHULERI, Sp. nOV.
Plate 3, figs. 1, 2.
Pedicle shell circular in outline, nearly evenly conical, the apex a little behind the middle, the apical angle being about 90°, as viewed from the front. The posterior slope is slightly convex, without false area, but showing, in the present partially exfoliated condition, the course of the pedicle tube. Apex sharp, with an exceedingly minute scar of the pedicle opening, the tube having apparently been closed by a plug at maturity. Surface marked by closely spaced, sharp, elevated, concentric lines.
Brachial valve almost circular, nearly flat, the beak slightly elevated and situated near the posterior margin. Ornamentation like that of the pedicle valve.
Remarks.
Taken by itself, the pedicle valve of this species would be referred to Acrothele, but the intramarginal position of the beak of a brachial valve having the same ornamentation indicates that not only is the shell not an Acrothele, but does not belong to the Acrotretidae. The presence of a pedicle tube proves the relationship to the Acrotretacea rather than the Discinacea.
Measurements: — The pedicle valve is 9.5 mm. long and the width is the same; the height is 5 mm. The brachial valve is that of a smaller individual, being 5 mm. in diameter.
Horizon and Locality: — A rare species in the Holston limestone at the McNutt Quarry at Sharon Springs, \a. Cotypes no. 8591, M. C. Z.
ACROSACCUS PANNEUS, sp. nov.
Plate 3, fig. 3.
Ventral valve depressed conical, with the apex back of the center. All slopes gently convex, the apicul angle being about 1 10°. The speci- men is exposed from the inside, and in breaking away the shell, there was revealed a pedicle tube of small diameter extending along the posterior side to the apex. The lower part was full of clear calcite; the upper portion seems to have been plugged with shelly matter. The surface appears to have been covered with raised, concentric, linear ridges.
260 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Remarks.
This species is referred to Acrosaccus rather than to Aerothele be- cause of its evident similarity to Acrosaccus sinderi. From that species it differs in having a lower pedicle valve with a wider apical angle.
Measurements: — The length and width are each 18 mm. The height is about 5 mm.
Horizon and Locality: — A single specimen was found in the Holston at the McNutt Quarry at Sharon Springs, Va., and is no 8592 in the M. C. Z.
Superfamily Craniacea Waagen Family Craniidae King. Genus Petrocrania Raymond.
Petrocrania prona Raymond.
Plate 1, fig. 6.
Crania prona Raymond, Ann. Carnegie mus. 1906, 3, p. 574. Petrocrania -prona Raymond, Ann. Carnegie mus., 1911, 7, p. 229, pi. 34, fig. 26-31.
The ventral valve is not present in the material under discussion, but several more or less complete brachial valves are available giving a fair idea of both surfaces. This shell is of a squarish outline and low, highest about one-third the way forward from the posterior margin. The surface markings are concentric, lamellose growth lines. The in- terior shows two prominent scars of the anterior adductors just behind the centre, with small ones posterior to these, which represent the hinder adductors. In the anterior part of the interior of the valves may be seen traces of the vascular sinuses, but poorly preserved in the ma- terial on hand. The dimensions are: length 16 mm., width 15.5 mm., length-width index 103. It is distinguished from P. ulrichi in the more posterior position of the muscle-scars.
Horizon and Locality: — Ottosee, above the lowest marble at the quarry north of Luttrell, Tenn.— Holston, base, at Hoge Farm, Bland Co., Va. (doubtful identity).— Chazyan, Valcour Id. and Chazy, N. Y. Figured specimen no. 8589, M. C. Z.
Petrocrania cicatricula, sp. nov.
Plate 3, fig. 4.
The species is represented by brachial valves which differ from others of the genus in being very convex and rounded, almost hemi-
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 261
spherical, with a shght depression extending from the anterior margin half way to the back. The interior shows very faint circular impres- sions of the anterior adductors and some traces of the vascular sinuses anterior to these, with a medial ridge corresponding to the external de- pression. Dimensions are: length 14 mm., width 14 mm., length-width index 100.
Horizon and Locality: — Ottosee, base of shale above the lowest marble at quarry north of Luttrell, Tenn. Holotype no. S590 in the M. C. Z.
Order Protremata Beecher. Superfamily Orthacea Walcott. Family Orthidae Woodward. Genus Orthis Dalman.
Orthis disparilis Conrad.
Orthis disparilis Conrad, Proc. acad. nat. sci. Philadelphia, 184,3, 1, p. 331, 333. HaU,Pal. N. Y., 1847, 1, p. 119, pi. 32, fig. 4a-c. Emmons, Amer. geol., 1855, 1, pt. 2, p. 194, pi. 9, fig. 4a-c. Hall, Geol. Wis., 1862, 1, p. 435. Billings, Geol. Canada, 1863, p. 130, fig. 60.
The species is represented in the material under discussion by small shells, having the brachial valve flat and the pedicle valve strongly convex to almost triangular in cross section. They are marked by thirty to thirty-two simple, sharp plications averaging six to a space of five millimeters along the anterior margin. The cardinal area is high, concave, with a large delthj'rium. The hinge-line is long. The size is slightly variable, but an average, well-preserved specimen has the fol- lowing dimensions : width 15 mm., length 14 mm., height 7 mm. length of hinge-line 14 mm. The greatest width is just anterior to the highest point of the pedicle valve. The length-width index is 93. This shell would be placed with Orthis tricenaria as generally understood, but probably sufficient difference is found to make it advisable to revive Conrad's species, 0. disparilis. It is smaller than 0. tricenaria, and it is upon this distinction, that the species is based, although in other points the two are similar. Comparing this with 0. costalis, it is readily dis- tinguished by its smaller size and pointed cardinal angles.
Horizon and Loccdity: — Rare in the Ottosee at Fugates Hill, Va., at base of Ottosee north of Luttrell, and between second and third marbles near Chesney, Tenn. ; also in the Tellico at South Knoxville, Tenn. It was originally described from the Black River formation at Mineral Point, Wis.
262 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Genus Plectorthis Hall and Clarke.
Plectorthis exfoliata Raymond.
Hebertella exfoliata Raymond, Amer. jour, sci., 1905, ser. 4, 20, p. 370. Plectorthis exfoliata Raymond, Ann. Carnegie mus., 1911, 7, p. 238, pi. 35, fig. 11, 12.
This is one of the small Orthids, which helps in distinguishing it from others. Both valves are convex and rounded, showing suggestions of a fold in the pedicle valve and an equally vague trace of a sinus in the brachial. The plications are rather rounded with an occasional bifurca- tion, and in some individuals, a noticeable variation in point of size. Usually, there are from eight to ten in a space of fi\e millimeters as measured along the anterior margin, there being in all from thirty to forty on each valve. The dimensions are: width 16 mm., length 13 mm., height 5 mm., length-width index 81. The greatest width is at a point about one-sixth of the distance from the hinge-line.
Horizon and Locality: — Comparatively rare in the Ottosee toward the middle, north of Mendota, Va., and in the lower part north of Luttrell, Tenn. Also reported from Chazyan (Day Point), Chazy, Valcour, and Valcour Island, N. Y. and Isle La Motte, Vt.
•
Plectorthis holdeni, sp. nov. Plate 1, fig. 5.
Shell small, biconvex, wider than long, with simple plications. The hinge-width is less than that further forward, and the cardinal areas of both valves are low. The brachial valve is evenly convex, the pedicle valve somewhat flattened in front of the umbo. Each valve has from 20 to 24 plications, those along the middle conspicuously larger than those near the hinge, there being a gradual diminution in size from the median line backward.
Only separated valves have so far been found. The holotype, a pedicle valve, is 10 mm. long, 13 mm. wide at the hinge and 15 mm. in greatest width. No larger individual has been seen, but somewhat smaller ones are quite common.
This species is closely allied to Plectorthis trcntonensis Foerste, but differs in having the plications along the middle of the shell very much larger than those at the sides.
Horizon and Locality: — Several specimens were found near the base of the Holston limestone at Speers Ferry, Va. Holotype no. 8595, M. C. Z.
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 263
Genus Hebertella Hall and Clarke.
Hebertella melonica, sp. nov. Plate 1, figs. 8, 9.
Shell transversely oval in outline, the two valves about equally con- vex, covered with fine striae which increase b}' both bifurcation and implantation. The hinge-width is considerably less than the greatest width, and the cardinal area of the pedicle valve is of median height for the genus, nearly flat, Ijut gently concave under the beak; that of the brachial valve is about half the height of the opposite area, and de- cidedly concave. The delthyrium is narrow.
The interior of the pedicle valve displays a prominent muscle-scar extending nearly one-third of the length of the shell toward the ante- rior margin, and of equal width and length (6.5 mm.). It is trilobate, the two exterior lobes, representing the attachments of the diductors, are equal; the intermediate lobe which forms the attachment of the adductors is on the summit of a narrow ridge rising to an abrupt promi- nence at the anterior edge of the scar. The whole is slightly elevated above the general surface. In front of the muscular area is a shield- shaped region, pointed toward the front, outlined on either side by a wide, well-impressed vascular sinus, which, near the front, breaks up into a number of short distributaries. The surface of this shield and of other areas outside the sini, is covered with elongated papilli. The an- terior margin of the shell is nearly straight, but it may be slightly con- cave along the middle. Dimensions are: width 27 mm., length 24.5 mm., width at hinge line 20 mm., length-width index 91. The point of greatest width lies about half way back from the anterior margin. In a space of five millimeters at the anterior margin there are usually eleven striations. The fineness of the striations distinguishes the spe- cies from Hebertella horealis; Hebertella frankfortensis is aliout equal to it in size, but has coarser striations and a higher cardinal area. H. maria-'parkensis has a much lower length-width index. H. melonica is larger than H. nickelsi and does riot have a pointed anterior margin, and the same features serve to distinguish it from H. rogerensis. It is larger and has finer striations and more prominent growth lines than H. vulgaris.
Horizon and Locality: — Ottosee at Fugates Hill north of Mendota, Va. ; north of Luttrell, and between the second and third marbles near Chesney, Tenn. The species is also present in the Holston at the
264 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
McNutt Quarry, Sharon Springs, Va. Holotype no. 8596 in the M. C. Z.
Hebertella vulgaris Raymond.
Orthis perveta Billings (not Conrad), Canadian nat. and geol., 1859, 4, p. 434,
fig. 10. Orthis suhaequata Billings (not Billings, 1856), Canadian nat. and geol., 1859,
p. 434. Orthis gibbosa Billings, Canadian nat. and geol., 4, 1859, p. 434. Hebertella vulgaris Raymond, Ann. Carnegie mus., 1906, 3, p. 501 ; ibid., 1911, 7,
no. 2, p. 242, text figs. 15-18, p. 246, fig. 22, pi. 36, figs. 2-5.
The species seems, from the abundance of the material, to be fairly common in the Holston. As previously described, the form occurs both as large and small individuals; those under consideration seem to be all of the lesser size. The convexity of the shells is about equal, although a very sUght sinus is sometimes present in the brachial valve. Growth lines are few, and striae increase by bifurcation and implantation. The dimensions are: length 18 mm., width 22 mm., length-width index 82. In a space of five millimeters along the anterior margin are found ten striations. It is distinguished from //. borealis by its greater width, and it is smaller and less gibbous than H. melonica.
A few specimens referable to this species have been found in the Ottosee. From the exteriors alone they are not easily separable from Pionodema globosa, but the interiors of two pedicle valves show the characteristic muscle-areas and vascular sini of Hebertella. An interior of a brachial valve shows the thin cardinal process on a platform sup- ported by the median septum, as in specimens from Valcour Island, N.Y.
Horizon and Locality: — Holston, base of reef, Hoge Farm, Bland County, Va., and McNutt Quarry, Sharon Springs, Va. Also in the Chazyan at Chazy and Valcour Island, N. Y., and in Canada. In the Ottosee at the base of the shale above the lowest marble in a quarry to the north of Luttrell and between the second and third marbles near Chesney, Tenn. Also in the Lenoir in the Catawba Valley, Va., are found specimens which may be of this species.
Genus Glyptorthis Foerste.
Glyptorthis bellarugosa (Conrad).
Orthis bellarugosa Conrad, Proc. acad. nat. sci. Philadelphia, 1813, 1, p. 333- Hall, Pal. N. Y., 1847, 1, p. 118, pi. 32, fig. 3a-e. Emmons, Amer. geol. 1855, 1, pt. 2, p. 197, pi. 9, fig. 3a-d. Shaler, Mem. geol. surv. Ky., 1876, 1, p. 35.
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 265
Hebertella bellarugosa Hall and Clarke, Pal. N. Y., 1892, 8, pt. 1, p. 222. Grabau and Shimer, N. Am. index fossils, 1907, 1, p. 255, figs. 304d-e. Raymond, Ann. Carnegie mus., 1911, 7, p. 245, text figs. 19, 20, pi. 36, figs. 8, 9.
Orthis {Hebertella?) bellarugosa Winchell and Schuchert, Geol. Minn., 1893, 3 pt. 1, p. 434, pi. 33, figs. 1-4. Schuchert, Proc. U. S. nat. mus., 1900, 22, p. 157.
Glyptorthis bellarugosa Foerste, Bull. sci. lab. Denison univ., 1914, 17, p. 258 (gen. ref.).
The species is rare in this area, only two individuals having been found thus far whose identity is unquestionably proved. The shell is small with valves nearly equal in convexity, the brachial having a mere suggestion of a sinus. The hinge line is straight, and the cardinal area relatively large. The most striking feature and the one which dis- tinguishes this form from all other genera of the Orthidae is the pattern of the surface markings. In it the radiating striae are crossed by con- centric growth lines in such a fashion as to give a scalloped, or imbri- cating effect. The dimensions are: width 11 mm., length 9 mm., height 5.5 mm., length of hinge line 8.5 mm., length-width index 82. In a space of five millimeters along the anterior margin there are eleven striations.
Ilorizon and Locality: — The specimens are from the Ottosee at Liberty Hill and at a point 100 feet below the Moccasin between Chesney and Luttrell, Tenn. Also reported from Black River forma- tion at Mineral Point, Janesville, Neenah, etc.. Wis., Minneapolis, St. Paul, Cannon Falls, etc., Minn., Decorah and McGregor, Iowa, Curdsville, Ky. and Baffin Land. It is common in the Ridley in central Tennessee and in the middle Chazy of the Champlain Valley.
Subfamily Dalmanellinae Schuchert Genus Dalmanella Hall and Clarke.
Dalmanella rogata (Sardeson).
Orthis rogata Sardeson, Bull. Minn. acad. nat. sci., 1892, 3, p. 331, pi. 5, figs.
1-4. Amer. geol. 1897, 19, p. 95, pL 4, figs. 1-10. Orthis {Dalmanella) testudinaria Hall and Clarke, Pal. N. Y., 1892, 8, pt. 1,
pi. 5B, figs. 27-31. Winchell and Schuchert, Geol. Minn., 1893, 3, pt. 1,
p. 441, pi. 33, figs. 17-22.
The shell is small, nearly circular in outline, with a hinge line less than the greatest width. The pedicle valve is convex, with a relatively high umbo continued anteriorly in a ridge which widens and merges into the general contour of the shell half way to the margin. The
266 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
brachial valve is nearly flat with a more or less ill-defined sinus. The surface is ornamented with fine, radiating striae showing a slight irregu- larity in spacing. The dimensions are: width 12.5 mm., length 11.5 mm., height 5 mm., width at hinge line 7.5 mm. The length-width index is 92. At a point midway between the hinge line and the anterior margin is the greatest wndth of the shell. The brachial valve is some- what more convex than in most of the Trenton representatives of this species. The species is distinguished from DabnancUa bassJcri and D. fcrtilis in being much smaller. It is, on the other hand, nearly twice as large as D. hamhirgensis. It lacks the concentric lines of growth seen in D. testudinaria and the striations are much finer.
Horizon and Locality: — Ottosee at Liberty Hill, Tenn., where it is common, and in the Black River and Trenton at numerous localities in North America.
Family Rhipidomellidae Schuchert. Subfamily Plaesiominae Schuchert. Genus Plaesiomys Hall and Clarke.
Plaesiomys platys (Billings.) Plate 1, figs. 10, 11.
Orthis platys Billings, Canadian nat. and geol. 1859, 4, p. 438, figs. 15a-c. Geol. Canada, 1863, p. 129, figs. 54a-c. Hall and Clarke, Pal. N. Y., 1892, 8, pt. 1, p. 218. Winchell and Schuchert, Geol. Minn., 1893, 3, pt. 1, p. 424.
Dinorthis platys Schuchert, Bull. U.S.G.S., 1897, 87, p. 216.
Plaesiomys platys Raymond, Ann. Carnegie mus., 1911, 7, p. 238, pi. 35, figs. 13-14.
As generally encountered, this is a rather small form, usually not exceeding twenty-five millimeters in width, but a few individuals are met that reach a width of between thirty and thirty-five millimeters, though the smaller forms seem to be more typical of the fauna under analysis. The pedicle valve is convex at the umbo giving way to a plane or slightly concave area anteriorly. The brachial valve is well- rounded and convex with a slight medial depression toward the ante- rior margin and strong depressions just in front of the posterior edges of the shell. The posterior edges above the hinge line may show a tendency to turn up in a ridge extending from the neighborhood of the delthyrium to the cardinal extremities. The hinge line of the adult is nearly equal to the greatest width of the shell. Young individuals have
WILLAED AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 267
the greatest width at the hinge. The surface markings are fine, well- defined striations. The cardinal area is long and narrow. The interior of the pedicle valve bears a small, poorly-defined muscle-scar, the brachial having a pronounced, though short, cardinal process. Dimen- sions of an average individual are: width 33.5 mm., length 27 mm., height 9 mm., length of hinge line 29.5 mm., length-width index 83. In a space of five millimeters on the anterior margin are found nine striations. The species may be distinguished from Plaesiomys deflecta by its large size and much less convex brachial valve, whereas its plica- tions are much finer and the cardinal extremities more extended than in D. ulrichi.
Horizon and Locality: — Ottosee at Fugates Hill, and Speers Ferry, Va., and in Tennessee between the second and third marbles near Chesnev, 100 feet below the Lowville between Chesnev and Luttrell, north of Luttrell, and at Liberty Hill. Also reported in the Chazyan at Montreal, Quebec; Crown Point, Valcour Island and Chazy, N. Y. and in eastern Tennessee (Lenoir). The species is found in the Holston formation at Fountain City, Luttrell, and at the Ross and Republic Quarry, 3 miles southeast of Knoxville, Tenn. At those localities it is well represented by fairly well-preserved specimens showing the char- acteristically fine striations and the extended cardinal extremities of the species. In the Lenoir of the Catawba Valley, Va., many specimens of this species are found. Figured specimens nos. 8598 and 8599, M. C. Z.
Plaesiomys elongata, sp. nov.
Plate 1, figs. 15, 16.
The species is rather closely allied to Plaesiomys platys, but is longer in proportion to the width, the pedicle valve is more convex through- out, and the brachial valve lacks the medial and lateral depressions found in the species described above. The brachial valve is more con- vex than in P. platys, and its anterior end shows a cardinal process that is short and rhombic in shape. The interior of the pedicle valve bears a bilobate muscle-scar, distinct but not large. The striations are fine and distinct, while concentric growth liYies may or may not be a prominent feature on the valves. The dimensions are: width 23 mm., length 21.5 mm., height 11.5 mm., length of hinge fine 20.5 mm., length-width index 93. In a space of five millimeters on the anterior margin are found ten striations.
Horizon and locality: — Ottosee at Liberty Hill, north- of Luttrell, Tenn. Holotype no. 8601, M. C. Z.
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Plaesiomys brevis, sp. nov. Plate 1, figs. 12, 14.
Shell similar in all respects to Plaesiomys platys, but with much shorter valves, the index varying from 61 for a young shell, 10.5 mm., long to 64 for an adult 18 mm. in length. The greatest width is at the hinge in nearly all specimens, but the angles become rounded on some adults.
Horizon and Locality: — This is a common species in the Ottosee at Fugates Hill north of Mendota, Va., and there is a single specimen from the top of the Ottosee 5 miles northwest of Rogers ville, Tenn. Cotypes no. 8600, M. C. Z.
Genus Dinorthis Hall and Clarke.
DiNORTHis pectinella (Emmons).
Orthis pectinella Emmons, Geol. N. Y. rept. 2nd dist., 1842, p. 394, fig. 2. Owen, Amer. 'jour. sci. and arts, 1844, 47, p. 366, fig. 2. Hall, Pal. N. Y. 1847, 1, p. 123, pi. 32, figs. 10, 10c. Emmons, Amer. geology, 1855, 1, pt. 2, p. 193, pi. 9, figs. 10, 11a, b. Billings, Canadian nat. geol., 1857, 1, p. 205, fig. 602. Geol. Canada, 1863, p. 165, fig. 147a-c. Chapman, Canadian jour., 1862, n.s., 7, p. Ill, fig. 92; ibid., 1863, 8, p. 199, fig. 184. Expos. Min., geol. Canada, 1864, p. 115, fig. 91, p. 171, fig. 183. Chamberlin, Geol. Wis., 1883, 1, p. 155, figs, f and g.
Dinorthis pectinella Hall and Clarke, Pal. N. Y. 1892, 3, pt. 1, pp. 195, 222, 228, pi. 5, figs. 29-33. Weller, Geol. surv. N. J., Rept. on palaeontology, 1903, 3, p. 154, pi. 9, figs. 29-30. Grabau and Shimer, N. A. Index fossils, 1909, 1, p. 253, fig. 303 i-1. Sassier, Bull. 2A, Va. geol. surv., 1909, pi. 24, fig. 2.
Orthis (Dinorthis) pectinella Winchell and Schuchert, Minn. geol. surv., 1893, 3, pt. 1, p. 424, pi. 32, figs. 31-34. Wliiteaves, Geol. surv. Canada, Pal. fossils, 1897, 3, pt. 3, p. 175.
Orthis charlotlae Winchell, 8th rep. geol. nat. hist. surv. Minn., 1880, p. 67.
This species is typically resupinate. The pedicle valve commences at the umbo in a raised portion, falling rapidly away to a plane or even slightly concave area extending to the anterior margin. The brachial valve is somewhat strongly convex throughout. The cardinal extremi- ties are slightly rounded, and the cardinal area and delthyrium small. Plications to the number of thirty-six ornament the surface and are strong, sharp and simple. Some variations are seen in the plications of forms which have been referred to this species and are worthy of note.
WILLARD AND RAYMONP: BRACHIOPODS. 269
The type of Emmons (Geol. N. Y. rep. 2nd dist. 1843, p. 394, fig. 2) is an individual with strong, equal pHcations. Some individuals from the Trenton correspond to this, but at the same locality are found others which show successive gradations into types which have the plications all bifurcated at the anterior margin, or have lesser plications implanted between the major ones, sometimes extending to the umbo. Doubtless, although there appears to be intergrading, specific rank should be as- signed to the two extremes, and it is here proposed to restrict Emmons's species to forms having simple, undivided plications.
On the brachial valve the plications appear somewhat rounded, but are more or less flattened on the pedicle valve. The interior of the pedicle valve bears a pair of prominent teeth and a rather elevated muscle-scar, the adductors being on a slightly raised median portion and the diductors large and lateral thereto. The plications are promi- nent on the interiors of both valves. The brachial valve shows a decided medial ridge and fairly large cardinal process. The dimensions: length 19 mm., width 24.5 mm., height 8 fnm., length at hinge line 20 mm., length-width index 70. In a space of five millimeters on the anterior margin there are three plications. The shell is widest about one-third of the distance forward from the hinge line. The species may be differ- entiated from Dinorthis {J^alcourio) dcflccta Conrad as it is rather larger and has coarser plications and is more typically plano-convex. It is distinguished from D. meedsi Winchell and Schuchert, by its large size, coarse, simple plications and flatter pedicle valve.
Horizon and Locality: — This species is fairly common in the Ottoseie east of Concord, Tenn., and near the base of the Ottosee at Luttrell, Tenn. It is reported from the Black River and early Trenton at Mid- dleville, Trenton Falls, etc., N. Y., Pennsylvania, Mercer County, Ky., Ontario, Decorah, la., St. Paul, Minn., Lake Winnipeg, Canada, Tenn. and Va. The species is found in the Dinorthis zone of the Holston west of Blacksburg, Va., in the continuation of the same beds near Goodwin's Ferry, New River, and at the top of the reef at the Hoge Farm, Bland County, Va. In the former of these localities it is an extremely abundant, silicified fossil, showing in great profusion on the weathered, red-brown surfaces of the rock. Here are found excel- lent specimens showing the coarse plications and the piano-convexity of the valves, the pedicle valve being flatter than in most cases. This brachiopod has also been found in the Lenoir in the Catawba Valley, Va., north of Salem, and in a shaly layer in the Holston in a cutting on the Clinchfield Railroad just north of Copper River between Speers Ferry and Clinchfield, Va.
270 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
DiNORTHIS ATAVOIDES, Sp. nOV.
Plate 2, fig. 4.
Shell large, transversely oval in outline, the valves subequally con- vex. Cardinal areas nearly equal and both extremely low.
The pedicle valve is depressed convex for nearly half its length, then becomes flattened in the middle of the front and merges into a shallow, median sinus. The brachial valve is evenly convex throughout and shows no trace of fold or sinus. Surface crossed by from 32 to 36 strong, simple plications which are of about the same width as the furrows be- tween them. The interior of the pedicle valve shows muscle-scars of the usual form for Dinorthis.
The holotype is 21 mm. long, 20 mm. wide at the hinge, and 30 mm. wide at the mid-length. The index varies on the shells measured from 67 to 70.
This species differs from Dinorthis pcdinella in being wider and hav- ing a more convex pedicle valve. It is more nearly of the proportions of D. semiondis (Hall) (Pal. N. Y., 1847, 1, p. 124, pi. 32, fig. 11), but has a shorter hinge, lower cardinal areas, and more convex pedicle valve. The latter is the most notable feature of this species, and indi- cates that during the earlier stages of growth the shell must have had the form of a Plectorthis.
Horizon and Locality: — Several specimens were found in a shaly layer in the Holston limestone in a cutting on the Clinchfield Railroad north of Copper Creek between Speers Ferry and Clinchport, Va. Holotype and paratype nos. 8605 and 8606 in the M. C. Z.
Dinorthis interstriata, nom. no v.
Dinorthis pectinella Hall (not Emmons), 2nd Ann. rept. N. Y. state geologist, 1883, pi. 34, figs. 39-40. Hall and Clarke, Pal. N. Y., 1892, 8, pt. 1, pi. 5, figs. 27, 28.
This form has been considered to be identical with D. pectinella, but it is distinguished from it for the reason that between each pair of plica- tions is a pair of finer striae. Perhaps, as in the case of certain varieties of D. pectinella already noted, it may in time be shown from the collec- tion of additional material, that this form intergrades with the latter; but at present no such series is known. Therefore, a new name is pro- posed. The form has already been figured under D. pectinella. It is shown in the present faunas by a pedicle valve only. Dimensions are: length 19 mm., width 25 mm., length of hinge line 21 mm., length-
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 271
width index 76. In a space of five millimeters along the anterior border are four plications. The greatest width is about one-third the way back from the anterior margin.
Horizon and Locality: — Ottosee, Fugates Hill, Va., Trenton lime- stone, Lewis Co., N. Y, Type in the New York State Museum.
DiNORTHIS QUADRIPLICATA, Sp. nOV.
Plate 1, fig. 13; plate 3, figs. 5, 6.
Shell resupinate, nearly planoconvex, with very low, subequal cardi- nal areas. Pedicle valve convex only at the beak, flat or slightly con- cave in front, with a very broad and shallow sinus. Brachial valve evenly convex, without fold or sinus. Hinge width somewhat less than that below, the cardinal angles rounded. Surface of both valves marked by from 25 to 30 large plications, 4, or occasionally 5 of which in the middle, are broader than the others, and simple, whereas those at the sides nearly all bifurcate once or twice.
The holotype is 18.5 mm. long, 19 mm. wide at the hinge, and 24 mm. in greatest width: index, 77.
This shell has the same size and proportions as the typical Dinorthis pectinella, but differs in having only the median plications simple. The undivided nature of these same plications differentiates it from D. interstriata.
Horizon and Locality: — A rather common shell in the Ottosee at Fugates Hill, north of Mendota, and at Speers Ferry, Va., and in the Ottosee just above the Holston at Luttrell, Tenn. Holotype no. 8602 in the M. C. Z.
Dinorthis transversa, sp. nov.
Plate 2, figs. 1, 2, 6.
Shell nearly planoconvex, transversely oval in outline. Pedicle valve only slightly elevated at the back, otherwise nearly flat, but with a very slight fold mesally. Brachial valve depressed convex, with a broad median sinus which becomes^narrow on the umbo and disappears at the beak. The surface of both valves is covered with rather coarse plications which increase in size toward the median line. Nearly all bifurcate at least once, and as adjacent ones do so at various distances from the beak, an irregular pattern results. The holotype is 19 mm. long, 22 mm. wide at the hinge line and 30 mm. in greatest width. The index is 63. A somewhat larger pedicle valve is 20.5 mm. long.
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This species is most closely allied to Dinorthis quadriplicata, but differs in that the median as well as the outer plications bifurcate, the shell is wider, hence the index is lower, and there is a sinus in the brachial and a fold in the pedicle valve.
Horizon and Locality: — A single specimen was found in the lower part of the Ottosee at Luttrell, Tenn., and two pedicle valves at a similar horizon at Fugates Hill, north of Mendota, Va. The holotype is no. 8603, M. C. Z., and the paratype 860-i.
Genus Nicolella Reed.
Nicolella agilera, sp. nov. Plate 3, fig. 7.
Shell concavo-convex, widest at the hinge, covered with coarse striae or relatively small plications which increase by bifurcation on the brachial and implantation on the pedicle valve. Pedicle valve convex, highest at the umbo, with concave slopes to the cardinal extremities. Brachial valve gently concave. The holotype, a pedicle valve, is 15 mm. long and 23 mm. wide at the hinge, the index being 65. At the front there are 4 large and 3 secondary striae in a space of 5 mm.
This species differs from Nicolella actoniae (Sowerby), the type of the genus, in having smaller ribs which are not entirely simple, but in- crease by intercalation of somewhat weaker ones on the anterior half of the shell. In this respect it is more like A", asteroidea Reed (Trans. Roy. soc. Edinburgh, 1917, 51, pt. 4, p. 860, pis. 10, 11), but that species lacks the alate cardinal extremities.
Horizon and Locality: — Two specimens were found in the Hols ton at the McNutt Quarry, Sliaron Springs, Va., and are nos. 8607 and 8608 in the M. C. Z. *
Genus Pionodema Foerste.
Some discussion as to the classification of this genus has taken place in the past, and in order to show all its supposed relations, a summary of the different opinions is given below.
Foerste (Bull. sci. lab. Denison univ., 1909, 14, p. 221) proposed Bathycoelia as a subgenus of Dalmanella. His generic description fol- lows: " Dalmanella bellula belongs to the group of Dalmanellas, typified by Dalmanella subaequata Conrad, in which the brachial valve is strongly convex, and the median depression is absent o^ only faintly
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 273
indicated. This group appears to have had a phylogenetic history dis- tinct from the group typified by Dahnanella testudinaria. It ranges from the Stones river to the Devonian. For the species included in this group, the term Bathycoeha is proposed as a subgeneric term." That is to say, Dahiianellas having a strongly convex brachial valve with little or no median depression, would be placed in this subgenus. Bathycoelia proving to be preoccupied, he substituted the term Pio- nodema in Bulletin of the Scientific Laboratory of Denison University, 1912, 17, p. 139, quoting as his type species Pionodcma subacquata (Conrad).
In "A Textbook of Paleontology," Eastman-Zittel, 1913, p. 382, Pionodema is given the rank of a genus along with Plaesiomys under the subfamily Plaesiominae of the family Rhipidomellidae. Both the families are new and distinct from Dalmanella which is there placed in the new subfamily Dalmanellinae of the family Orthidae. Thus has this classification made the separation still more remote, for, when Foerste would have Pionodema merely a subgenus of Dalmanella, Schuchert classifies it not only as a different genus, but in another family and subfamily, their connections being only in remaining under the superfamily Orthacaea. The chief distinction seems to be the punctate condition of the shell in Dalmanella and the impunctate shell of Pionodema.
Pionodema subaequata (Conrad).
Orthis siibaequata Conrad, Proc. acad. nat. sci. Philadelphia, 1843, 1, p. 333; Hall, Pal. N. Y., 1847, 1, p. 118, pi. 32, figs. 2a-f.
See Bull. 92, U. S. nat. mus., 1915, 2, p. 978, for further synonymy.
There are four specimens in the collection which appear to belong to this species, differing from the other Pionodemas in the Ottosee in having a longer hinge and a shallow sinus in the pedicle valve. The smallest specimen is the most typical, and agrees in all respects with specimens figured by Winchell and Schuchert from Minnesota. It is 13 mm, long, 10 mm. wide at the hinge, and 15 mm. in greatest width, the index being 86. There are 15 striations in a space of 5 mm. at the front. The largest specimen had a shallower sinus in the pedicle valve. The length is 21 mm., the width at the hinge 17 mm., and the greatest width 24 mm., the index being 87.
Two of the three specimens referred to this species are slightly un- symmetrical, a condition also noticed among other members of this genus in the Ottosee. These specimens, when ^•iewed from above,
274 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
looking down on the pedicle valves, have all the striations turned some- what to the right.
Horizon and Locality: — ■ Three specimens are from the Ottosee at Fugates Hill north of Mendota, Va., and one from east of Concord, Tenn.
Pionodema globosa, sp. nov. Plate 2, fig. 5.
The shell presents a decidedly circular outline. The brachial valve is strongly convex, but shows, toward the cardinal extremities, marked depressions that are distinguishing marks of the species. On the in- ternal surface a low-medial septum extends anteriorly about "one-third the length of the valve. The pedicle valve is less convex than the brachial with a tendency to a flattened area toward the anterior margin, and a small, sharply curved beak. The cardinal area is small and well- defined, as also is the delthyrium, whereas the hinge line is consider- ably shorter than the greatest width of the shell. The interior shows a small, subcircular muscle-scar, plainly three-lobed with a short, raised process in front of the scar. The muscular area is like that of Heber- tella, but, since the shell is thinner, less deeply impressed. The surface of the valves is marked by fine, simple striations and faint growth lines. The dimensions are: width 21 mm., length 18.5 mm., thickness 11 mm., length of hinge line 13.5 mm., length-width index 88. The greatest width of the shell is about half way between the anterior and posterior margins. In a space of five millimeters along the anterior border are found sixteen striations. The species is nearly related to Pionodema perveta, but there are differences which, if carefully noted, seem ample for distinguishing the form. Although of nearly equal size, the hinge line of Pionodema amoena (N. H. Winchell) is markedly longer than that of P. globosa and is shorter in the latter than in P. perveta (Conrad). The length is greater in proportion to the width, and the above men- tioned depressions on the shoulders of the brachial valve, as present in the species, are absent in the last mentioned type. The species differs from P. stonensis (Safford) in the less convexity of the pedicle valve of that species, as well as in the arrangement of the striations.
Horizon and Locality: — At the top of the Ottosee formation five miles northwest of Rogersville, Tenn., and in the middle and upper parts at Fugates Hill, north of Mendota, also at Speers Ferry, Va., and at Liberty Hill, Tenn. Holotype no. 8609 in the M. C. Z.
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 275
PlONODEMA MINUSCULA, sp. nOV.
Plate 2, fig. 3.
This is a Pionodema subaequata (Conrad) in miniature. Both valves are convex, the pedicle being the higher, with the raised umbo promi- nent and a small, triangular cardinal area in which is a narrow del- thyrium. The surface is marked by fine striations and faint lines of growth. The dimensions are: width 13 mm., length 12 mm., thickness 7 mm., length at hinge line 9 mm., length-width index 92. In a space of five millimeters on the anterior margin are found some twenty-four striations. The greatest width is just in front of .the umbo.
Ilorizon and Locality: — Lebanon formation at Lebanon, Tenn., and in the Holston at Concord, Tenn. Holotype from Lebanon, and no. S610 in the M. C. Z.
Superfamily Strophomenacea Schuchert.
Family Strophomenidae King,
Subfamily Rafinesquininae Schuchert.
Genus Plectambonites Pander.
Plectambonites curdsvillensis Foerste.
Plectambonites curdsvillensis Foerste, Bull. sci. lab. Denison univ., 1912, 17, p. 122, pi. 10, figs. 15a-b.
The species, like most of the Ordovician representatives of the genus, has been referred to as Plectambonites serioeus (Sowerby). Winch ell and Schuchert in their description of the latter species (Minn. geol. surv., 1893, 3, pt. 1, p. 415), say "Surface of both valves marked by numerous, very minute, closely arranged, equal, radiating striae, or with every fourth, fifth or sixth one a little larger or more prominent than those between." Foerste based his species, Plectambonites curds- villensis, seemingly on the accentuation of every fourth striation, for the remainder of his description varies little from that applicable to the old form.
The pedicle valve is strongly convex and the brachial correspond- ingly concave ; the hinge line is the greatest width. The pedicle valve shows a prominent muscle-scar with two sharp, centrally located ridges extending well forward and increasing in elevation. The cardinal ex- tremities are sharp. It differs from other species in the accentuation of every fourth striation. The dimensions are: width 13 mm., length
276 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
7 mm., height 2.5 mm., length of hinge hne 13 mm., length width index 54. In a space of five millimeters on the anterior margin are found from twenty-five to thirty striations.
Horizon and Locality: — At base of Ottosee north of Luttrell, at Liberty Hill, and five miles northwest of Rogersville, Tenn.; at Fugates Hill, north of Mendota, Va.; from the Trenton (Curdsville), Glen Creek Station, Woodford County, Kentucky.
Plectambonites aequistriatus, sp. nov. Plate 3, figs. 8, 9.
It seems advisable to give a specific name to forms that might be called P. sericeus (Sowerby) by the old classification, but which have all the striations of equal size. The specimens in question are rather small, depressed convex, about two-thirds as long as wide, with the greatest width at the hinge, where the cardinal angles are extended into short spurs. There is considerable variation in the outline, some of the individuals being notably long, with an index of 71, whereas others are of the more usual form of Plectambonites sericeus, with the index as low as 60. The average index for six adults is 66.
The interior of a pedicle valve from the typical locality. Liberty Hill, shows small and very divergent muscle-scars, separated at the posterior ends by a low, rounded septum. The diductors are small, situated behind the adductors and partially excavated beneath a sort of con- cave platform under the beak. Near the front, parallel with the margin, the shell is thickened and crossed by radial furrows. The interior of the brachial valve is of the usual type, with a pair of sharp septa.
The surfaces of both valves are covered by very fine striae of uni- form size. In a space of five millimeters along the anterior margin will be found thirty to thirty-five.
Horizon and Locality: — Ottosee, south of Chilhowie Park, Knox- ville, and at Liberty Hill, Tenn. At top of Holston, Thomas farm, three miles east of Blacksburg, Va. Cotypes no. 8611, ^I. C. Z.
Plectambonites pisum Ruedemann.
Pledamhonites pisum Ruedemann, Bull. N. Y. state museum, 1902, p. 19, pi. 1, figs. 8-20. Bassler, Bull. Va. geol. surv., 1909, 2a, pi. 3, figs. 17-18.
The form is of rather infrequent occurrence in the region under con- sideration. Its shell is very small, and nearly semicircular in outline, strongly concavo-convex, with the pedicle valve very high, nearly hemispherical. The cardinal extremities are more or less prominent.
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 277
The surface markings are fine, radiating striae and concentric growth lines. The hinge line is the greatest width of the shell. The pedicle valve slopes abruptly with a fairly large cardinal area and a good sized delthyriuni. The interiors of the valves are not shown by the available specimens. The dimensions are: width 10 mm., length 7.5 mm., length of hinge line 10 mm., length-width index 75. In a space of five milli- meters along the anterior margin are found as many as fifty striations. The form is distinguished from others of the genus by its small size and gibbosity and is slightly smaller than the specimen from New York figured by Ruedemann.
Horizon and Localitii: — This species was described originally from the Mohawkian of Rysedorph Hill and Moordener Kill, N. Y. (Ryse- dorph); it occurs also in the Chambersburg of Penna., Md., and Va. Specimens have been collected at the top of the Holston at the Thomas Farm three miles east of Blacksburg, Va.
Plectambonites triseptatus, sp. nov. Plate 2, figs. 7, 8.
A rather large, thick-shelled species, with about the usual propor- tions of the so-called Plectambonites scriceus. The greatest width is at the hinge, the cardinal angles pointed in the young, but rounded in the adult. Surface covered with fine striae of alternating size, usually only one very fine one between each pair of the more prominent ones.
The scars of the diductors in the pedicle valve are strongly diver- gent, but not bounded mesially by ridges, and instead of being ex- cavated in the shell, are built up as rounded callosities at the front. In old individuals these are very conspicuous, and extend nearly to the front of the shell. The most notable feature of the species, however, is the presence of a high, sharp-crested median septum in the brachial valve, extending beyond the anterior margin of the muscle-scars. On either side, diverging slightly from the median septum, is a very low, narrow septum bounding the inner edge of the adductor scar. On some individuals these septa are so poorly developed as to be hardly visible.
A large pedicle valve is 13 mm. long and 20 mm. wide at the hinge. A brachial valve, one of the cotypes, is 12 mm. long and 22 mm. wide at the hinge line.
The presence of a median septum in the brachial valve differentiates this species from all allied forms.
Horizon and Locality: — The holotype, no 8613, and paratype, no. 8614, are from silicified blocks from the Holston near Goodwins Ferry on New River, Va.
278 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Plectambonites crassus, sp. nov. Plate 3, fig. 10.
Shell very large for a Plectambonites, strongly concavo-convex, with the highest part of the pedicle valve usually in front of the middle. Greatest width at the hinge, cardinal angles usually bluntly rounded, but in some cases auriculate. The surface is covered with fine stria- tions, of two sizes, the prominent ones being rather distant and sepa- rated by bands of 10 or 12 very slightly elevated, extremely narrow threads. The most remarkable feature of the species is the fact that the coarse striations are really in pairs.
The largest individual in the collection is 17 mm. long and 28 mm. wide. A more common size is 16 by 26 mm. The index is about 61.
Horizon and Locality: — Holston at the McNutt Quarry, Sharon Springs, Va. Holotype no. 8616 in the M. C. Z.
Plectambonites negritus, sp. nov. Plate 3, fig. 13.
The form is scantily represented as a diminutive Plectambonites. It is more nearly semicircular than other small members of the genus, with the lateral slopes of the pedicle valve flattened, the central por- tion rather high and curving steeply down to the hinge line. The brachial valve is not strongly concave, but rather flat. Surface mark- ings consist of very fine striations with every sixth or seventh accentu- ated. Its small size and peculiarly curved pedicle valve together with the low index distinguish it from other species. Dimensions are: length 4 mm., width 8 mm., length-width index 50. The greatest width is at the hinge line. In a space of five millimeters along the an- terior margin are 45 to 50 striations.
Horizon and Locality:- — -Lenoir, Catawba Valley, Va. ; Holston, So. Knoxville, Tenn. Holotype no. 8615 in the M. C. Z.
Genus Leptaena Dalman.
Leptaena palustris, sp. nov.
Plate 3, fig. 14.
The species resembles rather closely a small LeptaeJia incrassata, but is more nearly semi-circular in outline. It is known from a single speci- men, a strongly convex pedicle valve, sharply deflected, with a raised
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 279
area forward and very fine, alternating striae, more or less obscured by exfoliation. There are only about 8 prominent striae. The surface is covered with fine pitting, and there are obscure, concentric undula- tions on the umbonal region. The dimensions are: length 7 mm., width 11 mm., length-width index 63. The greatest width is at the hinge.
Horizon and Locality: — Holston, Concord, Tennessee. Holotype no. 8619 in the M. C. Z.
Leptaena prona, sp. nov. Plate 3, figs. 15, 16.
In general outline, the species is similar to L. unicostaia (Meek and Worthen), found in the Richmond. It is also similar in size, having extended cardinal extremities and an abrupt deflection. Owing to the poor preservation of the single specimen, a pedicle valve, upon which the species is based, the amount of wrinkling is not known, but fine, radiating striae seem to have been present. The dimensions are: length 14.5 mm., width 27 mm., length-width index 54. The greatest width is at the hinge line.
Horizon and Locality: — Holston, Dinorthis zone, near Goodwins Ferry, New River, Va. Holotype no. 8620 in the M. C. Z.
Genus Rafinesquina Hall and Clarke.
Rafinesquina minnesotensis (N. H. Winchell).
fStrophomena deltoidea Owen (not Conrad), Geol. expl. la., Wis., and III, 1844,
pi. 17, fig. 6 (not pi. 16, fig. 8). Leptaena deltoidea Owen, Geol. rept. Wis. la., Minn., 1852, pi. 2B, fig. 10 (not
the middle figure). Strophoniena incrassata Hall (not of 1847), Geol. Wis., 1862, 1, p. 42, fig. 16.
2nd Ann. rept. N. Y. state geol., 1883, pi. 38, figs. 1-5. Strophomena minnesotensis N. H. Winchell, 9th Ann. rep. geol. nat. hist. surv.
Minn., 1881, p. 120. Rafinesquina incrassata Hall and Clarke, Pal. N. Y., 1892, 8, pt. 1, pi. 7, figs.
1-5. Rafinesquina minnesotensis Hall and Clarke, Pal. N. Y., 1892, 8, pt. 1, p. 283.
Winchell and Schuchert, Geol. Minn., 1893, 3, pt. 1, p. 401, pi. 31, figs. 25-
29. Grabau and Shimer, N. A. index fossils, 1909, 1, p. 212, fig. 252.
Although a rather common fossil from this area, the material on hand does not show more than one interior, that of a brachial valve;
280 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
but there seem to be ample data for identifying the species. The shells are semioval, concavo-convex, the convexity of the pedicle valve vary- ing slightly to approach, at least in one case, Leptaenoid proportions. The cardinal area is long and narrow with a prominent deltidium and a tiny pore as pedicle opening. The hinge line is the greatest width of the shell. The single available interior is a poorly preserved brachial valve, which, however, shows a prominent ridge concentric to and just within the anterior and lateral margins. The surface is marked by fine striae alternating in size and crossed by concentric growth lines. The dimensions are: width 18 mm., length 17 mm., height 4 mm., length- width index 94. Length of hinge line is 18 mm. Along the anterior margin in a space of five millimeters are found from eighteen to twenty striations. The species is distinguished from others of the genus by its small size, its hemispheric shape, and the thickening of the brachial valve near the margin. It has a much higher index than R. distans Raymond, and lacks the external concentric ridge that is characteristic of Leptaena incrassata Hall.
Horizon and Locality: - — Ottosee formation at Liberty Hill, north of Luttrell, Tenn., and at Fugates Hill north of Mendota, Va. It is also reported from the Black River at Minneapolis, etc., Minn., Beloit, Wis., Decorah, la., and Kentucky, and the Lebanon of various locali- ties in central Tennessee. The species is found in the Holston, being recovered from a point near Tilsons Gap, Bland Co., Va., but it is a far less common fossil there than in the Ottosee as described above, and is poorly preserved so that there is some doubt as to its true identity. One more typical specimen was obtained from the top of the Holston at the Hoge Farm, Bland Co., Va.
Rafinesquina champlainensis Raymond
Rafinesquina chavi'plainensis Raymond, Bull. Amer. pal., 1902, 3, no. 14, p. 37, pi. 18, figs. 5, 6; Ann. Carnegie mus., 1911, 7, p. 233, figs. 6-9.
The species is represented among the material on hand by a single specimen from the Ottosee, indicative of its rarity in that formation, whereas more have been found in the Holston, as discussed below. The individual from the Ottosee shows only the exterior of the pedicle valve in a rather poor state of preservation. It is very strongly convex, although of even curvature, with slight rounding of the cardinal ex- tremities, so that the hinge line is slightly shorter than the total width. The surface is marked by fine radiating striae, every third or fourth being accentuated, and with growth lines that vary in prominence.
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 281
Nothing can be determined as to the brachial valve or the interior of the pedicle valve. The species differs from others of the genus by the combined characters of large size and extreme ventricosity. The di- mensions are: width 39.5 mm., length 32 mm., height 12.5 mm., length- width index 81, length of hinge line 37.5 mm. In a space of five milli- meters along the anterior margin are found thirty-five to forty stria- tions.
Horizon and Locality: — Ottosee (middle) north of Mendota, Va., and from the Chazyan, Crown Point, Valcour Island, Bluff' Point and Chazy, N. Y., Isle La Motte and South Hero, Vt. ; eastern Tennessee (Lenoir). The form occurs in the Holston, being represented at the top of the reef at the Hoge Farm, Bland Co., and in the Dinorthis zone near Goodwins Ferry, New River, Va. In this case the identity is far more sure than with the former specimen, as they are typically large ventri- cose shells.
Rafinesquina duplistriata, sp. nov.
Shell large, nearly as long as wide, almost plano-convex. Surface <;overed with fine, alternating striae, every other one of which is promi- nent. The width at the hinge is almost, but not quite, equal to the greatest width. Cardinal angles rounded. Adult individuals show a downward deflection parallel to the margin of the pedicle valve, but some millimeters behind it, and the interior of the brachial valve has a corresponding ridge.
The pedicle valve is evenly and only moderately convex. The in- terior shows large, flabellate, indistinctly rounded diductor scars, and between them the narrow adductors, situated on a low, double, median ridge, the anterior end of which is bifurcated. The brachial valve is nearly flat, but deflected at the front in old individuals. The two prongs of the cardinal processes are short, stout, with neatly circular faces for the attachment of muscles. The adductor scars in this valve are not deep, but large, and the interior of the shell is marked by two pairs of lateral linear ridges and an extended median one. The interior is much like that of the brachial valve of R. minnesotensis.
One pedicle valve is 43 mm. long and 45 mm. wide at the hinge. The largest individual is 52 mm. long. The index for fully grown speci- mens is about 95, but young individuals are not proportionally so long, and have an index as low as 90.
This species differs from Rafinesquina miymesotensis in its much greater size and less convexity, although the scars on the interior are much the same. The general appearance of the shell is that of many
282 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
of the forms now referred to R. alternata, but if that species be re- stricted to shells from the Trenton, the present species differs from it in having only one small striation between each pair of prominent ones, and in being proportionately longer.
Horizon and Locality: — This species is common in silicified layers in the Holston near Goodwins Ferry on New River, Va. and north of Copper Creek, between Speers Ferry and Clinchport, Va. It has also been found in the Holston at the Ross and Republic Quarry three miles southeast of Knoxville, Tenn. Several specimens have been ob- . tained from the Ottosee at Luttrell, Tenn., and one from the same horizon at Fugates Hill, north of Mendota, Va. Cotypes nos. 8621 and 8622 in the M. C. Z.
Rafinesquina distans Raymond.
Rafinesquina distans Raymond, Ann. Carnegie mus., 1906, 3, p. 575; 1911, 7, p. 234, pi. 35, fig. 1.
The species is represented by a few ill-preserved specimens. The valves are but slightly convex, resembling some Plectambonites in this respect, and small, being wide compared to the length, with the great- est width at the hinge line. The distinguishing feature in this species is the surface decoration which consists of about a dozen prominent, radiating striae with many very fine ones intermediate to them, to- gether with equally delicate growth lines. The dimensions are: length 9 mm., width 14.5 mm., length-width index 62. In a space of five miUi- meters along the anterior margin are found three of the larger and about fifty of the smaller striations.
Horizon and Locality: — The species occur in the Holston at the McNutt Quarry, Sharon Springs, Va. The original specimens were from the Upper Chazy on Valcour Island, and the Middle Chazy at Crown Point, N. Y.
Rafinesquina grandistriata, sp. nov.
Plate 2, fig. 11.
Shell small, widest at the hinge, nearly as long as wide. Surface covered with coarse, rounded striae which increase bv both bifurca- tions and implantation, and generally show additions near the anterior margin. Cardinal areas very low, the extremities auriculate. The pedicle valve is moderately and evenly convex, the brachial valve nearly flat in the umbonal region, becoming somewhat concave toward the front. The type is 12 mm. long and 15 mm. wide, and most of the »
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 283
specimens have almost these dimensions, with an index of 80. The species may easily be recognized by the lack of alternations in the striae and the small size.
Horizon and Locality: — A rather rare species in the Holston lime- stone at the McNutt Quarry at Sharon Springs, Va. Holotype no. 8623 in the M. C. Z.
Genus Ptychoglyptus, nov.
Rafinesquininae allied to Rafinesquina, in which the thin shell is thrown into numerous transverse rugae which are confined to the spaces between the principal striae, and are not continuous, concentric folds, as in Leptaena. Type, Ptychogly phis virginiensis sp. nov.
Ptychoglyptus virginiensis, sp. nov. Plate 2, fig. 12.
Shell small, almost flat, widest at the hinge, nearly half as long as wide. The surface has from 10 to 14 radial striae, not all of which are primary. Between them are wide spaces each occupied by about 12 very narrow, rather indistinct striations, separated by sharply im- pressed furrows, narrower than themselves. The interspaces between principal striations are crossed by wave-like wrinkles, the crests about as wide but a little more rounded than the troughs. There are about 8 or 9 crests in 5 mm. on the anterior part of the shell. Each wave is steeper on the front than on the back slope, and all are arcuate, bowing backward toward the apex. The wrinkles of adjacent interspaces are occasionally practically continuous, but usually alternate, so that the crests of one abut against the troughs of the next. They seem more often to be continuous near the cardinal angles.
The pedicle valve is gently convex on the umbo, becoming flattened toward the anterior margin. The brachial valve is concave about the beak, flat in front. No interior has been seen.
This species closely resembles Rafinesquina f subarachnoidea Reed (Trans. Royal soc. Edinburgh, 19-17, 51, pt. 4, no. 26, p. 870, pi. 12, figs. 25-32a), but appears to be more alate, and has the entire surface covered by wrinkles and not the posterior portion only. Reed's species, and probably Sirophomcna arachnoidca Tornquist, are to be referred to the genus now described.
Horizon and Locality: — A common fossil in the- Holston limestone at the McNutt Quarry at Sharon Springs, Va.; found also in the
284 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Holston at South Knoxville, Tenn. Holotype no. 8626 and paratype no. 8627, M. C. Z.
Ptychoglyptus pulchrus (Butts.)
Playfairia ? pulchra Butts, Geol. surv. Alabama, special rept., 14, 1926, p. 102, pi. 10, fig. 15.
Butts has recently published a figure of a small shell about 5.5 mm. long and 11 mm. wide, which is obviously a Ptychoglyptus. It differs from the type of the genus in having less alate cardinal extremities and somewhat less prominent concentric wrinkles.
Horizon and Locality: — From the limestone at the base of the Athens at Pratts Ferry, Bibb Co., Ala.
Subfamily Davidsoniinae King. Genus Christiania Hall and Clarke.
Christiania, sp. indet.
The genus is represented by a single individual showing an interior of the pedicle valve. Owing to the poor state of preservation, it has been considered inadvisable to assign it to a species, though it seems to resemble C. suhquadrata Hall rather closely. The valve is strongly con- vex and has a very small cardinal process, the interior marked by a series of longitudinal ridges. The dimensions are about 16 mm. long by 12 mm. wide, but owing to the chipped condition of the edges, they cannot be accurately determined.
Horizon and Locality: — Ottosee, base of hill, Hoge Farm, Bland County, Va.
Subfamily Orthothetinae Waagen. Genus Strophomena Blainville.
Strophomena filitexta (Hall)
fProducta incurvata Shepard, Amer. jour, sci., 1838, 34, p. 144, figs. 1, 2. fOrthis incurvata Castelnau, Essai sur le syst. Sil. de rAmerique Septentrionale,
1843, p. 38. f Strophomena convexa Owen, Geol. expl. la.. Wis., and 111., 1844, p. 70, pi. 17,
fig. 2. Leptaena filitexta Hall, Pal. N. Y., 1847, 1, p. Ill, pi. 31B, fig. 3. Strophomena filitexta Emmons, Amer. geol. 1855, 1, pt. 2, p. 198, pi. 11, figs. 8a,
9c. Billings, Canadian nat. geol., 1857, 1, p. 203, figs. 1, 2. Hall, 12 rep.
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 285
N. Y. state cab. nat. hist., 1859, p. 70. Billings, Geol. Canada, 1863, p.
164, figs. 142a-d. Hall and Clarke, Pal. N. Y., 1892, 8, pt. 1, p. 251, pi. 9,
figs. 1-7, pi. 9A, figs. 11-14 (not figs. 10, 15). Streptor}uj7ichus filitexta Hall, 2nd Ann. rept. N. Y. state geol., 1883, pi. 39, figs.
1-7, pi. 42, figs. 11-14 (not figs. 10, 15). Streptorhynchus convexum Sardeson, Bull. Minn. acad. nat. sci., 1892, 3, p. 343. Strophomena incurvata Whiteaves, Geol. surv. Canada, Pal. foss., 1895, 3, pt.
2, p. 119. Raymond, Bull. amer. pal., 1902, 3, no. 14, p. 303, pi. 19, fig. 11.
Weller, Geol. surv. N. J. pal., 1903, 3, p. 150, pi. 9, figs. 16, 17. Grabau and
Shimer, N. A. index fossils. 1909, 1, p. 223, figs. 271a-d. Foerste, Bull. sci.
lab. Denison univ., 1912, 17, p. 24, pi. 11, figs. 7-9a-c.
The species is very abundant in the Ottosee fauna locally, the indi- viduals recovered being generally a little smaller than the specimens usually described, but in other particulars agreeing with the published descriptions. They are semioval in outline with a long hinge line slightly exceeding the greatest width. The pedicle valve is convex at the umbo, becoming concave anteriorly and showing a subrhomboidal to oval muscle-scar surrounded by a low and narrow ridge rising later- ally to the teeth. The cardinal area is relatively large with a prominent deltidium. The species has an evenly convex brachial valve with an indefinite medial septum on its anterior. Surface markings are fine, radiating striae and lines of growth, so that, quoting Hall (Pal. N. Y., 1847, p. Ill): "This shell is characterized by its striae which are crossed by fine, elevated lines, giving the surface a textile or woven appearance, which is markedly characteristic in well-preserved speci- mens, and differs from any other species of this [Trenton] rock." The dimensions of the shell are: width 33 mm., length 25 mm., height 6 mm. length of hinge line 35 mm., length-width index 76. In a space of five millimeters along the anterior margin are found about 25 striae. As already noted, the striation-pattern is the chief means of distinguishing the form, especially from S. vincina Foerste in which the striations are all of about equal size.
Horizon and Locality: — Ottosee formation at Liberty Hill, Tenn., and at Fugates Hill, north of Mendota, Va. Common in the Stones River and Black River horizons at Green Bay, Wis., and various locali- ties in Minn., la., Ky., Tenn., Mo^ Canada, etc.
Strophomena tennesseensis, sp. nov.
Plate 2, figs. 17, 18.
This is a rather large shell resembling S. filitexta (Hall), S. trentonen- sis Winchell and Schuchert, S. ivinchelli Hall and Clarke and other
286 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
good sized Strophomenas, but it may be distinguished from them by its higher index, moderate convexity and low cardinal area, together with the peculiar curvature of the brachial valve. This valve increases in height from the hinge line to a point about three-fourths of the dis- tance to the anterior margin, where it turns steeply down to the edges of the shell. The ascending portion is nearly plane, but shows toward its centre a slight depression. The pedicle valve has the characteristic double curvature of the genus. A long, narrow cardinal area is present, with a prominent deltidium.
The dimensions are: width 33 mm., length 33 mm., length of hinge line 32 mm., length-width index 100. In space of five millimeters along the anterior margin are found 15 regularly alternating striae. The interior of the pedicle valve shows unusually large diductor scars, with the adductors on a low ridge between them.
Horizon and Locality: — A rare fossil in the Ottosee formation at Fugates Hill north of Mendota, Virginia, and at Liberty Hill, Tenn. Cotypes nos. 8628 and 8629 in the M. C. Z.
Strophomena inspeciosa, sp. nov. Plate 2, fig. 13.
Shell small, less than three-fourths as long as wide, with a moderately convex brachial and nearly flat pedicle valve. The surface appears rather rough, because of strongly marked lines of growth and irregular radial undulations, some specimens showing an obscure sinus in the brachial valve. The striae are fine, and generally regularly alternating, with one less important striation between each pair of more prominent ones. The cardinal area is of medium height, with a wide deltidium; and the greatest width is at the hinge line.
No specimen from the typical locality. Liberty Hill, Tenn., shows the interior, but a pedicle valve from Fugates Hill, Va., which appears to be this species, has the large scar of the diductors divided medially by a low septum which extends a short distance in front of the scars, taper- ing to a fine point at the anterior end.
The holotype is 15 mm. long and 22 mm. wide, and a smaller indi- vidual is 12 mm. long and 17 mm. in width. The index is about 68 to 70. In a space of 5 mm. the holotype shows 18 striations on the an- terior margin.
This species somewhat resembles the well-known Strophomena hill- ingsi Winchell and Schuchert, but is a less regularly curved shell, and the striae are more distinctly alternating. Stropliomena scofieldi Win-
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 287
chell and Schuchert is an equally rough appearing shell, but has a dis- tinct fold and sinus and no septum in the pedicle valve. (Pal. of Minnesota, 1893, 1, pi. 31).
Horizon and Locality: — A rather uncommon fossil in the Ottosee at Liberty Hill, Tenn., and Fugates Hill, north of Mendota, Va. Holo- type no. 8631 and para type no. 8634 in the M. C. Z.
Strophomena tenuitesta, sp. nov, Plate 2, figs. 15, 16.
Shell of medium size, thin, both valves nearly flat. The width at the hinge about equal to the greatest width. The surface is covered with fine, radial striae, a weak one regularly alternating with a more promi- nent one, all crossed by very closely spaced, concentric lines. The cardinal area is unusually narrow; the shell is very thin, and practically all of the specimens found are bilaterally unsymmetrical. This latter fact is due perhaps to the thinness of the shell and the consequent liability to injury.
The holotype is 32 mm. long and about 34 mm. in width. A some- what smaller specimen is 27 mm. long and 30 mm. wide. The index appears to be about 90. This species resembles Strophomena filitexia but is less curved and has a very much narrower cardinal area.
Horizon and Locality: — A rather common fossil in a shaly zone in the Holston in the first cutting north of Copper River on the railroad between Speers Ferry and Clinchport, Va. Holotype no. 8630, M. C. Z.
Subfamily Tripleciinae Schuchert. Genus Oxoplecia Wilson.
Oxoplecia holstonensis, sp. nov.
Plate 3, fig. 17.
Shell small, nearly circular in outline, with both valves so convex as to be almost globose. The hinge line is short, and the cardinal angles rounded. The pedicle valve has a small, concave, cardinal area, the delthyrium closed by a nearly flat deltidium. The brachial valve shows no area. The pedicle valve has a rather broad, not deep, flat-bottomed sinus beginning in front of the umbo, and there is a corresponding fold in the brachial valve. The surface is marked by small plications which extend on to the umbo, but seldom entirelv to the beak. These are crossed by fine, numerous, concentric lines.
288 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
There appear to be four primary plications in the sinus and five on the fold, but frequently specimens are found with one or two more in either situation. The average individual appears to have about ten plications on either side of the fold and sinus, although some have as few as six.
One individual is 10 mm. long, 12 mm. wide, and 7.5 mm. wide at the hinge. Most of the specimens are about that size, although one 16 mm. wide was observed.
The species is most closely related to Oxoplecia slmulatrix (Bassler), which occurs in the Chambersburg of northern Virginia and south- eastern Pennsylvania (Maryland geol. surv., Cambrian and Ordovi- cian, 1919, p. 266, pi. 49, figs. 11-13). Specimens of that species from Strasburg, Virginia, which are now before the writer allow direct com- parison. Individuals of 0. holstonensis are much smaller, more globose, and have on the average fewer plications in the fold and sinus than 0. siviulatrix. Specimens of the latter species 15 mm. in length are not uncommon.
Butts has recently figured (Geol. sur. Ala., Special Report 14, 1926, p. 126, pi. 31, fig. 21) a new species of Oxoplecia from the lower part of the Chicamauga limestone of Alabama. The pedicle valve has almost exactly the same outline as 0. holstonensis, but differs in that the sinus extends to the beak, whereas in our specimens the umbo is convex. The brachial valve assigned to 0. occidentalis (Butts) appears to be less nearly circular in outline.
Horizon and Locality: — • Ottosee by roadside, Fugates Hill, north of Mendota, Va. ; and in the Holston, near Goodwins Ferry, New River, Va., Ross and Republic Quarry, 3 miles southeast of Knoxville, and at Concord, Tenn.; at the top of the Holston at the Thomas Farm, 3 miles east of Blacksburg, and at the McNutt Quarry, Sharon Springs, Va. Also in the TelUco at South Knoxville, Tenn. Holotype no. 8632, M. C. Z.
Superfamily Pentameracea Schuchert,
Family Clitambonitidae Winchell and Schuchert.
Genus Clitambonites Pander.
Clitambonites porcia (Billings).
Oi-this porcia Billings, Canadian nat. geol., 1859, 4, p. 439, figs. 16-18; Geol.
Canada, 1863, p. 130, figs. 58a-c. Clitambonites porcia Raymond, Ann. Carnegie mus., 1911, 7, p. 248, pi. 36,
figs. 15-16.
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 289
The species is represented by parts of a few badly preserved pedicle valves. The better of these shows the shell to have a high pedicle valve of pyramidal outline. The interiors are not known from these speci- mens. The outer surface is marked by strong, though not very large, striations. It is distinguished from others of the genus largely through its coarser striations which make it easily confused with certain of the Orthidae. The dimensions are: length 14 mm., width 20 mm., length- width index 70. The greatest width is about one-third of the distance back from the anterior margin along which, in a space of five milli- meters, are found seven striae.
Horizon and Locality: — Ottosee, north of Luttrell, Tenn., and Chazyan, two miles north of Montreal, Canada. It is also found in the Holston, at the base of the reef on the Hoge Farm, Bland County, Va., being represented by two pedicle valves and fragments of others both pedicle and brachial. They seem to be slightly smaller than the Otto- see specimens.
Clitambonites holstoni (Hall and Clarke).
Orthis (?) holstoni (Safford Ms.), Hall and Clarke, Pal. N. Y., 7, pt. 1, 1892, pp. 218, 340, pi. 5A, figs. 35-37; 14th rep. state geol. N. Y., for 1894, 1897, p. 339, pi. 4, figs. 19-21. Wysogorski, Zeits. d. d. geol. gesell., 52, 1900, p. 227, footnote.
This form has been distinguished from the similar Richmond types, C. amcricana Hall and Clarke, and C. diversa Shaler, by its greater width. It was described as an Orthis, but is undoubtably a Clitam- bonites. It also resembles certain specimens of C. trentonensis Ray- mond, as figured from the Trenton of eastern Canada. Although the material is fragmental, the specimens show a long hinge line and shell wider than long, though the exact measurements cannot be determined. The pedicle valve shows a characteristically high cardinal area, the shell itself approaching the conical, whereas the brachial valve is more or less flattened. The surface has faint growth lines and coarse, radi- ating striations. The interior of a pedicle valve shows a large, deeply concave spondylium supported by a short, thin septum, and in the brachial shell the muscle-scars are separated by a high, rounded septum which extends beyond the middle. The species is distinguished by its long hinge line and coarse striae.
Horizon and Locality: — Holston near Goodwins Ferry, New River, and near White Gap and Tilsons Gap, Bland County, Va., and in the Lenoir of the Catawba Valley, Va. Also occurs in the Ottosee near Knoxville, Tenn.
290 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Family Porambonitidae Davidson.
Subfamily Parastrophiinae Schuchert.
Genus Camarella Billings.
Camarella panderi Billings.
Camarella panderi Billings, Canadian nat. geol. 1859, 4, p. 302; Geol. Canada, 1863, p. 143, figs. 78a-b. Hall and Clarke, P:J. N. Y., 1895, 8, pt. 2, p. 220, pi. 62, figs. 19-23. Raymond, Ann. Carnegie mus., 1911, 7, pi. 36, figs. 31, 32.
The species is possibly represented by several minute and evidently embryonic individuals. The outline is elliptical, slightly pointed poste- riorly from the extension of the pedicle beak over the short hinge line. It is a biconvex brachiopod, the pedicle valve slightly more gibbous than the brachial. Some individuals are a little more sharply curved at the anterior margin, and both valves may show suggestions of plica- tions at the front. The dimensions are: length 2.5 mm., width 2 mm., length-width index 125. The greatest width is at the middle. The form is distinguished by its small size.
Horizon and Locality: — Holston at Ross and Republic Quarry, 3 miles southeast of Knoxville, Tenn.; middle of reef at Hoge Farm, Bland Co., Va., Black River at Pauquettes Rapids, Ottawa River, Canada; Curdsville of Kentucky.
Camarella volborthi BiUings.
Camarella volborthi Billings, Can. nat. and geol., 1859, 4, p. 301; Geol. Canada, 1863, p. 143, figs. 77a-c. Hall and Clarke, Pal. N. Y., 1895, 8, pt. 2, p. 220, pi. 62, figs. 11-18, pi. 84, fig. 42.
This well-known species is rather common in the Ottosee at Liberty Hill, Tenn. Specimens from that locality are of about the usual size, have two plications in the sinus and three on the sides, but usually show a somewhat more shallow sinus than individuals from Canada or Central Tennessee.
Genus Parastrophia Hall and Clarke,
Parastrophia rotundiformis, nom. nov.
Anastrophia (?) hemiplicata var. rotunda Wiachell and Schuchert, Minn. geol. surv., 1893, 3, pt. 1, p. 383, pi. 30, figs. 32-35.
Parastrophia hemiplicata rotunda Bassler, U. S. nat. mus.. Bull. 92, 1915, 2, p. 945.
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 291
Parastrophia hemiplicata Hall is well known to be distinctly and typically a species confined to the Trenton in New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ontario, Manitoba and Baffin Land. Parastrophia hemiplicata rotunda Winchell and Schuchert is re- ported only from the Trenton, at Cannon Falls, Minnesota, and Decorah, la. The specimens from the Holston of Tennessee seem to be identical with the latter so that, since it occurs at this lower level, it has been deemed wise to treat it as a distinct species rather than a variety of P. hemiplicata Hall; especially so, since the simpler plication arrangement hints at its possibly having an ancestral relation to the Trenton species. It is a subglobose brachiopod. The pedicle valve has a broad, shallow sinus and two plications therein with two or three on the lateral slopes. The brachial vahe has a low fold on which are three plications that become flattened and appear to bifurcate at their an- terior ends.
The dimensions are: length 13.5 mm., width 14.5 mm., length-width index 93. The greatest width is two-thirds of the length from the beaks forward. It is distinguished from P. hemiplicata Hall by its higher con- vexity and the fewer plications.
Since Reed has shown (Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh, 51, 1917, no. 4, p. 928) that Atrypa rotunda Sowerby is a Parastrophia, it becomes necessary to suggest a new name for the species described by Winchell and Schuchert.
Horizon and Locality: — Holston, McNutt Quarry, Sharon Springs, Va., top of Holston, Thomas Farm, 3 miles- east of Blacksburg, Va., Trenton, Cannon Falls, Minn., Decorah, la;
Order TELOTREMATA Beecher.
Superfamily Rhynchonellacea Schuchert.
Family Rhynchonellidae Schuchert.
Genus Camarotoechia Hall and Clarke.
Camarotoechia quadriplicata, sp. nov.
Plate 2, fig. 14.
The shell is of medium size and of the usual form for the genus. The fold is low and the sinus shallow, so that neither makes a striking in- terruption in the curvature of the shell, and the outline is transversely oval, rather than triangular. The surface is crossed by angular, radial plications, four of which are in the sinus, five on the fold and six or
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seven on each of the sides. Except at the front, there are no conspicu- ous growth lines, but the surface, when preserved, is covered with minute granules. One individual is 13.5 mm. long and 17 mm. wide. Nearly all of the others are a little smaller. The index is about 80.
This shell is referred to Camarotoechia instead of Rhynchotrema, in the absence of any information as to the presence or lack of a cardinal process, and because of the absence of numerous growth lines. It ap- pears to be nearly related to Camarotoechia plena, which often has five plications on the fold and four in the sinus, but lacks the variability of that species, and differs in being distinctly broader than long. It is readily distinguished from Rhynchotrema increbescens (Hall) and R. minnesotcnsis (Sardeson) by the lack of growth lines, and the presence of an extra plication on the fold and sinus.
Horizon and Locality: — Specimens are fairly common but poorly preserved at the base of the Ottosee at Luttrell, Tenn., and exceed- ingly abundant in the upper part of the Holston about two miles north- east of Fugates Hill, north of Mendota, Va. Holotype no. 8633, M. C. Z.
4.
No. 6b. — The Brachiopods of the Lenoir and Athens Formations of
Tennessee and Virginia.
By Percy E. Raymond.
Order ATREMATA Beecher. LiNGULA NYMPHA Billings.
*&■-
Plate 1, fig. 1.
Lingula nympha Billings, Pal. foss. Canada, 1865, 1, p. 214, fig. 198. Ami, Ottawa naturalist, 1894, 8, p. 85.
Shell very large, parallel-sided, convex, the anterior and lateral slopes flattened. The pedicle valve extends only very slightly beyond the opposite one, so that the beak is scarcely more pointed. The ex- terior shows the usual concentric growth lines, and there are also along the median region, from back to front, radial striations which are accentuated on partially exfoliated individuals.
The figured brachial valve is 58 mm. long and 26 mm. wide, with an index of 223. This shell is somewhat broader than specimens from Newfoundland, whose index, according to Billings, is about 270.
Horizon and Locality: — This is a common fossil in the shaly lime- stone of the Athens in the cutting one mile south of Otes, Tenn. Nearly all the specimens, however, have been obtained from material brought from this cutting to make a fill on the railroad about 1.5 miles north of Bulls Gap, Tenn. Figured specimen no. 8585, M. C. Z. Billings's speci- mens were from division N, (Normanskill), at Table Head, Newfound- land.
Order Protremata Beecher.
Orthis disparilis Conrad.
Orthis disparilis Conrad, Proc. acad. nat. sci. Philadelphia, 1843, 1, p. 333. See Bull. 92, U. S. nat. mus., 1915, 2, p^ 898, for further synonymy.
The presence of this species in the Athens is indicated by a pedicle valve 9 mm. long and about 9.5 mm. wide. It has 25 small rounded plications, and a high incurved cardinal area. Another individual, re- taining both shells, has a brachial valve 8 mm. long and 10 mm. wide. These specimens have a higher index than usual for this species, but as both are small, it seems better to place them here than as a new species.
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Horizon and Locality: — The first specimen mentioned is from the Athens one mile south of Otes, Tenn. The second, from the Lenoir, between Bulls Gap and Whitesburg, Tenn.
Hebertella bursa, sp. nov. Plate 1, fig. 7.
Shell of medium size, both valves moderately convex, hinge shorter than the greatest width of the shell. Surface covered with striations which in general effect appear simple, but increase by bifurcation and implantation close to the beak, and more rarely, near the front. On account of the place of introduction of new members, the striations increase in size uniformly from the umbo to the front, where there are 5 in the space of 5 mm.
The holotype is 26 mm. long and 29 mm. wide at the middle. The width at the hinge is 22 mm. and the index 90.
This species somewhat resembles H. melonica Willard and //. borealis Billings, but is very much less convex than either of those species.
Horizon and Locality: — A single complete but somewhat crushed individual was found in material taken from the railroad cutting 1 mile south of Otes, Tenn. The horizon is Athens. The holotype is no. 8597, M. C. Z.
Plectorthis exfoliata Raymond.
Hebertella exfoliata Raymond, Am. jour, sci., 1905, 20, p. 370. Plectorthis exjoliata Raymond, Ann. Carnegie mus., 1911, 7, p. 238, pi. 35, figs. 11, 12. "
Specimens from the Lenoir seem to agree in all respects with those from the typical Chazy. Both valves are convex, the width at the hinge does not quite equal the greatest width, and all show about 40 simple, thin, sharp plications. An average specimen is 13 mm. long, 15 mm. wide, and 13 mm. wide at the hinge. An unusually large indi- vidual is 15 mm. long.
Horizon and Locality: — This is a very common species in the Lenoir at Lenoir City and at Bluff City, Tenn., and one specimen was found 4 miles east of Concord, Tenn.
Valcourea ventro-carinata (Butts).
Strophomena ventro-carinata Butts. Geol. surv. Ala. special rept., 14, 1926, p. 116, pi. 26, figs. 16, 17.
Shell small, known only from the pedicle valve which is almost flat, being slightly convex at the beak, flat or slightly concave at the front.
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 295
The greatest width is at the hinge, the cardinal angles being acute but not greatly extended. The surface is covered with slender, granulose, angular striae, which increase both by bifurcation and implantation, the longer striae being much the more elevated and conspicuous.
A pedicle valve is 10 mm. long and 16 mm. wide at the hinge. There are 14 striae in a space of 5 mm. at the front.
This species differs from Valcourea strophomenoides Raymond, V. defleda (Conrad) and all other species of the genus in the flatness of the pedicle valve.
Horizon and Locality: — The types of the species were collected from the Little Oak limestone at Pelham, Ala. Two specimens were found by the writer at the top of the Lenoir 1.5 miles east of Bluff City, Tenn.
Valcourea strophomenoides Raymond.
Plaesiomys strophomenoides Raymond, Am. jour, sci., 1905, 20, p. 370. Valcourea strophomenoides Raymond, Ann. Carnegie mus., 1911, 7, p. 240, pi. 35, figs. 15-19, pi. 36, fig. 1, text fig. 12.
Horizon and Locality: — A rare species in the Lenoir near the Ross and Republic quarry, southeast of Knoxville, Tenn.
Plaesiomys platys (Billings).
Orthis platys Billings, Canadian nat. and geol., 1859, 4, p. 438, figs. 15a-c. See Bull. 92, U. S. nat. mus., 1915, 1, p. 444, for further references.
Horizon and Locality: — This species is fairly common in the Athens in the cutting one mile south of Otes, Tenn.
Rafinesquina champlainensis Raymond.
Rafinesquina champlainensis Raymond, Bull. Am. Palaeontology, 1902, 3 ' no. 14, p. 303, pi. 18, figs. 5, 6. Ami. Carnegie mus., 1911, 7, p. 233, figs. 6-9.
Specimens of this species from the Lenoir show the typical convexity and often the full size of species as it occurs in the typical Chazy. A pedicle valve is 41 mm. long and 40 mm. wide at the hinge, which is not quite the greatest width.
Horizon and Locality: — ■ A common fossil in the Lenoir six miles
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southeast of Knoxville, east of Concord, and between Bulls Gap and Whitesburg, Tenn.
Rafinesquina minnesotensis (Winchell).
Strophomena minnesotensis Winchell, 9tli ann. rept. nat. hist survey of Minne- sota, 1881, p. 120. See Bassler, Bull. 92, U. S. nat. mus., 1915, 2, p. 1088, for further references to the literature.
Horizon and Locality: — A single complete individual, of typical size and convexity, was found in the Lenoir 6 miles southeast of Knoxville, Tenn. It was 19 mm. long and 24 mm. wide at the hinge. A smaller specimen was obtained from the Lenoir at Lenoir City, Tenn.
Rafinesquina alternata (Emmons).
Strophomena alternata Emmons, Geology of New York, rept. 2nd district, 1842, p. 395, fig. 3. See Bull. 92, U. S. nat. mus., 1915, p. 1084, for further references to literature.
Small specimens, which have the low curvature, proportions and striae of this species were collected from the Lenoir four miles east of Concord, Tenn., six miles southeast of Knoxville, and east of Bluff City, Tenn.
Rafinesquina pulchella, sp. nov. Plate 2, fig. 10.
Shell very small, nearly as long as wide, widest at the hinge, but slightly constricted in front of it, so as to appear somewhat auriculate. Pedicle valve gently convex, highest at the beak, the umbonal region crossed by a narrow fold which gradually dies out at about the mid- length. The surface is covered by very delicate equal striae which in- crease by implantation. There are about 9 in a space of 2 mm. at the front.
One individual is 7.5 mm. long and 8.0 mm. wide at the hinge. The index varies on the specimens measured from 80 to 94.
This species may possibly be founded on the young of some larger form, but the occurrence of a considerable number of specimens all of the same size suggests that it is really a dwarf. It differs from the young of Rafinesquina alternata in having all the striae of the same size, and is much less convex than small specimens of R. minnesotensis.
Horizon and Locality: ■ — A rather common fossil in the Lenoir near the L, and N. station at Athens, Tenn. Holotype no. 8624, paratype no. 8625, M. C. Z.
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Plectambonites amplus, sp. nov. Plate 2, fig. 9; Plate 3, fig. 12.
Shell' very large, deeply concavo-convex, with produced cardinal angles. The surface is crossed by alternating radial striae, each pair of the prominent ones having only three or four fainter ones between them. The median striation on the brachial valve is notably larger than the others.
The best specimen is about 18 mm. long and 35 mm. wide, the index being about 50.
This species is of about the same size and couA-exity as Plectamhonites crassus Willard, from which it differs chiefly in that the prominent striae are not double.
Horizon and Locality : — ■ A rare species in the Lenoir, six miles south- east of Knoxville, Tenn. The holotype is no. 8617, M. C. Z.
Plectambonites delicatulus Butts.
Plate 3, fig. 11.
Plectambonites delicatula Butts, Geol. surv. Ala., special rept., 14, 1926, p. 116, pi. 26, figs. 20, 21.
Shell of medium size, deeply concavo-convex, cardinal extremities acutely auriculate. A section along the median line would show the pedicle valve to be nearly semi-circular in profile. The surface is marked by rather distant prominent striae, which increase by implan- tation, and between each pair there are 6 or 7 low and faint striae, in the furrows between which are lines of small elongate depressions.
The brachial valve has a shallow median sinus on the umbonal region.
The plesiotype is 10 mm. long and 17 mm. wide at the hinge. There are 7 or 8 prominent striae in the space of 5 mm. at the front. The index is about 60.
This species dift'ers from most of the other Ordovician Plectambon- ites of its size in its greater convexity. It is most closely allied to P. ■pisuvi Ruedemann (N. Y. State mus. bull., 49, 1901, p. 19, pi. 1, figs. 8-20) but differs in being larger and proportionally shorter, that spe- cies having an index of 80.
Horizon and Localiiy: — A rather rare fossil in the Lenoir 6 miles southeast of Knoxville, Tenn. Plesiotype no. 8612, M. C. Z. The original specimens were from the Little Oak limestone near Pelham, Ala.
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Christiania lamellosa Butts. Plate 3, figs. 18, 19.
Christiania lamellosa Butts, Geol. surv. Ala., special rept. 14, 1926, p. 116, pi. 26, figs. 31-34.
Shell small, subhemisplierical, wider than long, the greatest width near the front being considerably more than that at the hinge. The pedicle valve is unsymmetrical in profile, the highest point behind the middle, and the umbo almost vertical. The brachial valve is more evenly concave. Surface covered with somewhat irregularly arranged concentric lines, but apparently without radial ornamentation.
One specimen is 8.5 mm. long, 13 mm. in greatest width, and 8 mm. wide at the binge. The index is therefore about 66.
This species is most closely allied to Christiania subqvadrata Hall, which is now believed to have been obtained from the Ottosee of Blount Co., Tenn. (See Bassler, Bull. 92, U. S. Nat. Mus., 1915, 1, p. 221). It agrees with that form in the presence of concentric and ab- sence of radial striae, but differs in being wider than long. Christiania trentoncnsis Ruedemann is not only proportionately longer than C. lamellosa, but also has radial striae.
Horizon and Locality: — A rare fossil in the Lenoir near the L. & N. station at Athens, Tenn., and 6 miles southeast of Knoxville, Tenn. Plesiotype is no. 8618 in the M. C. Z.
OxoPLEciA HOLSTONENSis Willard.
Horizon and Locality: — A single brachial valve was collected in material brought from the cutting through the Athens one mile south of Otes, Tenn.
It is 10 mm. long, 13.5 mm. broad, has 5 plications on the fold, and 10 on either side. All are crossed by closely spaced concentric lamellae of growth.
Camarella longirostra Billings.
Camerella longirostra Billings, Can. nat. and geol., 1859, 4, p. 302, 445, fig. 23. See Bull. 92, U. S. nat. mus., 1915, 1, p. 172, for further references.
Specimens which can be referred to this species are very common in the Lenoir at Bluff City, Tenn. The pedicle valve is proportionately wider than that of individuals from the typical Chazy, but this does not seem a justifiable basis for erection of a new species.
A large brachial valve is 7.5 mm. long and 8.25 mm. wide. A pedicle
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 299
valve is 7 mm. long and 6 mm. wide, the index being 116 as compared with an index of 133 to 140 for shells from Valcour Island, N. Y., and an index of 131 to 150 for specimens from the Mingan Islands measured or figured by Billings. There is in fact a wide difference in proportions between Billings' figured type and the specimens found in Tennessee.
Camarella panderi Billings.
Camarella panderi Billings, Can. nat. and geol., 1859, 4, p. 302; Geol. of Canada, 1863, p. 143, figs. 78a, b. Hall and Clarke, Pal. N. Y., 1895, 8, pt. 2, p. 220, pi. 62, figs. 19-23. Raymond, Ann. Carnegie mus., 1911, 7, \A. 36, figs. 31, 32.
Horizon and Locality: — A specimen 3.5 mm. long and 3 mm. wide was collected from the Lenoir at Lenoir City, Tenn.
Camarella varians Billings.
Camarella varians Billings, Can. nat. and geol., 1859, 4, p. 445, fig. 24; Geol. Canada, 1863, p. 127, figs. 52a-d; Pal. foss. Canada, 1865, 1, p. 220. Raymond, Ann. Carnegie mus., 1911, 7, p. 250, pi. 36, figs. 19-27, 33-36.
This variable shell was obtained from the Lenoir east of Bluff' City, Tenn. One pedicle valve, 9 mm. long, has two plications in the sinus. Another, 8 mm. in length, has only one, and that a short and incon- spicuous ridge.
Order TELOTREMATA Beecher. Camarotoechia pristina Raymond.
Camarotoechia pristina Raymond, Am. Jour. Sci., 1905, ser. 4, 20, p. 368; Ann. Carnegie mus., 1911, 7, p. 225, pi. 34, figs. 1-10.
This species is recognized by the fact that the median pair of plica- tions on the fold of the dorsal valve are introduced later in life than the outer pair, and hence are usually smaller.
Horizon and Locality: — A single brachial valve, 6 mm. long and 8 mm. broad, was found in the Lenoir at Lenoir City, Tenn. The spe- cies is found in the upper part of the Lower Chazy and the lower part of the Upper Chazy in New York.
Zygospira acutirostra (Hall).
Atrypa acutirostra Hall, Pal. N. Y., 1847, 1, p. 21, pi. 4, bis., fig. 6. See Bull. 92, U. S. nat. mus., 1915, 2, p. 1340, for further references.
Numerous specimens of this small shell were found in the Lenoir one mile east of Bluff City, Tenn. A characteristic individual from that
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locality is 3 mm. long, 2.5 mm. in width and has 10 plications. The specimens differ from those found in the typical Chazy chiefly in that the median plication on the pedicle valve is not conspicuously larger than the others.
The Relationships of the Brachiopods of the Lenoir, Holston, Athens^ and Ottosee formations.
THE LENOIR.
Twenty-one species of brachiopods have been reported above from the Lenoir, the oldest of the formations under discussion. The fossils have been derived from three somewhat widely separated localities, under the names of which they will be listed.
Vicinity of Knoxville.
Under this heading are included the species collected southeast of Knoxville, east of Concord, and at Lenoir City, Tenn. This is the typical region for the Lenoir.
Pledorthis exfoliata Raymond, Valcourea strophomenoides Raymond, Rafincsquina chain plainens is Raymond, R. viinnesoiensis (Winchell), R. alternata (Emmons), Plectambonites amjjlus Raymond, P. delicatulus Butts, Camarella panderi Billings, and Camarotoechia pristina Ray- mond.
Bluff City, Tenn.
This locality is about one hundred miles northeast of Knoxville, not far from Bristol.
Pledorthis exfoliata Raymond, Valcourea ventro-carinata (Butts), Rafinesquina alternata (Emmons), Camarella longirostra Billings, C. varians Billings, and Zygospira acutirostra (Hall).
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 301
Catawba Valley, north of Salem, Va.
This locality is about 330 miles northeast of Knoxville.
Hehcrtclla vulgaris Raymond, Plaesiomys platys (Billings), Dinorthis pcctinrUa (Emmons), Plcctamhonites negritus Willard, and Clitam- honifcs holstoni (Hall and Clarke).
Three species, not found at any of the above localities, are:
Ortkis disparilis Conrad, Rafinesquina pulchella Raymond, and Christiania lameUosa Butts. The last two have not been found asso- ciated with other species typical of the Lenoir.
Comparison of the Lenoir with the Chazy.
It will be at once noted that the brachiopods of the Lenoir have a strongl;>* Chazyan aspect. Plcdorthis exfoliata, Hehcrtclla vulgaris, Plaesiomys platys, Valcourca strophomcnoidcs, Rafinesquina cham- plainensis, Camarclla longirostra, C. varians, Camarotoechia pristina and Zygospira acutirostra, 9 of the 21 species, were originally described from the Chazy. Orfkis (lisparilis, Valcourca vcntro-carinata, and Clitamhonitcs holsiom have near allies in the Chazy, and Rafincsqitina altcrnata occurs in that formation.
These species have such long vertical ranges in the typical Chazy, however, that they do not afford evidence for exact correlation. The presence of Rafinesquina champlainensis, Plaesiomys platys, and Cama- rclla varians would in the typical region of the Chazy, generally indi- cate Middle Chazy, and the impression of the writer at the present time is that the Lenoir is neither youngest nor oldest Chazy. The only element of the fauna which is not Chazyan is seen in the presence of Plectambonites and Christiania. Neither of these genera has been found in the Chazy, and their absence has been a striking characteristic of that fauna. Their presence in the Southern Appalachians indicates that we have here a mixture of two faunal elements, but both Euro- pean in origin.
THE HOLSTON.
The Holston has a rather surprisingly large fauna of brachiopods, many of which, however, are at present known only from a single small quarry at Sharon Springs, Bland Co., Va. The fauna will be listed under three headings.
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Vicinity of Knoxville, Tenn,
This includes Fountain City, South Knoxville, and Concord.
Palaeoglossa belli (Billings), Plaesiomys pkiiys (Billings), Pionodema minuscula Willard, Plectamhonites r.cgritus Willard, Lcpiaena palvstrU Willard, Rafincsquina duplicistriafa Willard, Piychngh/ptus virc/inioisis Willard, and CamareUa pcwderi Billings.
Bland County, Va.
This includes the Hoge farm, near Bland, as well as the McNutt quarry at Sharon Springs, and is about 185 miles northeast of Knox- ville.
Lingula lyrlli Billings, Schizamhon cunratvs Willard, Conotreta d-- clivis Willard, Acrosaccus shvlcri Willard, A. panneus Willard, Prtro- crania prona Raymond, Hehertclla viclonica Willard, //. tml^nris Raymond, Dinorthis pectinclla (Emmons), NicolcUa agilera Willard, Plectamhonites crassus Willard, Rnfinesqnina minnesotcnsis (Winchell), R. champlainensis Raymond, R. distans Raymond, R. grandisfriata Wil- lard, PtycJwglyptus virgimensis W'illard, Oxoplecin fwlstonensis Willard, Clitamhonitcs porcia (Billings), CamareUa panderi Billings, and Parns- trophia rotundifonnis Willard.
Varioi's localities.
The following species have been found at various localities in south- western Virginia, from Blacksburg on the east to Speers Ferry on the west.
Lingula narrawayi Wilson, Plectorthis holdeni Willard, Dinorthis atavoides Willard, Plectamhonites equistriatiis Willard, P. pisum Ruede- mann, P. triseptatus Willard, Lcpiaena prona Willard, Strophomena tenuitesta Willard, Cliiamhonites holstoni (Hall and Clarke), and Camarotoechia quadriplicata Willard.
Comparison of the Brachiopods of the Holston with those of
THE ChAZY.
The Holston contains some Chazyan species, although they do not dominate the fauna, as in the case of the Lenoir. They are: Palaeo- glossa helli (Billings), Lingula lyelli Billings, Petrocrania prona Ray- mond, Hehcrtella vulgaris Raymond, Plaesiomys plnfys (Billings),
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 303
Rafinesquina champlainensis Raymond, R. distans Raymond, and CUtamhoniies porcia (Billings). Two more species, Schizambon cuneatus Willard and Clitamhonitcs holstoni are very similar to Chazyan brachio- pods. The Chazyan element in the Holston amounts to about 25% as contrasted with about 50% in the case of the Lenoir. The element un- known to the Chazy is large and contains Conotreta, Acrosaccus, Nicolella, Pionodema, Plectambonites, Ptychoglyptus, Oxoplecia and Parastrophia. Acrosaccus, Nicolella and Ptychoglyptus are unknown elsewhere in America, but Conotreta, Oxoplecia and Parastrophia are known from post-Chazyan formations.
THE OTTOSEE.
The greater part of the brachiopods collected from thepttosee were obtained at two localities, neither of which is in the typical region about Knoxville, Tenn. It is known that this formation is very prolific in brachiopods at other localities which I have not visited, and the species described by Dr. Willard probably represent only a small part of the fauna.
LuTTRELL, Tenn. About 20 miles north of Knoxville.
Schizambon cuneatus Willard, Petrocrania prona Raymond, P. cicatricula Willard, Orthis disparilis Conrad, Plectorthis exfoliata Ray- mond, Hebertella melonica Willard, H, vulgaris Raymond, Glyptorthis bellarugosa (Conrad), Plaesiomys platys (Billings), Dinortliis pcctinella (Emmons), D. quadriplicata Willard, D. transversa Willard, Pionodema globosa Willard, Plectambonites curdsvillenses Foerste, Rafinesquina minnesotensis (Winchell), R. duplicistriata Wi\\a.rd, Clitambonites porcia (Billings), and Camarotoechia quadriplicata Willard.
Fugates Hill, 7 miles north of Mendota, Va., and 85 miles
northeast of luttrell.
Orthis disparilis Conrad, Plectorthis exfoliata Raymond, Hebertella melonica Willard, Plaesiomys platys (Billings), P. brevis Willard, Din- orthis interstriata Willard, Z). quadriplicata Willard, D. transversa Willard, Pionodema subaequata (Conrad), P. globosa Willard, Plec- tambonites curdsvillensis Foerste, P. aequistriatus Willard, Rafinesquina minnesotensis (Winchell), R. champlainensis Raymond, R. duplicis- triata Willard, Strophomena filitexta (Hall), S. tennesseensis Willard, S. inspeciosa Willard, and Oxoplecia holstonensis Willard.
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Liberty Hill, Tenn.
This locality is only 15 miles north of Luttrell, but it is the most western (geologically not geographically) outcrop of the Ottosee at which the fauna can be definitely recognized.
Glyptorthis bellarugosa (Conrad), Dalmanella rogata (Sardeson), Placsiomys plofys (Billings), P. dongata Willard, Pionodema globosa Willard, Plcciamhonitcs aequistriatus Willard, Rafincsquina minne- sotensis (Winchell), Strophomena filitexta (Hall), S. iennesseensis Wil- lard, S. inspeciosa Willard, and Camarella volborthi Billings.
Various localities.
In addition to the species listed above, Bassler finds that the type of Christiania suhquadrata Hall was obtained from the Ottosee of Blount Co., Tenn., and I found a single valve of Christiania at the same hori- zon on the Hoge Farm, Bland Co., Va.
Chazyan element in the Ottosee.
Pdrocrania prona Raymond, Plectorthis exfoliata Raymond, Heber- tella indgaris Raymond, Placsiomys platys (Billings), Rafinesquina cham plain ensis Raymond, and Clitamboniies porcia (Billings) are spe- cies described originally from the Chazy, Glyptorthis bellarugosa (Con- rad) is found in the Chazy on Valcour Island, N. Y., Camarotoechia quadriplicata is hardly distinguishable from one of variants of C. plena (Hall), and Schizambo7i cuneatus Willard is very like »S. dupli- cimvratus Hudson. Thus nine of the thirty-one species, or 29% are distinctly Chazyan. The non-Chazyan element is represented by Dalmanella, Dinorthis, Pionodema, Plectambonites, Christiania, and Oxoplecia.
THE ATHENS.
Brachiopods are very seldom found in the Athens, and the five species so far found are all from one locality south of Otes, Tenn. One only, Lingida nympha Billings, is of any particular interest. This large and striking Lingula has previously been known only from the Nor- manskill of Newfoundland. Hebertella bursa Raymond is the only unique species, Placsiomys platys (Billings) occurs in the Chazy, Orthis disparilis (Conrad) is similar to the Chazyan 0. ignicula Raymond, and Oxoplesia holstonensis survived from the Holston and Ottosee.
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 305
THE VERTICAL RANGE OF THE SPECIES.
The faunas of the Lenoir, Holston, Ottosee and Athens are rather strongly individualized, but there are some species which seem to con- nect them. Only one, Placsiomys platys, is found in all four, but Ra- finesquina minncsotensis, R. champlainensu, Hebertella vulgaris and Dinorthis pectinella are found in all but the Athens. Clitambonites holstoni is found in both the Lenoir and the Holston, Pledorthis ex- foliata connects the Lenoir and Ottosee, and Orthis disparilis is in the Lenoir, Ottosee, and Athens. Altogether, 8 of the 21 species of the Lenoir pass on into one or more younger formations.
Thirty -six species are recorded by Willard from the Holston; 6 of these are survivors from the Lenoir, and 12 continue into the Ottosee. The Holston and Ottosee faunas are therefore closely allied.
Willard found 31 species in the Ottosee, 7 of which survived from the Lenoir and 12 from the Holston. Still, there are 16 species, or more than half the fauna, not shared with the other formations in this region.
Two of the 5 brachiopods so far found in the Athens survived from the Lenoir, one is a familiar Chazyan type of Hebertella, and one is a Lingula which probably drifted in with the pelagic trilobites. The dis- covery of a Ptychoglyptus in the Athens of Alabama is of interest as suggesting a connection of the Athens and Holston.
THE BRACHIOPODS OF THE STONES RIVER IN CENTRAL TENNESSEE.
The brachiopods of eastern Tennessee and Virginia should be com- pared with those of the Stones River group in central Tennessee. This group includes the following members, in descending order, viz : Leba- non limestone, Ridley limestone, Pierce limestone, and Murfreesboro limestone.
Lebanon limestone.
The following species, except for the two marked with an asterisk, whose names are taken from a list by Dr. L^lrich, were collected by the writer at Lebanon, Tennessee.
Petrocrania sp. ind., Leptobolus sp. ind., *Orthis tricenaria Conrad, Pionodema minuscula Willard, Plaesiomys dcflecia (Conrad), Glypt- orthis bellarugosa (Conrad), Rafinesquina minnesotcnsis (Winchell), *Plectambonites sp. ind., Strophomena filitexta (Hall), Scenidium
306 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
anthonense Sardeson, Rhynchotrema minnesotense (Sardeson), and Zygospira saffordi (Winchell and Schuchert).
Ridley.
The following species were collected by the writer on Stones River near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
Orthis disparilis Conrad, Glyptorthis bellarugosa (Conrad), Rafines- quina minnesotensis (Winchell), R. alternata (Emmons), Camarella volborthi Billings, and Protorhyncha ridleyana (Safford).
Pierce.
The following brachiopods are listed from the Pierce in Folio 95, U. S. G. S., 1903, by Ulrich.
Pionodema subacquata (Conrad), P. stonensis (Safford), Strophomena filitexta (Hall) and Protorhyncha ridleyana (Safford).
Murfreesboro.
The following species were collected by the writer from cherts in the Murfreesboro near Stones River about a mile west of Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Rafinesquina cf. distans Raymond, R, sp. ind., and Zygospira saf- fordi (Winchell and Schuchert).
COMPARISON OF EASTERN FAUNAS WITH THOSE OF THE
STONES RIVER.
The Murfreesboro evidently contains very few brachiopods, in fact, no previous investigator has reported any. The small fauna is of no value in correlation, although one of the Rafinesquinas suggests R. distans, which occurs in the Holston, and Zygospira saffordi is not very different from the Zygospira acutirostra of the Lenoir.
The fauna of the Ridley may be rather definitely connected with the Ottosee. All of the species known from the Ridley except Protorhyncha ridleyana have been found in the Ottosee, but the most striking bond between the two formations is the presence of Camarella volborthi at Liberty Hill, and of Glyptorthis bellarugosa at Liberty Hill and Luttrell in the Ottosee. These species do not occur in the other eastern forma- tions and are particularly abundant and characteristic in the Ridley. The occurrence of an Oxoplecia closely allied to 0. holstonensis in the Ridley of Alabama is also significant.
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 307
The fauna of the Pierce is of interest chiefly as the first appearance of Pionodema sv.haeq'unia and Stro'phomcna filitexia in central Tennessee. These species appear first in the Ottosee in eastern Tennessee.
The fauna of the Lebanon is also more closely allied to that of the Ottosee than to any of the other eastern formations. From other evi- dence, however, it appears that it is really somewhat younger than the Ottosee and the likeness was acquired through descent. Particular in- terest attaches to the fact that Plectambonites appears in this section first in the Lebanon, and is not common there. In fact the entire Stones River series of brachiopods appears to have been derived from the eastern basin, with the possible exception of Protorhyncha, but it in its turn made no contribution to the eastern fauna.
THE BRACHIOPODS OF THE GIRVAN DISTRICT,
SCOTLAND.
The Llandeilo is represented in the Girvan district, Ayrshire, by the Stinchar and Balclatchie formations, the former being the older. Ac- cording to Reed, who has monographed the faunas (Trans. Royal Soc. of Edinburgh, 51, 1917, pt. 4, pp. 795-998, pi. 1-24), sixty named species and varieties of brachiopods are known from the Stinchar hmestone, twenty of which pass into the Balclatchie, and there are seventy species in the latter. Reed commented on the fact that these faunas were more nearly like those of the American Middle Ordovician than like those of the Llandeilo of other parts of Great Britain, but did not make comparisons with particular faunas.
Although there are no species common to Virginia, Tennessee, and Scotland, nearly all the genera occur in both regions, and at least two, Nicolella and Ptychoglyptus are, so far as is known at present, re- stricted to the Girvan District and the southern Appalachians. Other significant genera, not of wide distribution either in Europe or North America, are: Conotreta, Schizambon, Christiania, Camarella and Oxoplecia. Dalmanella, Christiania, Plectambonites, Camarella, Para- strophia, and Oxoplecia, with perhaps other genera, were probably in- troduced from Europe in Chazy times, very likely tia Newfoundland.
The following table will show, in parallel columns, which of the American species have close allies in the Girvan district. L, H, O, or A after a species in the American list signifies that it is found in the Lenoir, Holston, Ottosee or Athens. In the Scottish list, S signifies Stinchar and B the Balclatchie.
308
bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Virginia — Tennessee
Palaeoglossa belli. H.
Lingula lyelli. H.
L. nympha. A.
Schizambofi cuneahis. H. O.
Conotreta declivis. H.
Petrocrania lirona. H. O.
Orthis disparilis. L. O. A.
Plectorthis exfoliata. L. O.
P. holdeni. H.
Hebertella vulgaris. L. H. O.
H. melonica. H. O.
H. bursa. A.
Glyptorthis bellarugosa. O,
DalmaneUa rogata. O.
Pionodema globosa. O.
Dinorthis transversa. O.
Nicolclla agilera. H.
Rafinesquina ntimiesotensis
R. alternata. L.
Plectambonites delicatulus. L.
P. crassus. H.
Piychogly plus virginiensis. H.
Christiania uvibonata. L. O?
Strophomena filitcxta. O.
Oxoplecia holstonensis. H. O. A,
Camarella longirostra. L.
C. varians. L.
C. volborthi. O.
Parastrophia rotundiformis. H.
Camarotoechia quadriplicata. H
H. O.
O.
Girvan District.
Palaeoglossa amabitilis. B. Lingida angustior. B. Lingulasmaf ardmillanensis. B. Schizavihon scoticus. S. Conotreta conoidea. S. B. Philhedra playfairi. B. Orthis craigcnsis. S. Plectorthis duftonensis. B. P. subplicatella.'B. Hebertella scotica. S. B. i/. bellatriv. B. //. rankini. B.
Glyptorthis balclatchiensis. S. B. Dahnanella gracilis. S. B. Pionodema girvanensis. S. B. Dinorthis carrickensis. S. B. Nicolella actoniae. S. B. Rafinesquina semiglobosina. S. B. P. conccntrica. B. Plectambonites llandeiloensis. B. P. conspicua. B. Ptychoglyptus siibarachnoidea. B. Christiania youngiana. S. B. Strophomena deficiens. S. B. Oxoplecia andersoni. S. B. Camarella balclatchiensis. S. B. C. thompsoni. S. C. pcachi. S.
Par atrophia youngi. S, B. Rhynchotrema lapworthi. S.
Summarizing the above, 7 of the 21 species in the Lenoir are closely aUied to species in the Girvan district, 15 of the 36 species in the Hol- ston, 17 of the 31 in the Ottosee, more than half, and 4 of the 5 in the Athens. A curious feature of the resemblances is, that the alhed species for each of the American formations are about equally distributed be- tween the Stinchar and the Balclatchie, and it is not possible to corre- late the formations except in a general way.
WILLARD AND RAYMOND: BRACHIOPODS. 309
Thus, 3 of the species alUed to Lenoir forms are found in both the Stinchar and Balclatchie, and 6 are in the Balclatchie as against 5 in the Stinchar. Five of the species aUied to brachiopods of the Holston are found in both Stinchar and Balclatchie, 12 are found in the Bal- clatchie, and 8 in the Stinchar. This suggests that the Holston is more nearly akin to the Balclatchie, but when the Ottosee brachiopods are compared, we find 12 allied species in the Balclatchie as against 13 in the Stinchar, and yet the Ottosee rests on the Holston. Nine of the allied species are in this case common to the Stinchar and Balclatchie. The Athens contains too few brachiopods to make comparisons of any value, but as I have shown in a previous paper, (Bull. jNIus. Comp. Zool., 07, 1925, pp. 1-lSO) the trilobites of that formation are very much like those of the Balclatchie.
EXPLANATION OF PLATES.
PLATE 1.
Wjllabd and Raymond: — Brachiopods.
PLATE 1.
Fig. 1. Lingula mjmpha Billings. A complete specimen from the Athens south of Otes, Tenn. X about ^.
Fig. 2. Lingula lyelli Billings. A pedicle valve from the Holston at Sharon Springs, Va. X \.
V\g. 3. PalneogJossn gibbosn Willard. A pedicle valve from the Murat at I-exington, Va. X ^.
Fig. 4. Schizambon cuneatus Willard. A pedicle valve from Sharon Springs, Va. X 2.
Fig. 5. Plectorthis holdeni Willard. A pedicle valve from the base of the Holston at Speers Ferry, Va. X I5.
Fig. 6. Petrocrania prona Raymond. Interior of a brachial valve from the base of the Ottosee at Luttrell, Va. X g.
Fig. 7. Hebertella bursa Raymond. Brachial valve of a specimen from the Athens south of Otes, Tenn. X .96.
Fig. 8, 9. Hebertella melonica Willard. Brachial and pedicle valves of the holotype from the Ottosee at Fugates Ilill, north of Mendota, Va. X 1:^ .
Fig. 10. Plaesiomys platys (Billings). Interior of a brachial valve from the Ottosee at Liberty Hill, Tenn. X l.L
Fig. 11. The same species. Pedicle valve of a specimen from the Ottosee at Speers Ferry, Va. X f .
Fig. 12. Plaes'lomys brevis Willard. Pedicle valve of a small specimen from the Ottosee at Fugates Hill, north of Mendota, Va. X 1§.
Fig. 13. Dinorthis quadriplicata Willard. Pedicle valve of the holotype from the Ottosee, at Fugates Hill, north of Mendota, Va. X 1. (See also figs. 5, 6, pi. 3).
Fig. 14. Plaesiomys brevis Willard. Brachial valve of a larger individual from the same horizon and locality as number 12. X 1§.
Fig. 15, 16. Plaesiomys elongata Willard. Brachial and pedicle valves of the holotype from the Ottosee at Liberty HiU, Tenn. X 1.1.
BULL. MUS. COMP. ZOOL.
WiLLARD- Raymond. Brachiopods. Plate 1
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6
%6
11
13
H6LIOTYPE 00. BOSTON
PLATE 2.
WiLLABD AND Raymopjd: — Brachiopods.
PLATE 2.
Fig. 1. Dinorthis transversa WiUsiTd. Pedicle valve of the holotype from the Ottosee at Luttrell, Tenn. X |.
Fig. 2. The same specimen. Brachial valve. X 1.
Fig. 3. Pionodema minvscula Willard. Pedicle valve of the holotype from the Lebanon at Lebanon, Tenn. X \^.
Fig. 4. Dinorthis atavoides Willard. Pedicle valve of the holotype from the Holston west of Speers Ferrj', Va. X If.
Fig. 5. Pionodema globosa Willard. Pedicle valve of the holotype from the Ottosee at Fugates Hill, north of Mendota, Va. X 1.
Fig. 6. Dinorthis transversa Willard. Pedicle valve of a paratype from the same horizon and locality as numbers 1 and 2. XI.
Fig. 7. Plectambonites triseptatics Willard. Interior of a pedicle valve, (paratype), from the Holston near Goodwins Ferry, Va. X 1.46.
Fig. 8. The same species. Interior of a brachial valve (holotype) from the same horizon and locality as the last. X 1.
Fig. 9. Plectambonites amplus Raymond. Brachial valve of the holotype, from the Lenoir 6 miles southeast of KnoxAdlle, Tenn. X 1. See also fig. 12, pi. 3.
Fig. 10. Rafinesquina pulchella Raymond. Pedicle valve of the holotype from the Lenoir at Athens, Tenn. X 2.
Fig. 11. Rafinesquina grandisiriata Willard. Pedicle valve of the holotype from the Holston at Sharon Springs, Va. X If.
Fig. 12. Ptychoglyptus virgiiiiensis Willard. Pedicle valve of the holotype from the Holston at Sharon Springs, Va. X ly.
Fig. 13. Strophomena inspeciosa Willard. Holotype from the Ottosee at Liberty Hill, Tenn., showing brachial valve and cardinal area. X IJ. ^
Fig. 14. Camarotoechia quadriplicata Willard. Pedicle valve of the holotype from the base of the Ottosee at Luttrell, Tenn. X 1.
Fig. 15, 16. Strophomena tenuitesta Willard. Brachial and pedicle valves of the holotype, from the Holston west of Speers Ferry, Va. X 0.85.
Fig. 17. Stropho7nena tennesseensis Willard. Pedicle valve of one of the cotypes from the Ottosee at Fugates Hill, north of Mendota, Va. X IJ.
Fig. 18. The same species. Interior of pedicle valve of the other cotj'pe from the same horizon and locality. X j.
BULL. MUS. COMP. ZOOL.
WiLLARD- Raymond. Brachiopods. Plate 2
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PLATE 3.
WiixARD AND Raymond: — Brachiopods.
PLATE 3.
Fig. 1. Acrosacciis shuleri Willard. One of the cotypes, a brachial valve, from the Holston at Sharon Springs, Va. X 3^.
Fig. 2. The same species. Lateral view of the other cotype, a pedicle valve from the same horizon and locality. X 2.
Fig. 3. Acrosaccus panneus Willard. The holotype, viewed from the in- terior of the pedicle valve, the posterior end at the top. Note trace of pedicle tube behind apex. From the Holston at Sharon Springs, Va. X 1§.
Fig. 4. Petrocrania cicatricula Willard. Interior of the brachial valve of the holotype from the base of the Ottosee at Luttrell, Tenn. X 1^.
Fig. 5, 6. Dinorthis quadriplicata Willard. Posterior and pedicle views of the holotype from the Ottosee at Fugates Hill, north of Mendota, Va. X 1. (See also pi. 1, fig. 13.)
Fig. 7. Nicolella agilera Willard. Pedicle valve of the holotype from the Holston at Sharon Springs, Va. X 1.
Fig. 8. Plectambonites aequistriatus Willard. Interior of pedicle valve of one of the cotypes from the Ottosee at Liberty Hill, Tenn. X 2.
Fig. 9. The same species. The brachial valve and cardinal area of the pedicle valve of the other cotype from the same horizon and locality. X 2.
Fig. 10. Plectambonites crassus Willard. Enlargement of a small piece of the surface of the holotype to show the double nature of the major striae. From the Holston at Sharon Springs, Va. X 6§.
Fig. 11. Plectambonites delicatulus Butts. An individual from the Lenoir 6 miles southeast of Knoxville, Tenn. X 2.
Fig. 12. Plectambonites amplus Raymond. An enlargement of part of the surface of the holotype to show striations. X 6f . See also pi. 2, fig. 9.
Fig. 13. Plectambonites negritus Willard. Pedicle valve of the holotype. From the Lenoir in the Catawba Vallej', north of Salem, Va. X 2f .
Fig. 14. Leptaena palustris Willard. Pedicle valve (holotype) from the Holston at Concord, Tenn. X 2'i.
Fig. 15, 16. Leptaena pro7ia Willard. Profile and drawing of the pedicle valve of the holotype, from the Holston at Goodwins Ferry, Va. X 1.
Fig. 17. Oxoplecia holstonensis WiUard. A pedicle valve (holotype) from the Holston at Sharon Springs, Va. X 2.
Fig. 18, 19. Christiania latnellosa Butts. A fragmentary specimen viewed from the dorsal side, and a mold of the brachial valve. From the Lenou* at Athens, Tenn. X 2.
BULL. MUS. COMP. 200L.
WiLLARD- Raymond. Brachiopods. Plate 3
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X
8
11
14
10
12
15
13
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19
Elvira Wood, del
Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology AT HARVARD COLLEGE. Vol. LXVIII. No. 7.
BIRDS COLLECTED BY DR. JOSEPH F. ROCK IN WESTERN KANSU AND EASTERN TIBET.
By OuTRAM Bangs and James L. Peters.
With Five Plates.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS., U. S. A.:
PRINTED FOR THE MUSEUM
August, 1928.
No. 7. — Birds Collected by Dr. Joseph F. Rock in Western Kansu and
Eastern Tibet.
By Outram Bangs and James L. Peters.
Introduction
In the spring of 1925 Dr. Joseph F. Rock was commissioned by the late Professor Charles S. Sargent, Director of the Arnold Arboretum, to make an extensive trip into western China and to visit certain forest areas in search of botanical and horticultural material. Thanks to the generous interest of Dr. Thomas Barbour, Dr. Rock was enabled to take with him his two trained Chinese bird collectors.
The expedition was in the field from April 1925 until the autumn of 1926. For much of that time the work was carried on under ex- tremely trying conditions, intertribal wars, open hostility towards the whites by some of the Tibetan tribes, and bandits interfering much with his movements. In spite of all these drawbacks Dr. Rock and his Chinese assistants collected over 1000 birds, which after passing through many delays, and Chinese civil wars, reached this country in perfect condition without the loss of a feather.
It must be clearly understood that bird collecting was entirely a secondary consideration with Dr. Rock; his visits to any locality and the length of stay there were governed entirely by the botanical aspect of the situation.
Dr. Rock has made a map, which we have seen and studied, of the whole region that he traversed, which certainly was badly in need of accurate mapping. This he expects to publish.
The photographs were taken by Dr. Rock and are published here by permission of the Arnold Arboretum.
Fntering Kansu from northern Szechuan in April 1925, Dr. Rock proceeded up the Wutu and Minchow rivers to Choni, in the Tao River valley. He collected in the region about Choni during May and June, making a trip to Mt. Lieuhoashan between Choni and Titao in July; during August he visited the Minshan range. In September he crossed the Tibetan border and collected around Lake Kokonor, later moving north into western Kansu where he explored the northern slopes of the Richthofen and North Kokonor Barrier ranges in late September, October and November, returning to Choni to spend January, Feb- ruary and March 1926. In the spring he set out westward, crossing
314 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
once more into Tibet, and collecting during May and June in the Ba valley, the Jupar mountains and the Yellow River gorges near Radja. Sometime during the summer he made a hurried reconnaissance of the great sacred mountain of Amne Machin, but was prevented from doing any work there by the open hostility of the Golock tribesmen. Re- turning to Choni late in the summer, he crossed the Minshan range and spent late August, September and early October in the Tebbu country. This region is not indicated on any published map. Rock speaks of an "upper Tebbu country" and a "lower" or "Ha Tebbu country." In the Tebbu lands Rock collected in the forests of Pezlu, Drakana, Mayaku, Sambaku and Wantsang Ku.
In many instances we have not been able to reconcile Dr. Rock's orthography of Chinese place names with the spelling on modern maps ; we have however, preserved his spelling in every case.
We find that the sexing of the Chinese taxidermists is not de- pendable, and have been obliged to disregard it entirely in many cases.
We are indebted to the authorities of the United States National Museum and the American Museum of Natural History for the loan of necessary specimens, and to Mr. N. B. Kinnear of the British Museum of Natural History; and to Dr. Herbert C. Robinson for comparing some of our material with types in the British Museum.
The sequence of families in this paper is that of Sharpe's Hand List, with two exceptions. Following the recent consensus of opinion we recognize the Prunellidae as a distinct family. We also follow Sush- kin and remove the genera Passer and Montifringilla from the Frin- gillidae to the Ploceidae.
TETRAONIDAE
Tetrastes sewerzowi sewerzowi Przew.
Tetrastes Sewerzowi Przewalski, Mongol i. Strana Tangut, 2, 1876, p. 130, pi. 18 (Kansu mountains in the lower and middle mountain ranges) .
The Kansu Hazel Hen is represented in the collection by a fine series of sixteen examples including adults, immature and chicks. There are three males and a female from the spruce forests between 9,500 and 11,000 feet altitude in the Tao valley near Choni, collected during May and June 1925. One of the males taken in June has begun the post-nuptial moult, the renewal of the feathers is most conspicuous on the head, throat and neck, though a few pin feathers are noted elsewhere on the anterior portions of the dorsal and lateral tracts;
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 315
wings and tail are as yet unmoulted. Two adult females and three chicks were collected on Mt. Lieuhoashan, between elevations of 10,500 and 11,000 feet. Two adult males, an adult female and two immature were secured in the spruce forests of Drakana, upper Tebbuland, altitude 9,500 feet, during September 1926; the female and one of the males have shed the tail, and some of the fresh inner pri- maries are about one quarter grown. Two females collected in October 1925 at 11,500 feet in the mountains of Babo are in fresh autumnal plumage, the feathers of the upper parts being broadly veiled with olive brown, while below the veiling is buffy anteriorly and white posteriorly.
Riley's Tetrastes sewerzoun secunda (Auk, 42, 1925, p. 423 near Tatsienlu, Szechuan), of which we have three skins, is a valid race. None of our examples of s. sewerzowi show the characters that distin- guish secunda. We mention this as Riley had but a single specimen of the former race on which to base his comparison.
PHASIANIDAE
Tetraophasis obscurus (Verreaux)
Lophophorus ohscurue Verreaux, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Paris, Bull. 5, 1869, p. 33, pi. 6 (eastern Tibet = Mupin, Szechuan).
Rock collected two specimens of this rare pheasant in the Maerku valley, Tao River basin, south of Choni. The two birds, both sexed as females by the Chinese taxidermist, were obtained in forests, one in June and the other in December 1925.
Tetraogallus tibetanus przewalskii Bianchi
Tetraogallus tibetanus przeimhkii Bianchi, Aves Exp. Koslowi Mongol, u Tibet or. 1907, p. 165 (eastern Tibet).
In May 1925 a male was secured at an elevation of 1 1 ,500 feet on the cliffs at Peshingai, beyond Taochow in southwestern Kansu; a juvenal about half grown was collected on talus slopes at 13,500 feet, high alpine zone of the Minshan range. Six adults were obtained in eastern Kokonor; four of them (two males and two females) on the rocky exposed slopes 12,000 to 13,000 feet; on the mountains south of the Yellow River opposite Radja, a male at 13,000 feet on the high rocky slopes of the Waro valley 4 June 1926, and a male at 14,500 feet on talus in the Totuchnira pass over the Jupar range, 2 July 1926.
316 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Alectoris graeca pubescens (Swinh.)
Caccabis chukar var. pubescens Swinhoe, P. Z. S., 1871, p. 400 (northern China to the upper Yangtse).
In May 1925 a single specimen was taken in a rocky mountain gorge of the Wutu River, north of Kaichow, altitude 4,600 feet; five more examples, adults and immature, were secured during September 1926 at an elevation of 7,000 feet on dry slopes above Wantsang gomba. Ha Tebbuland. A female collected in October 1925 along a gravelly stream in the Liyuan Ku valley, Richthofen range, we also refer to this subspecies although the bird is slightly paler above than specimens of pubescens from eastern China. It is completing the autumnal moult ^and the wing feathers are not fully grown out.
Alectoris graeca magna (Przewalski)
Caccabis magna Przewalski, Mongol i. Strana Tangut, 2, 1876, p. 127 (south Kokonor mountains, northern Tibet and Tsaidam plains).
All the rock partridges collected in Kokonor belong to this very distinct form that some ornithologists regard as a species. Seven adults of both sexes were taken in the Yellow River valley near Radja between 12 and 26 May 1926. They were found on grassy slopes and rocky hills at altitudes varying from 10,000 to 11,500 feet.
A male obtained in the valley of Sining, 7,800 feet in September 1925 apparently extends the range of this bird into western Kansu; the specimen is in worn plumage and stained with red earth or sandstone and for these reasons is not comparable with topotypical examples. It is labelled as having the eyes brown, whereas the birds comprising the series from eastern Kokonor are variously labelled as having the eyes yellowish gray, clay colored, yellow clay color or yellow.
Perdix hodgsoniae sifanica Przew.
Perdix sifanica Przewalski, Mongol i. Strana Tangut, 2, 1876, p. 124 (alpine regions of Kansu).
Rock secured thirteen specimens of this Partridge in western Kansu, eastern Kokonor and in the Minshan range, all of them belonging to the same race. A female and two three-quarter grown young birds were taken in October 1925 at 10,000 feeton the grasslandsof Peitatung; on October 5 four immature examples were collected in eastern Kokonor on the summit of a pass at 1 1 ,000 feet between Tangar and Machuang Ku; and an adult with the autumnal moult incomplete
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 317
was shot between 11,000 and 12,000 feet in the Laliku Gorge, Tangar- Kokonor divide.
In the region about Radja three males were collected during May 1926 where the species was found in spruce forest and grassy clearings; the alpine regions of Kwanke-shan, 12,500 feet on the Yangtze- Yellow River divide yielded two specimens — an adult female and an immature male, in October 1926.
Ithaginis sinensis SINENSIS David
I thagenis sinensis David, Ann. Sci. Nat. 18, art. 5, 1873, p. 1 (Shensi).
Dr. Rock sent back a fine series of this splendid Blood Pheasant. Thirteen adults were secured near Choni in the spruce and fir forests of the Tao River valley at altitudes ranging from 10,000 to 11,000 feet. While on Mt. Lieuhoashan in July 1925 he collected three adults, and three chicks about a week old. During September 1926 two adults were secured in the spruce and fir forests in the Laliku valley 9,500- 10,000 feet, northern slopes of the Minshans; two more adults in the juniper forests of Pezlu, upper Tebbu country, at 9,000 feet, and an immature female in spruce forest of Sambaku, 10,000 feet, Ha Tebbu- land.
Ithaginis sinensis michaelis Bianchi
Ithaginis sinensis michaelis Bianchi, Ann. Mus. Zool. St. Petersb. 8, 1903, p. 4 (northern foothills of the Nanshans).
Two males and a female of this rare and very distinct race were taken in November 1925 in spruce forest at 9,000 feet on Mt. Nginsin- shan (Bullock Heart Mountain), a mountain in the north Kokonor Barrier range facing the southern end of the Richthofen range.
The males are paler than s. sinensis both above and below; wing edgings more rusty and less reddish, and there is much more green on the shaft streaks of the wing coverts, long scapulars and the feathers of the posterior upper parts. The female is a much paler and more smoky gray than the corresponding sex of s. sinensis. Wing of males 205 and 220; that of female 210.
Crossoptilon auritum (Pallas)
Phasianus auritus Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. 2, 1827, p. 86 (interior of China).
One of the outstanding features of Dr. Rock's collection is a series of eleven adults and three chicks of this magnificent bird. It was not uncommon in the North Kokonor Barrier range where he obtained
318 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
four males and two females at 9,000 feet on Mt. Nginsinshan in October 1925. He shot a pair 15 May 1926 in the juniper forests of the Serchen gorge, 10,500 feet altitude, 1 day east of Radja, eastern Tibet, and on 28 May 1926 collected a male and two females in spruce forest at 11,000 feet south of the Yellow River opposite Radja. The three chicks were found on 25 June 1926 at 11,000 feet in spruce forest on the mountains west of the Jupar valley; they were not over three or four days old.
In addition to the specimens listed above, the collection contains the skin of a female raised in captivity at Choni, where this bird is reared from eggs taken from the nests of wild stock found in the mountains of southwestern Kansu. From the captives the middle tail feathers, which are in demand as ornaments for the headgear of the Mandarins, are pulled out.
Rock's wild killed birds all have the ornamental middle tail feathers, which are lacking in the Choni example.
PucRASiA xanthospila Gray
Pucrasia xanthospila Gray, P. Z. S., 1864, p. 259, pi. 20 (hills northwest of Pekin).
Two females were taken at an elevation of 7,500 feet in the scrub oak forests of Mayaku, Ha Tebbuland in September 1926. In the absence of any comparative material of either P. x. xanthospila or P. X. ruficollis David and Oustalet (Ois. Chine, 1877, texte, p. 408, Shensi) we cannot comment on these birds. Kleinschmidt and Weigold (Abh. u. ber. Mus. Dresden, 16, 1923, no. 2, p. 4) question the validity of the latter form.
Phasianus colchicus sohokhotensis Buturlin
Phasianus stravchi sohokhotensis Buturlin, Ibis, 1908, p. 576 (oasis of Soho- Khoto, near Tshen-fan, 100 km. from the northern slopes of the eastern Nan Shan).
Dr. Rock sent in a female pheasant from the Liyiian Ku valley in the Richthofen foothills, where the bird was shot during November 1925 in willow scrub along a stream at an elevation of 7,000 feet.
This specimen is too pale for P. c. strauchi, of which we have a single female for comparison, and is rather too dark for P. c. sat- scheiiensis Pleske, the race inhabiting the southern Gobi desert and westernmost Kansu of which we also have a female for comparison. We can find no description ©f the female of sohokhotensis, but infer that our bird is referable to that form, on geographic grounds.
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 319
Phasianus colchicus strauchi Przew.
Phasianus strauchi PTzewalski, Mongol, i. Strana Tangut, 2, 1876, p. 119, pi. 17 (Kansu mountains up to 10,000 feet).
According to Dr. Rock, Strauch's pheasant is very common in the Tao valley, but unfortunately he did not secure a series ; a spring male with traces of a white collar was preserved, also a male shot during February 1926. Two chicks about ten days old from the Kadjaku valley, 9,500 feet, collected during August 1925, are doubtless referable to this race.
Phasianus colchicus suehschanensis Bianchi
Phasianus suehschanensis Bianchi, Bull. Ac. imp. Sc. St. Petersb. (5) 24, 1906, p. 83 (Sungpan Szechwan).
The three specimens of pheasant from lower Tebbuland are certainly referable to this race. An adult female collected in September 1925 at 8,500 feet in the forests of Wantsangku agrees with a female in the Museum of Comparative Zoology from the upper Min valley in Szechuan, which may be considered topotypical. Two males taken September 1926 at 8,000 feet in the fields or scrub forests of Mayaku are moulting from the juvenal to the first winter plumage, but enough of the latter has appeared to make certain that these birds, too, belong to suehschanensis.
COLUMBIDAE
COLUMBA LEUCONOTA GRADARIA Hart.
Columha leuconota gradaria Hartert, Nov. Zool., 23, 1916, p. 85 (Sungpan, Szechwan).
Two males and a female of this pigeon were secured in June and August, 1925 amidst the snow fields and rocks on the summit of Mt. KwangKei (12,500 feet) in the western part of the Minshan range near the Kansu-Tibet border. During J,uly of the same year three additional specimens were taken in the valley of Shiaoku, 10,500 feet, where the birds frequented larch forests and adjacent meadows. A seventh example, a female, was collected at 8,000 feet in the forest of Mayaku, Ha Tebbuland, September 1926.
We have carefully compared these skins with a series from Szechuan and can detect no differences at all.
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COLUMBA RUPESTRIS RUPESTRIS Pall. Colu7nbaOenas 8 rupestris Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso- Asiat. 1, 1827, p. 560 (Dauria). This pigeon was met with in southern Kansu along the Wutu River north of Kaichow at 4,000 feet where three females were secured in May 1925, and again in eastern Tibet where a male was collected at 11,500 feet 30 May, and a female 2 June 1926 on rocky cliffs among the junipers in the Sakatu ravine; two females were obtained a few days later at 11,000 feet in the meadows of the Shala valley.
CoLUMBA sp. (domestic variety)?
Two very dark rock pigeons, cf and 9 , were taken along the Wutu River, elevation 3,000 feet, south Kansu, in April 1925.
These birds are slaty-black all over with much iridescence on the neck and crop region. They do not agree with the description of Buturlin's nigricans of inner Mongolia, being too dark. We suspect, of course, that they are domestic birds gone wild.
CoLUMBA HODGSONI VigOrS Columha hodgsoni Vigors, P. Z. S., 1832, p. 16 (middle Himalayas).
One of the surprises of the collection was a fine pair of these birds obtained at 9,500 and 10,000 feet in spruce forest on Mt. Lieuhoashan (between Taochow and Titao) in July 1925.
So far as we know, this constitutes the first Palaearctic record for the species. The two specimens are identical with Yunnanese examples, except that the female has a reddish nasal operculum.
Streptopelia orientalis orientalis (Lath.) Columha orientalis Latham, Ind. Orn. 2, 1790, p. 606 (China).
An adult female was secured near Laliku (8,600 feet) in the Tao River valley, July 1925; in September 1926 an immature female was taken at 8,500 feet in the forests of Wantsang Ku.
Oenopopelia tanquebarica humilis (Temm.) Columbahumilis Temminck, PI. col. livr. 44, 1824, pi. 259 (Bengal, Luzon).
There is one female in the collection taken in the Kokonor grass country, 11,000 feet, facing the eastern sand dunes, September 1925.
This bird is very different from examples of the corresponding sex from Hupeh and Yunnan, but we cannot describe it as a new form from a single specimen, somewhat immature, with an uncompleted moult.
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 321
LARIDAE Sterna hirundo tibetana Saund. Sterna tibetana Saunders, P. Z. S., 1876, p. 649 (Tibet).
The capture of five specimens of this Tern near the Kansu-Tibet border constitutes an extension of its range. On 10 May 1926 an adult male was shot at an elevation of about 11,250 feet on the grasslands bordering the Tsechu stream, four days west of Labrang, and on 28 July a pair of adults and two well-grown juvenals were secured at 11,800 feet on grasslands at Amnyi Gardang, about halfway between Radja and Labrang.
The juvenals are like examples of S. h. hirundo of the same age ex- cept that they are much darker above. This is a very distinct form, the adults recognizable at a glance by their much darker coloration both above and below.
Larus ichthyaetus Pall.
Larus Ichthyaetus Pallas, Reise versch. Prov. Russ. Reich, 2, 1773, p. 713 (Caspian Sea).
An adult female in the plumage of the second winter was shot in September 1925 along the southern shore of Lake Kokonor. A note on the label indicates that the irides are " grey" and the tarsi " lead colored" ; these observations do not agree with the colors of these same soft parts given by Dr. Dwight in his monograph (Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 52. 1925 art- 3, p. 256-260).
Larus brunnicephalus Jerd.
Larus brunnicephalus Jerdon, Madras Journ. Lit.&Sci., 12, 1840, p. 22.5 (India)-
A single specimen of the Indian Brown-headed Gull was obtained at about the same time and place as the foregoing species. The bird is a female in plumage of the second winter. The label describes the irides as " pale gray" and the bill and legs as " red."
' CHARADRIIDAE
Vanellus vanellus (Linn.)
Tringa Vanellus Linne, Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 1, 1758, p. 148 (Europe, Africa = Sweden).
The Lapwing was secured only during October 1925. A male was collected in swamps near Kanchow, western Kansu, and a male and a
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female in a little grassy valley between the Nanshan ranges. These birds were doubtless migrants from further north.
Charadrius dubius curonicus Gm. Charadrius curonicus Gmelin, Syst. Nat. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 692 (Curonia).
A female Little Ringed Plover was taken during May 1925 in the bed of the Wutu River one day north of Kaichow. This specimen still has obsolete rusty edges on the feathers of the back.
Charadrius placidus Gray
Charadrius placidus Gray, Cat. Bds. Mamm. etc., of Nepal & Tibet in Brit. Mus., ed. 2, 1863, p. 70 (Nepal).
A female in very worn and abraided plumage was taken along the Tao River near Choni in June 1925.
Ibidorhyncha struthersii Vigors
Ibidorhyncha Struthersii Vigors, Proc. Comm. Zool. Soc. 1, 1831, p. 174 (Him- alaya).
During June and July 1925 Dr. Rock encountered this species at rather low altitudes in the Tao River valley and its tributaries near Choni; taking a pair in the Kwadjaku valley at 9,600 feet, and two females in a small lateral valley at 8,600 feet. In December of the same year a male was secured in the valley of Payenrung, north of the Yellow River, at 10,000 feet. A male was obtained along the Yuvaku stream at 9,000 feet in the Drakana district of upper Tebbuland, September 1926.
SCOLOPACIDAE
ToTANUS TOTANUS EURHiNUS Oberh.
Totanus totanus eurhinus Oberholser, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 22, 1900, p. 207 (Tso Moriri Lake, Ladak).
Dr. Rock collected six Redshanks; three breeding adults and three autumnal specimens. Of the former a pair was secured on 10 May 1926 along the banks of the Taechu (11,200 feet) 4 days west of La- brang, and a female in the Ba valley at 9,500 feet, July 1926, where the species was encountered in swampy meadows. The autumn birds were taken in September 1925 at 10,700 feet along the south shore of Lake Kokonor.
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 323
Oberholser described Totanus totanus eurhinus from Ladak on the basis of larger size. Ticehurst in the Ibis for 1924, p. 120-121 upheld Oberholser's name, and with a series of both spring and winter birds from northwestern India before him pointed out certain color charac- ters, in addition to the mensural ones, by which he believed the Indian birds could be differentiated. Still more recently, however. Colonel and Mrs. Meinertzhagen, (Bull. B. O. C, 46, 1926, p. 85) after an examination of seven breeding birds from Ladak conclude that the difference in size between Ladak birds and those from western Europe is only average, and that the coloration is identical, but find that the form still further east differs in precisely the same color characters as pointed out by Ticehurst (whose note the Meinertzhagens' do not mention), as well as average larger size. They, therefore, regard Ober- holser's name as a synonym of t. totanus, and name the form from further east terrignotae, with their type specimen from Kokonor.
To clear up the situation we borrowed the type and three other Ladak specimens from the U. S. National Museum. After a careful comparison with European material as well as with birds from Kokonor and eastern Tibet, we are convinced that the bird Oberholser de- scribed is the eastern Redshank. Regardless of what the breeding bird of Ladak may be, the type is as extreme as any of the rusty ex- amples that we have seen, while the three paratypes though not quite as extreme, have more rufous above than in European examples. Our Kokonor skins agree in color with the type of eurhinus, but are slightly redder than the paratypes. The type and one para type of eurhinus were taken on July 29; the third specimen is merely labelled " July," while the fourth was taken on the 15th of August. Considering the lateness of the dates, it is wholly possible that the birds were migrants and not the breeding form of the region.
In any event terrignotae must fall as a direct synonym of eurhinus.
AcTiTis HYPOLEUCOS (Linn.)
Tringa Htjpoleucos Linne, Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 1, 1758, p. 148 (Sweden, apud Hartert).
This common, wide ranging species is represented in the collection by an immature male collected in September 1925 on the grass lands bordering Lake Kokonor.
PiSOBIA TEMMINCKII (Leisl.)
Tringa Temminckii Leisler, Nachtr. zu Bechstein's Naturg. Deutschl., 1812, p. 67-73 (Hanau am Main, Germany).
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A male Temminck's Stint in juvenal plumage was obtained along the south shore of Lake Kokonor in September 1925.
PHALAROPODIDAE
LoBiPES LOBATA (Linn.)
Tringa tobata (sic = lobaia) Linne, Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 1, 1758, p. 148 (Hudson Bay).
Dr. Rock shot a female of this phalarope along a stream in the Mayaku district of the lower Tebbu country in September 1926.
MEGALORNITHIDAE
Megalornis nigricollis (Przew.)
GrusnigricollisTrzewalski, Mongol, i. Strana Tangut, 2, 1876, p. 135 (Kokonor).
A male of this splendid crane was taken at 10,900 feet on the Koko- nor swampy meadows in September 1925; a second example, also a male was shot 10 May 1926 at 11,300 feet on the banks of the Tsechu River, 4 days west of Labrang. A note on the label of the latter speci- men indicates that the eyes were white.
THRESKIORNITHIDAE NiPPONiA NIPPON (Temm.)
Ibis Nippon Temminck, PI. col., 1835, pi. 551 (Japan).
The Japanese Ibis was secured only in southern Kansu, here a male was shot along theWutu River, one day north of KaichowinMay 1925, where it was nesting in trees along the river. In February 1926 two additional specimens were obtained in the same valley.
All three birds are in the white phase of plumage.
ARDEIDAE
Ardea cinerea jouyi Clark
Ardea cinerea jouyi Clark, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 32, 1907, p. 468 (Seoul, Corea).
The eastern Asiatic race of the Gray Heron was found nesting in the poplar trees bordering the Wutu River in southern Kansu. An adult
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 325
male was secured there in May 1925. An adult female was shot along the Tao River near Choni in July 1925 and an immature female was taken at about the same place in October 1926.
These birds are like examples from Szechuan and Hupeh, having the neck less grayish and the middle and greater wing coverts paler than European specimens of typical cincrca.
ANATIDAE Anser anser (Linn.)
Anas anser Linne, Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 1, 1758, p. 123 (Sweden, apud Hartert).
Rock found the Gray Goose in the fields along the Tao River valley near Minchow in the spring of 1925, where he collected a male. An- other male was secured in September 1925 on the east shore of Lake Kokonor.
Anser indicus (Lath.) Anas indica Latham, Ind. Orn. 2, 1790, p. 839 (India).
A male bar-headed goose was taken 23 May 1926 on the Yellow River at Radja, eastern Tibet. The skin is labelled as having the " iris gray, pupil bluish black."
Tadorna tadorna (Linn.)
Anas Tadorna Linne, Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 1, 1758, p. 122 (Sweden, apud Hartert).
A female Sheld-duck was shot on the Wutu River, north of Kaichow in April 1925.
Casarca ferruginea (Pall.)
Anas ferruginea Pallas, Vroegs, Cat., Adumbr. 1764, p. 5 (Tartary).
The Ruddy Sheld-duck is represented in the collection by a single specimen, a female, collected on the Tao River below Choni in Septem- ber 1926.
Anas crecca Linn.
Anas Crecca Linne, Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 1, 1758, p. 125 (Sweden, apud Hartert).
Two Teal, both of them males either in immature or eclipse plumage, were collected during September 1925. One on the southern shore of
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Lake Kokonor, the other along a small stream between Sining and Taerhssu (Kumbum).
We believe that Anas crecca and Anas carolinensis should be re- garded as distinct species.
Spatula clypeata (Linn.)
Anas clypeata Linne, Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 1, 1758, p. 122 (restricted type locality, South Sweden, apud Hartert).
A mated pair of Shovelers was taken on the Minchow River in south- western Kansu during April 1925.
Mergus merganser orientalis Gould
Mergus orientalis Gould, P. Z. S., 1845, p. 1 (Amoy).
This merganser appears to be a permanent resident in southwestern Kansu. In June 1925 an adult female and a duckling about three weeks old were secured on the Tao River near Choni, while another female was taken there in January 1926 and a male the following month. A female in very worn plumage was collected 23 June 1926 in the Ba valley, eastern Tibet, at an elevation of 9,900 feet. A male was taken in December 1925 along the Tapetchiien River between Sincheng and Sining.
All the adults have the more slender bill, supposed to be characteris- tic of the east-Asiatic race of Mergus merganser.
PHALACROCORACIDAE
Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis (Shaw & Nodd.)
Pelecanus sinensis Shaw and Nodder, Nat. Misc. 13, 1801, j)l. 529 and text (China).
While Rock was at Lake Kokonor in September 1925, he collected three cormorants. In March and April 1926 he shot two more on the banks of the Tao River near Choni. One of these is a female in late winter plumage with the ornamental feathers on head and neck fully grown in.
We thoroughly agree with Ticehurst that P. c. sinensis and P. c. subconnoranus (Brehm) are identical, though we regret that Brehm's name, of which the type is still in existence, must be relegated to synon- ymy. Now that the Common Cormorant of Europe must be called sinensis, this seems an opportune time to point out once more the fallacy of bestowing geographic names.
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 327
AEGYPIIDAE
AEGYPius MONACHUS (Linn.)
Vultur monachus Linne, Syst. Nat. ed. 12, 1, 1766, p. 122 (Arabia).
A female of this large vulture was collected at the end of November in the valley of Peitaitung, 10,000 feet, in the eastern Nanshan ranges.
Lonnberg (Ibis, 1924, p. 322) lists specimens of Gyps himalayensis Hume from the Tibet-Kansu border, but Rock did not secure that species.
FALCONIDAE
(Owing to the differences of opinion as to the families of Hawks and their limits we follow the arrangement of Sharpe's Hand List.)
ACCIPITER NISUS MELANOSCHISTUS Hume
Accipiter melanoschistus Hume, Ibis, 1869, p. 356 (Simla).
An adult female Sparrow Hawk collected at 11 ,000 feet in the spruce forests near Choni, May 1925 probably represents the breeding bird of the Tao valley. She is very dark, almost black above and with- out doubt referable to melanoschistus. An immature male collected in December 1925 near the Chinssu Lamasery, 10,000 feet, south of Labrang is likewise much darker than corresponding examples of nisosimilis from different parts of China, as are three males, one of them fully adult, from the forest of Drakana 9,500 feet October 1926.
BuTEO BUTEO JAPONicus Tcmm. & Schl.
Falco buteo japonicus TemminckandSchlegel,in: — Siebold's Faun. Jap. Aves, 1844, p. 16; 1845, pi. 6 and 6 b (Japan).
A specimen of the Japanese Buzzard was taken at Kadjaku (9,000 feet elevation) in the Tao valley, 13 January 1926.
BuTEO FEROX HEMiLASius Temm. & Schl.
Bufeo hemilasius Temminck and Schlegel, in : — Siebold's Faun. Jap. Aves, 1844, p. 16; 1845 pi. 7 (Japan).
An adult was taken in May 1925 on Tibetan grasslands at 11,000 feet in southwestern Kansu ; this specimen appears to be a male, since the wing measures but 450 mm. ; tarsal feathering is short and sparse
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(especially on the distal portion), a condition doubtless due to season. A female taken in the mountains beyond Obo in extreme northeastern Kokonor has a wing of 495 mm., the tarsal feathering is long and dense, as is also the same character in another winter example — a female from Kadjaku, Tao River valley, collected in January 1926. The latter bird has a wing of 485 mm. The plumage of this example is pale, especially on the nape and sides of the head which are largely white; the rusty edgings on the anterior upperparts are also pale.
We cannot see that Streseman has made out a clear case (Abh. u. ber. Mus. Dresden, 16, 1923, no. 2, p. 61) for the recognition of B.f. leucocephalus Hodgs. ; his measurements mean nothing, and the alleged color characters are of no value in a bird so notoriously variable.
Gypaetus barbatus grandis Storr
Gypaetiis grandis Storr, Alpenreise, 1784, p. 69 (Switzerland).
A male, not quite adult, was taken just east of Lake Kokonor, September 1925. The bird was shot while feeding on the carcass of a yak. In the region of the Yellow River gorges in eastern Tibet three birds, two adults and an immature, were secured during the spring of 1926 as follows — one on sandstone cliffs near Dzangar 15 May; one on the sandstone cliffs of theSerchung valley, 16 May; and one on cliffs in the Waro valley, 20 June.
Aquila chrysaetos daphanea Menzb.
Aquila daphanea Menzbier, Orn. Turkestan, 1, 1888, p. 75 ("High Asia")-
A Golden Eagle was taken 25 April 1926 on the Tibetan grasslands 11,000 feet between Ankor and Hetzu (southwestern Kansu?).
We refer this specimen to daphanea on geographic grounds, though the bird has a wing measurement of only 655 mm. Because of its dark coloration our specimen might possibly be referred to A. c. obscurior Sushkin, but there are certain discrepancies, notably in the color of the tarsal feathering, that we cannot reconcile.
CiRCAETUS gallicus (Gm.) Falco gallicus Gmelin, Syst. Nat., 1, pt. 1, 1788, p. 259 ("Gallia").
A male in worn plumage was taken on the grasslands of Hetso, 9,000 feet, in April 1926.
This species was not found by Sjolander, Weigold or Zappey in western China which leads us to believe that the bird is rare there.
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 329
Hali^etus leucoryphus (Pall.)
Aquila leucorypha Pallas, Reise Versch. Prov. Russ. Reich, 1, 1771, p. 454
("laikum").
Two examples of this Eagle, one partly adult, the other immature, were collected at 11 ,000 feet in the western hills of Kokonor grass country in September 1925. A splendid adult was shot on the south shore of Lake Kokonor also in September. The latter bird had the eyes " clear crystal, outer part of pupil reddish" and the legs "pale flesh color."
MiLvus lineatus (Gray)
Haliaehis lineatus Gray, in: — Hardwick's 111. Ind. Zool. 1, 1832, p. 1, pi. 18 (China).
An adult male of this Kite was secured 23 June 1926 at 10,000 feet in the Ba valley. In August of the previous year two males and a female were taken in a deep rock gorge leading south through the Min- shan range into the Tebbu country.
Falco subbuteo subbuteo Linn. Falco Subbuteo Linne, Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 1, 1758, p. 89 (Sweden, apud Hartert).
An adult female, together with three large young, the latter just ready to leave the nest, was collected in September 1925 in the Sining valley.
We have not enough material to discuss the Asiatic forms of Falco subbuteo, but whatever may be the status of amtralasiae Buturlin, our birds certainly do not belong to that race. The adult female is identical in color with European examples and has a wing of 261 mm. The three juvenals are exactly like a young female, probably only a few days older, collected in Holland in late August.
Falco cherrug milvipes Jerd.
Falco milvipes Jerdon, Ibis, 1871, p. 240 (Umballa, India).
Two examples of this fine falcon were secured in November 1925. The first was taken on the banks of the Kanchow ho, north of the Kanchow Nanshan mountains, at an elevation of 5,500 feet; the other at the foot of the Nanshans at the entrance to the Pientuku gorge.
Falco tinnunculus interstinctus McClell.
Falco interstinctus McClelland, P. Z. S. for 1839; 1840, p. 154 (Assam).
A single adult female Kestrel was secured in the mountains of Pikow, 6,000 feet, in southern Kansu, just over the Szechuan border, late April or early May 1925.
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The two most recent revisers of the Kestrels (Rothschild, Nov. Zool. 33, 1925, p. 231-232) (Stuart Baker, Bull. B. O. C. 47, 1927, p. 102-107) are not entirely in accord in their treatment of the Asiatic races of that species. According to the former, inter stinctus is identical with japonicus, but different from saturatus with which it had pre- viously been united, while the latter maintains all three races as dis- tinct. From Stuart Baker's account however we judge that japonicus is only very slightly different from inter stinctus, the characters appear- ing only in the male. Our single female is clearly not tinnuncvlus, and we refer it to inter stinctus, which is probably the correct name for it, whether japonicus (1844) is identical with interstinctus (1839) or not.
BUBONIDAE
Bubo bubo subsp.
A nestling Eagle Owl was taken near Choni in May 1925. Neither parent was secured. The bird is still too young to show any diagnostic characters. The distribution of the central Asiatic forms of Bubo bubo is not sufficiently well known to identify this bird subspecifically even on geographic grounds.
Athene noctua impasta subsp. nov.
Type.— Adult female, No. 239416 Mus. Comp. Zool.; grass country south of Lake Kokonor, 10,700 feet; collected September 1925 by Joseph F. Rock (orig. no. 408).
Characters. — Similar to A. n. plumipes {Athene plumipes Swinh., P. Z. S. 1870, p. 448, Shato, north China) in having feathered toes, but much darker; pale markings on the top of the head linear rather than guttate; light tail bands interrupted; markings below darker and more extensive.
Measurements
Number Sex Wing Tail Tarsus
239416 9 (type) 167 108 38
239417 9 168 102 34
239418 9 (cf?) 157 91 34
Athene noctua plumipes from Shansi
87567 9 166 92 34.5
87568 9 (cf?) 155 85 35
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 331
Of the specimens of our new form listed, in addition to the type, one was secured on the grasslands at the head of the Serchen valley (13, 300 feet) three days east of Radja, 26 July 1926; and the third was taken in May 1925 in the forests covering the slopes of the mountains of Choni (9,000 feet). The latter specimen asmight be suspected on geographic grounds, is somewhat intermediate between imyasta and plumipcs. It approaches the latter in having the light tail spots almost forming bands, but tends toward the former in the extent of the streak- ing below and in having linear pale crown-stripes — on the whole it is best placed with impasta.
We have not seen Athene nodua ludlowi Stuart Baker of southern Tibet, but that form is said to be about the color oi A. n. plwnipes. Our new form is much darker, in fact but little paler than A. nodua nodua of Europe. Our bird also comes from a region that is quite different faunally, and although we hesitated at first, we now see no course open but to name it.
CUCULIDAE
CUCULUS CANORUS BAKERI Hart.
Cuculus canorus bakeri Hartert, Vog., Pal. Faun. 2, heft, 7, 1912, p. 948 (Shil- long).
Cuckoos were taken in the region about Choni during May and June 1925 in willow, spruce and poplar forests; a ju venal female in the red phase was secured in spruce forests at 10,000 feet on Mt. Lieu- hoashan in July 1925. An adult was shot in the Yellow River gorges near Radja, 20 May 1926 and another in the willows of the Ba valley 23 June 1926.
We have come to exactly the same conclusion in regard to these cuckoos that Lonnberg (Ibis, 1924, p. 318) reached concerning birds from Aschuen and the Minshans. Our two from eastern Tibet are larger than the Tao River birds, but the entire series falls within the Hmits of the dimensions given for bakeri by its author.
Cuculus intermedius intermedius Vahl
Cuculus intermedius Vahl, Skriv. af Nat. Selskab. Kjobenhavn, 4, 1789, p. 58 (Tanquebaria).
A female of this cuckoo was taken at 10,000 feet in the Choni moun- tains 25 June 1925.
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PICIDAE
PiCUS CANUS GUERINI (Malh.) Chloropicus Guerini Malherbe, Rev. et Mag. Zool., 1849, p. 539 (China).
During April and early May 1925 while Dr. Rock was traveling north through southern Kansu he shot four males and a female of this woodpecker in the mountains (6,000 feet) south of Pikow. Five more were secured near Choni : a male in very worn plumage at 9,000 feet, May 1925, two immature in spruce forest at 9,000 feet in the valley of Tayiiku, and two females, also in spruce forests, in February 1926.
Upon comparing these specimens with an adequate series of Picus canus (upwards of forty specimens) from Hupeh, Szechuan, Anwhei, and Kiangsu, we do not see how P. c. jacobsii (LaTouche) (Bull. B. O. C, 41, 1919, p. 50, Chang-yang hsien, Hupeh) and P. c. setschuanns Hesse (Orn. Monatsb., 1911, p. 193, Tatsienlu) can be maintained. There is not a single constant character by which we can distinguish them, and the minor differences visible are due either to age, season, wear, stain or individual variation. La Touche in describing jacobsii made direct comparison with ricketti from Fokien instead of with guerini from the lower Yangtze valley. Our ten topotypes of jacobsii cannot be distinguished from twelve examples of guerini collected in Kiangsu, Anwhei and the Yangtze valley near Hupeh.
Five specimens from Omeihsien, Kwanhsien, and Dcheto, western Szechuan, do not bear out the characters assigned to setschuamis by its describer or subsequently by Rensch; with the exception of one unusually dark female, we can match them bird for bird with our series of guerini. Likewise Rock's ten birds listed above can be matched skin for skin by guerini and we, therefore, place both jacobsii and sets- chuanus in the synonymy of guerini.
Lonnberg had a single specimen from the Minshans that he identified as sordidior (Rippon).
Dryobates major stresemanni Rensch
Dryobates major stresemanni Rensch, Abh. u. her. Mus. Dresden, 16, no. 2,
1923, p. 38 (Tsaliea, western Szechuan.) Dryobates major beicki Stresemann, Orn. Monatsb. 35, 1927, p. 134 (Lan-hu-
kou, northern Kansu).
Dr. Rock sent in a series of fourteen specimens of the Great Spotted Woodpecker from a number of localities in Kansu. Early in May 1925 he collected a pair at 5,000 feet altitude in the mixed forest between
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 333
Pikow and the Szechuan border; later in the same month two males and three females in the poplar forests along the Tao River near Choni, a male among willows and poplars in the Choni forests in June 1925, a female in the mountains of Choni between 9,000 and 10,000 feet, 4 June 1925; a female was taken in spruce forest in the Tao River valley in February 1926. In December 1925 two females were collected at 7,000 feet in the valley of the Yellow River near Shunhoa. The region north of the Nanshans is represented by two males taken on the Kan- chow plain 6,000 feet in November 1925.
We do not recognize beicki, because among the birds collected by Rock, which include skins from both south and north of the type locality of beicki, supplemented by material from Szechuan and Yun- nan, we find a great deal of variation in the color of the underparts, independent of season; some of the birds from Kansu are as dark as the darkest specimens of strcsemanni from western Szechuan, others again are but little darker than cabanisi (series of 30 from Hupeh, Anwhei and Kiangsu examined). Strcsemanni can be distinguished from cabanisi by the character of the marking on the two outer pairs of tail feathers and by the generally browner tone of the underparts, but any further separation based on the latter character alone cannot, in our opinion, be maintained.
Dryobates pernyii pernyii Verr.
Picus pernyii Verreaux, Rev. et Mag. Zool. 1867, p. 171 (nomen nudum), p. 271 (orig. descr.), pi. 16 (north China).
An adult female of this rare woodpecker was taken at 6,000 feet in April 1925 near Chingchuan in the forests of northern Szechuan.
Compared with two examples from Hupeh, we find this bird to be much browner on the forehead, sides of head, neck and throat; flanks browner and more heavily streaked ; the black spot on the breast much larger and extending onto the abdomen; the light bars on the tail are browner and less buffy, besides being more restricted. In all partic- ulars except the extent of the black on the under parts, the skin agrees with that of a male from the Lichiang range 10,000 feet, in Yunnan (Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 143341, Andrews and Heller).
Verreaux in his introduction to the catalogue of the collection made by Mgr. Perny states that the birds in that collection came from the north of China; but since Mgr. Perny was Bishop of "Su-tchuen," it is practically certain that his birds came from Szechuan. The plate is not colored with sufficient accuracy to determine exactly whether the
334 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
dark form of western China, or the much paler race from Hupeh is the one figured; on the whole, however, it agrees much better with the darker bird and we designate Szechuan as the type locality; for the race inhabiting Hupeh we propose the name : —
Dryobates pernyii innixus subsp. nov.
Type. — Adult male; No. 52287 Mus. Comp. Zool. from Chang Yang Hsien, Hupeh; collected 24 January 1909 by W. R. Zappey.
Characters. — Similar to D. p. pernyii Verr. but the sides of head and neck, throat, flanks and light tail bars much paler, (buffy, not brown- ish), streaks on sides and flanks narrower, becoming obsolete poste- riorly; black tail bars narrower.
|
Measurements |
||||
|
D. p. pernyii |
& |
Wing, 106; |
Tail, 77 |
Bill, 21 |
|
9 |
" 105 |
« 78 |
" 21 |
|
|
D. p. innixus |
d^ |
" 107 |
". 78 |
" 22 |
|
9 |
" 106 |
" 77 |
" 20 |
Picoides tridactylus funebris Verr,
Picoides /wnebris Verreaux, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Paris, Bull. 6, 1870, p. 33 (moun- tains of Chinese Tibet = western Szechuan).
A pair of adults wag collected at 10,000 feet in the spruce forest on Mt. Nginsinshan, northern slopes of the north Kokonor Barrier range, in September 1925. This record marks a still further extension of this bird's range. Formerly known to occur only in the mountains of western Szechuan, Rothschild records it from the Mekong-Salwin divide and the Lichiang range, northwestern Yunnan, and Lonnberg has a specimen from the Minshans.
Dryocopus martius khamensis (Buturl.)
Picus khamensis Buturlin, Ann. Mus. Zool. Ac. Imp. St. Petersb. 13, 1908, p. 229 (eastern slopes of the great plateau of Tibet).
Rock sent in a series of seven specimens of the Black Woodpecker. A male from Babo in spruce forest at 10,000 feet, north slope of the north Kokonor Barrier range, October 1925; a female taken in a like location and altitude near Choni May 1925; a female from spruce and fir forest at 10,000 feet south of the Minshans near the Tibet-Tebbu-
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 335
land border, June 1925, and four from the forests of Drakana, 9,800 feet, upper Tebbuland, September 1926.
We can detect no differences between any of these specimens; they are all referable to khamensis by reason of their less feathered tarsi and slightly smaller bills. These birds also appear much deeper black, than does D. m. martins when a series of each is laid side by side. It is quite possible, however, that this difference may be due to the relative fresh- ness of the skins, and that it would tend to disappear if recently killed specimens of both forms were compared.
Jynx torquilla pallidior Rensch.
Jynx torquilla pallidior Rensch., Abh. u. ber. Zool. Miis. Dresden, 16, 1923, no. 2, p. 40 (Tatsienlu, Szechuan).
Five examples, an adult male and four adult females of this well- marked race were collected in southwestern Kansu during May and June 1925. One of them was taken at 9,000 feet in the mountains of Choni, the others on the grasslands en route to Hetso and on the loess cliffs northwest of Choni and Taochow.
HIRUNDINIDAE ^
Delichon urbica cashmeriensis (Gould) Chelidon cashmeriensis Gould, P. Z. S., 1858, p. 356 (Cashmir).
A single house martin was taken at an elevation of 9,500 feet in the forest of Drakana, September 1926.
Riparia rupestris (Scop.) Hirundo rupestris Scopoli, Annus, 1, Historico-Nat. 1769, p. 167 (Tirol).
The crag martin is represented in the collection by one specimen taken on the rocky cliffs of the Wutu River gorge in southern Kansu, May 1925.
Hirundo daurica daurica Linn.
Hirundo daurica Linne, Mantissa, 1771, p. 528 (Siberia). . •
An adult taken during May 1925 in the Tao valley near Choni is referable to this form, being narrowly streaked below with no trace of shaft stripes on the rufous brown rump, and the wing measuring 124 mm.
336 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
MUSCICAPIDAE
MusciCAPA siBiRiCA ROTHSCHiLDi (Stuart Baker)
Hemichelidon i sibirica rothschildi Stuart Baker, Bull. B. O. C. 43, 1923, p. 156 (Lichiang range, northwestern Yunnan).
A male was collected at 10,000 feet in the Kwadjaku valley, Min- shan range in June 1925; this specimen must represent the breeding form of the region. The bird is so much darker than specimens of cacahata Penard from Szechuan collected by Zappey, that we cannot do otherwise than refer it to the form recently described by Stuart Baker from northwestern Yunnan.
Rothschild (Nov. Zool. 33, 1926, p. 294) refers two adults and four immature Muscicapa sibirica in the La Touche collection from Meng- tsze, Yunnan, to rothschildi. One of the adults and all of the immature are now before us; they are typical Muscicapa sibirica just as La Touche identified them in his paper on the birds of southeast Yunnan (Ibis, 1923, p. 380).
Muscicapa parva albicilla Pall.
Muscicapa albicilla Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. 1827, p. 462 (Dauria).
A male was secured in the mountains of Choni, at 9,000 feet in May 1925.
Muscicapa tricolor cerviniventris (Sharpe)
Digenea cerviniventris Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus. 4, 1875, p. 460 (Manipur Hills).
Rock sent in three examples of this rare little flycatcher. In June 1925 a male was collected at 9,500 feet in the mountains of Choni ; dur- ing late September or early October 1926 a male and female were secured in the forests of Wantsang Ku at 8,500 feet elevation.
These birds agree with a series from southeastern Yunnan in the La Touche collection that are certainly cerviniventris and not tricolor. Rothschild allocates La Touche's Mengtzse birds as tricolor, apparent- ly because birds from the Lichiang range belong to that form quite regardless of the wide faunal disparity between the two places.
^ We foUow Hartert in rejecting most of the genera into which Muscicapa has been divided.
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 337
MusciCAPA HODGSONii (Verr.)
Siphia Hodgsonii Verreaux, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Paris, Bull. 6, 1870, p. 34 (moun- tains of Chinese Tibet = Mupin).
This species was found in the region about Choni during May and June 1925 in the spruce and poplar forests at elevations between 8,500 and 10,000 feet, where four males and two females were secured. In September 1926 the species was met with abundantly in the forests of Wantsang Ku. Here seventeen specimens were taken : five adult males, four adult females, and nine juvenals, either entirely in the spotted plumage, or moulting into the olive immature dress. The juvenals agree with Weigold's description (Abh. u. ber. Mus. Dresden 15, no. 3, 1922, p. 26) except that in none of our nine specimens is there any trace of white at the base of the tail.
Seicercus burkii valentini (Hart.)
Cryptolopha burkii valentini Hartert, Vog. Pal. Faun. 1, heft 4, 1907, p. 497. (Taipaishan).
This species was taken only in the lower Tebbu country during September 1926. One was secured at 9,000 feet in the forests of Mayaku and seven more in the forests of Wantsang Ku. We have no means of telling whether these birds were migrants or represent the breeding form of the region. One was moulting the wings, otherwise the length of wing in the series is 58 ; 59 ; 59 ; 60 ; 62 ; 64.
W^igold had difficulty in placing the birds he collected in western China, but referred them — some, however rather doubt "ully — to tephrocephala (Anderson).
With a long series, which includes all the skins from the La Touche collection, before us, we believe there is a large northern form, valentini, and a small southern form, tephrocephala. We cannot appreciate the characters other than size claimed by Hartert to distinguish the two races. The case, however, is much complicated by the fact that the females are constantly smaller than the males, although the sexes are alike in plumage. Thus females wrongly determined as males by the collector, might entirely obscure the facts. Rock's Chinese bird col- lector made so many palpable mistakes, even in spring and summer and with birds where the sexes are different in plumage, in determining the sex of specimens, that we place no reliance whatever upon the sex marks on his labels.
As the larger birds in the present series have the long wing of valen-
338 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
tiyii, we are forced to assume that all belong to that form and that the larger ones are males and the smaller ones females. The other alterna- tive would be to throw valentini and tephrocephala together; this we are not yet quite prepared to do.
CAMPOPHAGIDAE
Pericrocotus brevirostris ethologus Bangs & Phillips
Pericrocotus brevirostris ethologus Bangs and Phillips, Bull. M. C. Z. 58, no. 6, 1914, p. 283 (Hsien Shen, Hupeh).
Two males of this minivet were taken at 9,000 feet in the forests near Choni during May 1925. In September 1926 three males were secured in the spruce and pine forests of Wantsang Ku at 9,000 feet, and a male and tAvo females at 8,500 feet in the oak and pine forests of Mayaku.
These birds are quite the same as the Hupeh bird of which we have five males and two females available for comparison in addition to a bird from Pekin and three migrants from southeastern Yunnan. Stuart Baker's description of styani (Bull. B. 0. C. 40, 1920, p. 117) is very vague; he did not appreciate any characters in the male except to say that it might "perhaps" be paler below than in affinis, while the characters he attributed to the female are very variable ones. Lacking material from Szechuan we cannot express any definite opinion, but we rather suspect, that styani will prove synonymous with ethologus. Un- fortunately Stuart Baker made no comparison with ethologus, appar- ently having overlooked the fact that the Hupeh bird already bore a name.
PYCNONOTIDAE
Spizixos semitorques semitorques (Swinhoe) Spizixtis semitorques Swinhoe, Ibis, 1861, p. 266 (Peling plateau near Amoy).
Dr. Rock collected a pair of this bulbul in southern Kansu. The birds were shot at an elevation of 4,500 feet in the bushes along the Minchow River between Kaichow and Minchow in May 1925. As far as we are aware this is the first record of the occurrence of this bird in Kansu.
Spizixos cinereicapillus (Swinhoe) of Formosa, we consider only subspecifically distinct from semitorques.
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 339
TIMALIIDAE
Ianthocincla davidi davidi (Swinhoe)
Pterorhinus davidi Swinhoe, Ibis, 1869, p. 61 (Peking).
Seven examples of David's Babbler were secured in the general region about Choni during May and June 1925 and again in January 1926. The birds were met with at elevations between 8,500 and 10,000 feet in scrub forest or low bushes, usually along streams.
We have available for comparison but two examples of /. d. concolor Stresemann (J. f. O. 71, 1923, p. 365, Sungpan, western Szechuan) both from the type locality. Of /. d. davidi we have over twenty-five specimens from Shansi and Chihli measuring as follows : —
d" wing 86-94; bill from base 26-27.5 9 wing 83-94; bill from base 25-29
The skins collected by Rock measure : — 1 cf , wing 90 ; bill from base 26. 6 9 9, wing 88-91 ; bill from base 25-29.
We cannot find the slightest difference either in color or size between birds from northeastern China and those from southwestern Kansu, and whatever /. d. funebris Stresemann (Orn. Monatsb. 35, 1927, p. 134, Lan-hu-ko 1, northern Kansu) may be, our specimens are certainly true davidi. I. d. concolor appears to be a localized race in western Szechuan, characterized by longer wing and shorter bill.
We follow Rothschild ' in combining the so-called genera Trochalop- teron, Babax, Kaznakowia, Ianthocincla and Pterorhinus, as we fail to see where any line can be drawn between them, but believe that Garrulax should be retained as a distinct genus, as Hartert - kept it.
Ianthocincla davidi experrecta subsp. nov.
Type. — No. 238760 Museum of Comparative Zoology, adult female, from Liyuan Ku, northern slopes of the Richthofen range, elevation 7,000 feet. Collected November 1925, by J. F. Rock (orig. no. 453).
Characters. — Similar to I. d. davidi but larger, coloration much clear- er and paler gray; black and white of the loral feathers more con- trasted ; bill longer, stouter and more decurved.
1 Nov. Zool. 33, 1927, p. 398.
2 Pal. Faun. 1, p. 624.
340 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
|
Measurements |
||
|
Sex |
Wing |
Bill from base |
|
cf |
95 |
27 |
|
9 |
100 |
30 (Type) |
|
9 |
95 |
29 |
|
9 |
96 |
29 |
In addition to the type, Rock secured the three specimens Usted above, at the same time and place.
As will be seen, the measurements exceed those already given for davidi. Comparison with birds from Chihli taken in November and from southwestern Kansu collected in January shows that the pale gray tone of the plumage of the new form is not seasonal, but is de- finitely correlated with mensural characters. The examples of typical davidi at our disposal are all distinctly brownish gray. This race is not /. d.funrbris Stresem. (Orn. Mon. 35, Sept. 1927, p. 134, Lan-hu-kou, northern Kansu), whatever that bird may be.
Ianthocincla sukatschewi (Berezowski and Bianchi)
Trochalopieron Sukatschewi Berezowski and Bianchi, Aves Exp. Potan, Gansu, 1891, p. 59, pi. 1, f. 1 (coniferous forests, high mountains of Kansu).
Rock collected a pair of this rare babbler in February 1926 in a lateral valley of the Tao River near Choni, the slopes of which were covered with willow scrub and spruce.
Ianthocincla elliotii perbona subsp. nov.
Type (and only specimen). — No. 238772 Museum of Comparative Zoology, adult male, from Liyuan Ku, northern slopes of the Richtho- fen range, elevation 7,000 feet. Collected November 1925 by J. F. Rock (orig. no. 452).
Characters. — Similar to /. e. elliotii, but the mantle slightly darker; white terminal spots and dusky subterminal bands of the feathers of the upper parts larger; sides of head, throat, and chest darker, much more blackish gray, and white marginings broader; bill heavier; feet and tarsi stronger.
Remarks. — This form agrees more nearly with, elliotii than with prjevalskii, in having the central rectrices greenish above. The white edgings on the anterior under parts and on the mantle of /. e. elliotii wear off rapidly, but our new form shows a greater development of this character, when compared with specimens of elliotii from Hupeh
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 341
taken in November, December and January. The effect of the dorsal markings gives a speckled effect not to be seen in any examples of either elliotii or prjevalskii that we have examined. The eye is noted on the label as being " watery." Hartert quotes " dunkel zimmetfarben," for the color of the eye in I. e. elliotii.
Ianthocincla elliotii prjevalskii (Menzbier)
Trochalopteron prjevalskii Menzbier, Ibis, 1887, p. 300 (Kansu).
Two females were taken in low bushes on hillsides on the mountains of Minchow in southern Kansu at an elevation of 5,000 feet during May 1925. In May, June and July 1925 the species was met with on the mountains of Choni and along the upper Tao valley. The two examples of each sex taken here were in bushes, near the ground.
The gray (instead of greenish) pair of central rectrices seems to be the only certain character by which /. e. prjevalskii can be distin- guished from /. e. elliotii. Apparently Ianthocincla elliotii abraids its plumage very rapidly, and fresh examples are uncommon. The ad- ditional characters enumerated by Lonnberg (Ibis, 1924, p. 314) for separating the two forms seem to us to be due to wear, and the larger bill that he claims for prjevalskii is not borne out in our series.
Ianthocincla maxima (Verreaux)
Pterorhinus maximus Verreaux, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Paris, Bull. 6, 1870, p. 36, pi. 3, fig. 1 (mountains of Chinese Thibet).
This fine babbler was very common locally. Rock secured twelve specimens as follows: — four males and two females during February 1926 in the valley of the Tao River basin in the region about Choni. Two males and a female in June 1925 in spruce and fir forest on the southern slopes of the Minshan range in the Tebbu country. Two males in the forests of Drakana, upper Tebbu country, 9,500 feet, September 1926. One immature male at 9,600 feet on Mt. Lieuhoa (shan) south of Lanchow, July 1925.
Ianthocincla canora-namtiensis (La Touche)
Trochalopterum canorum namtiense La Touche, Ibis, 1923, p. 317 (nom. nov. pro T. canorum yunnanensis La Touche, nee. T. ellioti yunnense Rippon, Howkow, Yunnan).
One male from the mountain of Minchow, 5,000 feet elevation, May 1925.
342 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
The single specimen secured does not differ materially from birds from Yunnan and Hupeh.
Ianthocincla sannio (Swinhoe) Garrulax sannio Swinhoe, Ibis, 1867, p. 403 (Amoy).
Dr. Rock took an adult female of this bird in the mountains of northern Szechuan, 6,000 feet altitude, during April 1925.
Fulvetta cinereiceps fessa subsp. nov.
Type. — No. 238787 Museum of Comparative Zoology, adult male, from the Choni spruce forests, Tao River basin, southwestern Kansu, 9,000 feet, February 1926. Collected by J. F. Rock, original no. 586.
Characters. — Similar to Fulvetta cmereiceps cinereiceps (Verreaux) but darker above, much less reddish, more olivaceous on the back, rump and upper tail coverts; sides of head and neck darker gray; flanks much more olivaceous, less ochraceous. Size as in cinereiceps.
In all twelve specimens of this tit-babbler were taken — two males and a female from the region about Choni during January and Febru- ary 1926; six males and two females from the forests in the Wantsang Ku valley, Ha Tebbuland, September 1926, in spruce, fir and maple at an elevation of 8,500 feet; one female in the juniper forests of Pezlu, banks of the Chulungapu, upper Tebbuland, elevation 7,200 feet, September 1926.
We have had a great deal of difficulty in determining exactly what F. c. cinereiceps is. It was first described by Verreaux {8ixa cinerei- ceps, Nouy. Arch. Mus. Paris, Bull. 6, 1870, p. 37, "mountains of Chinese Tibet ") in a rather unsatisfactory Latin diagnosis. Later David and Oustalet (Les Oiseaux de la Chine, 1877, text p. 220, Atlas, pi. 73) state that the types came from Moupin, and append a careful description based apparently on examples taken on the Tsinling range in Shensi. This latter description was translated literally in the Catalogue of Birds of the British Museum 7, 1883.
We consider as practically topotypical a series of six birds collected by Zappey in west-central Szechuan (May, June, September, October) and can detect no difference between them and a series from Hsien Shanhsien, Hupeh, taken in December. All of these birds have a lighter head and much redder back than our new form.
There is in the La Touche collection recently acquired by the Museum of Comparative Zo5logy, one of the nine cotypes of Proparus fucatus Styan (Bull. B. O. C. 8, 1899, p. 26; figured Ibis, 1899, pi. 4, f. 1).
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 343
One skin collected by Zappey in April at Ho Cha Ping, Hupeh, also belongs to this form. The Styan specimen is a Juvenal; Zappey 's is adult. These two birds agree with one another, and differ from all those we refer to cinerciceps in having more chestnut back and flanks; darker, more brownish crown ; small bill, and especially in that the five inner primaries are wholly black and the secondaries lack the rufescent edging. In cinereiceps the sixth and seventh primaries are black, but the remaining three innermost, as well as the secondaries, are exter- nally edged with brownish olive. In this pattern of the wing, fucatus agrees with guttafi coll is (Proparus guttaiicoUisha Touche, Bull. B. O. C. 6, 1897, p. 50, Kuatun, northwestern Fokien). The plate of fucatus in the Ibis, however, shows the m' ing with the secondaries and three inner primaries edged with rufescent. If it were not for this, we should con- sider the status of fucatus definitely settled; as it is we hesitatingly apply ^ this name to the breeding bird of the region about Ichang.
FULVETTA RUFICAPILLA RUFICAPILLA (Vcrreaux)
SivaruficapillaYeTTeaux,Nouv. Arch.Mus.Faris, Bull. 6, 1870, p. 37 (moun- tains of Chinese Tibet).
A single specimen of this species — an adult female — was secured at Chingchuan in the mountains of northern Szechuan, elevation 5,000 feet, April 1925.
FuLVETTA STRiATicoLLis (Vcrrcaux)
Siva striaticoll'is Verreaux, Nouv. Arch. Mas. Paris, Bull. 6, 1870, p. 38 (moun- tains of Chinese Tibet = Moupin, northern Szechuan).
Three fully grown juvenlas were taken in the forests of Drakana, 9,500 feet elevation, upper Tebbuland, September 1926.
We fully agree with Stresemann (Abh. u. ber. mus. Tierk. Dresden 16, no. 2, 1923, p. 21) that striaticollis does not belong in the same " Formenkreis" with guttaticollis.
Myiophonus caeruleus immansuetus Bangs and Penard
Myiophonus caeruleus immansuetus Bangs and Penard, Occ. Papers, Boston Soc. N. H. 5, 1925, p. 147 (Ichang, Hupeh).
Rock collected two males of this bird during September 1926 in the forests of Wantsang Ku, Ha Tebbuland, at elevations of 7,000 and 7,600 feet. Both specimens were shot along streams. They are fully adult and in the autumnal moult.
344 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
While we have retained this genus where Sharpe placed it, among the Timaliidae, we do so only for convenience, being convinced that in reality it belongs with the Turdidae.
Leiothrix lutea lutea (Scopoli)
Sylvia lutea Scopoli, Del. Flor. et Faun. Insubr. 2, 1786, p. 96 (hills of the pro- vince of Anwhei south of the Yangtse, designated as type locality by Stresemann, J. f. O. 71, 1923, p. 364).
Two males and a female were taken in April 1925 at an elevation of 6,000 feet in the mountains of northern Szechuan in the forests along the Kansu border.
These examples agree with Stresemann's description of Leiothrix lutea kwangtungeyisis (J. f. O. 71, 1923, p. 364, Suihang, Kwangtung) and with some specimens from Mengtsze, southeastern Yunnan. After careful comparison with a very large series of L. lutecu from Szechuan, Hupeh, Fokien and southeastern Yunnan, we are struck with the fact that all the most deeply colored examples, regardless of locality, were collected in February, March, and April (Stresemann's type was taken in March), though not all the birds taken at that time are brightly colored.
However the "Japanese Robin" as is well known to bird fanciers, after a year or two of captivity usually loses its lipochrome pigment, with consequent dulling of yellows, oranges and reds, the result no doubt of deficiencies in its artificial diet. We believe it to be a corollary that unusual vigor in a wild individual, or particularly favorable food supply, would result in the temporary intensification, possibly only at certain seasons, of the lipochromes, producing such individuals as Stresemann has named kwangtungensis. We cannot find that kwajig- tungensis has any range of its own, individuals of its type of coloration occurring in various widely separated regions. We therefore cannot recognize kwangtungensis.
SUTHORA WEBBIANA SUFFUSA Swinhoe
Suthora suffusa Swinhoe, P. Z. S., 1871, p. 372 (middle Yangtse).
Rock collected two males of the Yangtse Crow-tit on the foothills of the mountains of northern Szechuan, altitude 3,000 feet, during April 1925.
The specimens do not differ in any way from comparable material from the Yangtse valley in the region of Hupeh. The occurrence of this race in northern Szechuan marks a considerable extension of its range to the north and west.
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 345
SUTHORA CONSPICILLATA CONSPICILLATA David
Suthora conspicillata David, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Paris, Bull. 7, 1871, p. 14 (east- ernmost Kokonoor).
Ten examples of this interesting Suthora were secured as follows: an adult from south of theTao River, southwestern Kansu, June 1925, 9,500 feet;and ninefrom upper Tebbuland, 7,200 to9, 500 feet; Septem- ber 1926. Of the latter one is an adult female, badly worn, the autum- nal moult just commenced ; an adult male and an adult female with the moult nearly complete; and six juvenals of both sexes.
These are the first specimens of true conspicillata from near the type locality that either of us have seen, and we find a very different bird from Hupeh, one secured at Hsien-tien-tsze by Zappey, and one from Ichang taken by Styan (in the La Touche collection) both la- belled conspicillata. These agree with conspicHlata in having a white eye-ring, but differ at once in being paler throughout with lighter brown head, and in having very much stouter bills with the culmen more arched. (See text figure below.) The much exaggerated bill of the Hupeh bird is very different from that of any of the small Chinese Suthoras, and is best characterized as a slightly reduced counterpart of that organ as developed in Snthora imicolor. We propose to call the Hupeh form
Suthora conspicillata rocki subsp. nov.
Type.— ^o. 50711 M. C. Z. from Hsien-tien-tsze, Hupeh, 6,000 feet altitude, adult cf, collected 2 June 1907 by Walter R. Zappey.
.^.^^-^^
Suthora c. conspicillata Svihora c. rocki
M. C. Z. 238810 Type, M. C. Z. 50711
Kansu Hupeh
The two skins afford the following measurements : — wing, 54 and 56; tail, 65; tarsus, 22; bill from base, 10; height of bill at base, 8 and 8.5.
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In four adults of S. c. conspicillata the bill from base is 7.5-8; height of bill at base, 6^.5.
The text figures above were drawn by Miss H. Saunders and are twice the natural size of the specimens.
TROGLODYTIDAE
Nannus troglodytes idius (Richmond)
Olbiorchilus fumigatus idius Richmond, in: -Research in China, 1, pt. 2, Cam. Publ. no. 54, p. 498 (Wang-kuai-chon, Chihli).
Five wrens were taken along the Yellow River gorges in eastern Kokonor : — an adult female, 13 May 1926, in spruce forest, 10,300 feet, two days above Radja, and two males and two females on rocky cliffs or in juniper forests of the Sakutu Ravine, 10,500 feet, 1 June 1926.
After comparison with a fine series from northeastern Chihli we are unable to separate this series, all the birds in somewhat worn plumage, from idius, but it is of course possible that birds from eastern Kokonor in fresh plumage might reveal some differences.
Rock also secured two fully grown juvenals in August 1926 in the forests of Doyaya, Ha Tebbuland, and one intermediate between Juvenal and immature plumage in August 1925 in the Minshan range at 12,000 feet elevation. These three specimens are not sufficiently mature to oft'er diagnostic characters, but are very dark below, agreeing with two juvenals of szetschuanus collected by Zappey in western Szechuan, and probably are referable to that race.
CINCLIDAE
Cinclus cinclus cashmeriensis Gould Cindus cashmeriensis Gould, P. Z. S., 1859, p. 494 (Kashmir).
The Kashmir Dipper was secured in every region that Rock visited, a series of ten being taken. A male and two females were collected dur- ing May and June 1925 at elevations of 8,500 feet in the Tao valley near Choni; a male at 10,000 feet in the Minshan range, July 1925; a pair in the Jupar valley, 11,600 feet, June 1926; an adult male at 8,000 feet in the forests of Wantsang Ku, Ha Tebbuland, September 1926; a juvenal male and a juvenal female, 8,000 feet, in the forests of Maya Ku, Ha Tebbuland; and a female in the Kanglungssu valley, Richthofen range, 8,000 feet, November 1925. This last specimen
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appears somewhat larger and darker with a shghtly longer bill than the specimens from Kansu and Kokonor, but it may be wrongly sexed, since its size can be approached by some males from further south, and the difference in color is so slight that it may well be an individual variant.
CiNCLUS PALLASii souLiEi Oustalet
Cindus Pallasi var. Souliei OusiaX^i, Ann. Sc. Nat. Zool. (7), 12, 1892, p. 299 (Tatisien Lu and Moupin).
A male and two females were taken in the mountains of Chingchuan, northern Szechuan, near the Kansu border. The date and altitude have both been omitted from the labels.
TURDIDAE
TuRDUs CASTANEUS GOULDii (Vcrrcaux)
Merula Gouldii Verreaux. Nouv. Arch. Mus. Paris, Bull. 6, 1870, p. 34 (western Szechuan and Moupin).
Eight adults of both sexes were taken in southwestern Kansu in the region about Chbni between May and July 1925. The birds were always found among willows or in bushes beside the streams. Four juvenals from Mt. Lieuhoashan and the valley of Tayuku, collected in July 1925, were taken in forests of spruce and fir between 9,000 arid 10,000 feet.
A fully grown ju venal was secured during September 1926 at 9,600 feet in the Drakana forest, upper Tebbuland, while an adult male was killed at 7,500 feet in shrubs and bushes on the outskirts of the forests of Wantsang Ku, Ha Tebbuland, September 1926.
We can detect no difference between the specimens here listed and topotypical material from western Szechuan.
TuRDUS MUPiNENSis MUPiNENSis Laubmann
Turdus mujnnensis Laubmann, Orn. Monatsb. 28, 1920, p. 17 (Nom. nov. pro Turdus auritus Verreaux, nee Gmelin, Moupin).
Two males and a female, all in transition from juvenal to immature plumage, were taken during September 1926 in the forests of Want- sang Ku, 8,000 to 8,500 feet. Ha Tebbuland.
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TURDUS RUFICOLLIS RUFICOLLIS Pallas
Turdus ruficollis Pallas, Reise Verch. Prov. Russ. Reich. 3, 1776, p. 694 (Dauria).
Three birds, collected by Rock in May 1925 doubtless represent wintering birds that had not yet moved north. All were very fat. A male was collected in scrub forest, 5,000 feet elevation near Minchow; a male and a female were taken at 10,000 feet in the scrub forest of the Tao valley near Choni.
Turdus ruficollis atrogularis Temminck
Turdus atrogidaris Temminck, Man. d'Orn. 1, 1820, p. 169 (Austria and Silesia).
In February 1926 Rock shot a female of the black-throated thrush in spruce forest on the southwest bank of the Tao River near Choni. Apparently this thrush seldom straggles on its migration so far east in China.
Turdus kessleri (Przewalski)
Merula kessleri Przewalski, Mongol i. Strana Tangut, 2, 1876, p. 62, pi. 10 (mountains of Kansu).
Thirteen specimens represent Kessler's Thrush in the collection. A male and a female were taken during May 1925 in the Tao valley, 9,000 to 10,000 feet, near Choni, where they occurred in "spruce forests and outskirts " ; two more were secured in the spruce forests or on alpine meadows of the Minshan range in July 1925. Four males and two females were collected late in May 1926 in juniper forest at 11,000 feet altitude south of the Yellow River opposite Radja, Tibet; a female along a brook near the same place 30 May, a male (sexed as a female) in much worn plumage, Dachso canyon 10,500 feet, Yellow River basin, north of Radja 2 June; and a male along a stream in the upper Jupar valley, 11,500 feet June- July 1926.
Monticola solitaria pandoo (Sykes)
Petrodncla pandoo Sykes, P. Z. S., 1832, p. 87 (The Ghauts, India).
One male was taken along a water course in the forests of Mayaku, Ha Tebbuland, 8,000 feet, September 1926.
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 349
Enicurus SINENSIS Gould Enicurus sinensis Gould, P. Z. S., 1865, p. 665 (Shanghai).
Two examples were taken near Chingchuan, northern Szechuan, in April 1925, where the species was always seen along rivers and wooded brooks. A third specimen, a male, was collected during September 1926 near Zhega, 8,500 feet, in the forests of Mayaku, Ha Tebbuland. It was just completing the autumnal moult.
Chaimarrornis leucocephala (Vigors)
Phoenicura leucocephala Vigors, Proc. Comm. Zool. Soc. London, 1, 1831, p. 35 (Himalaya).
Two males were secured in May 1925 near Choni, where Rock found the species common along streams. A third specimen, also a male, was taken 2 June 1926, on the Dachso stream, 10,500 feet, Yellow River drainage north of Radja, eastern Kokonor.
Phoenicurus ochruros rufiventris (Vieillot)
Oenanthe rufiventris Vieillot, Nouv. diet. hist. Nat. 21, 1818, p. 431 (India adopted as type locality by Hartert, Vog. Pal. Faun. 1, p. 723).
Rock secured a series of twelve specimens of the eastern Indian redstart. A male and a female were taken during April 1925 at 5,000 feet in the spruce forest on the mountains of northern Szechuan near the Kansu border; a female in willow bushes along the Tao River, 5 June 1925; two females on Mount Lissedzadza 11,000 feet, Minshan range, July 1925, where the species was found in bushes and juniper forest. In eastern Kokonor two males were taken in spruce forest along the Yellow River gorges, 10,300 feet, five miles below the Dzangar monastery, 13 May 1926; two females in the Dachso canyon, Yellow River gorges, 11,000 feet, 1 June 1926; a female and two juvenals in the Dzomo valley, 11,800 feet, 22 June 1926.
Phoenicurus hodgsoni (Moore) Rulicilla hodgsoni Moore, P. Z. S., 1854, p. 26, Aves, pi. 58 (Nepal).
Six examples of Hodgson's Redstart were taken. A male in poplar forest, Tao River valley, 8,500 feet. May 1925; a male in the mountains of Choni south of the Tao River, 10,000 feet, June 1925; a female, spruce forests of Choni, 8,500 to 9,000 feet, February 1926. The species
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was also met in eastern Kokonor where two males were taken in scrub or in bushes along the Yellow River near Radja in May 1926. An adult male, collected September 1926 in the forests of Mayaku, Ha Tebbuland, at an elevation of 8,000 feet, was just completing the autumnal moult, the fresh feathers on the breast are tipped with gray.
Phoenicurus auroreus Pallas
Motacilla aurorea Pallas, Reis. Versch. Prov. Russ. Reichs. 3, 1776, p. 695 (Selenka, Lake Baikal).
A male was collected in evergreen forest on the mountains of north- ern Szechuan near the Kansu border in April 1925; a male in worn breeding dress was taken in the willow groves at 9,500 feet elevation on Mt. Lieuhoashan, Minshan range, 16 July 1925; an immature male in the juniper forests in the upper Tebbu country, 7,200 feet, September 1926, and an immature female in the forests of Wantsang Ku, 8,000 feet, lower Tebbu country, September 1926.
We believe that Stuart Baker is correct in reducing both filchneri and leucopterus to the synonymy of auroreus.
Phoenicurus erythrogaster maximus Kleinschmidt
Phoenicurus erythrogaster maximus Kleinschmidt, Abh. u. Ber. Mus. Tierk. u. Volk. Dresden, 16, no. 2, 1923, p. 42 (Janeti, Rombatsa and Chuwo, eastern Tibet).
Eight specimens of this large redstart were taken: three males in forest and scrub at 11,000 feet altitude in the Rako gorge, eastern Kokonor, September 1925; a female at Babo 10,000 feet, north slope of the Kokonor Barrier range, September 1925; a male and two juvenals July 1926 on rocky cliffs below the Totuchsura pass, 14,300 feet elevation, Jupar range, a male in the spruce forests of Choni, shot in barberry bushes, February 1926.
The wing measurements of the five adult males are: 108, 106, 104, 106, 105; of the female 102. These measurements taken across the chord of the wing correspond with Kleinschmidt's 107 to 110.5 for males and 104 for the female, taken against the flattened wing.
The differences in sizes between grandis and maxiinvs were first noted by Hartert (Vog. Pal. Faun. 1, p. 727), though Kleinschmidt, when he named the latter form, did not give credit to that author.
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 351
Phoenicurus FRONTALIS Vigors
Phoenicura frontalis Vigors, Proc. Comm. Zoo]., Soc. London, 1, 1832, p. 172
(Himalaya). Phoenicurus frontalis sinae Hartert, Bull. B. O. C. 38, 1918, p. 78 (mountains of
China; type from Kansu).
The series of eighteen blue-fronted redstarts secured by Rock illustrates nearly every phase of plumage that this species undergoes. A male, shot in April 1925 in the mountains of northern Szechuan, still retains the rusty olive edgings on the feathers of the upper parts ; two females were taken in the spruce forests on the mountains of Choni, 9,5(X) feet, in May and June; from the Minshan range we have two males in normal spring dress taken on the summit of Mt. Koang Kei, 13,000 feet June 1925, while a third example taken at the same time and place has but a sprinkling of blue feathers on the throat and breast, although the lesser wing coverts and some of the scapulars are blue; a worn adult female and two juvenals from the spruce and fir forests of Mt. Lieuhoashan 10,000-11,000 feet, July 1925; and four juvenals at the Rock Gate of the Minshans, July-August 1925.
In Kokonor two adult males in different stages of the autumnal moult were secured in September 1925 at 10,000 feet altitude in the Rako gorge ; and a female was taken 22 June of the following year at 11,800 feet in the Dzomo valley.
From Tebbuland Rock eent an adult female, moult not yet com- menced, taken at 9,500 feet in the forests of Drakana, and an adult in an advanced state of moult, taken at 8,500 feet in the forests of Wantsang Ku, both examples being collected, in September 1926.
Most authors who have recently dealt with this species doubt the validity of P. f. sinae Hartert, an opinion that we share.
Phoenicurus schisticeps (Gray)
Ruticilla schisticeps Gray, Cat. Mamm. Bds. Nepal Coll. Hodgson, 1846, p. 69
(Nepal).
Of the twenty examples of the white-throated redstart in the col- lection, five males and two females were secured in the region about Choni during May and June 1925 at altitudes ranging from 9,000 to 10,500 feet and in a variety of situations — spruce and open forest, and alpine meadows; during February 1926 two males and four females were secured in the same region at an elevation of about 9,000 feet, generally in forests. A male and a female were collected in the Kadjaku
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valley, Minshan range, 9,500 to 10,500 feet in July and August 1925, where Rock states that the species was " a common bird." The speci- mens secured in Kokonor in 1926 are: a male on 2 June in the Dachso canyon north of Radja, a female 22 June on the rock slopes of the Dzomo valley, and a male on the 26th at 12,500 feet, on the northern slopes of the Jupar range. From Ha Tebbuland we have a juvenal, unfortunately not dated, taken at 8,500 feet in the forests of Want- sang Ku, and an adult male with the autumnal moult well begun, collected at 9,000 feet, forests of Sambaku, September 1926. Strese- mann (Orn. Monatsb. 35, Sept. 1927, p. 134) has described P. s. heicki from Lan-hu-kou, northern Kansu, solely on the basis of slight- ly shorter wing-length. This variation is not borne out by our material, measuring with the wing flattened out on the rule, European fashion; the wings of 9 males from southwestern Kansu and eastern Kokonor are 82, 83, 83.5, 83.5, 84, 84, 84, 84, 85.5 and we, therefore, cannot bring ourselves to regard heicki as a valid subspecies, since the dimensions of that race as given by its describer are 81 to 83.5 for the male against 82-88 for the corresponding sex in typical specimens of P. s. schisticeps.
Rhyacornis fuliginosa fuliginosa (Vigors) Phoenicura fuliginosa Vigors, P. Z. S., 1836, p. 185 (Himalaya).
Sixteen specimens of the water redstart were secured. A female from the mountains of northern Szechuan, April 1925; two males from the mountains of Choni, 9,000 to 10,000 feet, June 1925, where the species was found along streams in the spruce forests. In the Min- shans an adult male was secured in the Kadjaku valley, a juvenal from along the Drakana trail into Tebbuland, both in August 1925, and an immature in June 1925 in the forests of spruce and fir, 9,800 feet, on southern slopes of the mountains. During September 1926 the species was common in the forests of Wantsang Ku, Ha Tebbuland, where ten examples of both sexes, adults and immature were secured, without exception along streams.
We cannot recognize R. f. tenuirostris Stresemann, our extensive series proving that that form was based upon inconstant characters.
Hodgsonius phoenicuroides ichangensis Baker
Hodgsonius phoenicuroides ichangensis Baker, Bull. B. O. C. 43, 1922, p. 18, (Ichang, upper Yangtze valley).
Rock sent in four examples of this handsome species — a male and a female from the vicinity of Choni were secured beside brooks in the
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 353
forest during May 1925; a female apparently adult, in fresh autumnal plumage, taken in the forests of Mayaku, 8,000 feet, Ha Tebbuland, September 1925, and a specimen sexed as a male (and with the wing measurements of that sex) but in female livery, taken in the forests of Wantsang Ku at 8,500 feet, September-October 1926.
We have no topotypical material of H. p. phocnicuroides for com- parison, but refer our specimens to ichangensis on the basis of the wing measurements, which are 70.5 and 71.5 in the two males. Baker gives 69 to 71 for the wing of Chinese birds as against 73 to 79 for Indian specimens.
Calliope calliope (Pallas)
Motacilla Calliope Pallas, Reise Versch. Prov. Russ. Reich. 3, 1776, p. 697 (Jenissei to the Lena).
Only five specimens of the ruby-throat were taken; two males and two females May and July 1925, from the region about Choni at 9,500 feet altitude, and a male at 10,000 feet in the Kadjaku valley, Minshan range, June 1925.
Ianthia cyanura (Pallas)
Motacilla cyanurus Pallas, Reise Versch. Prov. Russ. Reich. 2, 1779, p. 709
(Jenissei).
A male was taken at 9,000 feet in the mountains of Choni, May 1925; a female in spruce forest at 10,000 feet, near Babo, northern slopes of the north Kokonor Barrier range, September 1926.
Ianthia rufilata practica Bangs and PhilHps
Ianthia practica Bangs and Phillips, Bull. M. C. Z. 68, 1914, p. 292 (Loukou Chai, Yunnan).
Rock collected eight specimens of this bush robin. Two of these, a male and a female, were taken in the mountains of Choni in the spring (May and June) of 1925; a juvenal was secured on Mt. Lieuhoa- shan in the Minshan range, July 1925, and the remaining five — juvenals, immatures and a moulting adult — are from the forests of Tebbuland, all killed in September 1926.
The single adult male in our series agrees with the characters claimed by Riley (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 70, Art. 5, 1926, p. 39) for a male from the Taipeishan district of Shensi, which that author believes " prob-
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ably represents a distinct form." However, there is a large amount of individual variation in the shade of blue of the upper parts and in the extent of white in the superciliary stripe, and we do not believe that these examples are in any way separable from the Yunnan bird.
Saxicola torquata przewalskii (Pleske)
Pratincola maura var. Przewalskii Pleske, Wiss. Res. Przewalsky's Reisen Vog. 1, 1889, p. 46, pi. 4, fig. 1, 2 and 3 (Kansu).
A male was shot in the scrub bordering the gorge of the Wutu River, in southern Kansu, May 1925; in September of the same year a female was secured at 10,000 feet on Mt. Nginsinshan, near Babo, on the northern slopes of the north Kokonor Barrier range.
Oenanthe isabellina (Cretzschmar)
Saxicola isabellina Cretzschmar, Atl. zu Riippell's Reise, Vog. 1826, pi. 52, pi. 34, b. (Nubia).
A single female of this wide-ranging species was shot on 20 May 1926 on the grassy banks of the Yellow River at Radjagomba, 10,000 feet, eastern Kokonor.
> Oenanthe pleschanka pleschanka (Lepechin)
Motacilla Pleschanka Lepechin, Nov. Comm. Pet. 14, 1770 (= 1771), p. 503, pi. 24 (Saratow, on the Volga).
This species was met at an elevation of 3,000 feet near Kaichow, south Kansu, where a male was killed beside the river bank during May 1925.
PRUNELLIDAE
Prunella collaris tibetanus (Bianchi)
Accentor collaris tibetanus Bianchi, Ann. Mus. Zool. Ac. Petersb. 9, 1904, p. 128 (east Tibet).
This species was met with only at great altitudes; a female was taken on the hmestone crags at 13,000 feet altitude on Mt- Koang Kei in the Minshan range, June 1925; and two males at 14,600 feet, the highest point in the Jupar range, eastern Kokonor, June 1926.
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 355
Prunella rubeculoides beicki Mayr
Prunella rubeculoides beicki Mayr, Orn. Monatsb. 35, Sept. 1927, p. 149 (Lan- hu-kou, northern Kansu).
Ten examples of the Robin Hedge Sparrow were secured as fol- lows: a male and a female 21 September 1925 in the Laliku gorge, near Lalatapan in the Tangar-Kokonor Barrier range; a male and a female in October 1925 beyond the Tangar Mountains of Lassa, 10,000 feet elevation; a male and a female in November 1925 in the valley of Liyuan Ku near Hayotung, 6,000 to 7,000 feet, in the Richthofen range; a male in spruce forest and willow scrub on the outskirts of Choni, February 1926; a female on the grassy hills, Upper Dachso, north of Radja, 11,400 feet, 4 June 1926, and two females in spruce forest at 10,500 feet, gorges of the Yellow River, near Radja, June 1926.
Compared with specimens from Szechuan, our skins agree with Mayr's description in having a grayer head, and we therefore adopt his name from the birds from western Kansu and northeastern Tibet.
Prunella strophiata multistriata (David)
Accentor ?nultistriatus David, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. (4), 6, 1871, p. 256 (Mupin).
Rock collected a male in the Wutu Ho gorge, 4,000 feet, in southern Kansu, May 1925, a female in the mountains of Choni between 9,000 and 10,000 feet during June 1925, and two males and a female in the Tao valley, near Choni, February 1926. During August a juvenal female was taken on the alpine meadows at 12,500 feet of Mt. Kwanghei in the Minshan range. The species was apparently breed- ing in the eastern Kokonor country about Radja, where a male and two females were taken during June 1926 between 10,500 and 11,000 feet. A female in fresh immature plumage was collected in October 1926 on the grasslands of Peitatung, 10,000 feet between Kokonor and the Liangchow Nanshan.
All these specimens agree closely with one another and with skins from western Szechuan.
Prunella fulvescens nadiae subsp. nov.
Type. — No. 238898 Museum of Comparative Zoology, adult male from the Tao River valley, near Choni, southwestern Kansu, 8,200 feet, February 1926, collected by J. F. Rock, original no. 548.
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Characters. — Similar to Prunella fulvescens khamensis Sushk. and agreeing with that race in being strongly streaked above, but lacking the streaks on the upper tail coverts and on the sides.
When Professor Sushkin (Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 38, No. 1, 1925, p. 48-55) revised the forms of Primella fulvescens he had seen but a single specimen from Kansu, a female from Old Tao Chow, in the British Museum. He noted the characters by which this example differed from khamensis, but hesitated to name it on account of the poor state of its preservation. The series of sixteen specimens listed below confirms the characters pointed out by Prof. Sushkin for the Kansu bird. We take great pleasure in naming the form for Mrs. Sushkin.
Two males and ten females were taken during February 1926 in the valley of the Tao River near Choni. In September 1925 a female in fresh autumnal pluinage was shot in spruce forest at 10,000 feet eleva- tion near Babo in the north Kokonor Barrier range. A female in some- what worn dress was taken 13 May 1926 on grassy bluffs overlooking the Yellow River gorges two days above Radja and five miles below the Dzangar monastery. A male and a female, both slightly worn, were secured along the grassy banks of the Yellow River at Radja elevation 10,000 feet, 23 May 1926.
SYLVIIDAE
Tribura thoracica przevalskii (Sushkin)
Dumeiicola thoracica przevalskii Sushkin, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 38, no. 1, 1925, p. 41 (Dshachar mountains, upper Hwang-ho).
Rock secured a male of this species at 1 1 ,500 feet in tall alpine grass on Mt. Lieuhoashan, Kansu, 16 July 1925. We have compared this specimen with the type of davidi ( Tribura thoracica davidi La Touche, Bull. B. O. C. 43, 1923, p. 168, Chinwangtao, northeastern Chihli) and with Sushkin's description of przevalskii (supra), and find that our bird belongs to the latter, though to us the two races appear to be very close.
Phylloscopus affinis (Tickell)
Motacilla affinis Tickell, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 2, 1833, p. 576 (jungles of Borabhum and Dholbuna).
One male was taken at 10,500 feet in a willow forest in the gorge of the Serchen stream, one day east of Radja, 16 May, 1926.
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 357
Phylloscopus armandii (Milne-Edwards)
Abrornis armandii Milne-Edwards, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Paris, Bull. 1, 1865, p. 22, pi. 2, f. 1 (north China).
Twelve examples of this warbler were collected, three males and three females during May and June in theTao River valley near Choni, where the birds haunted either willow or poplar forest or willow scrub; a female from the Kwadjaku valley in the Minshan range, June 1925; a female, spruce forest, 1 1 ,000 feet, Dachso canyon, Yellow River gorges north of Radja, 2 June 1926; a male in willow groves 9,900 feet along the Ba stream, 25 June 1926, and a male at 11,500 feet in the moun- tains opposite Radja, June 1926. During September 1926 a male was secured at 8,000 feet in the forests of Wantsang Ku, Ha Tebbuland, and a female at 9,500 feet, forest of Drakana, upper Tebbuland.
Phylloscopus proregulus proregulus (Pallas)
Motacilla Proregulus Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. 1,1827, p. 499 (Ingoda River, Dauria).
A male and a female in somewhat worn breeding plumage were both taken 2 June 1926 in spruce forests in the Dachso canyon, 11,000 feet, eastern Kokonor. Two examples in fresh autumn plumage were taken during September 1926 in the forests of Pezlu, upper Tebbuland.
Phylloscopus humei praemium (Mathews and Iredale)
Reguloides humei praemium Mathews and Iredale, Austr. Av. Rec. 3, 1915, p. 45 {nom. nov. pro Motacilla superciliosa Gmel. nee Bodd., Russia).
Ten specimens of this puzzling willow warbler were secured; a pair in poplar forest along the Tao River near Choni during May 1925; a pair in the willow forests of the Kwadjaku valley, 10,000 feet, Minshan range, June 1925; a pair at 11,500 feet, in the spruce forests south of the Yellow River opposite Radja 26 May 1926; two males and a female from the spruce forests of the Dachso canyon, 11,000 feet, 2 June 1926, and a female in fresh autumnal plumage from the forests of Wantsang Ku, Ha Tebbuland, 8,500 feet in September 1926.
Stuart Baker (The Fauna of British India, second ed.. vol. H, p. 470, Apr. 1924) places Phylloscopus mandellii Brooks (1879) in the syn- onymy oi P. h. praemium, saying that dark-headed and richly colored birds occur everywhere throughout the ranges of both subspecies. If he is right in considering mandellii the same as praemium, then the
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name must, of course, be mandellii. Perhaps, however. Baker means that mandellii cannot be surely identified as either one or the other race. We have adopted the latter interpretation of his remarks.
Phylloscopus magnirostris Blyth
Phylloscopus magnirostris Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 12, 1843, p. 966 (Calcutta).
Four males of this species were taken during May or early June near the banks of the Tao River at Choni, where the birds frequented willow scrub; four were secured in eastern Kokonor, a female 26 May 1926 at 11,500 feet in the spruce forests south of the Yellow River and opposite Radja, two males in the spruce and birch forests, 11,000 feet, in the Dachso canyon 2 June 1926, and a female at 11,500 feet in the moun- tains southwest of the Yellow River opposite Radja, June 1926; during September and October two males and two females were collected at 9,500 feet in the forests of Drakana, upper Tebbuland.
Phylloscopus trochiloides claudiae (La Touche)
Acantho-pneiLste trochiloides claudiae La Touche, Bull. B. O. C. 43, 1922, p. 22 (Mengtsz, Yunnan).
An immature male was taken at 8,000 feet in the forests of Wantsang Ku September 1926.
LANIIDAE
Lanius BUCEPHALUS siCARius subsp. nov.
Type. — No. 239069 Mus. Comp. Zool., adult female from moun- tains in the Tao valley near Choni, 9,000 feet. Collected May 1925 by J. F. Rock (orig. No. 84).
Characters. — Somewhat similar to Lanius b. bucephalus Temm. and Schl. but crown, nape and auriculars much darker — almost burnt- umber — sharply defined against the dark olivaceous gray of the back, the latter without trace of brownish; tail more slaty; below much more heavily and completely barred, and bars much blacker; bill entirely black and relatively more slender.
Measurements. — Wing, 82; tail, 89; bill from base of forehead, 18; height of bill at base, 8 mm.
The single example of this form secured by Dr. Rock differs so radically from any specimen in a large series of bucephalus from Japan and eastern China that we have no alternative but that of describing it;
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. " 359
the heavy black barring of the underparts, covering even the abdomen, serves to separate our bird at once from even the most heavily barred immature autumnal females of true hucephalus, while the dark oliva- ceous gray of the upper parts and dark brown cap cannot be matched.
Lanius tephronotus (Vigors)
Collurio tephronotus Vigors, P. Z. S., 1831, p. 43 (Himalayas). • '
This Shrike was found near Choni during May and June 1925, and Rock's notes show that it was common in the willow forest, where two males and a female were secured; 24 May 1926 two adult males were collected at 1 1 ,000 feet in the mountains across the Yellow River from Radja ; two Juvenal males were taken in the forests of Drakana, upper Tebbuland, one at 10,500 feet in August, 1925, the other at 9,500 feet in September 1926.
Lanius cristatus cristatus Linn.
Lanius cristatus Linn., Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 1, 1758, p. 93 (Bengal).
A single female was taken in June 1925 at an elevation of 9,600 feet in the mountains of Choni. The bird quite probably was a straggler or or belated migrant, since the species is not known to breed in any part of Kansu. A note on the label reads "rare."
PARIDAE
Parus songarus affinis (Przewalski)
Poedle affinis Przewalski, Mongol i. Strana Tangut, 2, 1876, p. 52 (Ala-shan and Kansu).
Eleven specimens of this willow tit were secured; three males and three females from the region about Choni, May and June 1925, and January 1926; four more examples were collected in eastern Kokonor, a male in spruce forest at 11,000 feet, south of the Yellow River op- posite Radja, 26 May 1926, and three males and a female in the Dachso canyon. Yellow River gorges at a like elevation, 2 June 1926.
Parus songarus weig^ldicus Kleinschmidt
Parus weigoldicus Kleinschmidt, Falco, 1921, p. 3 [Nom. nov. pro Parus sali-, carius weigoldi Ivleinsch., Berajah, 1921, p. 19 (Atentze, northern Yunnan) nee Parus cristatus weigoldi Tratz, Orn. Mon. 1914, p. 50 (Portugal)].
The collection contains four males, two from the forests of Pezlu, two from the forests of Drakana, 7,200 and 9,500 feet respectively, upper Tebbuland, September 1926.
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These specimens are easily distinguished from affinis by their much deeper coloration, particularly the top of the head and nape which are dull blackish, and the back which is a deeper brownish.
The birds recorded from western Szechuan by Thayer and Bangs (Mem. M. C. Z. 40, no. 4, 1912, p. 183) as Penthestes affinis are, of course, referable to P. s. weigoldicus.
Many Europeans consider that the Willow Tits of the Old World are so closely related to the American Chickadee, Parus atricapillus, that they list them as subspecies of that bird. This procedure does not properly represent the facts. The American forms are quite unlike their Old World cousins in life, and have very different voices, and we unhesitatingly consider them specifically distinct.
Parus davidi (Berez. and Bianchi)
Poecile Davidi Berezowski and Bianchi, Aves, Exped. Potanini, 1891, p. 113, pi. 2, fig. 4 (southern Kansu).
A male and two females of this species were secured at an elevation of 8,000 feet in the forests of Wantsang Ku, Ha Tebbuland, in Septem- ber 1926, and a third female was taken there at 8,500 feet.
Parus superciliosus (Przew.)
Poecile superciliosa Przewalski, Mongol i. Strana Tangut, 2, 1876, p. 54 (alpine regions of the Kansu mountains). v
This species apparently occurs sparingly over western Kansu. A female in worn breeding plumage was taken in the poplar groves of the Tao valley in May 1925; another female in still more worn plumage is from 11,000 feet in the Minshan spruce forests of the Tebbu country, August 1925, while a male and a female in fresh autumnal feather were collected in the Babo district of the north Kokonor Barrier range in October 1925.
Parus dichrous dichroides (Przew.)
Lophophanes dichroides Przewalski, Mongol i. Strana Tangut, 2, 1876, p. 54 (lower mountain ranges of Kansu).
Rock collected a series of fourteen examples of this titmouse. A female was taken in the spruce forests of the Tao River valley in Janu- ary 1926; a juvenal male at 11,000 feet in the forests of the Minshan range in June 1925; a male in the spruce forest at 11,500 feet at the Great Rock Gate of the Minshan range August 1925. In the Tebbu
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 361
country the species appeared to be very numerous, ten examples being secured during September 1926 at elevations ranging between 8,000 and 9,500 feet. One of these is a juvenal, but the others have the long crest feathers fully developed. The westernmost locality where a specimen was collected is the Dachso canyon of the Yellow River in eastern Kokonor, where a male was secured at 11,000 feet 2 June 1926.
Some of the birds, regardless of season bear a note on their labels that the eyes are "brown," others that the eyes are "red." Przewal- ski's original diagnosis reads "iris rubiginosa."
The olive back, present in adults at all season^, as well as in the im- mature, serves to distinguish this race at once from any of the other forms of the species.
Three specimens of the bird from the isolated Washan Mountain, where it is restricted to the upper coniferous slopes, belong to a separ- able form, as Kleinschmidt and Weigold have already pointed out (Abh. u. ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, 15, 1922, no. 3, p. 13). This race we name
Parus dichrous arceuthinus subsp. nov.
Type. — No. 50822 Museum of Comparative Zoology, collected on Washan Mountain (11,000 feet), western Szechuan, 4 June 1908, by W. R. Zappey.
Characters. — Similar to P. d. dichroides but much paler, more ashy gray above, the back nearly concolorous with the head; much paler fawn color below. Similar also to P. d. iccUsi Stuart Baker, but much paler in color throughout.
Parus rufonuchalis beavani (Jerd.)
Lophophanes heavani Jerdon, Bds. India, 2, 1863, p. 275 (Mt. Teringloo, Sik- kim).
But four specimens of the Sikkim Black Tit were collected, all of them from the country south of the Minshan range. A male from the southern slopes of the Minshans at 9,800 feet in June 1925, a female in August 1925 in the Kadjaku valley at 9,500 feet, a male from the forests of Drakana, 9,500 feet, upper Tebbuland, September 1926, and a male from the forests of Wantsang Ku, 8,500 feet, September 1926.
Parus venustulus Swinhoe
PariLS vemistulus Swinhoe, P. Z. S., 1870, p. 133 (Yangtse gorges, Hupeh).
Four of these birds were taken in the willow groves in the Tao valley near Choni, during May 1925, a fifth specimen was taken at
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10,000 feet in the mountains of Choni, south of the Tao River, June 1925. An immature female was secured in the forests of Wantsang Ku, lower Tebbuland, 8,500 feet, September 1926.
Parus monticolus monticolus Vigors Parus monticolus Vigors, P. Z. S., 1831, p. 22 (Himalaya).
But one specimen of the green-backed tit was secured — a male from the forests of Wantsang Ku, 8,500 feet, September 1926.
This specimen, judging by our inadequate topotypical material, belongs to the nominate form, in any event it is not referable to P. m. yunnanensis La Touche, a slightly differentiated race, characterized by the rather brighter greenish yellow of the mantle and brighter yellow sides, points which are hardly appreciable except when the birds are viewed in series.
Parus major tibetanus Hart.
Parus major tibetanus Hartert, Vog. Pal. Faun. 1, heft 3, 1905, p. 346 (Chaksam, Tsing Po valley, Tibet).
Rock secured ten specimens of the great tit as follows : an adult female in very worn breeding plumage from scrub beside the Minchow road, 5,000 feet in southern Kansu, May 1925; an adult female from the scrub forest in the Tao valley at Choni, May 1925; a male and two females from the Choni spruce forests, January 1926. Three males and two females were collected in the forests of Wantsang Ku and Mayaku in upper Tebbuland 8,000 to 8,500 feet, in September 1926.
We can detect no differences in these series from north and south of the Minshan range. Furthermore there are no constant characters that we can detect by which to separate the great tits of northwestern Yunnan, western Szechuan and southwestern Kansu; in our opinion they all belong to the same form, characterized by large size and a good deal of white in the second tail feather. The latter character is variable, altogether too variable a criterion on which to base any further sub- division within the above area, and we do not recognize P. m. subtibe- tamis (Kleinsch. and Weig., Abh. u. ber. Mus. Dresden, 15, 1922, no. 3, p. 11, Tatsienlu, Szechuan).
Aegithaliscus fuliginosus fuliginosus (J. Verr.)
Mecistura fuliginosa J. Verreaux, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Paris, Bull. 5, 1869, p. 36 (eastern Tibet = western Szechuan) .
Three males were taken during September 1926, one of them at 7,200 feet in the forests of Pezlu, upper Tebbuland, the others at 8,000
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 363
feet in the forests of Wantsang Ku, lower Tebbuland. The first men- tioned specimen had the irides "yellow," one of the others "yellowish brown. " None of these birds had completed the autumnal moult.
Verreaux's description of this species is too generalized to be of any use in determining subspecies, and the plate published (Nouv. Arch. Mus. Paris, Bull. 8, 1872, pi. 5), on which this bird is figured (fig. 4) with three other species, is not accurately colored. We must therefore assume our birds to be like those from western Szechuan and refer birds from Hupeh to a new race.
Aegithaliscus fuliginosus scurrula subsp. nov.
Type: No. 50968 Mus. Comp. Zool. from Hsien Shan Hsien, Hupeh, collected 25 December, 1907 by Walter R. Zappey.
Characters. — Similar to A. f. fuliginosus, but the brown parts of the plumage much paler, about "Mummy Brown" of Ridgway. In A. f. fuliginosus the brown parts are very dark, between light seal brown and black. This difference is very conspicuous in the color of the breast band. Measurements: wing, male 56-60; female 56-57; tail, male 52-58; female 51-52. (9 males and 2 females.)
Aegithalos glaucogularis vinacea (J. Verr.)
Mecistura vinacea J. Verreaux, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Paris, Bull. 6, 1870, p. 39 (mountains of Chinese Tibet).
The northern Silver-throated Tit was common about Choni; a pair of adults in extremely worn plumage was taken in the forests there, at 9,600 feet in June 1925; during January and February 1926 the species frequented the willow scrub in the Tao River valley, where seven ex- amples were secured. A much abraided male was shot on 23 June 1926 on the banks of the Ba River 9,900 feet, south of the Jupar range in eastern Kokonor. A male and two females were collected in September 1926 along the valley of Chulungapu in the juniper forests of Pezlu, upper Tebbuland, while lower Tebbuland is represented by a male taken in the forests of Mayaku, 8,500 feet, September 1926.
CePHALOPYRUS FLAMMfCEPS OLIVACEUS Roths.
Cephalopyrus flammiceps oKvaceus Rothschild, Nov. Zool. 30, 1923, p. 263 (Tengyueh, northwestern Yunnan).
A single female of this strongly marked form was secured in April 1925 at 5,000 feet altitude in mixed forest on the mountains of northern Szechuan near Chingchuan.
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REGULIDAE
Regulus regulus coatsi Sushk.
Regulus cristatus coatsi Sushkin, Bull. B. O. C. 14, 1904, p. 44 (subalpine zone of Sayan range).
Rock collected five Kinglets during the autumn of 1925. Two males were taken in October in willow scrub in a stream bed at Babo 9,500 feet between the Kokonor Barrier and the Richthofen ranges; in November two males and a female were secured in a similar situation at 7,000 feet elevation in the Liyuan gorge on the northern slopes of the Richthofen range.
These specimens all differ from R. r. japonensis Blakist. in being less washed with gray on the nape and sides of the head, in this particular agreeing with the original description of coatsi; they do not, however, confirm the difference in size between this race and japonensis as claimed by Buturlin (Mess. Orn. 1916, p. 100).
Western Kansu is some distance south of the region which coatsi inhabits, but the lateness of the season makes it reasonable to suppose that our birds are migrants from further north.
Leptopoecile sophiae deserticola Hartert
Lepiopoecile sophiae deserticola Hartert, Vog. Pal. Faun. 1, heft 4, 1907, p. 401 (Kara-Sai, eastern Turkestan).
Five specimens of this excellent race were collected in the Kokonor Barrier ranges; a male at 13,000 feet near a summit in the southeast Barrier range September 1925; three males and a female in spruce forest at 10,000 feet on Mt. Nginsin, north Barrier range in October 1925.
A collector's note on the labels of two of the males states that the eyes are "red."
Leptopoecile sophiae obscura Przew.
Leptopoecile obscura Przewalski, Zapisk. Imp. Ak. Nauk St. Petersb. 56, 1887, p. 80 (mountain forests of northeastern Tibet.)
During January 1926 four males and two females were secured in willow scrub or in the willow and poplar forests in the Tao River valley near Choni.
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 365
LOPHOBASILEUS ELEGANS (PrzeW.)
Leptopoecile elegans Przewalski, Zapisk. Imp. Ak. Nauk St. Petersb. 55, 1887, p. 77 (upper Yellow River and temple of Tschertyngon).
In eastern Kokonor this species was secured in rhododendron scrub at 11,000 feet in the Rako gorge, September 1925 and in willow bushes south of the Yellow River opposite Radja 26 May 1926, in both cases a single male collected. An adult female was taken in October 1925 at 10,000 feet altitude in spruce forest, Babo district, north Kokonor Barrier range. During September 1926 three males and a female were shot in the forests of Drakana, upper Tebbuland, between 9,000 and 9,500 feet; two of the males are juvenals, but with "red" irides, as in the adults.
SITTIDAE
SiTTA EUROP^A SINENSIS Verreaux
Sitta smeiisis Verreaux, Nouv. Arch. Miis. Paris, Bull. 6, 1870, p. 34 (moun- tains of Chinese Tibet, error!).
Rock collected three male examples of this nuthatch in the forests of Mayaku and Wantsang Ku, lower Tebbu country in September 1926; all three have completed the moult and are in fresh autumnal plumage. These birds average a little larger than birds from either Fokien or Hupeh, wing 77, 78, 80, but in other respects they are identical with sinensis.
As Hartert has shown, Verreaux based this form on three specimens, a male from Kiukiang, northern Kiangsi, and a pair from Moupin, Szechuan, but the two latter belong to the race now known as vwntium La Touche, so that Hartert fixed the name on the Kiukiang bird (Vog. Pal. Faun. 1, p. 333). La Touche (Handb. Bds. east. China, pt. 1, July 1925, p. 38) considers the Fokien bird to he sinensis and endeavors to uphold itschmigensis Kleinschm. and Weig. as a valid race. With a large series before us, we can see no differences whatever between Hupeh and Fokien specimens. In any event the Hupeh birds must be called sinensis (not being preoccupied by chinensis) with the type locality fixed as Kiukiang, just south of the Hupeh border, and if there was any race to be named, it would be the Fokien bird.
SiTTA LEUCOPSis PRZEWALSKii Bcrcz. and Bianchi
Sitta Przewahhii Berezowski and Bianchi, Av. Exp. Potanini 1891, p. 119, (upper Chuancne .
A male of the white-cheeked nuthatch was collected in the spruce forests of Choni in February 1926; three more examples (two males
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and a female) were taken in the forests of Drakana at 9,500 feet, and a male at 8,500 feet in the forests of Wantsang Ku in September 1926.
SiTTA CANADENSIS viLLOSA Verreaux
Sitta iiillosa Verreaux, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Paris, Bull. 1, 1865, p. 78, pi. 5, f. 1 (north of Pekin).
Three of this little nuthatch were collected ; a male and a female at 7,000 feet in the Liyuanku gorge, northern slopes of the Richthofen range, and a female in the spruce forests of the north Kokonor Barrier range, all in October 1925.
It is difficult to distinguish some skins of villosa from some of canadensis. Usually however, the former is larger and paler, and has the black portion of the auriculars always flecked with whitish; canadensis normally has the same region solid black, but occasionally a specimen is found flecked with white as in villosa.
CERTHIIDAE
Certhia familiaris tianschanica Hartert
Certhia familiaris tianschanica Hanert, Vog. Pal. Faun. 1, heft 3, 1905, p. 321. (Ak-su (River?), southern Tian Shan).
A male taken 31 May 1926 in juniper forest at 11,000 feet in the Howa valley, Yellow River gorges north of Radja, agrees with the original diagnosis of this pale form, except that the dusky spot on the under wing-coverts is not very distinct, thus approaching/. /a/?u7?an's; however, it is a large bird (wing 69 mm.), and for this reason we refer it to tianschanica.
There is still much work to be done in clearing up the breeding ranges of the tree creepers in western China.
Certhia familiaris bianchii Hartert
Certhia familiaris bianchii Hartert, Vog. Pal. Faun. 1, heft 3, 1905, p. 321 (southern Tetung Mountains, Kansu).
There are five specimens in the collection characterized by dark upper parts, rusty spot on the outer web of the fourth primary and by rusty or fawn-colored abdomen and under tail coverts; in these details they agree with Hartert's description of bianchii. One of them is a female shot near Choni in February 1926; the other four are males collected in the forests of Drakana, 9,500 feet during September 1926.
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 367
Lonnberg (Ibis, 1922, p. 312) records Certhia f. khamensis Bianchi from the Minshans, but our examples from upper Tebbuland are not referable to that race.
Certhia familiaris kwanhsienensis Kleinsch. & Weig.
Certhia familiaris kwanhsienensis Kleinschmidt and Wiegold, Abh. u. ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, 15, No. 3, 1922, p. 7 (Kwanhsien, Szechuan).
The single specimen from Ha Tebbuland, a male from the forests of Sambaku, 9,000 feet, taken in September 1926, lacks the rusty spot on the outer web of the fourth primary and has a distinctly gray wash over the abdomen; these characters force us to place the bird in the form recently described by Kleinschmidt and Weigold.
The bird recorded by Thayer and Bangs as Certhia familiaris khamensis (Mem. M. C. Z. 40, no. 4, 1912, p. 186) from Lianghow Kow, western Szechuan, is referable here.
It seems to us that the length of the bill in Certhia familiaris is too subject to individual variation to serve as a really reliable diagnostic character.
Certhia himalayana yunnanensis Sharpe
Certhia yunnanensis Sharpe, Bull. B. O. C. 13, 1902, p. 11 ("Shayang, Chutung Road").
Four examples of this bird were secured : — - a male in the gorges of the Wutu River in May 1925, a male in theTaoch®w valley, 31 May 1925, a female near Choni in February 1926, and a male in the forests of Drakana, 9,500 feet September 1926.
These four specimens are all alike and agreelfevith Sharpe's original description of yunnanensis, but lacking topotypical material of that form we sent one of our specimens to Mr. N. B. Kinnear at the British Museum (Natural History) who writes "the tree creeper agrees in every way as far as I can see with C. h. yunnanensis J'
TiCHODROMA MURARiA (Linn.)
Certhia muraria Linne, Syst. Nat. ed. 12, 1, 1766, p. 184 (southern Europe).
Four specimens of the Wall Creeper were taken. A male at Peshi- ngai, 10,600 feet, southwestern Kansu, 30 May 1925; a male on the rocky banks of the Tao River below Choni in March 1926; a female 20 May 1926 along the Yellow River near Radja, and a male at the mouth of the Deyang valley, 10,000 feet, near Radja, June 1926. The May specimens are in the process of acquiring the black throat, which the June bird has completely assumed.
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MOTACILLIDAE
MOTACILLA ALBA LEUCOPSIS Gould
Motadlla leucopsis Gould, P. Z. S., 1837, p. 78 (India).
The White-faced Wagtail is represented by three males: an adult taken along the Tao River near Choni in June 1925, another adult from the Yellow River near Radja 20 May 1926, and an immature male taken in September 1926 at an elevation of 10,700 feet on the south shore of Lake Kokonor.
BUDYTES CITREOLA CITREOLA (Pallas)
Motadlla citreola Pallas, Reis. Versch. Prov. Russ. Reich, 3, 1776, p. 696 (eastern Siberia).
Neither of the two examples of Yellow-headed Wagtails sent in by Rock is B. c. citreoloides, the breeding bird of the region. Undoubtedly both were migrants belonging to the form of more northerly breeding range. A male in the plumage of the first spring was secured in May 1925 near Choni, and an immature female was taken along a water course near Wantsang Ku, Ha Tebbuland, in September 1926.
Anthus hodgsoni Richmond
Anthus hodgsoni Richmond, Cam. Inst. Wash. publ. no. 54, 1, pt. 2, 1907, p. 493 [Nom. vov. pro A7ithus macidatusYLodgs. (Nepal), nee Motanllamacul- ata Gmel. = Anlhus campestris (Linn.)].
During June and Ji^y 1925 this species was met with in alpine mead- ows on the summits of the Minshan range at elevations ranging between 11,500 and 13,000 feet, where three males and two females in somewhat worn summer dress were secured. A male taken in May along the rocky gorges of the Minchow River in southern Kansu, 5,000 feet altitude is also abraided. In September 1926 two additional ex- amples were collected in the forests of Ha Tebbuland : a female with the first immature plumage not yet complete, and an adult female in an advanced state of moult.
We have examined very large numbers of specimens of A. hodgsoni from many different regions, and are wholly unable to recognize either A. h. yunnanensis Uchida and Kuroda or ^. h. berezowsJcii Sarudny. Every series, if long, presents rather striking differences due entirely to season, age, wear or individual variation, but we fail to find any real characters by which the species can be subdivided.
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 369
Anthus richardi bichardi Vieillot Anthus Richardi Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat. 26, 1818, p. 491 (France).
Rock secured a male and two females of Richard's Pipit near Tao- chow in the Tibetan grasslands of southwestern Kansu, elevation 10,000 feet, in May 1925; a third female was taken in June of the same year on the alpine meadows of the Choni mountains.
One of the Taochow examples has a hind toe only as long as the hal- lux, one of the criteria for the determination of ^. r. striolatus, but in the other two specimens from the same place, the hind claw is very long and the tip attenuated. This often seems to be the case among the species of pipits with long liind claws; they become worn very thin dis- tally, and the tips eventually break oft".
Anthus roseatus Blyth Anthus roseatus Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 16, 1847, p. 437 (Nepal).
A. roseatus is the common pipit of the region, as evidenced by a series of fifteen specimens. During the breeding season Rock found the bird in alpine meadows on grassy mountain summits of the Minshan range between 11,500 and 13,000 feet, and in similar situations in the mountains of eastern Kokonor. In September 1925 one was secured in grasslands along the southwestern shore of Lake Kokonor. In Novem- ber 1925 one was secured at the summit of a pass (9,600 feet) in the Richthofen range.
Anthus spinoletta blakistoni Swinhoe
Anthus blakistoni Swinhoe, P. Z. S., 1863, p. 90 (Yangtsze River, 140 miles inland). The Chinese water pipit was met with only in eastern Kokonor. A male was secured in the Dzomo valley, north of Dzomola, at an alti- tude of 11,300 feet on 21 June 1926, and another male, 26 June, at an elevation of 13,100 on the northern slopes of the Jupar range. The former bird was taken in willow scrub near a river bank; the latter in an alpine meadow. The plumage of both specimens is much worn.
ALAUDIDAE
Eremophila alpestris nigrifrons (Przewalski)
Otocoris nigrifrons Przewalski, Mongol i. Strana Tangut, 2, 1876, p. 103 (Kansu, Kokonor, Zaidam and northern Tibet). Twenty-two specimens of horned larks were taken, that, in spite of seasonal differences in plumage, are clearly referable to only one
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subspecies. Five males and a female were collected on Tibetan grass- lands between Taochow and Choni at an elevation of between 9,000 and 10,000 feet during May. On the Ba plains, 10,500 feet, two males and two females in worn breeding plumage were collected on June 24, 1926, and a three-cjuarters grown juvenal on June 22. During Septem- ber 1925 seven specimens of both sexes were taken on the grasslands about Lake Kokonor. Four of these are apparently birds of the year in fresh immature plumage, a fifth still retains a number of feathers of the juvenal plumage on the head, while yet another is a fully grown juve- nal, and the last an adult female at the height of the autumnal moult. In November 1925 three males and a female were secured at an eleva- tion of 10,500 feet on the grasslands of Obo, north Kokonor Barrier range.
Although Hartert has placed Otocoris nigrifrons in the synonymy of elwesi, we are convinced that it is a valid race and occupies essentially the area assigned to it by its describer. Since Przewalski did not desig- nate a definite type locality we suggest as such the grasslands about Lake Kokonor.
E. a. nigrifrons is readily distinguishable from E. a. ehvesi by darker coloration above and by its smaller size (male, wing 109-115 mm. as against 115-125 in ehvesi). From khamensis, nigrifrons is distin- guished by its much smaller size, narrower black frontal band and shorter bill. The range of E. a. hrandti probable adjoins that of nigrifrons on the north, but the former race may be readily distin- guished by its much more sandy coloration above and lack of black frontal band (the black being restricted to the tuft of plumes over the nostrils), although the two forms are of about the same size.
Alauda arvensis inopinata Bianchi
Alauda japonica inopinata Bianchi, Ann. Mus. Zool. St. Petersb. 9, 1905, p. 31 (eastern Tibet, Nan Shan, Kokonor, upper Mekong, upper Brah- maputra, Gyantze, Lhassa).
The only Skylark in the collection, a male, was taken on 4 June 1926, at an elevation of 13,700 feet, on the Waro Pass, north of Radja.
Galerida cristata retrusa subsp. nov.
Tyjic. — No. 238709 Mus. Comp. Zool., adult male from the Kan- chow plain, foot of the northern Kanchow Nanshan, collected No- vember 1925 by Joseph F. Rock (orig. no. 470).
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 371
Characters. — Similar to Galerida cristata magna Hume but smaller; more grayish, less brownish above with the central portions of the feathers darker; below more nearly white, less washed with rusty yellow.
Measurements
|
Bill from |
|||||
|
Number |
Sex |
Wing |
Tail |
Tarsus |
base |
|
238709 |
cT |
102 |
58 |
24 |
17 |
|
238710 |
9 |
106 |
62 |
24.5 |
18 |
In addition to the type a second specimen, a female, was collected at the same time and place.
Dr. Herbert C. Robinson very kindly examined these specimens for us at the British Museum, and writes that they agree most nearly in color and other particulars with Galerida cristata iwanowi Louden, but that they are much too small for that form. They scarcely need com- parison with the smaller and much redder leautungensis (Swinh.) to which they come nearest geographically.
Melanocorypha maxima Gould
Melanocorypha maxima Gould, Bds. Asia, 4, 1867, pi. 72 and text (type locality as substituted by Hartert, " Border of Sikkim," Vog. Pal. Faun. 1, heft 2, 1904, p. 211).
Four of these very large larks were collected September 1925 in the grassy country bordering the southern shore of Lake Kokonor. Two more, a male and a female were secured on grasslands at an elevation of 11,400 feet in Tsechu drainage, eastern Kokonor on 11 May 1926. Rock made a note on the label of one of the specimens that reads : — " These birds fly very low and can be hit with a stick."
Melanocorypha mongolica (Pallas)
Alavda mongolica Pallas, Reis. VerscR. Prov. Russ. Reick, 3, 1776, p. 697 (between "Ononem et Agrunum.")
The single specimen of this species in the collection, is a male taken in the grasslands on the southern shore of Lake Kokonor September 1925. The bird, an adult, was moulting heavily and acquiring a new tail all at once, all the old feathers having been shed.
372 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
FRINGILLIDAE
Chloris sinica sinica (Linn.) Fringilla sinica Linne, Syst. Nat. ed. 12, 1, 1766, p. 321 (China).
The Chinese Green Finch apparently is not numerous in this region. A male was secured near Minchow, 5,000 feet, in southern Kansu and five of both sexes in the vicinity of Choni and Taochow between 8,500 and 9,000 feet, all in poplars along streams, or in open situations. An immature male was collected at Babo, northern slope of the Kokonor Barrier range in spruce forest.
All of these specimens agree with birds from Szechuan and Hupeh, which we believe to represent typical sinica.
Perissospiza carnipes carnipes (Hodgs.) Coccothraustes carnipes Hodgson, As. Res. 19, 1836, p. 151 (Nepal).
Twenty-two specimens of the White-winged Grosbeak were taken in the Tao valley, the Minshan range, the basin of the Yellow River in eastern Kokonor and the forests of Drakana in upper Tebbuland. In all cases the birds were found in spruce or in juniper forest. No ex- amples were collected below 9,500 feet. A note by Rock on the label of a bird taken May 31, 1926, in the Howa gorge, 11,000 feet, eastern Kokonor, states that the species was then feeding on the hard juniper berries.
Perissospiza icteroides affinis (Blyth)
Hesperiphona affinis Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 24, 1855, p. 179 (alpine Punjab).
One adult male of this species was taken at an elevation of 10,000 feet in the spruce and fir forests of Sambaku, Ha Tebbuland, Septemb.^r 1926. The specimen was in an advanced state of the autumnal moult.
Fringilla montifringilla Linn.
Fringilla montifringilla liinne, Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 1, 1758, p. 179 (Sweden, apud Hartert).
Rock secured one female Brambling at the edge of the forest near Choni, May 1925.
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 373
ACANTHIS FLAVIROSTRIS Subsp.
We are at a loss to place the subspecies of the single Twite in the collection. It is sexed as a male. It is in fresh immature plumage and lacks the pink rump. The bird was taken at Hung Shui Ku, eastern end of the Kanchow Nanshan, 8,000 feet, October 1925.
The speciman is too pale for miniakensis which is represented in the Museum of Comparative Zoology by an adult male cotype collected by Weigold at Bameh, Szechuan, 11 November 1915. It seems to be in color more nearly like montanella Hume or altaica Sushkin, but is small for either (wing 73).
Leucosticte nemoricola nemoricola (Hodgson)
Fringalauda nemoricola Hodgs., As. Res. 19, 1836, p. 158 (central and north regions of Nepal).
Rock took ten specimens of this species, which he found on the sum- mit of Mt. Koanzku of the Minshan range at 13,000 feet in June 1925; in alpine meadows, 12,500 feet during July and August 1925 in Tebbu- land; at 12,500 feet below Kerab pass in the Jupar range, 24 June 1926, and as low as 11,300 feet on rocky cliffs in the Dzomo valley, north of Dzomola, 21 June 1926.
We retain this species in the genus Leucosticte, because we do not believe that the genus Fringalauda (type F. nemoricola Hodgs.) is sufficiently distinct. Most of the species of Leucosticte, it is true, have a dense tuft of short incurved feathers completely covering the nostrils, rather stout feet and a somewhat conical bill, while nemoricola is aberrant in having the nasal tufts less developed, more slender feet, and more elongate bill. The bird that Hartert described, however, as Mofitifringilla brandti walteri (Vog. Pal. Faun. 1, 1904, p. 138) is in our opinion a distinct species that bridges the differences between Leu- costicte and Fringalauda and should stand SiS Leucosticte walteri (Hart.).
Erythrina erythrina roseata (Hodgs.) Pyrrhulinota roseata Hodgs., P. Z. S., 1845, p. 36 (Nepal and Hindustan).
This bird is represented in the collection by eighteen skins. Eight adult males and three females were secured near Choni during May and June 1925, at elevations ranging from 8,500 to 9,500 feet, taken in willow and poplar bushes along the Tao River, and at tlte borders of the spruce forests in the mountains of Choni. From the Tebbu country
374 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
we have one adult and one immature male and five females taken between the altitudes of 7,200 and 9,500 feet in bushes along streams and in alpine meadows at 12,900 feet.
All the adult males in the series are very deep and richly colored, slightly darker even than birds taken by Zappey in Szechuan at the corresponding seasons.
Erythrina rubicilloides rubicilloides (Przew.)
Carpodacus ritbicilloides Przewalski, Mongol i. Strana Tangut, 2, 1876, p. 90. pi. 12 (mountains of Kansu).
Rock sent in three examples of this rare rose finch ; an adult male and a female collected at 7,000 feet, November 1925 at Liyuanku on the northern slopes of the Richthofen range and another female from the Tao River valley, 9,000 feet, February 1926.
Erythrina thura dubia (Przew.)
Carpodacus dubius Przewalski, Mongol i. Strana Tangut, 2, 1876, p. 92, pi. 13. (wooded hills in Ala-Shan and Kansu).
Rock sent in a series of twenty-four specimens of this form from the following places, the region about Choni, the Minshan range, the Yel- low River gorges in eastern Kokonor, the valley of the Ba River and the forests of Mayaku, Ha Tebbuland. The species was met with in willows and in spruce forests at elevations between 8,000 and 11,500 feet.
Erythrina davidiana (Milne-Edw.)
Carpodacus Daz^idianws Milne-Edwards, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Paris, Bull. 1, 1865, p. 18-19, pi. 2, f. 2, cT (no type locality specified, but probably in the mountains of Shensi or southern Mongolia).
This appears to be a widespread species in southwestern Kansu and and adjacent parts of Kokonor. Seven adult males and eight immature males or females were taken at the following localities : Minshan range, summit of Mt. Koang Kei 13,000 feet; Mt. Lieuhoashan 10,000 ft.; Rako gorge 10,500 feet; Tao River basin, Choni 8,500 feet; Yellow River opposite Radja, Dachso canyon; mountains north of Dzomola 12,800 feet; north slopes of the Jupar range, 13,100 feet; and the forests of Ha and upper Tebbuland between 8,500 and 10,000 feet. Most of the specimens were taken in spruce forest, but the species was also found in river gorges among birches and scrub and in alpine meadows.
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 375
All recent authors have confused davidiana with E. pulcherrhna (Hodgs.)- Hartert (Vog. Pal. Faun. 1, p. 103) considers the two identi- cal; Thayer and Bangs had specimens of both species from western Szechuan, but did not comment, and called them all pulcherrimvs. Jacobi (Abh. Ber. Mus. Tierk u. Volkerk Dresden, 16, 1922, no. 1, p. 26-27) also appears to have combined the two species. Rothschild considers davidiana " barely separable" as a subspecies of pulcherrima, while Stuart Baker follows the same course, but we suspect that his pulcherrima is waltoni and his davidiana is pulcherrima.
The males in Rock's series agree with the Milne-Edward's original description and plate, but apparently David and Oustalet (Oiseaux de la Chine, 1877, p. 354, pi. 95) described and figured pulcherrima under the name of davidiana.
In reality davidiana is a distinct species. It differs from pulcherrima in the following characters: larger size, proportionately longer wing- tip; in color it is paler and grayer, less brownish and with dark streaks above blacker; supercilium, sides of head and under parts much paler rose color with a strong silvery appearance; throat and chest with black shaft stripes, middle of abdomen white. Zappey took both species together in the breeding season at Cheto and at Yachiakun in western Szechuan.
Eight males of pulcherrima from western Szechuan have wings ranging from 71-79, two females, wing 70. In five males of davidiana from western Szechuan the wing is 83-85, one female 82. Six adult males of davidiana from southwest Kansu and eastern Kokonor, afford a wing length of 82-83; the adult females 81-85.
Erythrina vinacea vinacea (Verr.)
Carpodactis vinaeceus Verreaux, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Paris, Bull. 6, 1870, p. 39 (mountains of Chinese Tibet).
One adult male from the forests of Wantung Ku, 8,500 feet,, Ha Tebbuland, September 1926.
This bird was in badly worn plumage and was at the start of the autumn moult.
Erythrina trifasciata (Verr.)
Carpodacus trifasciatus Verreaux, Nouv. Arch. Mus., Paris, Bull. 6, 1870, p. 39 (mountains of Chinese Tibet).
Rock secured two specimens of this rose finch in September 1926; an adult male at an elevation between 9,600 and 10,000 feet in the forests
376 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
of Drakana, upper Tebbuland, the other in the Wantsang forests, Ha Tebbuland at 8,500 feet. The latter was part way through the post- juvenal moult and acquiring a plumage in which the red of the old adult male is replaced by ochraceous.
Pyrrhula erythaca taipaishanensis Roths.
Pyrrhula erythaca taipaishanensis Rothschild, Nov. Zool. 28, 1921, p. 63 (Mt. Taipaishan, Tsinling range).
Fifteen specimens of both sexes were taken in the mountains and along the Tao River valley near Choni, and between 8,000 and 10,000 feet in the forests of Ha and upper Tebbuland. Birds were taken both in spruce forest in the mountains and in willow brush along the river.
Urocynchramus pylzowi Przew.
Urocynchramus pylzoivi Przewalski, Mongol, i. Strana Tangut, 2, 1876, p. 99, pi. 15 (sources of the Tetungand alpine regions of the mountains north of the Tetung).
Four examples, two adult males and two adult females of this little- known finch (if a bird with ten primaries can be called a finch) were se- cured the same day in June 1926 in willow and rhododendron scrub at an elevation of 14,000 feet north of the Dzomola in eastern Kokonor.
The plumage of these specimens is but little abraided, yet the whitish edges of the feathers on the lower parts of the male, so conspicuous in winter plumage, have worn off completely, greatly intensifying the rose color.
There appears to be no more known about this bird than there was when it was first discovered. Accounts of its notes, habits and appear- ance are still quoted from the original account by Przewalski.
Emberiza spodocephala melanops Blyth Emberiza melanops Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 14, 1845, p. 554 (Tipperah).
Four examples of this bunting were secured near Choni during May and June 1925. Rock met with the species there in forests, mountain meadows and along streams.
'&
Emberiza godlewskii nanshanica Sushk.
Emberiza godlewskii nanshanica Sushkin, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 38, no. 1, 1925, p. 24. (Churmyk River, basin of the upper Hwang-ho).
Rock sent in eleven skins of this meadow bunting, breeding and winter birds, as follows: one from Chingchuan, 6,500 feet, northern
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 377
Szechuan, April 1925; two from Choni in May 1925 where the birds were then found in poplar forest, or poplar trees along the Tao River. During January and February 1926 four more birds were taken in the Choni forests along the Tao River valley between 8,500 and 9,000 feet elevation. Two females were secured near Radja 10,000 feet, in the Yellow River valley, eastern Kokonor 20 May 1926. A juvenal female was collected in the forests of Pezlu, 12,000 feet, Ha Tebbuland, Sep- tember 1926.
Sushkin in 1925 (Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 38, no. 1 ) recognized seven races of E. godlewskii of j^^hich four, nanshanica, decolor ata, khmnensis and barigsi, were described as new. For comparison we have godlewskii, oviissa, khamensis, hangsi and yunnanensis, a fair series of each, whose value is much enhanced by reason of having been identified by Sushkin himself. The eleven skins collected by Rock fit into a uniform series, and agree with Sushkin's description of nanshanica, besides occurring within the limits assigned to its author. The six races of E. godlewskii that we have seen are very close to one another, and can be told apart only in adequate series.
PLOCEIDAE
MONTIFRINGILLA NIVALIS ADAMSI Adams
Montifringilla adamsi Adams, P. Z. S., 18.58, p. 482 (Ladakh).
But three examples of this Snow Finch were secured, all in eastern Kokonor: a male in the Dzomo valley, north of Dzomola 12,000 feet, 21 June 1926, and a male and a female on the Ba plain, south of the Jupar range, at 10,500 feet, 22 and 24 June respectively.
The plumage of all these specimens is badly worn and abraided.
Passer montanus obscuratus Jacobi
Passer montanus obscuratus Jacobi, Abh. u. ber. Mus. Dresden, 16, 1923, no. 1, p. 32 (Hupeh and Szechuan).
One adult male, Ba valley, eastern Kokonor, 9,000 feet, in willow bushes along stream. 23 June 1926.
With a series of thirty specimens from the Yangtze valley in Hupeh we are unable to confirm the color characters attributed to this form by its original describer, neither is it as small as is claimed in the original description. Tree Sparrows from Central China, however, appear to average stouter billed than P. m. montanus, although this organ is not
378 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
as heavy as it is in saturatus; ohscuratus is thus an intermediate form. Stuart Baker (Bull. B. O. C. 45, 1925, p. 92) described Passer monianus tibctanus as diflfering in having a redder rump and much larger size (wing 76-82), but in volume 3 of his Birds of British India (1926, p. 179), he refers to ohscuratus all Tree Sparrows from Tibet and Sikkim to Szechuan, apparently abandoning his tihetanus. Our series from the Yangtze valley varies in wing measurement from 65 to 74 and the one Kokonor example has a wing of 75.
Passer rutilans rutilans (Temm.)
Fringilla rutilans Temminck, PI. Col. 3, 1829, p. 488 (Japan).
Rock sent a male from the mountains of northern Szechuan and a female taken in the spruce forest on the mountains of Choni at an ele- vation of 9,000 feet in May 1925.
STURNIDAE
Spodiopsar cineraceus (Temminck) Stumus cineraceus Temminck, PI. Col., 1832, pi. 556 (Japan).
Seven specimens of both sexes were secured ; five in the gorges of the Heu Hsien River near Pikow in extreme southern Kansu during May 1925, and two more in willow forests along the Tao River near Choni in June of the same year.
CORVIDAE
CoRVUS coRAX tibetanus Hodgson
Corvus tihetanus Hodgson, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (2), 3, 1849, p. 203 (Tibet).
Only one skin of a Raven was sent in. The bird, a female, was taken near Lake Kokonor, 10,700 feet elevation, in September 1925. A note on the label reads "grass country and desert sands, in flocks." Wing, 479.
Although we have not gone as thoroughly into the question of geo- graphic variation in the Ravens as Meinertzhagen has, nevertheless we rather agree with him (Nov. Zool. 33, 1926, p. 98) that the large cir- cumpolar Ravens should all be united under one name. Meinertzhagen did not quite have the courage of his convictions, and did not finally dispose of Corvus corax varius, the Faroe Islands Raven, which is an older name than tibetanus. Thus the status of the Faroe Island bird
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS.
379
being still uncertain, we use tibetanus as a name of undoubted applica- tion for our specimen.
CoRVUS DAUURicus DAUURicus Pallas
Corms dauuricus Pallas, Reise Russ. Reich. 3, Anhang 1776, p. 694 (region of Lake Baikal).
A male and a female, both in the dark phase of plumage, were taken during April 1925 in the mountains of Chingchuan, northern Szechuan. Two more were secured in the poplar forests along the Tao River valley near Choni in March 1926. Both of the latter are in the bicolored phase.
The measurements of all four specimens are small, and do not ap- proach those of khamen^is.
NuciFRAGA CARYOCATACTES MACELLA Thayer and Bangs
Nildfraga hemispila macella Thayer and Bangs, Bull. M. C. Z. 62, 1909, p. 104 (Hsien Shan Hsien, Hupeh, 7000 feet). This Nutcracker is represented in the collection by two specimens; an adult male in rather worn plumage taken at an elevation of 4,000 feet in the Wutu ho gorges, between Pikou and Kaichow, southern Kansu, April 1925 and an immature male in perfectly fresh plumage, at an elevation of 10,000 feet, in the spruce forests of Drakana, upper Tebbuland in October 1926.
Cyanopica cyanus swinhoei Hartert
Cyanopica cyanus swinhoei Hartert, Vog. Pal. Faun., 1, heft 1, 1903, p. 24 (Kiukiang).
Five specimens of both sexes were taken in May, north of Kaichow, southern Kansu, in willow trees along the river; a female was shot along the Tao valley near Choni, also in May 1925, and a fledgling was caught 23 June 1925 in willow trees along the Ba River.
As shown by Kleinschmidt (Abh. u. ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, 15, 1922, p. 4) this species varies a great deal in the same region. The birds from Kaichow measure: wing 135-146 mm.; tail 212-233 mm.; the Choni bird wing 142 mm.; tail 238 mm.
Garrulus glandarius pekingensis Reichenow Garrulus bispecularis pekingensis Reichenow, J. f. O., 1905, p. 425 (Peking).
A single specimen, clearly referable to this subspecies, was secured in the valley of Sasuma, below Labrang, at an elevation of 8,000 feet, in December 1925.
380 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Garrulus glandarius sinensis Swinhoe
Garrulus sinensis Swinhoe, P. Z. S., 1871, p. 381 (south China westwards to Szechuan).
A male and a female from the juniper forests of Pezlu, 7,200 feet, upper Tebbuland, September 1926; a male and a female, forests of Wantsang, 6,500 to 8,000 feet, Ha Tebbuland, September 1926.
Both of the first mentioned specimens are birds of the year; the male had nearly completed the post juvenal moult, the female was in a tran- sition stage between the juvenal and immature plumages. The birds from the Ha Tebbu country are in fresh autumn plumage. Both are darker above than usual in examples of sme7isis from eastern China, but can be exactly matched by a bird in the La Touche collection from northwestern P'okien. Hartert (Vog. Pal. Faun, 3, 1921, p. 2033) has already commented on the occurrence of light and dark examples of sinensis. The immature of the European Jay is said to be darker above than the adult, and we are, therefore, inclined to consider the dark examples of sinensis as immature.
Boanerges internigrans Thayer and Bangs
Boanerges internigrans Thayer and Bangs, Mem. M. C. Z. 40, 1912, p. 200, pi. 6 (Shoo-0-lo, northern Szechuan, 14,500 feet).
Four examples, all of them females, of this rare Jay were secured. In June 1925 two adults in worn summer dress and a fully grown juvenal were collected in the spruce forests at 10,000 feet elevation in that part of the Tebbu country lying south of the Minshans, and an example in fresh immature plumage was taken in fir and rhododendron forests of Ha Tebbuland at an elevation of 10,000 feet in September 1926.
The characters on which this genus is based appear to us to be suffi- ciently trenchant to warrant its retention, and we, therefore, have not " lumped" Boanerges with Perisoreus, as has been done by Hartert and others.
Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax himalayanus (Gould)
Fregilus himalayanus Gould, P. Z. S., 1862, p. 125 (Himalayas).
Choughs were common along the Tao valley near Choni, where a male and a female were taken in May 1925. A female was secured in eastern Kokonor near Mochur nira, a large pass between Ark'tsa and Dachso canyon at 12,000 feet altitude, 1 June 1926, and another female 4 June 1926 in the Waro valley, north of Radja.
BANGS AND PETERS: CHINESE BIRDS. 381
All of the specimens listed agree with Kleinsehmidt and Weigold's characterization of this race, and we agree with them that himalayanus is a perfectly recognizable form.
PoDOCES HUMiLis Hume
Podoces humilis Hume, Ibis, 1871, p. 408 (Sanju Pass).
Of the nine specimens taken none were in fresh unworn plumage. Apparently abrasion takes place very quickly in this species.
Two females were collected, 31 May 1925, near Old Tao Chow, where the birds were found frequenting meadows and loess ditches; five males and a female were taken during September 1925 on the grass- lands about Lake Kokonor and an adult female in very badly worn plumage was shot on the Ba plain, 10,500 feet, south of the Jupar range, 24 June 1926.
Rock's notes state that " this bird has a peculiar habit of bowing his head with a jerk several times after alighting."
We have not been able to make comparison with topotypical ex- amples from Turkestan.
EXPLANATION OF PLATES.
PLATE 1.
Bangs and Peters. — Chinese Birds.
PLATE 1.
A Kansu, Laliku. The backbone of the Minshan range, as seen from the top of Lahku ridge. Elevation 12,000 feet. Oct. 18, 1926.
B
Kansu, Babo. The valley of the Kanchow ho beyond its confluence with the Hei ho. Looking upstream. To the left is the pecuhar volcano-like mountain at the foot of which is situated the village of Huan fantassu. In the center is Nginsin shan (Bullock Mountain). To the right is the valley of the Hei ho, elevation 9000 feet. Looking southeast. Oct. 18, 1925.
BULL. MUS. COMP. ZOOL.
Bangs- Peters. Birds. Plate 1
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PLATE 2.
Bangs and Peters. — Chinese Birds.
PLATE 2.
A
Kansu, Arketassu. Looking across the valley of the Babo ho, near the tent lamasery of Arketassu, towards the north Kokonor Barrier range. Babo district. Oct 16, 1925.
B
Kansu, Babo. The Babo ho looking upstream near the junction of the Arke- tassu ho and the Babo ho at the foot of Nginsin shan (Bullock Moimtain). Spruces cover the hillsides. Oct. 16, 1925.
BULL. MUS, COMP. ZOOL.
Bangs-Peters. Birds. Plate 2
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PLATE 3.
Bangs and Peters. — Chinese Birds.
PLATE 3.
A
Tibet, Jupar valley, looking up the Jupar valley on the northern slopes of the Jupar range from a bluff opposite the camp, elevation 11,300 feet. Showing the spruce forest, the only region in which the Jupar range is forested. The triangular peak in the center of the valley is Jupar shimying, said to be the second highest peak of the Jupar range. June 28, 1926.
B
Tibet, Ba valley. View of the Ba valley from its southern rim in the Ba plain, elevation 10,400 feet. Looking north and showing the willow-lined Ba stream and the eroded loess and gravel slopes of the valley. On the terraces in the valley are visible the only two Tibetan villages for many days' journey, called Saoch rongwo meaning: "The people living under the ground," a name given them by the nomads who would never live in a house. This settlement is only six years old. In the distance are visible the southern slopes of the Jupar range, which are absolutely bare. July 3, 1926.
BULL. MUS. COMP. ZOOL.
Bangs-Peters. Birds. Plate 3
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B
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PLATE 4.
Bangs and Peters. — Chinese Birds.
PLATE 4.
A
Tibet, H'tchachen valley, The Hwang ho (Yellow River) looking upstream from a bluff above it and west of it. Northwest of H'tchachen valley. Eleva- tion 10,500 feet. July 17, 1926.
B
Tibet, Drakana. In the limestone amphitheatre of Drakana, upper Tebbu- land. Looking down from a meadow, the camping place, to the village of Towa and the Lamasery of La.ssungomba above it. It is one of the finest scenic spots of the whole Tebbu country. Aug. 30, 1926. Elevation 9,700 feet.
BULL. MUS. COMP. ZOOL.
Bangs-Peters. Birds. Plate 4
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PLATE 5.
Bangs and Peters. — Chinese Birds.
PLATE 5.
A
Tibet, Wantsang Ku. Forests of Abies and Picea in Wantsang Ku (valley). Lower Tebbu country. Sept. 12, 1926.
B
Tibet, Daehso. Looking dowai on to the camp in Dachso canyon, among spruces, birches, and willows, from the trail leading to Ngarki Ngongina bluff. Elevation of camp, 10,146 feet. June 2, 1926.
BULL. MUS. COMP. 200L.
Bangs-Peters. Birds. Plate 5
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HEllOTyPt CO. BOSTON
Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology
AT HARVARD COLLEGE. Vol. LXVIII. No. 8.
A COLLECTION OF BIRDS FROM OAXACA.
By Outram Bangs and James L. Peters.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS., U. S. A.:
PRINTED FOR THE MUSEUM.
October, 1928.
No. 8. — A Collection of Birds from Oaxaca. By Outeam Bangs and James L. Peters.
In the early part of 1927, Col. John E. Thayer sent Mr. Wilmot W. Brown into the state of Oaxaca, Mexico to try and obtain specimens of the very rare tyrant flycatcher Deltarhipichus fiavwiulahis (Lawr.) for the collections of the Museum of Comparative Zoology.
Brown first made his headquarters at a ranch house near Chivela, a point on the railroad about forty miles inland from Salina Cruz, and at an elevation of 600 feet above sea level. He collected there from 15 February to 7 June, and while he did not find the chief object of his trip, he made a good representative collection of birds of the region, all beautifully prepared. Between 29 April and 5 May he collected a few birds at Lagunas and Almoloya, places which we cannot locate on any map available to us, but which are apparently very close to Chivela.
He then went to Tapanatepec, a small town in southern Oaxaca, not shown on any maps that we have seen, but located near Chahuites, a station on the National Railway of Mexico, near the Chiapas border. Here he collected from 6 July to 12 November. Writing under date of 10 August Mr. Brown says : " We are now located at Tapanatepec, wiiich is three hours' horseback ride from what was formerly known as the Cacoprieto Ranch, where Sumichrast took Deltarhynchus in 1872. The ranch is no longer in existence, and there is nothing left of the ranch house where Sumichrast lived when he did his collecting; therefore I have labelled all my specimens Tapanatepec.^ It is very difficult to collect in the vicinity of Cacoprieto for one has to return to town every night on account of the bandits with whom the region has been infested for many years. ..."
In spite of the hazards of collecting in such a district. Brown took over 300 birds, including eight examples of Deltarhynchvs, more than all the previously known specimens of that species combined.
From Chivela to Chahuites is about seventy-five miles in a straight line, but between those two points there is a slight break in the fauna, several of the species occurring about Chivela being subspecificall}^ different from the form found at Tapanatepec, for example: Xipho- rhynchus flavigaster flavigaster, Tyrannus melaiicholicus chloronotus and
1 Nevertheless some specimens were labelled Cacoprieto and where this was done we have so recorded them. Authors.
386 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Colinvs virginianns coyolcos at Tapanatepec were replaced at Chivela by X.f. megarhynchis, T. m. occidentalis and a form of Colinvs virgini- anns that we describe as new.
The climate at Chivela is evidently less humid than at Tapanatepec, since several species usually considered characteristic of a dry climate were taken at the former place, but not at the latter. Such species are: Burhinus histriattis bistriatvs, Geococcyx affinis, Heleodytes zonatus, Eremophila alpestris oaxacae and Passerina rositae.
At Chivela Brown collected some characteristic birds of the "Pine Ridge," but apparently made no attempt to get into the pines near Tapanatepec (if indeed there were any within a reasonable distance.)
CRACIDAE
Ortalis poliocephala (Wagler) One male; Chivela; March 25, 1927.
ODONTOPHORIDAE
Colinus virginianus coyolcos (P. L. S. Miiller) One adult male; Tapanatepec ; August 3, 1927.
Colinus virginianus thayeri subsp. nov.'
Fifteen specimens, eight males and seven females; all from Chivela; March April and May, 1927.
Type.— From Chivela, Oaxaca, Mexico, adult d" M. C. Z. 238,200. Collected March 29, 1927 by W. W. Brown.
Characters. — Adult male, similar to the adult male of C. v. coyolcos, but with white throat and white supercialiaries, the throat sometimes streaked with black; above paler and less spotted, the feather edgings grayer. Similar also to C. v. pectoralis (Gould), but black breast band broader, with less or no white at the base of the feathers of this region. The broad pectoral band at once separates this form from C. v. graysoni.
The females are much more variable than the males and are very similar to the corresponding sex of coyolcos.
1 Named for Colonel John E. Thayer, in recognition of his services to ornithology.
BANGS AND PETERS: BIRDS FROM OAXACA. 387
Cyrtonyx ocellatus (Gould) One adult male, Tapanatepec; Julj^ 10, 1927. Taken at 1,200 feet altitude.
COLUMBIDAE
COLUMBA FLAVIROSTRIS FLAVIROSTRIS Wagler One female; Chivela; March 25, 1927.
Melopelia asiatica asiatica (Linne) One female; Chivela; February 28, 1927.
SCARDAFELLA INC A INC A (LeSSOn)
Two males; Chivela; February 27 and March 15, 1927.
Leptotila fulviventris angelica Bangs and Penard One male; Amloloya; May 3, 1927.
CHARADRIIDAE
Pluvialis dominicus dominicus (P. L. S. Miiller)
Three specimens, one male and two females; Chivela; March 27, 29 and 30, 1927.
SCOLOPACIDAE
Tringa solitaria solitaria Wilson One male; Tapanatepec; August 15, 1927.
BURHINIDAE
BURHINUS BISTRIATUS BISTRIATUS (Wagler) Two females; Chivela; March 22 and April 9, 1927.
FALCONIDAE
MiCRASTUR SEMITORQUATUS PERCONTATOR (Cabot) One immature female; Tapanatepec; August 15, 1927.
388 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
ASTURINA NITIDA PLAGIATA Schlegel
Three specimens, both sexes, all adult; Chivela; April 5. Tapanatepec; August 27 and August 29, 1927.
Urubitinga urubitinga ridgwayi Gurney One adult male; Chivela; April 15, 1927.
BUBONIDAE
CiccABA virgata virgata (Cassin) One adult male; Chivela; May 14, 1927.
Glaucidium brasilianum ridgwayi Sharpe
Four specimens, both sexes; Chivela; March. Tapanatepec; September 25, 1927.
PSITTACIDAE.
Aratinga holochlora (Sclater) Four specimens, both sexes; Tapanatepec; August and September, 1927.
Aratinga strenua (Ridgw.) Two males; Tapanatepec; September, 1927.
This species, originally described as a subspecies of A. holochlora, has hitherto been believed to be the form of that species occurring in western Central America from Salvador to Nicaragua. Since both holochlora. and strenua, however, were collected by Brown at the same locality and as the feet and bill of the latter bird are decidedly larger and heavier they should be regarded as specifically distinct. Arati7iga brevipes (Lawr.) from Socorro Island agrees with stnmua in having large feet and bill, and is probably derived from that species rather than from holochlora. Breviprs we also regard as a distinct species by reason of its different primary formula.
Aratinga canicularis canicularis (Linne)
Ten specimens, both sexes; Chivela and Tapanatepec; February, March, April, August and September, 1927.
This species is easily divided into two recognizable races; one, occupy- ing the Pacific slope from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to western Costa
BANGS AND PETERS: BIRDS FROM OAXACA. 389
Rica, having a much wider frontal band which extends back on the crown to at least on a line with the anterior border of the eye and down- wards to the upper half of the lores, and with the underparts much more yellowish; the other occurring on the west coast of Mexico from Mazat- lan and Sinaloa south at least to Guerrero, distinguished by having a narrow frontal band and more greenish underparts. For the former we use the name Aratinga canicularis canicularis (Linne) and for the latter A. canicularis eburnirostrum Lesson.
Psittacus canicularis Linne, 1758, p. 98 is a composite species, but the principal reference is to Edward's Red and Blue-headed Parrakeet (Nat. Hist. Bds., p. 176, pi. 176). Description and plate are both ex- cellent, and beyond a doubt the specimen Edwards figured and de- scribed from Lady Wager's collection as coming from the West Indies is the form with the wide frontal bands that ranges from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to Costa Rica, We therefore designate northwestern Costa Rica as the type locality.
We were quite unable to determine to which form Sittace petzii Wagler (" Mexico") might apply, but learning that the type was in the ornithological collection of the Zoologische Sammlung des Bayerischen Staates in Munich, we wrote to Dr. A. Laubmann, the Konservator fiir Oriiithologie, giving the differences between the northern and southern forms and asked him if he could tell us to which race the type belonged. He, with great kindness, replied saying that the type and only specimen was labelled merely "Mexico," but enclosed a colored sketch of the head, made by Frau Laubmann. This sketch has enabled us to decide definitely that ISittacc petzii is a synonym of Psittacus canicularis.
We fail to see how Aratinga and Eiipsittula can be maintained as dis- tinct genera ; the characters on which the two genera rest grade into one another through intermediate species, and no line can be drawn be- tween them.
Brotogerys jugularis jugularis (P. L. S. Miiller) Eleven specimens, both sexes; Tapanatepec; August, 1927.
Amazona albifrons albifrons (Sparrmann) Three specimens, both sexes; Chivela; April 9, 10 and 11, 1927.
ALCEDINIDAE
Chloroceryle amazona (Latham) One adult female; Almoloya; May 1, 1927.
390 BULLETIN : MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY.
MOMOTIDAE
MOMOTUS MOMOTA GOLDMANI NelsOll • One adult male; Chivela; March 9, 1927.
MoMOTUS MEXiCANUS MEXICANUS Swainson
Thirteen specimens, adult, immature and juvenal; Chivela, Almoloya and Tapanatepec ; February, March, May, July and August, 1927.
We are wholly unable to distinguish Momotus mexicanus mexicanus and M. vi. saturatus Nelson (Auk, 14, 1897, p. 49, Ciudad, Tehuan- tepec); specimens in the M. C. Z. collection from either Sinaloa or Oaxaca can be matched exactly both as to color and size in a series of nearly fifty examples from Colima.
CAPRIMULGIDAE
Chordeiles acutipennis micromeris Oberholser Four males; Chivela; May and June, 1927.
Nyctidromus albicollis nelsoni Ridgway
Five specimens, including one juvenal; Chivela; May. Tapanatepec; July, 1927.
The three adults in this series, although we record them as nelsoni, are really intermediate l)etween nelsoni and sumichrasti, but perhaps a little nearer the former. In any event the distinctions between the two races are very finely drawn, and they could be combined without any great distortion of the facts.
TROCHILIDAE
Amizilis rutila rutila Delattre Three specimens, both sexes; Tapanatepec; July, August and October, 1927.
Amizilis cyanocephala cyanocephala (Lesson) One adult female; Chivela; June 3, 1927.
Cynanthus doubledayi (Bourcier) Two adults, male and female; Chivela; April and May.
BANGS AND PETERS: BIRDS FROM OAXACA. 391
Anthracothorax prevostii prevostii (Lesson) One adult male; Tapanatepec; October 1, 1927.
Anthoscenus constantii leocadiae (Bourcier and Mulsant) One adult male; Lagunas; April 29, 1927.
TROGONIDAE
Trogon citreolus Gould Seven adult specimens, both sexes; Chivela; March and April, 1927.
CUCULIDAE
CoccYzus americanus occidentalis Ridgway One adult male; Tapanatepec; October 1, 1927.
PlAYA CAYANA THERMOPHILA Sclater Two adults, male and female; Chivela ; April 11. Tapanatepec; November 3, 1927.
Geococcyx affinis Hartlaub Two adult females; Chivela; March 25 and April 29, 1927.
MoROCOCCYX erythropygus mexicanus Ridgway Eight adults, both sexes; Chivela and Tapanatepec; March and August, 1927.
Crotophaga sulcirostris sulcirostris Swainson lour adults, both sexes; Chivela and Tapanatepec; Aprili^nd August.
RAMPHASTIDAE
Pteroglossus torquatus torquatus (Gmelin) One adult female; Tapanatepec; October 31, 1927.
PICIDAE
Balanosphyra formicivorus formicivorus (Swainson) One female; Chivela; June 6, 1927.
Centurus santacruzi polygrajvimus Cabanis Three specimens, both sexes; Chivela; March, 1927.
392 BULLETIN : MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY.
Ridgway (Bds. No. and Mid. Am., 6, 1914, p. 78) TSitespolygrammvs as a distinct species, but we do not regard the distinctions between this bird and santacruzi as anything more than sHght differences of degree, and prefer to reduce this and frontalis of Nelson to subspecies of santa- cruzi.
Ceophloeus lineatus similis (Lesson)
Four adult specimens, both sexes; Chivela, Lagunas and Tapanatepec; February, March, April and July.
DENDROCOLAPTIDAE
SiTTASOMus GRisEicAPiLLUS SYLVioiDES Lafresnayc One immature male; Tapanatepec; July 11, 1927.
This specimen, although not fully adult, agrees wholly with skins from Vera Cruz that may be considered topotypical sylvioides.
Birds from Yucatan and British Honduras, however, are different and represent a hitherto unnamed form that we call
SiTTASOMUS GRISEICAPILLUS GRACILEUS Subsp. UOV.
Tyj)e. — From Chichen Itza, Yucatan, adult male. Museum of Comparative Zoology 41,067. Collected February 5, 1890, by Pablo Per era.
Characters. — Similar to »S. g. sylvioides Lafresnaye, but much paler throughout, under parts and crown more grayish, less greenish olive; secondaries, wing edgings, lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts paler rufous. Size decidedly smaller. Males, wing, 70-74; tail, 73-77; bill to base, 16; tarsus, 16-17, two specimens. Female wing, 68-69; tail, 65-69; bill to base, 16-16.5; tarsus, 16, two specimens.
Remarks. — Lafresnaye's type of Sittasomns sylvioides, M. C. Z. 77,039 from "Mexico "is, in its present state, too faded to show diag- nostic color characters. It is a large bird with a wing of 84 mm., a maximum value for the form of Vera Cruz. Most of Lafresnaye's Mexican birds, however, came from Vera Cruz, and we therefore re- strict the type locality of Sittasoynvs sylvioides Lafresnaye to State of Vera Cruz, Mexico, a course in accord with the facts as far as can be determined, and one which involves no change in established nomen- clature.
XiPHORHYNCHUS FLAVIGASTER FLAVIGASTER SwainSOn One adult male; Tapanatepec; July 9, 1927.
This skin is strictly referable here, while those collected at Chivela belong to the following subspecies. A female from Santa Efigenia,
BANGS AND PETERS: BIRDS FROM OAXACA. 393
Oaxaca, taken December 17, 1868 by Prof. Sumichrast is also typical of X. f. flavigaster in every respect.
XiPHORHYNCHUS FLAVPGASTER MEGARHYNCHUS (Nelson) Three adult, males; Chivela; April and May.
These examples, while not typical of megarhynchus, having a shorter wing and slightly shorter bill, nevertheless agree with that race in paler coloration, dark edging of the throat feathers, and above all in the stout bill.
Among the birds collected for Mr. Brewster in Chihuahua by Frazar is a pair of woodhewers that differ from X. f. incntalis (Baird) so strik- ingly that we do not hesitate to describe the form as
XiPHORHYNCHUS FLAVIGASTER TARDUS Subsp. nOV.
TyiM. — Museum of Comparative Zoology 224,029, from Hacienda de San Rafael, Chihuahua, collected 7 May 1888 by M. Abbott Frazar.
Characters. — Similar to A'. /. mentalis (Baird) but much smaller; paler both above and below, especially the lower back and posterior underparts.
Measurements
No. sex wing tail
224.029 (type) & 109 102
224.030 9 105 93
We have made comparison with a series of eighteen specimens of mentalis (including the type) kindly lent to us by the United States National Museum as well as with a good series of flavigaster from Tamaulipas and Vera Cruz from the Museum of Comparative Zoology collection. Mr. Brewster suspected the distinctness of his Chihuahua specimens years ago and compared them with the type of mentalis, noting the differences on a slip of paper which has remained with the birds ever since.
TYRANNIDAE
TOLMOMYIAS SULPHURESCENS CINEREICEPS (Sclater)
Sixteen specimens, adults and immature of both sexes; Tapanatepec; Juh', August, September, October and November, 1927.
|
bill |
tarsus |
|
41 |
25 |
|
40 |
25 |
394 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Myiopagis viridicata placens (Sclater) One adult male; Tapanatepec; November 3, 1927.
Camptostoma imberbe Sclater Two adult females; Chivela; May 31. Tapanatepec; October 27, 1927.
Myiozetetes similis texensis Giraud
Fourteen specimens, both sexes; Chivela; April and May. Tapanatepec; July, August, September and October, 1927.
Pitangus sulphuratus derbianus (Kaup)
Eight specimens, adults of both sexes and one imature; Chivela; March and April. Tapanatepec; July, August, September and November, 1927.
Myiodynastes luteiventris luteiventris Sclater
Seven specimens, both sexes, all adult; Tapanatepec; July, August, Sep- tember and October.
These birds agree with examples from Vera Cruz and southward rather than with specimens of swarthi (Van Rossem, Condor, 29, 1927, p. 126, Huachuca Mts., Arizona).
The latter race extends southward into Chihuahua from where we have skins from Carmen, Bravo, and Hacienda de San Rafael. Swarthi is extremely close to typical luteiventris and to appreciate the distinc- tions, it is necessary to examine series of each race in comparable plumages.
Megarhynchus pitangua mexicanus (Lafresnaye)
Ten adults, both sexes; Chivela; March, April and May. Tapanatepec; July, August and September, 1927.
Onychorhynchus mexicanus mexicanus Sclater One adult male; Cacoprieto; July 8, 1927.
Sayornis PHOEBE (Latham) One female; Tapanatepec; November 7, 1927.
Empidonax traillii traillii (Audubon)
Five specimens, both sexes; Chivela; May 14 and 1.5. Tapanatepec; August 14 and 25, and September 9, 1927.
BANGS AND PETERS: BIRDS FROM OAXACA. 395
Empidonax traillii brewsteri Oberholser Two males; Chivela; May 20. Almoloya; May 3, 1927.
Empidonax minimus (Baird)
Sixteen specimens, both sexes; Chivela and Almoloya; February, March and May. Tapanatepec; August, September and October, 1927.
Empidonax flaviventris (Baird)
Three specimens, both sexes; Chivela and Almoloya; May. Tapanatepec; September 29, 1927.
Empidonax wrightii (Baird)
Five specimens, both sexes; Chivela; February 15. Tapanatepec; October and November, 1927.
Myiochanes richardsonii sordidulus (Sclater)
Eight specimens, both sexes; Chivela; May. Cacoprieto and Tapanatepec; July, August and September, 1927.
Myiarchus crinitus (Linne)
Six specimens, both sexes; Tapanatepec; September and October.
Myiarchus cinerascens cinerascens Lawrence
Six specimens, both sexes; Chivela; February and March. Tapanatepec; October and November.
Myiarchus nuttingi nuttingi Ridgway
Twenty-three specimens, both sexes; Chivela; February, March, April and May. Tapanatepec; July, August, September and October, 1927.
Myiarchus nuttingi inquietus Salvin and Godman seems to us to be a rather poorly marked form, differing from M. n. nuttingi chiefly in being slightly paler belov^, with the posterior edge of the gray chest less sharply defined. The amount of dusky edgings on the inner webs of the tail feathers next to the shaft is a variable quantity and seems not to be a good diagnostic character.
Myiarchus tyrannulus nelsoni Ridgway
Thirty-six specimens, both sexes; Tapanatepec; September 1 to November 10, 1927.
All but two of this series are wholly referable to nelsoni; two are intermediate but are a trifle closer to this form than to magister.
396 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Myiarchus tyrannulus magister Ridgway
Four specimens, both sexes; Chivela; March 8, April 7, June 1. Tapanatepec; November 11.
The latter example is intermediate between this race and nelsoni, though nearer, we think, to magister.
Myiarchus tuberculifer lawrenceii (Giraud) Two males; Tapanatepec; September 20 and 27, 1927.
Deltarhynchus flammulatus (Lawrence)
Eight specimens; Tapanatepec and Cacoprieto; September, October and November, 1927. Six of these are adults of both sexes. Two, September 5 and 10, are changing from juvenal to immature plumage.
Before Brown secured this series, this very scarce bird was known by only si.x specimens.
Mr. Brown was unable to give us anything on the habits of this species. He did say, however, that of all the rare birds he had been especially sent to secure, this one was perhaps the most difficult.
Tyrannus crassirostris crassirostris Swainson
Two adults, male and female; Tapanatepec; October 3 and November 12, 1927.
Swainson's Tyrannus crassirostris (Quart. Journ. Sci. Litt. and Arts. Roy. Inst. 20, no. 4, 1826, p. 273) was described as "inhabiting the warm districts of Mexico." This locality is too indefinite, so we re- strict it to Acapulco, State of Guerrero, Mexico, as being a place en- tirely within the realm of the probable origin of Swainson's type. This species has never been recorded north of Sinaloa. There are, however, in the Brewster collection three examples, from Alamos, Sonora, and five from the Hacienda de San Rafael, Chihuahua, that represent a well marked northern race that we name
Tyrannus crassirostris pompalis subsp. nov.
Type. — • From Hacienda de San Rafael, Chihuahua, adult male, Museum of Comparative Zoology 223,593; collected 7 May, 1888 by M. A. Frazar.
Characters. — Similar to T. c. crassirostris Swainson but paler; more grayish, less olive above; yellow of under wing coverts and underparts much paler, more sulphur less lemon yellow.
BANGS AND PETERS: BIRDS FROM OAXACA. 397
Specimens examined
T. c. crassirostris. Sinaloa: Escuinapa 1 cf : Oaxaca: Tapanatepec 1 cf ? 1 9 .
T. c. pompalis. Sonora: Alamos, 2 cf , 1 9 ; Chihuahua: Hacienda de San Rafael, 3 cf , 2 9 •
Tyrannus melancholicus chloronotus Berlepsch Four adult specimens, both sexes ; Tapanatepec ; Julj', August and September.
Tyrannus melancholicus occidentalis Hartert and Goodson
Five adults, both sexes; Chivela; March, April and May.
The state of Oaxaca seems to be the meeting ground of the two races of melancholicus listed here. All four specimens from Tapanatepec are clearly referable to chloronotus. Those from Chivela, on the other hand, come much nearer to occidentalis, three of the five specimens being that form ; the other two are intermediate but nearer occidentalis.
MuscivORA FORFICATA (Gmclin) One female; Tapanatepec; October 25, 1927.
PIPRIDAE
Chiroprion linearis linearis (Bonaparte)
Four specimens, one adult male, two immature males, and one adult female; Chivela; May. Tapanatepec, July and October.
Ridgway (Bds. No. and Mid. Am., pt. 4, 1907, p. 740, note) points out that adult males of the long-tailed Manakin from Mexico and Guatemala have shorter middle rectrices than those from Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and generally a larger and relatively wider bill. He did not however recognize any subspecies, since the structural differ- ences were not accompanied by color characters. The structural differ- ences pointed out by Ridgway are constant in the large series that we have examined, so we recognize two forms that stand
Chiroprion linearis linearis (Bonap.) "Mexico" Southern Mexico to Guatemala.
Chiroprion linearis fastuosa (Less.) Realejo, Nicaragua Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
398 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
COTINGIDAE
TiTYRA SEMiFASCiATA PERSONATA Jardine and Selby One adult female; Chivela; March 9, 1927.
This skin does not differ in any way from specimens from south- eastern Mexico and Guatemala. It shows no approach to griseiceps.
PlATYPSARIS AGLAIAE SUMICHRASTI Nelson
Nine specimens, both sexes, including both immature and adult males; Tapanatepec; July, September and October, 1927.
POLIOPTILIDAE
PoLiOPTiLA NiGRicEPS Baird
Four adults, both sexes; Chivela; March and April. Tapanatepec; August, 1927.
TROGLODYTIDAE
Heleodytes zonatus impudens subsp. nov.
Type. — 238,315 Museum of Comparative Zoology adult male from Chivela, Oaxaca (600 feet), collected 2 March, 1927 by W. W. Brown.
Characters. — Similar to H. z. zonatvs (Less) of southeastern Mexico but much larger; spots below larger and less numerous; flanks rather more heavily barred. Similar also to //. z. restrictvs Nels.from Tabasco but slightly larger; abdomen paler, flanks less heavily barred and spots not invading the centre of the abdomen.
Measurements.— (Four males) wing 91-95 (93.75); tail87-96 (92.25); bill from base 23-24.5 (23.9).
Material examined
Heleodytes zonatus zonatus (Less) 24, both sexes. Vera Cruz: Jalapa, Motzorongo, Presidio, Paso Nuevo, Orizaba.
//. z. restrictus Nels. 9, both sexes. Tabasco: Frontera; British Hon- duras: Toledo District; Guatemala Trade Skins.
//. z. impudens nob. 4 d^, 1 sex not determined, Oaxaca: Chivela, Guichicovi.
BANGS AND PETERS: BIRDS FROM OAXACA. 399
Heleodytes hu'milis (Sclater)
Nineteen specimens, both sexes; Chivela; April, May and June. Tapana- tepec; July, August and November, 1927.
Thryophilus pleurostictus pleurostictus (Sclater)
Twenty-two specimens, adults of both sexes, and juvenal; Chivela; March, April and May. Lagunas; April and May. Tapanatepec; July and August, 1927.
Salpinctes OB.SOLETUS NOTius Ridgway
One male, in much abraded plumage; Cacoprieto; July 6, 1927.
We refer this specimen to notius, a form which seems to us very poorly characterized, on geographical grounds.
MIMIDAE
MiMUS POLYGLOTTUS LEUCOPTERUS (VlgOrs) One female; Chivela; March U, 1927.
■
MiMUS GiLVUS LAWRENCEi Ridgway Two adults, male and fernale; Chivela; April 5 and March 10, 1927.
TURDIDAE
TuRDUS GRAYi GRAYi Bonaparte
Four adult males; Tapanatepec; August and September, 1927.
VIREONIDAE
ViREO FLAVOVIRIDIS FLAVOVIRIDIS (Cassin) Twenty specimens, both sexes; Chivela; April and May.
On comparing these birds with specimens that had been in the museum for some years, we were at once struck by the very bright olive green of their backs, as against the dull olive green of the older specimens. Further investigation showed that old museum specimens gradually become browner above, the change very gradual but trace- able through the dates of the specimens. One bird from the Lafresnaye collection is actually olive brown above, but if the wings are pushed aside the portion of the back covered by them is found to be more as in fresh specimens.
400 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
ViREO GiLvus swAiNSONi (Baird) One male; Chivela; April 2, 1927.
ViREO FLAVIFRONS Vieillot One male; Tapanatepec; October 27, 1927.
ViREO SOLITARIUS SOLITARIUS (Wilson) One male; Tapanatepec; November 1, 1927.
ViREO GRisEus GRiSEus (Boddaert) One male; Chivela; March 11, 1927.
ViREO BELLII BELLII Audubon
Five specimens, both sexes; Chivela; March. Tapanatepec; September and October, 1927.
Cyclarhis FLAVivENTRis FLAVivENTRis Lafresnaye Two specimens, male and female; Almoloya; May, 1927.
MNIOTILTIDAE
Dendroica estiva rubiginosa (Pallas) Five specimens, both sexes; Tapanatepec; August 20-31, 1927.
Dendroica magnolia (Wilson) One female; Tapanatepec; November 5, 1927.
Dendroica coronata coronata (Linne) One male; Chivela; March 5, 1927.
Dendroica graciae decora Ridgway
Five specimens, adults of both sexes, and one juvenal; Chivela; June 3-7, 1927.
These birds are not quite typical of decora, since the wings average slightly longer and the throats a little bit paler yellow. However they come much closer to decora than to graciae and we prefer to place them with the former, since there can be no useful purpose served in recog- nizing by name a third form with slight intermediate characters.
BANGS AND PETERS: BIRDS FROM OAXACA. 401
From the small number of juvenals available it appears that the Juvenal plumage of graciae is browner above, not so gray as in decora. The Juvenal collected by Mr. Brown agrees with one in the Biological Survey collection taken in the mountains near Tonala, Chiapas.
Oporornis tolmiei (Townsend) One male; Tapanatepec; October 20, 1927.
IcTERiA virens virens (Linne)
Three specimens, two males and a female; Tapanatepec; September, October and November, 1927.
WiLSONiA CANADENSIS (Linne) One female; Tapanatepec; September 21, 1927.
EuTHLYPis lachrymosa lachrymosa (Cabanis) Two males; Chivela; May, 1927.
ALAUDIDAE
Eremophila alpestris oaxacae (Nelson) Fourteen adults, both sexes; Chivela; May and June, 1927.
FRINGILLIDAE
Hedymeles ludovicianus (Linne)
Three specimens, two males and a female; Tapanatepec; October 19, No- vember 3 and 7, 1927.
Cyanocompsa parellina indigotica Ridgway Two adult females; Chivela; March and May, 1927.
Todd in his review of the genus Cyanocompsa unites indigotica with sumichrasti, to which procedure we wholly agree. The two females listed above have the wing 70 and 71.5. Sumichrasti was supposed by Ridgway to be larger than indigotica, but the more ample material now available does not support this.
Sporophila minuta parva Lawrence One fine adult male; Tapanatepec; July 14, 1927.
402 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
VOLATINIA JACARINI ATRONITENS Todd Three adult males; Tapanatepec; August, 1927.
Saltator atriceps atriceps Lesson
Four adults, both sexes; Almoloya; May 3. Tapanatepec; July, August and September, 1927.
Spinus notatus notatus Du Bus One adult female; Chivela; June 6, 1927.
Spiza AMERICANA (Gmelin) One female; Chivela; April 22, 1927.
Chondestes grammacus strigatus (Swain.son)
Three specimens, male and two females; Chivela; March 21 and 22. Tapana- tepec; November 1, 1927.
AiMOPHiLA RUFICAUDA LA WRENCH (Salvin and Godman)
Seventeen specimens, adults of both sexes, and one immature; Chivela, Lagunas and Tapanatepec; March, April, May, June, July and August.
AiMOPHiLA suMicHRASTi LawTcnce Three adults, two males and a female; Chivela; May and June, 1927.
AiMOPHiLA RUFESCENS RUFESCENS (Sv^^ainSOIl)
Three specimens, two adults, male and female, and one juvenal (July 10); Tapanatepec; July, 1927.
AiMOPHiLA BOTTERII BOTTERII (Sclater)
Seven specimens, adults of both sexes, and one juvenal (July 6"); Chivela, Cacoprieto; May and July.
In addition to the material of this species in the Museum of Com- parative Zoology we have examined the entire Mexican series, including the type of Cotvrniculiis mcxicaims Lawr., in the United States National Museum and Biological Survey collections.
While hottcrii has a wide range of individual variation, both in size and color, these differences are in no way correlated with locality; ex- amples from Arizona, Texas and Mexico cannot be distinguished.
BANGS AND PETERS: BIRDS FROM OAXACA. 403
Spizella passerina mexicana Nelson Three adult males; Chivela; June, 1927.
Passerina cyanea (Linne)
Seven specimens, both .sexes; Chivela; February, March and April; Tapana- tepec and Cacoprieto; October and November, 1927.
Passerina leclancheri Lafresnaye
Fifteen specimens, both sexes; Chivela, Almoloya, Cacoprieto and Tapana- tepec; March, April, May and July, 1927.
Passerina rositae (Lawrence) Twenty-three adults, both sexes; Chivela; March, April and May.
THRAUPIDAE
Tanagra affinis Lesson Two adults, male and female; Chivela and Tapanatepec; June and July.
PiRANGA RUBRA RUBRA (Linne)
Two specimens, male and female; Tapanatepec; October and November, 1927.
PiRANGA HEPATICA HEPATICA SwainSOH Four specimens, both sexes; Chivela; June, 1927.
All four were taken in the pines at about 1,000 feet altitude.
ICTERIDAE
CASSicuLUS MELANICTERUS (Bonapartc)
Twelve specimens, both sexes; Chivela, Almoloya, and Tapanatepec; May, June, July, September, October and November.
Tangavius aeneus^assimilis (Nelson)
Five specimens, adults of both sexes and one juvenal; Chivela and Tapana- tepec; April and August, 1927.
Sturnella magna mexicana Sclater Seven specimens, both sexes; Chivela; March and April.
404 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology.
Icterus spurius (Linne)
Eight specimens, both sexes; Chivela; March. Tapanatepec; September, October and November, 1927.
Icterus melanocephalus melanocephalus (Wagler) Four specimens, both sexes; Chivela; March and April and May, 1927.
Icterus gularis gularis (Wagler)
Twelve specimens, adults of both sexes and immature ; Chivela and Tapana- tepec; February, March, April, May, July and October, 1927.
Icterus sclateri sclateri Cassin
Eighteen specimens, both sexes; Chivela and Tapanatepec; March, April, May, July, August, September and October, 1927.
Icterus pectoralis pectoralis (Wagler)
Three specimens, two males and a female; Tapanatepec, August and Sep- tember.
Megaquiscalus major macrourus (Swainson) One adult male; Chivela; May 15, 1927.
CORVIDAE
Calocitta FORMOSA FORMOSA (Swainson)
Eight adults, both sexes, Chivela and Tapanatepec; Marcli, October and November, 1927.
,A
DATE DUE
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