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NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE.
A Zournal of Zoology
IN CONNECTION WITH THE TRING MUSEUM.
EDITED BY
LORD ROTHSCHILD, F.R.S., Pr.D.,
Dr. ERNST HARTERT, anv Dr. K. JORDAN.
Vor. XXXI., 1924.
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(WITH TWENTY-THREE PLATES.)
IssUED AT THE ZootogicaL MUSEUM, Trine.
PRINTED BY HAZELL, WATSON & VINEY, Lp., LONDON AND AYLESBURY,
1924.
540,542
Val
1924
CONTENTS OF VOLUME XXXI. (1924).
GENERAL SUBJECTS.
PAGES
1. Introduction to Results of Captain Buchanan’s Second Saharan Expedition. |
ERNST HARTERT . o > 0 6 9 0 9 . 0 1—6
2. Foreword to Ornithological Visit to N.W. Marocco (Spanish Province of
Yebala). HuBERT LyneEs 0 E 6 6 6 5 : 6 49 — 64
3. Introduction to the Birds of St. Matthias Island. Ernst HARTERT . . 261—262
4. Correction and an Addition to ‘‘ An Ornithological Visit to N.W. Marocco.”’
HUBERT Lynes . ö 9 3 5 6 . . 6 . 93815—316 |
|
AVES.
1. Ornithological Results of Captain Buchanan’s Second Saharan Expedition.
Ernst HARTERT . 0 o ö 6 s 0 6 9 ö 1— 48
2. An Ornithological Visit to N.W. Marocco (Spanish Province of Yebala).
(Plates I (map, in duplicate), II, III, IV, V.) Huserr Lynes . 4 49—103
3. Notes on some Birds from Buru. Ernst HARTERT 0 . . . 104—111 \
4. Types of Birds in the Tring Museum. (Continuation.) Ernst Harterr 112—134
5. The Birds of New Hanover. Ernst HArRTERT . . 5 9 . 194—213 N
6. Über Hieraaetus ayresü und Spizaetus africanus. E. STRESEMANN -. . 214—216
7. The Birds of St. Matthias Island. Ernst Harrert . : : . 261—275 i
8. The Birds of Squally or Storm Island. Ernst HARTERT ! . 276—278
9. Some Notes on the Fregatidae. Percy R. Lowe. 5 : . . 299—313
LEPIDOPTERA.
1. On the Saturnoidean families Oxytenidae and Cercophanidae. (Plates VI-
XXI) Kari Jorpan Bias 6 2 e 5 5 6 . 135—193
2. Onthe West grican Lymantrid Genus Nyctemera ( = Otroeda (Lep. Het.)).
KARL JORDAN 6 6 5 O . - 0 : . 217—226
3. On Hypocysta and some allied genera of Satyrinae (Lep. Rhop.) from
New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. KARL JORDAN . 0 . 279—297
4. Two new subspecies of Sphingidae. KARL JORDAN 5 6 ö © 298
Vv
vi
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI, 1924,
COLEOPTERA.
1. Anthribidae from the Island of Rodriguez. KARL JORDAN
2. New Anthribidae. Kart JORDAN
3. Onsome genera of Anthribidae allied to Exillis Pase. (1860).
INDEX
KARL JORDAN
PAGES
227—230
231—255
256—260
317—328
LIST OF PLATES IN VOLUME XXXI.
I. Map of North and Central Marocco. (H. Lyxes.)
IL.—V. Photographs of North and Central Marocco.
VIL—XXI. The Saturnoidean families Oxytenidae and Cercophanidae.
XXIL—XXIII Wings and heads of Fregatidae. (GRONVOLD.)
vii
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A Journal of Zoology,
7 EDITED BY
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LORD ROTHSCHILD, P.R.S., Pı.D,,
‘Dr. ERNST HARTERT, ano Dr. K. JORDAN,
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20TH, 1924, Av THE Z00LOGIGAL Musrum, Trine.
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VoL. XXXI.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE
EDITED BY
LORD ROTHSCHILD, ERNST HARTERT, and KARL JORDAN.
CONTENTS OF NO. TI.
PAGRS
1. ORNITHOLOGICAL RESULTS OF CAPTAIN BU- \ '
CHANAN’S SECOND SAHARA EXPEDITION . Ernst Hartert . 1—48
2. AN ORNITHOLOGICAL VISIT TO N.W. MAROCCO
(SPANISH PROVINCE OF YEBALA). (Plates I
(map, in duplicate), IL, III, IV, V.). ; \ . Hubert Lynes . 49—103
3. NOTES ON SOME BIRDS FROM BURU . : . ‚Ernst Hartert . 104—111
4, TYPES OF BIRDS IN THE TRING MUSEUM (Con-
tinuation) . : 5 ! 3 2 : ; . Ernst Harieri . 112—134
5. ON THE SATURNOIDEAN FAMILIES OXYTENIDAE
AND CERCOPHANIDAE. (Plates VI-XXI.) . . Karl Jordan . 135—193
6. THE BIRDS OF NEW HANOVER . : : . Ernst Hartert . 194—213
7. UBER HIBRAAETUS AYRESII UND SPIZAETUS
AFRICANUS . ‘ i : \ . B. Stresemann . 214216
NOTICE 9 : d 5 : 4 ; ; ; : : ; 217
NoummAnEs ZOOLOGICAR.
Vol. XXXI. MARCH 1924. No. 1.
ORNITHOLOGICAL RESULTS OF CAPTAIN BUCHANAN’S SECOND
SAHARA EXPEDITION
(See NOVITATES ZOoOLOGICAH, XXVIII, 1921, pp. 78-141.)
By ERNST HARTERT, Pr.D.
N March 1922 Captain Angus Buchanan left Europe again for the Sahara.
The main object of his second Sahara expedition was to traverse the
Sahara northwards to Algeria and to take cinematographic films and photographs,
and also to completehis splendid collections of birds and mammals in these regions.
As far as the birds are concerned he succeeded splendidly, adding many species to
the list of birds known from the Sahara between Hausaland (Kano) and Air (or
Asben), and he also made a trip to the west of Air, and eastwards to the oasis of
Bilma, well known by name as the great salt-pans, from where caravans bringing
salt have gone to Hausaland for centuries past and still go to-day, but very
seldom visited by Europeans. In Air the traveller was unduly delayed, because,
on account of some absolutely unfounded suspicions, probably originating from
a false report of the French consul in Tripoli, he was for some time refused per-
mission to proceed northwards of Air to Algerian Territory. He therefore made
up his mind to travel westwards to Timbuktu and to the Senegal. As soon,
however, as permission was granted he returned to Air and started on his long
journey northwards. It would have been very interesting to us if he had col-
lected at greater leisure in the Hoggar Mountains (or Ahaggar, as the country is
always called by the Tuareg) than Dr. Geyr von Schweppenburg was able to do,
who is the only man who collected zoological specimens in that region, but
unfortunately soon after his arrival at Tamanrasset he suffered a severe injury to
his left knee, being kicked by a stampeding camel, so that he could only bring
together a rather small collection from there, which, nevertheless, is valuable to
us, and supplements that of Geyr very nicely, though hardly adding to the number
of breeding species.
Agades was reached July 29th, 1922. The country between Kano and Agades
and the mountains of Air (or Asben, as the Hausa generally call it) have been
briefly described in Nov. Zoor., 1921, pp. 81, 82, and by Buchanan in his book
Exploration of Air, out of the World north of Nigeria, London, 1921. When at
Agades lions were reported at Tanut, a small place south and a little west of
Agades, six days distant. A trip was made to Tanut, but lions could not be
found. August 25th Aouderas was reached again, and in this region Buchanan
1
2 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
worked until October 4th. October 25th, 1922, he left for Bilma. The way to
the oasis of Fachi, about half-way to Bilma, and to the latter place leads through
absolute desert, partly flat, partly with sand-dunes, and no birds of any kind
were observed. Both these oases are smalland drear and sandy. No trees exist
except some date-palms, though there is much very brackish surface water in
ditches. Some small irrigated garden patches afford food and shelter for
migratory birds, but the only resident bird there is perhaps the Desert Raven,
and that is not common.
Air was left for the westward expedition on January 20th, 1923. Of this
trip Buchanan sent us the following extracts from his diary :
“26.1.1923. Camped a day at Inzanenet, having collected two Owls and
a Hawk on the cliffs. This place is of peculiar interest, as there are hundreds
of ancient drawings on the rocks.
“27.1.1923. Left Inzanenet and travelled in a westerly direction to Ogba,
where water is found in shallow wells, thence south-west, till we cut into the
Titintarat river-bed, where we camped for a day at an altitude of 1,200 feet.
‘28.1.1923. As there is no water at Titintarat and as there are three to four
waterless days ahead, and our camels had their last water seven days ago,
I sent half the camels back to Ogba to be watered and bring back thirty skins of
water forthe rest. Left late in the afternoon and camped on hammada (gravelly
ground, here called ‘“ Black Desert ’’) an hour after dark. New guide picked up
at Titintarat of the Kel-Tedili, a Tuareg tribe.
“29.1.1923. Travelled seven hours and camped at small grass valley at head
of Oued-Igadayan, altitude 1,100 feet. Tracks of robbers who attacked Tig-
guida-n’Tisemt were crossed just before we camped. In the morning a native on
camel was seen, passing south of us. Atagoom and I headed for him, as we wanted
information about water, but the fellow made off in haste. We followed and
eventually got up to him. He was an Ehaggaran from Timmerson, and on his
way to Anu-Nageruf, S.W. of Titintarat, a terrible journey, even for a native.
He was frightened until he found out that we were friends. We passed through
very dreary country to-day, hammada or Black Desert (all small black gravel)
throughout and level as far as one could see.
“30.1.1923. Marched to the Takkaresh marsh (Maader de Takkaresh),
camped and skinned remainder of day.
“31.1.1923. Marched to Tamat-Teddret, where we camped for the rest of
the day. Here there are wells, not very deep, but water plentiful, unfortunately
brackish. Country here dead flat, but of red clay, flooded during rains, growing,
a seed-grass eagerly eaten by sheep in particular, and there are donkeys, camels,
-andsomegoats. The name of the grass is A-sha-wur, and its seeds are eaten as
grain by the Egummi nomads who are found in small numbers in this region.
This dried grass I have not seen elsewhere. Coming from the east the well is
situated on the far side of a bare stretch of land on the edge of a thin line of
scrub bush. The red clay begins soon after Takkaresh and continues south to
Tigguida-n’Tisemt. This is the great water-basin of Air. During the tropical
tornados this whole region is under water. The cold season is followed by a
season of hot days with intense cold before sunrise. To-day the first harmattan
mists seen.
“The high mountains of Air (Asben) attract the rain over vast areas, and
were it not for the rains that fell on these mountains and are drained into rivers
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXX]. 1924. 3
in valleys with tropical vegetation, this part of the Sahara would be absolutely
barren desert.
“1.1.1923. Travelled southwards as far as the river-bed of Irazer-Agades,
halting en route at Tchbunker, where there were camps of Ehaggaran (inhabitants
of Ahaggar) and Egammi. Country still flat, red clay, sometimes without
vegetation, sometimes cracked and interspersed with big stretches of grass.
“2.11.1923. Reached Tigguidda-n’Tisemt, a place inhabited by the Ezouarin
tribe, who speak their own Ezouarin language, not Tamashek (Tuareg). There
is no water between Tigguidda-n’Tisemt, but striking in a north-westerly direction
from the latter place we found near Toduf the best growth of bush seen since
leaving the Air Mountains. Except some ‘Giga’ the trees are all ‘ Tamat ’
acacias. These ‘ Tamat ’ drop yellow flowers after the rains, which are eagerly
eaten by goats, sheep, and Dorcas gazelles. They have madder-red curved
pods about one and a half inches in length, which are good camel food. ‘ Tamat’
grows in Damergu and Air, but not in Hausaland, where, however, a similar but
different species is found.
“ As the country here has had very little rain this year, the trees look very
wintry even at this season.
“7.11.1923. We reached In-Abbangarit, where we stopped to take water.
On the way we collected firewood, as none would be found ahead. A great many
old Oryx tracks were observed in the early part of the day ; they come north in
October, viz. just after the rains, and large numbers are then killed by the
Ehaggaran (Tuareg of Ahaggar grazing their camels and goats here at that time
of the year).
“There is at In-Abbangarit a lone well of fine water only 30 feet below the
surface, which is impossible to find if one is not guided there. I found two
Ehaggaran and a naked boy filling many skins with water to carry back to their
camp at Tessellaman, about 25 and 30 km. north. They make the journey every
five or six days, taking with them enough water ‘for making tea ’ and cooking,
and they live chiefly on camel milk. A man named Budari consented to guide
us to the sand-dunes further west, and we moved off again about 5 p.m.
“ The Ehaggaran living out in these great unprotected wastes strike one as
being a much finer type of men than the Targi of the mountains of Air.”
As soon as news was brought to Buchanan that he would be allowed to
travel northwards to Algeria he returned, and on February 25th he reached
Iferouan in north Air. Two days later he left for the Ahaggar Mts. Of the long
journey from Air to Ahaggar the following diary notes are of special interest.
All this country is uninhabited sandy or stony desert without any water-fed land,
though a few wells are found at great distances from each other.
“ 8.11.1923. Reached Inouar, 1,500 feet high. Where we camped was
some ‘ Had’ (Cornulaca monacantha, according to information by Dr. Schwein-
furth), a plant of which the camels are very fond. Some fairly high hills at
the camp.
“9.11.1923. Travelled six and a half hours through barren rocky country
in rapid decay. In the little valley in which we camped the trees were dead
.and only small scanty tufts of grass existed for camel food. No birds of any kind
were seen. ‘The rocks in this country seemed to be in the process of crumbling
away into desert sand, nothing but broken rock and sand. About two hours
before we passed half a dozen tracks of Addax.
4 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
“10.1ii.1923. The hills petering out into coarse quartz sand followed by
open sandy stretches upon which seem to sit groups of pill-box or church-like,
curiously shaped hills. Everything very barren, true desert, but not continuous
sandy plain. No birds at all, even more deserted than the country at Bilma.
A few trees in shallow hollows, but nearly alldead. A few thorn-trees, however,
called ‘ tishra ’ were alive. The camels have no food to-day except what we carried
with us. It is true that there were a few tufts of hard grass where we camped,
but the hungry camels merely sniffed at them and turned away without eating
them. A few Addax tracks were again seen to-day, and at yesterday’s camp
a few house-flies, grasshoppers, and one yellow spiny lizard.
‘© 11 .iii.19238. Reached In-Azaua. Here we pass the provisionally accepted
administrative boundary between ‘ L’Afrique Occidentale Frangaise ’ and the
“Territoire du Sud de l’Algérie.’ Here the Foureau-Lamy Expedition camped
on their memorable journey, and the ground is thickly strewn with the bones
of the camels that died here on that (for the camels horribly disastrous) expedi-
tion. There are two well-openings in the flat valley filled up with driven sand,
and a dozen men have worked since noon to excavate down to water. On the
north bank of the valley is the old encampment of the Foureau-Lamy Expedition.
“12.1ii.1923. The Sahara is here not entirely devoid of vegetation, but the
encroaching sand kills the plants, even more than the lack of rain. If rain in
sufficient quantity would fall for two or three years the country would doubtless
regain its vegetation with astonishing speed.
“ The interesting plant called ‘Had’ is found here, but dry and dead. The
people say that “Had ’ does not die unless there are more than four years without
rain. If this is correct there cannot have been any rain for more than four years.”
On March 25th the caravan reached Tamanrasset, on the southern slopes
of the Ahaggar (Hoggar) massive.
Here Captain Buchanan had the accident mentioned before, so that for some
time he was unable to do any collecting.
“ 8.iv.1923. Camped in the Oued Nes-Zimit, a rocky river-bed among
the mountains, sixteen and a half miles east of Tamanrasset, altitude 4,500 feet.
Ice on my wash-basin in the morning, strong ice! Hardly any birds seen, none
worth collecting except a Barn-Owl, which, however, was not obtained. The
only common birds along the road in this region are Saharan Larks (Ammomanes)
and the Black Wheatear (Oenanthe leucopyga). A few Trumpeter Bullfinches
(Erythrospiza) and one lot of Saharan Bush-Babblers (Crateropus fulvus buchanan)
were the only other birds observed to-day.
“9.1v.1923. Reached the abandoned Fort Motylinski, vacated nine years
ago. The height in the oued below the fort is 3,800 feet. The natives call this
place Tarahowhowt. One and a half hours after starting from Tamanrasset
the river-bed called Tarahowhowt was reached and we travelled along the same
as far as the fort, which is built on a high hill with whitened summit. The country
round about is very uninteresting; there are some salt-bushes near Motylinski,
otherwise the country is bare, and in the river-beds are the same dried-up plants.
as at Tamanrasset. The country is badly in want of rain. The four common
plants of the river-beds in Ahaggar are :
“ Atriplex (halimus?). (Chenopodaceae.) (In Ahaggar Tamashek ‘ A-ram-as.’)
A pale bushy ‘ woody ’ plant in all river-beds and on stony banks.
“ Deverra scoparia. (Umbelliferae.) (In Ahaggar Tamashek ‘ Ta-tight.’),
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXIJ. 1924, 5
Common. [Widely distributed in the Saharan regions from Tripolitania to
Algeria. Cf. Nov. Zoou., XX. p. 157.—H. H.]
““ Zilla myagroides Forsk. (Cruciferae.) (In Ahaggar Tamashek ‘ Af-tus-
in.’) A thorny bush, growing in bunches in all the river-beds in Ahaggar. The
flower is pale purple.
“ Thesium spec.? (Santalaceae.) (In Ahaggar Tamashek ‘ Tigh-gock.’)
Seen much in company with the Zilla. A somewhat feathery grass-like plant
with a very strong pungent perfume. Not seen in Air. The camels eat it in
small quantity only.
“10.iv.1923. Travelled seven hours and camped in the Een-dali river-bed,
in a place where the natives cultivate some wheat! There is much water in this
river very close to the surface under the sand. Altitude at camp 3,800 feet.
Most of the day passed through bare rocky scenery very similar to that of Aou-
deras in Air. All the acacias seen to-day were leafless on account of the prolonged
drought, no rain having fallen, and most of them were cut to pieces to feed the
goats with in extremity. Now the goats have been driven away to graze else-
where. The natives seen so far in the Ahaggar do not have the timidity of the
Air Targi. They are all armed and do not have the dread of robbers that is
usual among the people of Air.
“ 14.iv.1923. Started on the way to Tazeruk. After four hours marching
camped in the Wadi (Oued) Tchnorafen, at an altitude of 4,500 feet. High wind
all day, clouds in the morning. The rocky hills here look exactly like many of
those of Air, especially the bare disintegrating hills of brownish colour without
pronounced features (such as cliffs or great boulders).
“16.iv.1923. Again open water passed to-day. There seems indeed to be
much more open water than in Air, but bird-life is scarcer and very disappointing ;
hardly any birds seen to-day.
“23.1v.1923. Reached the Idelés river-bed. I asked if they remembered
Geyr von Schweppenburg’s visit to Idelés in 1914, and one man said he
remembered that the white man gave needles to a woman and paid eight
shillings for a goat.
“ The whole country between Ahaggar and In-salah is rocky and barren,
with very little life of any kind, and uninhabited by men, though a few nomads
may at times be met with. South of In-Salah begins absolutely bare sandy desert.
The hills of Emmidi (Mouydir) are, however, fairly large and more fertile than
the rest of this region, and it would be possible to feed and water camels if
one camped there to collect.” ?
After leaving Idelés Captain Buchanan travelled home as fast as possible
and did not attempt to collect. On May 13th he arrived at In-Salah, May 31st
at Ouargla, and June 5th Tuggurt, from where he took train to Alger, reaching
England again before the middle of June 1923.
It is a pleasure to work with the fine skins made by Captain Buchanan,
which are all they should be. This collection adds the following species and
subspecies to the ornis of Air proper (cf. Nov. Zoor., 1921, p. 83) :
Pierocles senegallus, Pterocles senegalensis senegalensis, Pterocles coronatus
1 [When I was in In-Salah in 1912 the mountains of Mouydir were reported to be very dry, and
there was said to be no water for my camels. It was then said that no real rain (only a few drops
now and then) had fallen for about fourteen years. Recently the commandant of In-Salah kindly
informed me that rain had only fallen once at In-Salah since 1912 for a short time, but that it had
rained more or less heavily in Mouydir and the mountains in the neighbourhood.—E. H.]
6 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
coronatus, Philomachus pugnax (M !), Ardea purpurea purpurea (M), Aquila rapax
belisarius, Circus macrourus (M), Falco tinnunculus tinnunculus (M), Tyto alba
affinis, Bubo africanus cinerascens, Bubo bubo desertorum, Otus leucotis leucotis,
Athene noctua solitudinis subsp. nov., Mesopicos goertae koenigi (instead of
M.g. goertae), Lybius vieilloti frater (not L. v. vieilloti !), Caprimulgus europaeus
europaeus (M), Caprimulgus eximius simplicior, Macrodipterx longipennis, Apus
apus apus (M), Hirundo rustica rustica (M), Oenanthe deserti deserti !, Monticola
saxatilis (M), Hippolais pallida opaca (M), Sylvietta micrura brachyura, Anthus
trivialis trivialis (M), Mirafra erythropygia, Mirafra cheniana chadensis,
Sporopipes frontalis pallidior, Spreo pulcher pulcher.
More than ever it is clear that the ornis of Air (Asben) is tropical, as a country
where Sunbirds, Barbets, Glossy Starlings, etc., live has a tropical ornis, though
there are a number of palaearctic species, to which now a few must be added,
such as Pterocles senegallus, Bubo bubo desertorum, Oenanthe deserti !
On the other hand, these striking tropical families like Sunbirds, Glossy
Starlings, Emerald Cuckoos, Hornbills, Barbets, are absent from the Ahaggar
(Hoggar) Mountains, and the almost lifeless desert between Air and Ahaggar
forms the boundary between the palaearctic and tropical African faunas.
Buchanan also gives for the first time information about the birds of the
great salt-oasis of Bilma, but it is very meagre and of very little interest.
Very little collecting could be done in the Ahaggar Mountains, but Buchanan
confirms the very great scarcity of animal life and also the differences of the
few specialised forms discovered there by Dr. Geyr von Schweppenburg.
1. Numida galeata galeata Pall.
Hausa name “ Zabo,” not “ Labo ”! Tuareg name “ Tilel.”
In Baguezan Mts. Buchanan never heard these birds call; they retired to
the rocks during the day and came down to feed when almost dark.
A small chick taken Tararet River, Air, 10.ix.1922.
2. Coturnix coturnix coturnix (L.)
Tetrao coturnix Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x. i. p. 161 (1758— Europa, Asia, Africa” ; restricted
typ. loc. Sweden).
A @ of the Common Quail shot at Tehnorafen River bed, Ahaggar Mts.,
14.iv.1923.
Probably only a bird of passage in the Hoggar Mts., though a few might
occasionally remain to breed. Geyr observed only single specimens 29.i
Temassinin, end March Idelés, 24.iv Amgid, and caught a damaged ¢5.v on
the well of Ta-n-elak.
3. Ptilopachus petrosus brehmi Neum.
Ptilopachus fuscus brehmi Neumann, Bull. B.O. Club, xxi. p. 68 (1908—“‘ Jebel Melpes,” now spelt
Melbis, Kordofan, type in Tring Museum).
Qad., juv., Dan Kaba, North Hausaland, 12.v.1922. “ Q Iris dark brown,
bare skin round eye full coral red. Bill pale dull brownish, cere and corner of
mouth pale coral pink. Feet coral red.”
The young bird (less than half grown) has the upperside brown with pale
1 The species marked (M) are undoubted migrants.
Novitatrs ZooLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 7
and blackish cross-markings and fine mottlings ; wings more cinnamon than
in adults ; rectrices black with rufous spotted cross-bars ; underside brownish
buff with deep brown cross-bars, throat lighter, lower abdomen darker, under
tail-coverts blackish. “Iris dark, feet pale blackish coral red, bill soiled
brownish.”
Mr. Buchanan found these birds in a valley with rich vegetation, among a
carpet of dead leaves under the shade of a big tree.
The specimen agrees with the specimens of brehmi in London and Tring,
and is certainly different from Senegal petrosus.
4. Francolinus clappertoni clappertoni Childr.
Nov. Zool., 1921, p. 85.
A female Farak, Damergu, 16.vi.1922. ‘“ Iris dark brown. Bare skin
round eyes, skin over nostril and corners of mouth coral red. Feet deep
blackish red, clearing to red on underside. Bill black.” Small black seeds and
larger greenish grain was found in stomach. The Hausas whom Buchanan
questioned had the same name for this as for Francolinus bicalcaratus, namely
“makarua ” or “‘fakara’’; in 1886 I understood the name of F. bicalcaratus
“ mokorua,” which may be as correct as Buchanan’s spelling.
5. Francolinus bicalcaratus bicalcaratus (L.).
Tetrao bicalcaratus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. xi. i. p. 277 (1766—Senegal, ex Brisson).
6 Rimi, 2.v.1922, 2 Dan Kaba, Northern Nigeria, N.N.E. of Kano,
10.v.1922. The @ is darker, the 4 lighter on the upperside, also underneath,
the 9 with larger black, drop-shaped spots in the middle of the feathers
on the underside; these variations are, however, usual in game-birds. An
addled egg was found at Dan Kaba, 16.v.1922. It has a thick shell, cream-
coloured, measuring 44-6 x 34-5 mm. (Native name see under F. clappertoni.)
Many were seen in North Hausaland from Kusada to Katsena.
6. Fulica atra atra L.
Fulica atra Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x. i. p. 152 (1758—Europe; restricted typical locality,
Sweden).
A 9 Coot was taken at Bilma oasis, 9.xi.1922. It seems not to have been
known to occur south of Algeria and Marocco in N.W. Africa.
7. Pterocles senegallus (L.).
Tetrao senegallus Linnaeus, Mantissa Plantarum, Regni An. Append., p. 526 (1771—“ Senegallia,”’
ex Daubenton, pl. 130; locality evidently erroneous; I accept Algeria as its terra typica).
2 &, 12 shot Tabello, in Air, 22.x.1922 and 16.ii.1923. The specimens
are in fresh plumage, the males from Tabello, shot in October, still moulting, and
very richly coloured. I do not, however, believe that they form a different
subspecies, as skins from Shendi in Nubia, and others, are quite as dark, though
not separable from our Algerian series. The Tuareg name was given at Timia
as “‘ tagaduk,” which seems to apply to various species of sandgrouse.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI, 1924.
8. Pterocles senegalensis senegalensis Licht.
Pierocles senegalensis Lichtenstein, Verz. Doubl. Mus. Berlin, p. 64 (1823—Senegambien, Aegypten,
Nubien).
© ad. and 2 juv., Tebeig, southern Air, 28.vii, 9 juv. south of Agades,
6.viii, g ad. Marandet, South Air, 8.viii.1922. The young 9 resembles the
adult, but the markings on the upperside are narrower and more in zigzags.
Great numbers were seen in the district where the above were collected, after
the rains had set in.
9. Pterocles lichtensteinii targius Geyr.
Nov. Zool., 1921, p. 86.
A gand 3 @ shot at Tchwana, S.E. of Agades, 10.vii.1922. Bare skin in d
pale lemon yellow, in the females pale greenish yellow. Wing ¢ 199, 2 186,
186-5 mm. Numbers were flying to the only water pool in a rocky river-bed
at Tchwana at dusk. At Timia the Tuareg name was given as “ tagaduk.”
10. Pterocles coronatus coronatus Licht.
Pterocles coronatus Lichtenstein, Verz. Doubl. Mus. Berlin, p. 65 (1823—Nubia).
A fine adult male was shot at Tabello, Air, 22.x.1922. ‘‘ Iris dark amber.
Bill medium grey with slight black tip. Feet white, claws as bill.”
This specimen, like the ones of P. senegallus, extends the known distribution
of this beautiful species considerably. The colour is very dark and rich, there
being distinct blackish-grey edges to the cream-coloured spots on the upper
wing-coverts ; it is thus darker than our examples from South Tunisia and
Nubia, though not at alllike P. c. atratus from Asia. It is fortunate that Messrs.
Sclater and Praed (/bis, 1920, p. 839) refrained from naming the two races
which they suggest, as the Asiatic one had already been named by me, while I
do not find southern Tunisian examples paler, but rather a male from Kerma
(Nubia) palest of all, paler than Tunisian ones. I therefore believe that all
African specimens belong to one and the same subspecies.
11. Pterocles quadricinctus quadricinctus Temm.
Pterocles quadricinctus Temminck, Pige. et Gall., iii. pp. 252, 713 (1815—Coromandel coast errore !
Real locality Senegal colony).
4 gad., 1 ¢ moulting into adult plumage, outer primaries still those of first
plumage, chestnut breast-band not yet quite complete. Farniso, near Kano,
14, 15.iv.1922. “Iris dark brown, skin around eye lemon yellow. Bill soiled
yellowish sienna. Feet dull orange. Wings 180-187 mm. (Length of wing
appears to be very variable.) While our skins from the Upper White Nile,
coll. by L. M. Seth-Smith, are no bigger than the western ones, one from Lake
Zuai, coll. by O. Neumann, and one Kassam River, southern Abyssinia, Zap-
phiro coll., have wings of 208 and 212, 4 from Nenesa, Abesata, Ödön Kovacs
coll., have the wings in moult and are not safe to measure. P. q. lowei, however,
was described from Renk on the White Nile.
Hausa names at Kano “ drua ” and “ towrie.”’
Novirares ZoOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 9
12. Ortyxelos meiffreni (Vieill.).
Buchanan saw a specimen at Rimi, south of Katsena, Hausaland, 2.v.1922,
i.e. further north than he collected it in 1920. The explicit paper on the
anatomy and pterylography by Lowe, Ibis, 1923, seems to prove conclusively
that Ortyxelos belongs to the Hemipodes (Turnices), as has been suggested
before, and as I have maintained in Vög. pal. Fauna, p. 1855, and Nov. ZooL.,
1921, p. 87.
13. Lissotis nuba (Cretzschm.) (? subsp.).
Otis nuba Cretzschmar, Atlas z. Reise von E. Rüppell, Vögel, p. 1, pl. i. (1826—on the Nile above
Kurgos in Southern Nubia).
“4” Taberghi, six or seven days north of Tanut in Damerghu, 4.vii.1922.
“Tris pale whitish stone-grey. Bill pale green, most of distal half dull black.
Feet cream-white.”’
This specimen agrees in size with the female of Lissotis nuba from Kordofan.
Buchanan says it is a young male, but I am convinced that it is a female! It
is in full moult (body plumage, wings, tail) and is probably an adult bird. While
the old feathers are paler, the fresh ones are about as dark as in L. nuba, of
which we have beautiful males and a female which died in the Giza Zoological
Gardens. Beneath the rufous chest-band is a band of bluish grey, with a few
barred-speckled feathers ; in other nuba this band is entirely speckled or irregu-
larly barred ; there are no uniform blue-grey feathers. This may mean another
subspecies, but we have only one adult 9 in Tring, and in the British Museum
is only a not fully adult 2 (not an adult bird, as the Cat. B., xxiii., says) from the
5th cataract of the Nile, and adult males from the Giza Gardens. It is therefore
impossible to say if this difference is individual, or whether the birds from the
Western Sudan are a different subspecies. Should it be a male, it would of course
be a very much smaller form! The wing measures about 423 mm., while the
wings of males measure about 440 or more and that of our 9410 mm. But the
tarsus is 115 as in our 9, while the tarsi of males are much thicker and measure
130, and the bill is as in our females, not as in the males.
Two eggs were taken at Marandet in South Air, 17.viii.1922. One is pale
stone-brown with pale rufous-brown spots and longitudinal patches and some
paler deeper lying ones with a faint mauve tinge. It is glossy, fairly pointed on
one end, and measures 70:5 x 47-5 mm. The other one is more stone-grey
and has deep rufous brown and distinct purplish-mauve spots. It is broken,
only about two-thirds of it being present, therefore not measurable. The eggs
appear to be not yet known.
Mr. Buchanan saw also a specimen near Tessawa, west of Zinder. The Tuareg
gave him the name “ Ageize ” or ‘“ Agaze”’ as referring to these Bustards.
They eat locusts and other insects and the natives say also the gum that oozes
from the acacia-trees.
14. Otis senegalensis senegalensis Vieill.
39 ad., Dan Kaba in northern Hausaland, 8, 13.v.1922. The iris of the
6 is described as pale glassy brown, that of the 9 as clear cream white, feet
very pale yellowish cream. These Bustards were also seen quite numerous
north of Kusada.
10 Novirares ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
15. Tringa ochropus L.
9 ad., Ten-a-Curt, near Tamanrasset, Hoggar Mts., 23.11.1923.
16. Philomachus pugnax (L.).
& Aouderas, Air, 15.ix.1922.
©, Tazeruk, Hoggar Mts., 20.iv.1923.
17. Capella gallinago gallinago (L.).
Scolopax Gallinago Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x. i. p. 147 (1758—Europa ; restricted typical loc.,
Sweden).
The only specimen of our Common Snipe seen and shot was a Q near Bilma
oasis, 8.ix.1922, in beautiful fresh plumage.
18. Sarciophorus tectus tectus (Bodd.).
Observed near Farniso (near Kano), 17.iv.1922, where half-grown young
were caught by natives. Hausa name “ Zakara Foko ” and “‘ Zakara N’kakwa.”
19. Burhinus (Oedicnemus) capensis maculosus (Temm.).
2 ad., Guam Berka, Zinder Territory, 19.v.1922 (iris greenish yellow).
g ad., N.W. of Farak, Damergu, 26.vi.1922 (iris clear yellow). Hausa name
(at Katsena) “ Kelikeli.”
These specimens agree perfectly with the ¢ from Aouderas collected in 1920.
Also observed near Dan Kaba.
About the subspecies and nomenclature I can only repeat what I have said
in 1921, pp. 88, 89. The ¢ has larger white patches on the outer primaries
than the 9. Wing ¢ 228, 9 228 mm.
Two eggs found on bare sand, near a small piece of dead wood, no nest, not
even a sand-scraped hollow. One egg was broken; the other, very hard set, is
a typical Stone Curlew’s egg, the ground-colour rather reddish, with many
large and smaller deep rufous-brown patches and spots, and it measures 49 by
35:5 mm.
20. Cursorius cursor cursor (Lath.).
(Cursorius gallicus gallicus auct.)
Charadrius cursor Latham, suppl. 1, Gen. Synops. B., p. 293 (1787—name of the “ Cream-coloured
Cursor ” from Kent !).
d ad., S.W. of Agades, Air, 7.viii.1922. Wings, tail, and a few body-feathers
moulting.
d ad., In-Abbangarit, W. of Air, 7.ii.1923. Five seen. “ Iris very dark
amber, feet clear chalk-white.” Tuareg name: Tukorokora.
Evidently very rare in the southern Sahara, but as Boyd Alexander shot it
near Lake Chad, its occurrence in and near Air was to be expected.
21. Turtur abyssinicus delicatulus (Sharpe).
[Chalcopelia abyssinica Sharpe, Bull. B.O. Club, xii. p. 83 (1902—Kokai in Bogos Land).]
Chalcopelia delicatula Sharpe, t.c., p. 84 (1902—Goz-Abu-Gumar on the White Nile).
6, Dan Kaba, 12.v.1922.
This specimen, together with one from Gambaga, is apparently a shade
lighter than our three Senegal ones, but they cannot at present be separated from
Novirarrs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 11
the latter. If the black-billed form from the White Nile differs from the Bogos
one, these birds, together with other West African ones, will probably belong
to the former, i.e. Sharpe’s delicatula. Possibly all the blue-spotted birds with
black bills are one and the same, though specifically different from the green-
spotted forms as well as from the blue-spotted ones with red bills ; these red-
billed birds seem to occur together with black-billed ones in various countries.
(Cf. Ibis, 1920, pp. 834-836.)
Buchanan only came across the Blue-spotted Dove once, at Dan Kaba, in
northern Hausaland, 12.v.1922, where he saw flocks and shot a single male,
moulting on wings and body. “ Irisdark. Bill dull black! Feet dark purple.
In the stomach small grass seeds.” . They were fairly plentiful in a valley with
rich vegetation and large trees. He noticed their peculiar short, swiftly diving
flight. The Hausa called it ‘“ Burdu.”
22. Streptopelia senegalensis senegalensis (L.).
A nest with two eggs was found on a Baga-Rua thorn-tree at Turabé, near
Aouderas, in Air, 4.ix.1922. The nest was a small structure of fine twigs.
The eggs measure 24-5 x 20 and 25 x 19-8mm. This reminds me that there
is a silly slip on p. 90 Nov. Zoor., 1921, the width of the clutch taken
December 19th being 19-8 and 20, not 14-8 and 15 mm. !
23. Streptopelia roseogrisea roseogrisea (Sund.).
6, Gangera in Damergu, 4.vi.1922.
4 $ Teh-Siderak, Air, 12, 13.1.1923.
© Tchwana, Air, 11.vii.1922.
3 Eluzzus River, Air, 6.x.1922.
6 Iberkan River, Air, 8.x.1922.
This Dove, called “ the Dove of the Sand-wastes ” by Buchanan, can always
be remembered from S. vinacea by the bright clear red or crimson iris. Near
Gangera in Damergu it was seen in considerable flocks, coming to the wells to
drink. The Tuareg call it ‘“ Tedabear,” a name applied to most species of
Doves.
Not only the colour of the under-wing coverts (see Nov. ZooL. 1921, p. 90)
varies, also that of the abdomen. Possibly the specimens from the south-western
Sahara may average slightly larger in the wing than those from the eastern
Sudan and Nubia, but they vary very much ; wings of eleven males 162-171, of
two females 162, 165 mm.
24. Streptopelia turtur hoggara (Geyr).
SR ad., Tamanrasset, Hoggar Mts., 27, 30.iii. 1923.
6 ad., Een-dal-i Wadi, Hoggar Mts., 11.iv.1923.
3 6, 2 2, Tazeruk, Hoggar Mts., 17, 19.iv.1923.
The iris is described as clear golden yellow, while in S. ¢. arenicola I found it
always dull orange, though Carruthers marked it in a d from Bokhara as gam-
boge yellow. Buchanan found the bare skin around the eyes dark purple,
feet reddish purple.
Wings & 172-174, 2 164-167, in Air specimens; & 176, 169, 2 173 mm.
These birds are perfectly intermediate between S. t. arenicola and 8. t.
isabellina ; from the latter they differ only in having the crown more or less blue-
12 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924,
grey, but two females are almost exactly as isabelline on the crown as Egyptian
isabellina ; some are darker on the back and wings than :sabellina, but still dis-
tinguishable from arenicola by the isabelline sides of the head! 8. #. arenicola
is perfectly intermediate between S. t. turtur (sometimes single individuals
difficult to distinguish !) and 8. ¢. hoggara !
At Tazeruk quite a number were observed. Tuareg name: Tedabear
Ta-meckat, meaning ‘“ Dove of Mecca.”
25. Columba livia targia Geyr, 1916.
1 3, 2 2, Tamengouit, northern Air, 3.iii.1923.
6, Todera Mt., Air, 22.ix.1922.
62, Tamanrasset, Hoggar Mts., 26.ii1.1923.
“Tris inner circle clear pale gamboge white, outer border darker rusty
sienna. Bill dull grey-blackish or black, nostrils chalk white. Feet red with
‘purplish tinge or purplish red. Iris of a young bird entirely dark golden
brownish.” Crops and stomachs full of seeds of Citrullus colocynthis Rich. and
those of an Euphorbiacean plant (Schweinfurth determ.). It is strange that
they can eat these strongly purging seeds.
This is merely an always grey-rumped, somewhat dark-grey form of Rock-
Pigeon ; the extent of the glossy area on the throat, etc., is not more restricted
than in other forms. Its grey plumage is darker than in schimperi, which is also
smaller. €. 1. targia hardly differs from grey-rumped ©. 1. gaddi from South
Arabia, but the back and wing-coverts are duller, slightly darker, and there
seems to be a darker area just below the glossy jugular patch in the Arabian
birds, which is not visible in any C.l.targia. Wings ¢ 213-216, 9 202-210 mm.
At Tamengouit observed in large flocks, nine shot altogether. In the
stomachs the seeds of a gourd called “ Tagelit,’’ which is also eaten by goats,
donkeys, and cattle, but not by camels (see above).
26. Nyroca nyroca nyroca (Güld.).
Anas nyroca Güldenstadt, Nov. Comm. Sc. Petropol., xiv. i. p. 403 (1770—South Russia).
The remains of a female (skeleton, wings and feet) were picked up in the
rocky desert of Ta-Mosilin, two days north of In-Azdoua, on March 15th, 1923.
27. Spatula clypeata (L.).
Anas clypeata Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x. i. p. 124 (1758—Europe ; restrieted typical locality,
S. Sweden).
A 3 Shoveler was shot at the oasis of Bilma on November 6th, 1922, when
a number of the same species were seen.
28. Anas acuta acuta L.
Anas acuta Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x. i. p. 126 (1758—‘‘ Habitat in Europae maritimis ” ; restricted
typical locality, Sweden).
Q, oasis of Bilma, 5.xi.1922.
29. Anas crecca erecca L.
Anas crecca Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x. i. p. 125 (1758—“ Habitat in Europae aquis dulcibus ” ;
restricted tyical locality, Sweden).
©, Bilma oasis, 8.xi.1922.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 13
30. Nycticorax nycticorax nycticorax (L.).
Ardea Nycticorax Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x.i. p. 142 (17583—*‘ Hab. in Europa Australi”).
Single specimens of Night Herons were seen and shot.
© ad., Bilma oasis, 8.xi.1922. “ Iris clear crimson. Feet cream-white.”’
Q juv., Bilma oasis, 6.xi.1922. “Iris clear orange yellow. Feet pale
whitish glass green.”
31. Ardea purpurea purpurea L.
Ardea purpurea Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. xii. i. p. 236 (1766—“ Habitat in Oriente”! This state-
ment is evidently erroneous ; the description is from Brisson, who described specimens from the
collection of Madame de Bandeville and said that they were found on the borders of rivers and
swamps and live on fishes ; the typical locality would therefore be France and not the Orient !).
2 22 shot Aouderas 14.ix and 31.xi.1922, also one handled at Fashi.
32. Abdimia abdimii (Licht.).
At Dan Kaba in northern Hausaland a nest of sticks was found, 15.v.1922,
on a leafless Baobab tree, containing two fresh eggs. These are glossless
white, sea-green if held against the light, and measure 55-5 x 41 and 58 x 41-5
mm. Hausa name, “‘ Shamwona.”’
33. Plegadis falcinellus falcinellus (L.).
© shot Aouderas, Air, 13.ix.1922.
Tuareg name, “ Agishet ama.”
34. Necrosyrtes monachus monachus (Temm.).
Of this, the common Vulture of northern Nigeria, a @ was shot at Farniso,
near Kano, 9.iv.1922. “ Iris dark brown. Head skin pink (!). Bill soiled
light greenish. Feet whitish, tinged with pale green-grey.”
(At Aouderas and elsewhere the eyes of Gyps rüppellii are sought after and
Buchanan was asked to shoot one. After death the eye is pricked with a thorn,
and the black fluid thus obtained and called “ Taszol” is used as “ kohl ” for
painting the eyelids, the proper “ kohl ” being antimony.)
35. Aquila rapax belisarius (Lev.).
Falco belisarius Levaillant, jun., Hxpl. scient. Algérie, Ois., pl. ii (1850—plate without text! from
a specimen obtained near Guelma in N.E. Algeria).
9, Tanut, southern Air, 12.viii.1922. “ Iris glassy, very pale stone brown.
Bill black, pale whitish grey at base ; nostrils white, feet creamish white.”
This fine specimen, which appears to be adult, is as pallid as the one figured
by Erlanger in Journ f. Orn., 1898, pl. vii., which did not change and lives now,
after twenty-six years, in Hilgert’s care in Ingelheim, where I saw it only a
few months ago.
If the three races, A. rapax rapaz, albicans, and belisarius, are recognisable,
this specimen undoubtedly belongs to belisarius. Ci. Vög. pal. Fauna, p. 1096.
36. Circaétus gallicus (Gm.).
Falco gallicus Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i. 1, p. 259 (1788—“ Habitat in Gallia, rarior in reliqua Europa’’).
9 ad., Dan Kaba, northern Hausaland, 15.v.1922. Hausa name, “‘ Buga-
zabi.” This species is rare in tropical West Africa, but had already been
14 NOVITATES ZooLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
obtained by Poggiolini near Zaria, middle Hausaland. The date, middle of
May, is interesting, as they breed at that time in Algeria, etc.
37. Chelictinia riocourii (Vieill.).
(Nauclerus riocourit auct., cf. Ibis, 1919, p. 692 !)
Elanoides riocourii Vieillot, in Vieillot & Oudart, Gal. Ois., i. 1, p. 43, pl. xvi (1823—near Gorée,
Senegal).
g, near Tessawa, west of Zinder, 26.v.1922.
9, Farak, Damergu, 14.vi.1922.
“@: Iris clear red. Bill grey black, overlaid with chalky. Feet pale
clean chalky yellow. &: Iris bright orange chrome, eyelids pale greenish.
Bill dull greyish black, corners of mouth yellow. Feet chalky orange yellow,
claws pale yellow.” Wings 2 237, 244, § 231 mm. Hausa name, “ shafo,”
same as other hawks. Also observed near Gangara and in Damergu two
years ago.
According to Sclater and Praed, Ibis, 1919, the characteristic longitudinal
black patch on the underside of the wing is only to be found in the females.
This seems to be correct, judging from the fact that the specimens without the
black patch in the Tring Museum are smaller, but if this is so a number of ours
(collected by Zaphiro) are wrongly sexed. The young birds collected by Zaphiro
in southern Abyssinia have rust-coloured tips to the feathers of the upperside,
white tips to the remiges, narrow grey-black shaft-lines to the breast, and a yel-
lowish tinge on the chest. In 1886 I observed these graceful birds near Sokoto
and Gandu, but was too illto shoot any ; Poggiolini, however, collected specimens
near Zaria.
38. Butastur rufipennis (Sund.).
Poliornis rufipennis Sundevall, Oefv. Ak. Förh., 1850, p. 131 (Khartum).
G ad., Kusada, N.W. of Kano, 30.iv.1922.
“Tris clear lemon yellow. Bill orange yellow with blue-black distal por-
tion. Feet strong yellow.’’ Stomach full of locusts.
This find extends the known distribution of the Red-winged Hawk consider-
ably. See Rehw., Vög. Afr., i. p. 597; Sclater and Praed, Ibis, 1919, p. 693;
van Someren, Nov. Zool., 1922, p. 42.
39. Circus macrourus (Gm.).
& ad., Inzanenet, western Air, 26.1.1922.
“Iris clear bright yellow. Feet clear lemon yellow. Bill black, cere
lemon yellow, corner of mouth pale green.”
40. Melierax (Micronisus) gabar niger (Vieill.).
Sparvius Niger Vieillot, in Bonnaterre et Vieillot, Tabl. Enc. Meth., Orn., iii. p. 1269 (1823—
Senegal).
Sparvius Leucorhous id., l.c. (1823— Senegal).
9 ad., shot from nest with three eggs, Farniso, near Kano, 18.iv.1922.
& ad., melanistic, Dan Zabua, northern Hausaland, 30.iv.1922.
© ad., melanistic, Dan Kaba, northern Hausaland, 12.v.1922.
& juv., Farniso, near Kano, 3.iv.1922.
Iris of ad. ¢ grey, 9 dark madder brown, & juv. clear lemon yellow,
melanistic & very dark reddish brown, melanistic 2 clear lemon yellow.
NoVvITATEs ZooLoGICcAE XXXI. 1924. 15
The three eggs are glossless white, looking through the hole against the
light, dark sea-green. They measure 42 x 32, 43 x 31-6, 41'2 x 31-2 mm.
It is peculiar that the existence and distribution of the two subspecies
of this species have hitherto not been worked out. Only Neumann has
recognized them, as shown by labels in the Tring Museum, but he has dropped
the matter again, and recently Kirke Swann has noticed them and discussed
the question with me. The darker form inhabits South and East Africa, west
to Angola and north to southern Abyssinia, the pale one Eritrea (northern
Abyssinia), Nubia, and extends apparently west to the Senegal.
As both Sparvius niger and leucorhous were described from the Senegal,
and niger stands first on the page, we shall have to adopt that name, which
refers, of course, to the black variety. Probably Accipiter erythrorhynchus of
Swainson and doubtless Micronisus niloticus of Sundevall are synonyms of
this paler form, while miltopus Heug]. from Bogos probably belongs to it as well.
In the stomachs Buchanan found lizards.
The paler coloration of this northern subspecies is evident in all plumages.
The black specimens are not so deep black and glossy as those from Gabun and
South Africa; the adult grey ones have a paler upperside and paler bars on the
abdomen, the young birds are lighter and less brightly coloured above and below.
41. Melierax musicus neumanni Hart.
(See Nov. Zool., 1921, pp. 95, 96.)
@ juv., beginning to moult, Tch Siderak, Asben (Air), 6.1.1923.
““ Iris clear glassy cream-whitish. Bill blue-black, paling to grey base ; cere
and corners of mouth dullsienna. Feet medium full orange chrome, duller than
usual.” Tuareg name, “Amolen, Anulum, or Anola.” Numerous grasshoppers
and some mouse-hair found in stomach in 1920.
42. Accipiter badius sphenurus (Rupp.).
@ ad., Dan Kaba, northern Hausaland, 12.v.1922.
“Tris rich orange. Bill blue-black, cere and corner of mouth lemon yellow.
Feet clear lemon yellow.” Hausa name, “Kusarkama.” A young ¢ was ob-
tained near Kano in 1919, and Poggiolini had collected the species near Zaria.
43. Falco peregrinus pelegrinoides Temm.
@ ad., Zarafokatin, in the Tassili of Ahaggar, 17.iii.1923.
“Iris dark umber, eye-skin full lemon yellow. Bill dark grey, gradually
paling to greenish-yellow base. Cere full lemon yellow. Feet full lemon
yellow. Developing eggs, one already with shell.”
44. Falco biarmicus abyssinicus Neum.
& juv., Garabi, Tessawa, west of Zinder, 29.v.1922.
I suppose this must be abyssinicus, which nests in Hausaland, though I
wish I could have examined an adult bird.
45. Falco tinnunculus tinnunculus L.
9, Tch Siderak, Air, 7.1.1923. On upperside some old and some fresh
feathers.
16 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
9, Tamanrasset, Hoggar Mts., 27.1ii.1923.
Clutch of two eggs of a Kestrel taken from a hole in a cliff, 23.vii.1922.
The eggs were about five days incubated, containing small embryos. They
are typical Kestrel’s eggs, without gloss, the red patches somewhat light. They
measure 39-5 x 32 and 39-3 x 31-2 mm. Unfortunately the parent birds
were not shot, but they appeared to be the same as the birds shot. Though
Geyr had the impression that Kestrels do not nest in the Hoggar Mountains,
and I could not prove their nesting south of Ghardaia, Geyr saw specimens near
Ideles (Ahaggar), and [in In-salah as late as April 15th, and the species may as
well nest sparingly in the Ahaggar (Hoggar) Mts. and in Air. It is of course
not impossible, but not likely the case, that the tropical subspecies, F. tinnunculus
carlo is the form which nests in Air, as it occurs near Zaria in Hausaland. The
Hausa name is “ Karamatta.”
46. Tyto alba affinis (Blyth).
? Strix poénsis Fraser, Proc. Zool. Mus. London., pt. x, 1842, p. 189 (1843—Fernando Po; cf.
Vög. pal. Fauna, p. 1038, footnote).
Striv maculata (nec Strix maculata Vieillot, 1817, which is a South American Owl of the genus Asio)
Brehm, Vogelfang, p. 40 (1855—‘‘ Nordostafrika,” type from Khartum !).
Strix affinis Blyth, Ibis, 1862, p. 388 (Cape of Good Hope).
2 9, Dan Kaba, north Hausaland, 16.v.1922.
9, Gamram, Damergu, 13.vi.1922.
Q, Farak, Damergu, 20.vi.1922.
6, Inzanenet, western Air, 26.1.1923.
A few more were seen in open “ Black Desert ” a few days later, where
rodents were abundant. In the Dan Kaba valley they were found in tropical
forest. The 2 from Gamram has much larger black-and-white spots on the
upperside, and larger blackish spots underneath, and the underside is brownish
yellow ; it is thus a most typical“ maculata,” rectius affinis. The other specimens
have smaller spots above and below, and the underside is silky white in the
males, with a buff tinge on breast flanks and thighs in the female. Wings 92
292-301, 3 285-300 mm.
(A Barn Owl was observed near Tamanrasset, Ahaggar, probably T'yto alba
alba ?)
47. Bubo africanus cinerascens Guérin.
6, Dan Kaba, northern Hausaland, 16.v.1922.
Q, Aouderas, Air, 1.x.1922.
6, Timia, Air, 10.x.1922.
The specimen from Dan Kaba is more grey-brown, the two from Asben
are more sandy-rufescent. The variations of this species are great; the red-
dest specimen I have seen is from Senate, 7,500 feet, in Abyssinia, but it is darker,
more rufous, on the abdomen, but on the upperside very much like the Timia
bird, only a little darker.
48. Bubo bubo desertorum Erl.
Bubo ascalaphus desertorum Erlanger, Orn. Monatsber., 1897, p. 192 (‘‘ Typus ex promontorio Sidi-
ben-Aoun ”), id., Journ. f. Orn., 1898, p..495, pl. xiii ; Whitaker, B. Tunisia, ii. p. 80, and plate.
Bubo bubo desertorum Hartert, Vög. pal. Fauna, pp. 970, 2194.
6, Farak, Damergu, 20, 30.vi.1922.
6, Melen, S.E. of Agades, 7. vii.1922.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 17
&, Inzanenet clifis, W. Air, 25.1.1923.
““ Iris clear yellow to full orange yellow. Bill dull bluish or greenish black.
Feet whitish, claws blue-black.’’
These specimens vary in colour, but compared with a series from northern
and middle Marocco, Algeria, Egypt, and Palestine proper they are much lighter,
the facial disk is paler, the middle of the chest lighter, abdomen lighter, some-
times almost white, with narrower and sometimes indistinct cross-bars, the
feathering of the tarsus and toes lighter, sometimes almost white, the upperside
paler, but variable, wings 334-352 mm.
There is evidently no doubt that there is a southern paler subspecies, and to
it, in my opinion, specimens from the Djebel Klima near Ghardaia, from Kordo-
fan (Brit. Mus.), from Shendy on the Nile (Nubia), and from Palmyra in the
Syrian Desert, should belong. I am, however, somewhat uneasy about the name
of this form, as, unfortunately, Erlanger described it from the southern slopes
of the eastern Atlas Mts. in Tunisia, and specimens from there are not of the very
palest form, in fact one from near Gabes, much further south, much more in
the desert, agrees almost better with paler specimens of the northern darker
form than with the real desert one, while another from the same locality is
paler. On the other hand, both Erlanger and the careful Whitaker recognized
a darker northern and a paler southern form, and I adopt, therefore, their
name desertorum, The specimen from Azazga in the Kabylie, North Algeria, is
undoubtedly one of the darker form (cf. Vög. pal. Fauna, p. 2194). Examples
from Egypt are, of course, typical ascalaphus ; it is true that we have from the
pyramids darker and lighter examples, but subspecies must be judged by series,
and not by single skins, and if we compare our very fine series from Marocco
(all very dark), Algeria (except Ghardaia), Egypt, and Palestine, with, on the
other hand, those from Air (Asben), Shendy, Gabes, and Palmyra in the Syrian
Desert, the two subspecies are obvious.
I continue to look upon Bubo ascalaphus as a subspecies of Bubo bubo. It
is true that in northern Algeria specimens of both Bubo bubo hispanus and asca-
laphus have been shot, and two forms occur in Palestine, but on the whole
ascalaphus represents other Eagle-Owls in northern Africa, and we have no
evidence that two different forms actually nest in the same places, though they
meet in North Algeria and in Palestine occasionally.
49. Otus senegalensis (Swains.).
Scops capensis Smith, S. Afr. Quart. Journ., ser. IL. pt. iv. p. 314 (1834—South Africa, Cape Colony
accepted as typical locality from the name).
Scops senegalensis Swainson, Class. B., ii. p. 217 (1837—nomen nudum !), id., B. W. Africa, i. p. 127
(1837—Gambia, Rendall coll., type in Cambridge Museum examined by me, cf. Vög. pal. Fauna,
p. 982, footnote, also Nachtrag, i. 1923).
Q ad., Farniso, Kano, 20.iv.1922, with three eggs.
3 pull., Dan Kaba, northern Hausaland, 17.v.1922.
Qad. “Iris pale greenish yellow. Bill and ceredull greyish. Feet greyish
whitish.” Iris of pulli “clear yellow.” Eggs white, almost without gloss,
hardly yellow, almost white, when looked through the hole against the light.
Measures: 32-5 x 26, 33-5 X 26-2, 31 x 25°5 mm.
Hausa name, ‘“‘ Kururu.”
2
18 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
This species must be called Otus senegalensis, as the combination Otus capensis
cannot be used, because Smith, 1837, described the South African Brown Eared
Owl as Otus capensis. Sclater and Stresemann wanted to discard this name,
but they attacked the question at the wrong end. As I have already said, the
name capensis cannot be used for the African Scops Owl, because the combination
Otus capensis is preoccupied, but there is no reason whatever to reject the name
capensis for the Brown Eared Owl, as there was no other Otus capensis in 1837
when Smith named it. The name helvola of Lichtenstein and Asio tingitanus
andrewsmithi Sclater, 1922, are synonyms to Asio capensis.
I doubt if any subspecies of ©. senegalensis can be separated, and am inclined
to believe that latipennis Kaup (S. Africa), pygmea Brehm (Sennaar), ugandae
Neum. (Uganda), and hendersoni Cass. (Angola) are all the same.
50. Otus scops scops (L.).
Strix Scops Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x. i. p. 92 (1758—“ Habitat in Europa”; restricted typical
locality, Italy).
36, Bilma oasis, 6.xi. 1922.
Of course a winter visitor.
51. Otus leucotis leucotis (Temm.).
Formerly only met with near Kano, but this time Buchanan also saw and
shot one in Air.
Q ad., Dan Kaba, northern Hausaland, 12.v.1922.
d pull., about three-quarters grown, Farniso near Kano, 25.iv.1922. Iris
in both adult and young from Hausaland bright red.
Q ad., Tebeig in Air, 26.vii.1922. Some time after death the iris was clear
yellow.
The young birds are generally lighter and mostly more yellowish.
52. Athene noctua solitudinis subsp. nov.
Athene noctua subspeciebus A. n. spilogaster et somaliensis dictis simillimus, sed major, pilei
maculis frequentibus rotundatis. Subspeciei A. n. saharae dictae similis sed minor, pilei
maculis rotundatis, nec longiusculis, maculis pectoralibus brunnescentioribus, rostro grisescente,
nec flavido.
9, Mt. Todera, Air, 23.ix.1922. “ Iris clear glassy pale lemon. Bill pale
whitish grey-green. Feet dull medium blackish grey.”
Though only this’one specimen was obtained I must separate the Asben
Little Owl. Itis not A. n. saharae, because it is much smaller, bill smaller, wings
shorter, crown not striped but with more or lessround spots. Bill pale grey-green,
not yellow! Very much like A. n. somaliensis and spilogaster, but larger, head
regularly spotted, each feather with a pale centre, not uniform or slightly spotted
as in somaliensis or striped as in spilogaster. The bill in spilogaster is said to be
yellow, and it appears to be yellow in somaliensis. The colour of the upperside
is rufous cinnamon clay-colour, and might be that of a rufescent glawx or a dark
specimen of saharae. Wing 154, the first primary still growing, but the longest
fully grown! Specimens of A. n. somaliensis have wings of 135-147 mm. ; Erlanger
quotes only 130-138, but some of ours are larger.
NOVITATEsS ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 19
53. Glaucidium perlatum (Vieill.).
See Nov. Zool., 1921, p. 99.
2 Q ad., Farniso, near Kano, 8, 10.iv.1922.
Hausa name, “ Kururu.”’
I can only repeat what I said in 1921 about these birds. These two specimens
are again both pale, but Senegal specimens are—though generally richer-coloured
—sometimes equally pale. In one of these two the head is unspotted in the
middle, but this occurs not rarely in other parts of Africa. It seems to me
evident that specimens from South and East Africa have larger white spots
on the head than those from Senegambia and Nigeria. (Cf. Ibis, 1915, p. 256;
1919, pp. 681, 682!)
The 2 shot 10.iv had an egg in the oviduct. It has very little gloss, the
inside is very faint yellow, and it measures 30-5 x 23:7 mm.
54, Clamator jacobinus pica (Hempr. & Ehrb.).
Cf. Nov. Zool., 1915, p. 253 ; 1921, p. 99 !
6 ad., Tebeig, Air, 27. vii.1922. Wing, 161 mm. !
55. Clamator glandarius (L.).
GQ ad., Urufan, Tessawa, west of Zinder, 27.v.1922.
“Iris very dark grey. Bill brown-black. Feet brown-black with white
joints.”’” The Hausa at Katsena called it “ Sura.”
56. Centropus senegalensis senegalensis (L.).
Hausa name, “ Rago-maza.”’
57. Chrysococcyx caprius chrysochlorus Heine.
& juv., Tarare River, Air, 6.ix.1922.
“Tris pale whitish brown. Bill brown, tinged with red, lower mandible and
inside of mouth coral red. Feet grey-black with white scale joints.”
Nov. Zool., 1921, pp. 100, 101, I have shown that the Senegal form, to which
I restricted the name chrysochlorus, is much smaller than the South African one.
Bull. B.O. Club, xlii. p. 119, Sclater quotes measurements of specimens from the
Sudan, Shoa, Uganda, South Africa, Gold Coast, but he had no females, except
five from the Sudan, and concludes that the British Museum series from West
Africa “are not very good or well sexed, but it may easily be concluded that
Dr. Hartert had hardly sufficient ground on which to separate two forms of the
Didric. Anyhow, the Shoa bird should certainly be included with the South
African race on the measurements given.” It seems to me that Mr. Sclater has
not read all my remarks, as I have pointed out that I separated the ‘“‘ North-West
African and South African Golden Cuckoos,” but that I could not go into the
question of the East African and West African forms, and that I found Harrar
birds intermediate between the two races which ladmitted. AsI had from South
Africa 10 g and 2 9, while Sclater had 9 S and no 9, as I had from the Senegal
(Senegambia) 25 g and 5 9, while Sclater had no Senegal specimens, and only
20 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
8 d, 5 ?from the “ Sudan,” 5 Jand no Qfrom Shoa, 4 g and no 9 from Uganda,
4 Sand 10 unsexed birds from Gold Coast, it seems to me that I was justified
in my careful conclusion, while Sclater was not justified in considering that
I had “hardly sufficient grounds on which to separate forms.” Bannerman,
Nov. Zool., 1922, p. 416, endorsed Sclater’s opinion, “‘ and rejects my race ”—but
in support of his view he only quoted measurements of birds from “ Upper
Guinea,” while I talked of Senegal birds, of which he had none. I therefore
consider that Heine’s name should be used for the Senegambian very much
smaller race (Sundevall said already “‘ paullo minora ” of specimens supposed
to be from Sennaar, but probably from the Senegal). The range of the Senegal
form extends to Air (Asben).
58. Crinifer piscator (Bodd.).
(Chizaerhis africana auct., Nov. Zool., 1921, p. 101.)
(Horror of horrors, our old friend Chizaerhis africana will in future be known
as Crinifer piscator: cf. Bannerman, Rev. Zool. Afr., x. 2, p. 117—ex W. L.
Sclater MS.! Crinifer is a name of Jarocki, monotype Phasianus africanus
Lath., as shown by Mathews & Iredale. Falco piscator Boddaert, Tabl. Pl. Enl.,
p. 28, is a name bestowed on Daubenton’s pl. 478, on which is represented a bird
from Senegambia, obviously meant for our old Chizaerhis africana. 1 was at
first inclined to reject this plate, because the tail is much too short, but as Mr.
Sclater pointed out to me the peculiar bill is quite characteristic, the colour on
the whole agrees well, and the tail is much foreshortened ; the bill and the long
occipital crest are well described by Buffon, and we must therefore overlook the
much too rufous colour of the head, the shortness and the colour of the tail, and
the descriptions of the habits, which were really meant for a bird of prey, but
carelessly applied to this plantain-eater. It is difficult to understand that a
bird with such a bill and such feet was thought to be a falcon !)
Q ad., Dan Kaba, northern Nigeria, 11.v.1922. In the stomach stones and
berries of the “ mugaia tree.” The Hausas at Dan Kaba called the bird
“ Kulkulu.”
Crinifer zonurus, with its quite differently shaped crest and very differently
marked tail, must not be considered to be a subspecies of C. piscator.
59. Poicephalus senegalus mesotypus Rchw.
Poicephalus senegalus mesotypus Reichenow, Orn. Monatsber., 1910, p. 174 (Adamaua).
Poicephalus senegalus versteri Hartert, Nov. Zool., 1921, p. 101.
%
6, Farniso, near Kano, 8.iv.1922.
When writing in 1921 about 3 Sand 1 9 collected near Kano, I remarked
that these birds were rather more like versteri than typical senegalus, and that -
a larger series might show that all Hausaland specimens were intermediate ;
I then overlooked that Reichenow had already given the name mesotypus to the
intermediate birds from Adamaua, just south of Hausaland, and I suppose now
that this subspecies is recognizable, since the ¢ now received is also intermediate,
being too orange for senegalus, but not so bright as typical versteri ; single speci-
mens are apparently sometimes indistinguishable from versteri.
Hausa name, “ Kalo.”’
NOVITATEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 21
60. Psittacula krameri krameri (Scop.).
(Palaeornis krameri krameri in Nov. Zool., 1921, p. 102.)
&, Dan Zabua, northern Hausaland, 29.iv.1922.
“Tris lemon yellow. Upper mandible rich mahogany-red, tip black. Feet
pale greyish chalky white.”
Hausa name, “ Zibrea.”’
61. Campethera punctuligera punctuligera (Wagl.).
Picus punctatus Valenciennes (nec Vieillot 1818 !), Dict. Sci. Nat., xl. p. 171 (1826—Senegal).
Picus punctuligerus Wagler, Syst. Av., Picus species 36 (1827—“‘ Senegambia’’). (Bannerman,
Rev. Zool. Afric., x. fasc. 2, p. 99, 1922, mixed the quotations, as it was of course Vieillot who
wrote in the Nouv. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat., 1818, and not Wagler !)
9 ad., Dan Kaba, northern Nigeria, 16.v.1922. ‘‘ Iris clear medium purple.
Bill dull grey. Feet chalky green grey.”
Hausa name, “‘ Mokokofi,”” same as other Woodpeckers.
(The rare Dendropicos minutus (Temm.) (see Nov. Zool., 1921, p. 103) was
not collected this time, but I must call attention to the fact that the name minutus
is untenable, as Picus minutus Temm. is anticipated by Picus minutus Latham,
1790; this little Woodpecker must therefore be called Dendropicos elachus
Oberholser, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, xxxii. p. 8, 1919.)
62. Mesopicos goertae.
In Nov. Zool., 1921, p. 102, I called all Woodpeckers of this group from
Kano and from Air (Mt. Baguezan) Mesopicos goertae goertae. Now Buchanan
sent us again a number of skins from Damergu and Air, and it looks as if all the
latter belong to the very pale form described as M. g. koenigi from the Nile
between Khartum and the Atbara! I would not hesitate for a moment to say
that was the case, if our specimens from the Nile (Naikhala, Shendy, Atbara,
N. C. Rothschild coll., Djebel Auli, and Shebesha on the White Nile, H. F.
Witherby coll.) were not all in much abraded, worn plumage, killed from
January to April, while our Senegal series is from December, one shot in
May being also in fairly fresh plumage—and our Air series from May and
June, all badly worn, while one from September 28 (Aouderas) in fresh garb
is darker, the Kano specimens being all in fresh plumage, shot in December
and January. Nevertheless I think the two forms are separable, the pale
one ranging from Nubia to Air, the darker one being restricted to Senegambia
and neighbouring countries, as far as Kano. Specimens from middle and
southern Hausaland (Zaria province and Loko on the Benné) are a shade
darker than Senegal birds, and perhaps, as I said 1921, already belonging to
M.g. centralis. They have no red or orange streak along the abdomen, but this
character is not useful for recognising the various subspecies, as it is very variable.
In any case, I now call the Air birds :
Mesopicos goertae koenigi Neum.
Mesopicos goertae koenigi Neumann, Orn. Monatsber., 1903, p. 181 (‘‘ Am Nil zwischen der Atbara-
mündung und Chartum ”).
In addition to those collected in 1920 Mr. Buchanan now sent the following
specimens :
39, Farak, Damergu, 19.vi.1922.
©, Aouderas, Air, 28.ix.1922.
22 NOVITATEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924,
Hausa name, “ Mokokofi”; Tuareg name, ““ Kow-kow eschkan,” meaning
““ peck peck wood.”
63. Coracias naevia naevia Daud.
Coracias naevia Daudin, Traité, Orn., ii. p. 258 (1800—Senegal).
32, Farniso, near Kano, 7, 8.iv.1922.
““ Iris soiled white or umber with slight whitish outer ring. Bill dull black.
Feet pale greenish yellow or dull medium yellow.’ Seen in open park country,
perching on leafless trees, such as Baobab. Hausa name, “ Zawanka” and
“ Zawaka.’”
64. Eurystomus afer afer (Lath.).
Coracias afra Latham, Ind. Orn., i. p. 172 (1790—ex Latham, Gen. Synops. Suppl., p. 86, ‘‘ Africa,”
as terra typica accepted Senegal by Neumann, Journ. f. Orn., 1905, p. 185).
9, Dan Kaba, northern Hausaland, 9.v.1922.
“Tris dark brown. Bill full yellow. Feet sage-greenish brown.”
(“1710 ” is given by Bannerman as the date of Latham’s work: this is
obviously a misprint for 1790.)
65. Merops orientalis viridissimus Swains.
©, Iberkan River, Air, 12.x.1922.
This species was also observed at Farniso near Kano and Dan Kaba. It is
common in small flocks in Air.
Hausa name, “ Kelyo”’; Tuareg name, “ Tasalahat.”
66. Colius macrourus syntactus (Oberh.).
Q, Farak, Damergu, 18.vi.1922.
“Tris rich red, bare skin round eyes deep crimson.”’ I can only repeat the
remarks I made in Nov. Zool., 1921, p. 106.
A small number were observed in the bush near the Farak wells. They were
feeding on the round yellow berries of a light-green-leafed thorn bush, called by
the Hausa ‘ Mugaréa,” by the Tuareg “ Abuka ” or “ Asirratow.”’” These
berries ripen by the end of December on the river banks in Air. Sometimes they
are red and about half an inch in diameter.
67. Pogoniulus chrysoconus schubotzi (Rchw.).
3, Tabello, Air, 20.x.1922.
3, Monakaoki, Air, 9.xii.1922.
Q, Elmeki River, Air, 16.xii.1922.
Buchanan found it a rare bird, frequenting acacia-trees.
68. Trachyphonus margaritatus margaritatus (Cretzschm.).
The Tuareg (Tamashek) name is better spelt “ Agishet N’owgur,” and means
the ““ Jackal bird,” so called “ because when it sees a jackal it gives out a loud
rolling call and makes a great fuss ”’ (Buchanan).
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 433
69. Lybius vieilloti buchanani subsp. nov.
Lybius vieilloti frater, Nov. Zool., 1921, p. 107.
Subspeciei Lybius vieilloti frater dietae simillimus, sed colore rubro capitis
dilutiore, magis scarlatino, alis paullo brevioribus.
&, Tebeig, Air, 26.vii.1922.
322, Tarabe River, Air, 6.ix.1922.
6; Tchwana, Air, 20.vii.1922.
6; Aouderas, Air, 15.ix.1922.
When I wrote about our specimens from Kano (Farniso), Zinder, Damergu,
and Air, in 1921, I thought I must unite them with the N.E. African L. v.
frater, but I now find that the specimens from Asben (Air), Damergu, and Zinder
are distinguishable from frater, while the one from Farniso near Kano, like those
from Zaria, belong to the W. African L. v. wieillot:.
Type: & Tebeig in Air, 26.vii.1922.
L. v. buchanani is certainly quite different from the Senegal form, L. v.
vieillott, the difference of which from frater I now appreciate more than two
years ago, and it differs from both L. v. vieilloti and frater in the lighter, more
scarlet red on the crown and sides of the head ; as all our former specimens were
in a somewhat abraded and faded condition, I attached no importance to this ;
in fact, it seems that the birds of Asben and Damergu fade rather quickly, in
consequence probably of the glaring sun and amount of sunshine, and that their
plumage becomes quickly worn. It is therefore somewhat difficult to say if the
general paler appearance of these birds is a subspecific character or due to the
amount of exposure and wear ; in any case the tinge of the red on the head is
not faded, as shown by fresh and old feathers ; the edges of the remiges are
apparently really paler yellow. The wings measure: & 75, 78-5, 78, 79-5, 79,
80-5, 79:5 ; 9 76, 78, 79, 78, 76-5, 76mm. The bills are sometimes, but not
always smaller than in L. v. frater.
A @ taken on Mt. Baguezan in May had a fully developed egg in the ovary.
A nest was found in the dead limb of a Dum Palm, but contained no eggs, though
a female at Tarabe, in September, had eggs forming. Hausa name, “ Tellu ”;
Tuareg name, “ Arab.” Often seen feeding on green parasitic plant on Baga-
rua acacias on river banks.
70. Lybius dubius (Gm.).
Bucco dubius Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i. p. 409 (1788—‘‘ Habitat in maritimis Barbariae.” Ex Buffon
and Pl. Enl. 602. Loc. erroneous, must undoubtedly have come from Senegambia, which is
to be looked upon as the typical locality).
6, Farniso, near Kano, 7.iv.1922.
9, Dowano, northern Hausaland, 27.iv.1922.
6, Dan Zabua, North Hausaland, 29.iv.1922.
“Tris g clear yellow or pale creamy brown, 2 pale creamy brown. Bill
sienna orange or pale sienna, whitish at tip. Feet pale sienna, dull whitish
orange yellow.” According to our material (Riggenbach collected many near
Thiés in the Senegal colony) Shelley correctly thought that the blackish dots
on the yellow patch on the upper abdomen are peculiar to the females ; these
patches are always mostly yellow, except in very old faded skins. It is artificial
to make a separate genus, under the name of Pogonorhynchus, for the Barbets
24 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
with grooved lower mandibles, though the character at first seems easy to
diagnose.?
Buchanan found these birds frequenting larger trees in open park-like
country, the “ locust-bean tree ”’ among others. The female had three half-
sized eggs in the belly.
Hausa name, “ Jendahooda.”’
71. Halcyon chelicuti eremogiton Hart.
3, Farniso, near Kano, 15.iv.1922.
“Tris dark. Bill reddish black above, clear red below. Feet brownish
above, reddish below.”
Hausa name, “ Süntara.”
This additional specimen confirms the validity of this subspecies. Wing 75,
bill 35 mm.
I must make use of this opportunity to again emphasize the striking differ-
ences of H. chelicuti damarensis from the small and pale form of Senegambia.
The latter I cannot distinguish from the one from Eritrea, and I find that the
wings of 27 Senegambian and 3 Eritrean specimens measure 75-79 mm., once
74, once 80, and only in one Eritrean male the wing is nearly 81mm. In
examples from Damaraland, Limpopo River, and Benguella the colour is darker,
wings, back, scapulars blackish, rump deeper blue, bill much stronger, and wings
85-88 mm. As the type of chelicuti came from Chelicut in Abyssinia, near Antala
and Makalle, on the same degree of longitude as Mokka in Arabia, I call the North
Abyssinia-Senegambia form H. chelicuti chelicuti, the South-West African large
one (Damara, Limpopo, Benguella) H. chelicuti damarensis. From nowhere
else, however, does a series agree with either of these. All the birds from Harar
and Somaliland, from East Africa (big series), the Congo, northern Angola, and
Transvaal (where, however, some are rather large!) are intermediate in size,
wings 80 to 83 mm., some 84, and as dark, or almost so, as damarensis! This
form, or perhaps more correctly these forms, have no available name. Should
they be named, or can we signify them, as Halcyon chelicuti chelicuti = damarensis 2
I think the latter would quite meet all requirements, as here, as in other cases,
two extremes are connected by a series of intermediate forms. It is interesting
that the species seems to be absent from Cape Colony and from Lower Nigeria !
In the latter case it would be a conspicuous break between the Senegambian and
Central African forms.
72. Upupa epops epops L.
6, near Tamanrasset, Hoggar Mts., 23.iii.1923. Migrant.
73. Irrisor erythrorhynchus guineensis Rchw.
Irrisor erythrorhynchus guineensis Reichenow, Orn. Monatsber,, 1902, p. 79 (Portuguese Guinea to
Niger. Type not stated).
©, Farniso, near Kano, 10.iv.1922. Wing 135 mm.
Q, Farak, Damergu, 19.vi.1922. Wing about 135 mm.
1 Apart from the striking similarity in colour and all other respects of ‘““ Pogonorhynchus”’ dubius
and Lybius bidentatus and its subspecies it is significant that the young dubius has no indication
of the grooves so obvious in the adults! Besides this, its black breast-band is wider and of a duller
black.
NoviraTEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI, 1924. 25
“Tris dark. Bill coral red. Feet coral red.”
& juv., Farniso, 24.iv.1922. “ Bill black.”
I agree with Bannerman (Rev. Zool. Afr., x. p. 143, 1922) that the form
guineensis must be kept separate from the black-billed senegalensis, at least for
the time being, as all the evidence we have so far is pointing to the fact that
senegalensis does not assume a red bill, while in all adult guineensis the bill is coral
red. Probably a bigger series will show that the tail in guineensis is generally
longer, while the wing isnot. The undamaged tail of one of our females measures
236mm. Itseems to me that Reichenow did not see a specimen from Portuguese
Guinea, but included this country in the range of guineensis because Fea shot red-
billed adults there. These very interesting birds require further study. I look
upon guineensis as a subspecies of erythrorhynchus, and I believe the black-billed
senegalensis is also a form of it, but if two forms should occur together this view
might require alteration.
Hausa name, “ Jaba Koga.”
74. Scoptelus aterrimus cryptostictus Hart.
JR ad., Tabello, Air, 20.x.1922.
© ad., Tch Siderak, Air, 9.1.1923.
The ¢ has only a very faint indication of pale patches near the tips of the
primaries, in the females they are obvious. Wing ¢ 103-5, 9 93, 94 mm.
Tuareg name, “ Takadagot.”
75. Caprimulgus inornatus Heugl.
4 g, 2 9, Farak, Damergu, 16, 20.vi.1922.
©, Tebeig, south-eastern Air, 27.vii.1922.
6, Tarabé river-bed, southern Air, 6.ix.1922.
©, Aouderas, Air, 15.ix.1922.
This fine series illustrates most beautifully that the dark blackish grey,
lighter dark grey, and the red form are individual varieties. (I do not use the
usual term ‘ phase,” as it is ill applied, a phase being a changeable state, such
as the phases of the moon.)
The & 155 from Farak is the darkest, most blackish specimen known to me,
another male from Farak is very slightly less dark, a third paler, a fourth and
fifth have a reddish tinge, the sixth is as red as any specimen I have seen. This
red is a sort of brick red. The three examples from Asben (Air) are reddish, one
foxy or brick red, though not quite so bright as the reddest Air one, one lighter,
more cinnamomeous, but brighter and redder than cinnamon. It is apparently
accidental that in the British Museum (see Jbis, 1919, p. 655) the red variety is
more usually met with to the westward, as we have a red specimen, about as red
as the reddest Farak bird, shot near Khartum by A. L. Butler, 28.v.1912.
76. Caprimulgus europaeus europaeus L.
Caprimulgus europaeus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x.i. p. 193 (1758—“‘ Habitat in Europa et America ”’ ;
restricted typical locality, Sweden, from first quotation. ‘‘ America ” erroneous).
QO ad., Eluzzus River, Air, 7.x.1922.
“ Feet dull brown-grey with white scale-joints.”” Migrant.
26 NOVITATEsS ZOOLOGICAE XXXI, 1924.
77. Caprimulgus europaeus meridionalis Hart.
Caprimulgus europaeus meridionalis Hartert, Ibis, 1896, p. 370 (South Europe and N.W. Africa ;
typical locality Greece, according to Vog. pal. Fauna, p. 848).
& juv., Bilma oasis, 6.x1.1922.
dd juv. (? females), Bilma oasis, 7.xi.1922.-
““ Feet brownish skin colour.” Migrant.
78. Caprimulgus eximius simplicior Hart.
6, Urufan, Tessawa, west of Zinder, 28.v.1922.
dd, N.W. of Farak, Damergu, 22, 26.vi.1922.
6, Tebeig, southern Air, 28.vii.1922.
Length in the flesh 9-5 to 10-5 inches. This fine series of this beautiful
““ Golden Nightjar ’”’ extends its range again, and the specimens confirm the
differences stated in 1921. It was found in the same sort of desert or semi-
desert, sand with dwarf bushes, as in 1920.
Hausa name, “* Yotai,” a name also applied to C. inornatus.
79. Scotornis climacurus (Vieill.).
Caprimulgus climacurus Vieillot, Gal. Ois., i. p. 195, pl. 122 (1825—Senegal).
6, Kusada, northern Hausaland, 30.iv.1922.
9, Tessawa, west of Damergu, 25.v.1922.
“Tris dark. Bill flesh-colour, tip black. Feet greyish brown.” The
Kusada specimen is more brownish rufous, the Tessawa one more greyish on
back and tail, more blackish on the scapulars and inner secondaries.
80. Macrodipteryx longipennis (Shaw).
Caprimulgus longipennis Shaw, Nat. Misc., viii. pl. 265 and text (1796—Sierra Leone).
Q juv., Tanut, southern Air, 15. viii. 1922.
“ Iris dark. Bill black, nostrils and corners of mouth dull pale brownish.
Feet fairly dark blackish brown.”
This specimen is very light and agrees with the description of Caprimulgus
houyi Neumann, Orn. Monatsber., 1915, p. 73 (Kamerun), which is nothing but
young Macrodipteryx longipennis. As adult examples from West Africa and
other parts of the continent are indistinguishable, we cannot even recognize
a western subspecies of M. longipennis.
81. Chaetura ussheri ussheri Sharpe.
Chaetura ussheri Sharpe, Ibis, 1870, p. 482 (Cape Coast Castle, Fantee country, Gold Coast).
@ ad., Farniso, near Kano, 7.iv.1922.
“ Tris dark, bill black, feet brown-black.”’
Wing full grown, 155 mm.
Was shot flying over open cultivated country.
The specimen agrees well with the types in the British Museum, only being
a little more black, probably due to the freshness of the plumage and specimen.
The locality is very interesting !
It seems that Chaetura ussheri senegalensis Neumann, Orn. Monatsber., 1915,
p. 182 (Thies, Senegambia), is not separable from C. wu. ussheri. The Senegal
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 27
form is not larger! Wings only quite exceptionally longer than 150, only once
in over 20 adult birds 151-5 mm., mostly 144-150 mm., while other ussheri have
wings 142-155 mm. (see above). There is no constant difference in the colour
of the chin and throat and there are no black shaft-lines, though the feathers are
narrowly edged in a varying degree. Ch. ussheri sharpei Neum. is a very distinct,
well-marked form.
82. Apus affinis galilejensis (Antin.).
62 Gangara, Damergu, 2.vi.1922.
I can only repeat what I said Nov. Zool., 1921, p. 111, and 1915, p. 258.
About my uniting the so-called “ koenigi ” with galilejensis quite a literature
exists, but Bannerman (Rev. Zool. Afr., x. 2, p. 133, 1922) seems to be somewhat
doubtful about it. This gentleman calls the West African form “ Micropus
affinis abyssinicus,’” but does not explain how he separates it from A. affinis of
India ; in spite of the extraordinary distribution I cannot see differences between
West African and Indian specimens and must therefore reluctantly call the
dark West African form A. a. affinis.
83. Apus apus apus (L.).
Hirundo Apus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x. i. p. 192 (1758—“ Europa ”’ ; typical locality (restricted),
Sweden).
6 ad., Aouderas, Air, 3.ix.1922.
“ Iris dark. Bill and feet black.” Of course on migration.
84. Apus pallidus pallidus > brehmorum.
(Apus murinus brehmorum, Nov. Zool., 1921, p. 110; cf. Vog. pal. Fauna, p. 2180 !)
(Sex ?), Aouderas, Air, 3.viii.1922.
©, Tararat River, 11.ix.1922.
(Sex ?), Aouderas, Air, 18.ix.1922.
(Sex ?), Todera Mt., Air, 23.ix.1922.
4 g, Todera Mt., Air, 24, 25.ix.1922.
Although these birds and those collected in 1920 are in colour mostly a shade
darker than A. pallidus pallidus, they agree better with the latter insize. I called
them brehmorum? in 1921, but I would have done better to use the above
formula. Here as in other cases a variable and partially intermediate form
connects two distinct extremes, i.e. A. p. pallidus and brehmorwm. While in
a dozen A. p. pallidus the wings measure 160-167, in two specimens they range
above 170, i.e. 172 and 173 mm., and in one 170. Now 14 Air Swifts have wings
of 160-167, generally 162-165, but one shot 24.v.1920 has a wing of 172, another
dated 25.ix.1922 a wing of 170 mm. They can therefore not be said to be
smaller than typical pallidus, though being a shade darker. On the other
hand, the wings of the usually still darker A. pallidus brehmorum measure as
a rule over 170, and up to 180, quite exceptionally less than 170mm. See Nov.
Zool., 1921, p. 111. Nesting on rocks in quantities on the Aouderas Mountains.
85. Apus pallidus brehmorum Hart.
6, Tazeruk, Hoggar Mts., 19.iv.1923.
“ Iris dark, bill black, feet blackish.”
This specimen agrees in colour with nearly all the Air Mts. specimens,
28 NOVITATES ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924.
but also with many Algerian and Tunisian specimens, and its wing measures a
little over 176 mm. I therefore consider it to be typical brehmorum !
86. Hirundo gordoni Jard.
Hirundo gordoni Jardine, Contr. Orn., 1851, p. 141 (Cape Coast Castle, Gold Coast, ef. Contr. Orn.
1849, p. 4!).
dd en route to Tessawa, at village called Guam Berka, Zinder Territory,
19.v.1922.
“Iris dark. Bill deep black. Feet deep brown-black.”
The length of the wing is given much too small in Reichenow, Vög. Afr., ii.
p. 419. The wings measure 112 (seldom) to 122 (mostly 114-118), in one of our
Guam Berka specimens 123, in the other 116 mm. This must be mentioned, as
Reichenow in his “ key,” p. 402, separates gordoni from semirufa and neumanni
with wings over 120, as having the wing under 120 mm. ! The larger specimen
has the large white patches on the outer long rectrices, the smaller (perhaps
a 9, though sexed ¢ 2) has only a small whitish patch on the left outer, and no
spot at all on the right outer rectrix !
87. Hirundo albigularis aethiopica Blanf.
Hirundo aethiopica Blanford, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. tv. vol. iv. p. 329 (Nov. 1869—“ Hab. in
Abyssinia septentrionali, et in Nubia teste Heuglin” ; types fom Tigré in North Abyssinia).
2 &, Farniso, near Kano, 12.iv.1922.
“ Tris dark, bill black, feet brown black.”
88. Hirundo rustica rustica L.
Hirundo rustica Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x. i. p. 191 (1758—“‘ Habitat in Europae domibus intra
tectum ” ; restricted typical locality, Sweden).
dad., Aouderas, Air, 18.ix.1922.
& ad., Tamanrasset, Ahaggar Mts., 30.iii. 1923.
6 juv., Bilma oasis, 8.xi.1922.
At Tamanrasset “‘ 3 or 4’ were seen altogether.
The Air specimen has a wing of 126, that from Tamanrasset only 117 mm. !
Under tail-coverts of both rufescent. The nesting of Swallows is not known
south of Tuggurt and Temacin south of Tuggurt. They pass through the Sahara
in small parties ; neither Geyr, nor Buchanan, nor myself have seen large flocks
anywhere. The remains of a young bird were picked up in the desert between
Fachi and Tabella in eastern Air.
89. Riparia obsoleta buchanani Hart.
@ ad., Tarabet River, Air, 12.ix.1922. ‘‘ Eggs in ovary.”
& ad., Todera Mt., Air, 23.ix.1922.
&? pull., wings about two-thirds grown, Aouderas, Air, 2.viii.1922.
“ Iris dark. Bill brownish, corners of mouth pale yellowish white. Feet
pale skin colour.”
The young have the upperside as in adults, but with cinnamon rufous edges
to the feathers ; the underside is rufous cinnamon, lightest on the throat, darker,
tinged with dark grey on the flanks and lower abdomen, under tail-coverts widely
edged with the colour of the breast ; underside therefore very much like that of
fuligula.
NOVITATES ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924. 29
Riparia obsoleia buchanani is very closely allied to Riparia obsoleta spatzi
(Cotyle rupestris spatzi Geyr von Schweppenburg, Orn. Monatsber., 1916, p. 59,
Tuareg Mts.), but differs as follows: The upperside of R. o. buchanani is a shade
darker ; the underside is a little darker, especially on the flanks and lower
abdomen ; R. o. buchanani is smaller, the wings are shorter. Wings of R. o.
buchanani, g 112-115, 2 110-113, of R. o. spatzi 118-119, 2 119-121,
according to Geyr even 118-125 mm. !
It was of course absolutely wrong that I (Vög. pal. Fauna, pp. 2176, 2177)
called the Air Martin R. o. buchanant and the Hoggar (Ahaggar) Mts. form
R. rupestris spatzi. Both are representatives of one and the same species ; when
I wrote that in 1921 I went by my recollection from a look at Geyr’s specimens
in Koenig’s Museum and by his description, but now I have a series of each
form before me.!
I would very gladly agree that R. rupestris and obsoleta are subspecies of one
species, even if they occurred in one or two places where their areas meet, but
it seems to me that they occur together in vast regions of Baluchistan, East and
South Persia, and in Palestine, and I must therefore adhere to my former opinion,
although the similarity of these forms is great and most of their characters very
variable.
Buchanan quotes as the Tuareg name in Air “ Azurtitta,’’ a name also used
for the Swift, Apus pallidus.
On the Tarabet River in Air a nest made of red earth was found in the roof
of an overhanging rock, September 6, 1922, containing two eggs. The eggs
have a pure-white ground colour, without gloss ; both have numerous tiny dots,
some deep red, others reddish black, and a few small underlying mauve dots,
and one has also some large pale rufous patches near the thick end. They
measure 20°5 x 14 and 20-3 x 14 mm.
90. Riparia obsoleta spatzi (Geyr).
Cotyle rupestris spatzi Geyr. v. Schweppenburg, Orn. Monatsber., 1916, p. 59 (Tuareg Mountains).
6 Tamanrasset, Ahaggar, 1.iv.1923.
SPP, Een-Dali Wadi, Ahaggar Mts., 12.iv.1923.
3, upper reaches of the Ideles river-bed, Ahaggar, 23.iv.1923.
“Tris dark. Bill black. Feet very dark blackish brown.’
Tuareg name at Ideles, ‘“ Emister,” also “‘ Azurzur ” and ‘‘ Wa-sut-ta-fan.”’
91. Phoenicurus phoenicurus phoenicurus (L.).
6, Tamanrasset, Ahaggar (Hoggar Mts.), 27.iii.1923.
9, Bilma oasis, 7.xi.1922.
At Bilma a number were seen in the cultivated spot, at Tamanrasset a
pair was noticed. Migrant.
92. Oenanthe oenanthe oenanthe (L.).
$ Tamanrasset, Ahaggar, 1.iv.1923; afew others seen. A dried-up female
(mummy) was picked up in the desert halfway between Fachi and Tabello
(eastern Air). Migrant.
1 It seems to me that there are indeed, as suggested by Zedlitz, Orn. Monatsber., 1908, p. 117,
and in litt., two forms, but not as believed by him, the darker one inhabiting Persia, Afghanistan,
Baluchistan, and Sind, the paler one Egypt, Sinai, and Palestine. The latter is the true obsoleta,
the former, darker one pallida of Hume! This has already been suggested by Meinertzhagen in
the Ibis.
30 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
93. Oenanthe hispanica melanoleuca (Güld.).
©, Bilma oasis, 8.xi.1922.
It is interesting that the J from Zinder shot in February 1920 is also of this
subspecies. See Nov. Zool., 1921, p. 113. Migrant.
94. Oenanthe deserti deserti (Temm.).
Saxicola deserts Temminck, Pl. Col. 359, Fig. 2 (1825—Nubia I !).
6, In-Abbangarit, west of Air, 9.ii.1923.
6, Inzanenet, West Air, 25.1.1923.
“Tris dark. Bill and feet deep black.”
I have carefully compared these specimens, and I must certainly consider
them to belong to the Nubian form, as they do not have the warm reddish hue
on the upperside which we find in O. deserti homochroa, nor do they belong to the
Asiatic subspecies. Whether they nest in the desert solitudes west of Air, we
cannot say, but Buchanan noticed a few other solitary specimens in “‘ the desolate
country west of Air.” O.d. homochroa does not seem to nest much south of
Ouargla, according to all observations known.
95. Oenanthe leucopyga aegra Hart.
3, Bilma oasis, 8.xi.1922.
©, Tamanrasset, Ahaggar, 1.iv.1923.
Wing & 104,29 100 mm. The ¢ has two quite new black feathers in the
white crown, that of the 9 is spotless white ; both are old birds with black wings.
There is of course no doubt that the West Saharan aegra is a smaller form,
but some Nile Valley birds are not so big as most Palestine and Sinai birds ;
nevertheless the majority of the Nile valley birds are much larger than West-
Saharan birds. The strong blue gloss of our series from Palestine and Sinai is
probably due to their being autumn and early winter birds, while our West-
Saharan birds are spring specimens, and it seems that they lose their blue gloss
in the breeding season.
At Bilma a number were seen, and they were said to be resident there. In
Air observed everywhere where there are rocks, and a few at Farak, the southern-
most place where the species was seen. In the Ahaggar Tamashek it is called
““ Mola-mola ”—“ on account of the sound it makes ”—but I have surely never
heard it make a sound like that.
96. Cercomela melanura airensis Hart.
9, Aouderas, Air, 28.ix.1922.
Juv., Iberkan River, near Timia, Air, 12.x.1922.
1 3g, 2 9, Tebernit River, Air, 16.x.1922.
These specimens are in quite fresh plumage and differ from the series col-
lected in May 1920 in having the upper side very slightly browner with pale-grey
edges to the tips of the remiges. The 9 from Aouderas has the upperside darker
brown than any of the other specimens. The underside of all has a pinkish
tinge, which is quite absent in the May specimens. The young bird is a bit
more yellowish sandy on the upperside, otherwise like the adults.
These birds were generally seen in the same places as and often together
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 3l
with Oenanthe leucopyga aegra. The Tuareg name is given as “ takleet seni-
seni.” In September nearly all moulting and in bad plumage.
Cercomela melanura airensis was also found in Darfur by Admiral Lynes.
While this form is easily distinguishable from Abyssinian and North Somaliland
specimens, those from the Nile (see Nov. Zool., 1921, p. 114) and the Red Sea
coast near Suakim require further study ; they seem to be very near C. m. airensis
and either the latter or another unnamed subspecies.
97. Saxicola rubetra rubetra (L.).
Motacilla Rubetra Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x. i. p. 186 (1758—Europe ! Restricted typical locality,
Sweden).
dé ad., Taifet, Ahaggar Mts., 13.iv.1923.
This specimen is decidedly of the very dark form, not of the pale S. r. spatzi,
which we have found commonly in South Algeria and the northern Sahara,
Dr. Grey observed Whinchats frequently as far south as Ahaggar, but omitted
to collect any, so that it is impossible to say to which subspecies they belonged.
As Whinchats do not nest in Algeria and Tunisia, nor in Dalmatia, S. r. spatzi
is probably the form nesting in the Caucasus and elsewhere, and noskae is probably
a synonym of spaizi. The difference between this dark specimen from the
Ahaggar Mountains and the pale spatzi collected at the same time in South Algeria
is so striking that one cannot doubt that there is a dark and a pale form, but the
distribution of the latter requires further study.
98. Monticola saxatilis (L.).
Turdus saxatilis Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. xii. i. p. 294 (1766—‘‘ Hab. in Helvetiae, Austriae,
Borussiae montibus ” ; restricted typical locality, Switzerland).
2 & first autumn, Tebernit, Air, 16.x.1922, and Aouderas, Air, 29.ix.1922.
99. Myrmecocichla aethiops buchanani Rothsch.
2 g, Gangara, Damergu, 2.vi.1922.
These specimens, being in more worn, faded plumage, are still more brownish,
paler, than those collected in January, March, and December in 1919 and 1920.
A number frequented the neighbourhood of the wells at Gangara, especially
where there were some rough banks and many cattle droppings. Often seen
in pairs or families, sometimes in company with Spreo pulcher (at Takukut,
Damergu). Flight and habits seemed to Buchanan to be Thrush-like. Also
seen at Dan Kaba. The Damergu Hausas called these birds “ fairo.”
100. Cossypha verticalis verticalis Hartl.
Cossypha verticalis Hartlaub, ‘‘ Beitrag z. Orn. Westafrica’s,” first in Verz. d. öffentl. und Privatvorles.
Hamburg. akadem. Gymnasium, u.s.w., and in Abhandl. a. d. Gebiete Naturw., herausgegeben vom
naturw. Verein zu Hamburg, vol. ii. 2, p. 23 (1850—Elmina on the Gold Coast).
2 3 Dan Kaba, north Hausaland, 16.v.1922.
“Iris dark brown. Bill deep black. Feet glazed dark brown.” The
white patch along the crown is distinctly wider in one of the two specimens.
Riggenbach collected specimens near Thiés, Senegal colony.
Hausa name, “ M’fadama,” meaning that it lives on river banks.
32 NOVITATES ZooLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
101. Turdoides fulvus buchanani (Hart.).
(Crateropus fulvus buchanani, Nov. Zool., 1921, p. 115.)
349, Assode valley, Air, 19, 20, 21.1.1923.
“Tris & fairly clear umber brown, 2 white, speckled with stone-grey.”
36, Taifet, Ahaggar (Hoggar Mts.), 13.iv.1923.
“ Iris pale greyish white.”
9, Ten-a-curt, near Tamanrasset, Ahaggar, 25.iii.1923.
“Tris outer circle white with inner ridge of umber brown.”
Wings & 95, 97, 2 about 97 mm. (all worn). According to Geyr, Hoggar
specimens have wings of 93-99 mm.
After careful comparison I conclude that Hoggar specimens are indistinguish-
able from the Air ones. In 1912 I saw the last Turdoides fulvus fulvus near
Tuggurt, and further west near El-Hadadra, Geyr saw them north of Ouargla
near Hassi-Mahmar, then for 600 km. none, and again near In-Kelmet in the
Tuareg Mts. Though the distance between the Hoggar Mts. and Air is also
nearly 500 km. it is possible that there are connecting patches of thorn-bushes,
to which the species is partial. Buchanan found it in “ open desert with some
scrub and grass tussocks,’’ and remarks that he saw them mostly fly very
low and often settle on the ground and run about the grass edges. It seems
unavoidable to use Cretzschmar’s name Turdoides, as it antedates Crateropus.
C£. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., liii. p. 627.
102. Turdoides plebejus anomalus (Hart.).
Crateropus plebejus anomalus Hartert, Nov. Zool., 1921, p. 116 (Farniso, near Kano).
4 g, 2 9, Farniso, April 1922.
These specimens are not in the beautiful fresh plumage in which the type,
obtained in December is. They are all worn, some slightly paler on the upper-
side. Wings ¢ 114-116, 2 105-108 mm. “ Iris clear orange yellow, once rich
orange yellow, once clear yellow.”
Buchanan found these birds frequenting low thick leafless bush or thick
green trees.
103. Agrobates galactotes galactotes (Temm.).
Sylvia galactotes Temminck, Man. d’Orn., ed. ii. i. p. 182 (1820—South Spain).
9, Tazeruk, Ahaggar (Hoggar Mts.), 18.iv.1923.
““ Tris dark umber. Upper mandible grey-brownish, lower mandible whitish,
tip of both blackish. Feet pale, slightly umber-brown.” Another specimen
observed. i
The date is late for a migrant. Geyr has proved the breeding of the Rufous
Warbler in Ouargla, I found it in the Oued Nga east of Ghardaia, and it probably
nests even in El-Golea. The breeding in the Hoggar Mts. is possible, but not
known.
104. Agrobates galactotes minor (Cab.).
©, Aouderas, Air, 31.viii. 1922.
The nest of this bird was taken, Aouderas, 31.viii.1922, from a fork in the
low bushes of the Abisgee tree. It contained three hard-set eggs, of which one
was broken. The nest is somewhat flat and loosely constructed of stems of small
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924, 33
plants, leaves, rootlets, and grasses, also bark, and lined with finer material of
the same kind and silky fibres ; snake-skin, which is so often found in the nests
of A. galactotes galactotes and syriacus, is absent. The two eggs measure 21 x15
and 21-3 x 16 mm. In colour and structure they are exactly like the eggs of
A. g. galactotes, but smaller than most of the latter.
105. Hippolais pallida reiseri Hilgert.
“ 9,” Aouderas, Air, 30.ix.1912.
Evidently a bird of the year and still moulting on body and wings, but mostly
in beautiful fresh plumage ; underside more yellowish buff than in spring speci-
mens, Wing 64-5 mm.
106. Hippolais pallida opaca Cab.
Hypolais opaca Cabanis, Mus. Hein. i. p. 36 (1851—Senegal).
Q ad., Tchwana, Air (Asben), 22.vii. 1922.
“Tris dark. Upper mandible chiefly medium dark dull brown, edges and
lower mandible dull yellowish white. Feet blackish brown.”
In spite of the date (22.vii) doubtless a migrant, while H. p. reiseri nests
in Air (Nov. Zool., 1921, p. 117).
107. Sylvia cantillans cantillans (Pall.).
& ad., Tamanrasset, Ahaggar, 31 .iii.1923.
Dr. Geyr had observed and shot this form in the Hoggar Mts., where it is
surely only a migrant. Buchanan observed it in other places in Air and 3.i1i.1923
at Tamengouit, N.W. of Iferouane in N. Air.
108. Sylvia communis communis Lath.
3, Sersuf river-bed, Ahaggar (Hoggar), 16.iv.1923. On migration, of course.
109. Sylvia hortensis hortensis (Gm.).
&, Eluzzus River, Air, 7.x.1922.
&, Aouderas, Air, 29.ix.1922.
6, Tazeruk, Ahaggar Mts., 18.iv.1923.
All on migration.
110. Phylloscopus collybita collybita (Vieill.).
Sylvia collybita Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., nouv. éd., xi. p. 235 (1817—France).
Q, Tamanrasset, Ahaggar, 31.iii.1923.
“ Feet very dark umber, almost black.” Migrant.
111. Phylloscopus trochilus trochilus (L.).
Motacilla Trochilus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x. i. p. 188 (1758—“ Habitat in Europa ” ; restricted
typical locality, England—see Vog. pal. Fauna, p. 507).
6, Tamanrasset, Ahaggar, 28 .iii. 1923.
““ Feet full umber brown.” Migrant.
112. Spiloptila clamans (Temm.).
9, Tehwana, Air, 11.vii.1922.
At Tchwana Buchanan found this species plentiful. The Hausa names,
““ Siraquoa ”’ and “ Saboa,’” were given him at Tchwana.
3
34 NoVvITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
113. Eremomela flaviventris alexanderi Scl. & Praed.
39, Tchwana, Air, 11.vii.1922.
&, Tagenjir River, Air, 13.x.1922.
© ?, Elmeki River, Air, 16.xii.1922.
6, Tch Siderak, Air, 5.1.1923.
“ Iris clear brown, clear umber, umber.”
Also seen at Tigguedi. (Doubtful Hausa name given at Kano: ‘ Materr
Makerinjoja.’’)
114. Sylvietta micrura brachyura Lafr.
Q, Aouderas, Air, 30.ix.1922.
“ Iris rich madder brown. Bill dark brown. Feet medium pale, slightly
reddish, brown.”
Wing only 52 mm., in 99 from Zinder and Damergu 53, 53, dd 57, 60,
«“ gO” (? both 2) from Thies, Senegal colony, 53, 53:5 mm.
Not before found in Asben (Air), three seen.
115. Cisticola juncidis aridula With.
(Cisticola cisticola aridula, Nov. Zool., 1921, p. 121.)
&, Farniso, near Kano, 13.iv.1922.
A dark specimen, not like the type of aridula,'but not as dark as the West
African uropygialis. Iam still convinced that this subspecies occurs light and
dark, and that I am right in disagreeing with Messrs. Sclater & Praed’s conclusions
as set forth /bis, 1918, p. 650.
Generally observed in bushes, but also seen on acacia-trees and in long grass.
116. Hedydipna platura platura (Vieill.).
4 gad., Tch Siderak, Air, 5.1.1923.
“ Iris dark, bill and feet black.” One still moulting on back and underside
wings not yet moulted, the other three in perfect fresh plumage, breast and
abdomen beautiful orange yellow.
Tuareg name, ‘‘ Tagishit Nakowat.”
117. Nectarinia pulchella aegra Hart.
2 gad., Gamram, Damergu, 13.vi.1922.
gad., 9, Farak, Damergu, 15.vi.1922.
“Tris dark, bill and feet black.”
6, Manakaoki, Air, 9.xii.1922.
This specimen has the long central rectrices, chin whitish, throat sulphur-
yellow, without metallic feathers, but lesser upper wing-coverts metallic green.
2 ?, Elmeki River, Air, 16. xii. 1922.
6 juv., Elmeki River, Air, 22. xii. 1922.
6; in winter plumage, Tch Siderak, Air, 31.xii.1922.
Q¢ (like the one from Manakaoki), Tehsiderak, Air, 2, 3.1.1923.
¢ (without long central rectrices), Tchsiderak, 7.1.1923.
6 (like the Manakaoki), Tchsiderak, 9.1.1923.
Found plentiful about Gamram and Farak, in thickets of acacias in the
depressions forming swamps in the rainy season.
Hausa name, “ Muka’ding’jouji.”
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 35
118. Zosterops senegalensis senegalensis Bp.
Zosterops senegalensis Bonaparte, Consp. gen. Av., i. p. 399 (1850—“ Africa occ. Senegal”).
3 4, 2 9, Farniso, near Kano, April 1922.
“Tris clear brown. Bill black or dark grey-black. Feet pure medium grey.”
Hausa name, “ Kunin-Darouwa.”’
I take it that these specimens are typical senegalensis, of which we have a
series collected by Riggenbach at Thiés, some of which are exactly like our Kano
specimens. I believe, however, that Reichenow (Vög. Afr., iii. p. 427) and
Finsch (Tierreich, Zosteropidae, p. 25) have accepted a too wide distribution of
' this form, because our specimens from Sierra Leone are a little darker on the
upperside, as is easily seen in the series. In that case the names Zosterops demeryi
and obsoleta Buttik., based on Liberian specimens, would probably refer to this
race, but it is somewhat doubtful if these names can be accepted ; their descrip-
tion does not agree with any form of senegealensis, but the reason is (see Finsch,
l.c.) that these specimens had been preserved in spirits and were discoloured !
This seems to have been the case with the greater part of A. T. Demery’s Liberian
collections! This does not speak much for the nine months spent in the Leiden
Museum (see Notes Leyden Museum, 1890, p. 197 !), and it is difficult to understand
that the fact of their being skins made from spirit specimens was not considered
and not stated in print! Such skins have also been sold to various other
museums and caused several other errors. Cf. among others Nov. Zool., 1922,
pp. 368 (No. 904) and 370 (No. 915).
119. Remiz punctifrons (Sund.).
69, Farak, Damergu, 19, 28.vi.1922.
Only three seen on the second expedition.
120. Tchitrea viridis ferreti Guérin-Méneville.
Tchitrea Ferreti Guérin-Méneville, Rev. Zool., 1843, p. 162 (‘ Abyssinie ’’).
& ad., Gangara, Damergu, 18.v.1922.
“Iris dark, bare ring around eye cobalt blue. Bill medium cobalt blue,
Feet medium cobalt blue.”
The only specimen seen. It is a beautiful adult male, upperside white, but
a few feathers on the uppermost back and on the rump partially rufous, tail
320 mm., white, shafts of central pair of rectrices 110 mm. black, shafts of the
others chiefly, and outer edges of outer rectrices black ; under tail-coverts white.
I am not sure if my nomenclature is correct, but I am convinced that these
various long-tailed Fly-catchers are subspecies of one species. The oldest name
is Muscicapa viridis P. L. S. Müller, Natursyst. Suppl., p. 171 (1776—ex
““ Buffon,” ie. plate of Daubenton 573, fig. 2, and text). The name for the
Senegal form is therefore Tchitrea viridis viridis, and Neumann (Journ. f. Orn.
1917, Band ii, p. 203) wrongly rejects this name, apparently under the impression
that Miiller’s name is based on Brisson. Daubenton’s figure, however, is a good
representation of the Senegal form, and Swainson’s description of his Muscipeta
melanogastra is hardly much better than that of Buffon and Daubenton’s figure.
Neumann assumes that the Senegal form never acquires a white plumage.
I must adopt this view, as we received from Riggenbach ten adult males, and
not one shows a trace of white, nor is a white male known from any other collector
36 Novitatrs ZooLoGICAE XXXI. 1924.
from the Senegal, nor is there one among specimens collected on the Casamanze
River. On the other hand, a single male from the Kaduna River in Hausaland
shows traces of white on the tail, tail-coverts, and back, males from Gambaga are
white, and in a most interesting series from the Amambara Creek, Lower Niger
(Braham coll.), most males are white or partially white. If, therefore, adult
males remain rufous in Senegambia, the form in which the white males pre-
dominate, or at least regularly occur, cannot be called 7. v. viridis, and I call
Buchanan’s bird 7’. v. ferreti, as there seems to be no difference between eastern
adult males and this bird.
The range of 7’. v. speciosa = duchaillui ? is not quite certain. A specimen
from the Kaduna River and one from the Amambara Creek, both immature males,
show on the back an admixture of slate-colour, but we have no specimen from
these parts with entirely or predominantly slaty upperside! Moreover, the
Kaduna and Amambara specimens seem to have the longer, fuller crest of 7’. v.
viridis and ferreti, not the shorter, narrower crest-feathers of speciosa = duchaillur.
The latter form (Ogowe River) has sometimes an entirely or partially black tail. ©
The two instructive figures in the Annals of the Congo Museum, though supposed
to be two “ species ” by Dubois, show the variation of such males.
In studying these forms it must be remembered that 7. v. viridis always
has the under tail-coverts chestnut-red like tail and back, while in 7. v. ferreti
they are pale rufous, whitish, or dull greyish. Of course I cannot say how they
are in the red plumage in the form from Damergu. In the Kaduna specimen they
are pale grey, tinged with reddish brown, but this bird is changing plumage !
121. Muscicapa striata striata (Pall.).
®, Bilma oasis, 7.xi. 1922.
9, Taifet, Ahaggar Mts., 14.vi.1923. Migrant.
122. Muscicapa hypoleuca hypoleuca (Pall.).
Motacilla hypoleuca Pallas, Vroeg’s Catal. Verzam. Vogelen, Adumbratiuncula, p. 3 (1764—Holland).
g with grey-brown upperside, Taifet, Ahaggar Mts., 13.iv.1923. Though
the white at the base of the secondaries is very extended, this specimen seems
to be typical hypoleuca, and not speculigera. Migrant. ;
123. Lanius excubitor leucopygos Hempr. & Ehr.
A nest was found south of Agades, 6.viii.1922. The nest was built in a
small thorny acacia bush. It is built like other Shrikes’ nests, especially like
those of L. e. elegans in the Algerian Sahara, lined with pieces of soft bark, wool,
and a few feathers. The two eggs dull creamy white, spotted with somewhat
pale brown and pale mauve deeper-lying spots ; they are thus like some eggs of
L. e, elegans, but measure only 24-5 x 17-7 and 24-5 X 18-2 mm.
1 Unfortunately Mr. Bannerman in his excellent work on the Birds of Southern Nigeria did not
utilize the material in the Tring Museum, and left unmentioned a number of species represented in
the Tring Museum from southern Nigeria !
2 The name speciosa stands before that of duchaillui, Proc. Acad. Philadelphia, 1859, p. 48, and
there can be no doubt that this partially black-tailed bird is only a phase (here the word is correct !)
of what is called duchaillui. Moreover, this race appears to extend over the Congo Basin to Lake
Kivu, and to Kamerun, and Reichenow’s melanura is a synonym of speciosa! We have a { with
quite black tail, upper tail-coverts black with white tips, from the Ogowe, and others with partially
black and white tails.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI, 1924, 37
Tuareg name, ‘“‘ Agishet Daren.’’ Observed near Arufan, north of Tessawa,
27.v.1922. A head with feathers picked up in desert between Air and Fachi.
124, Lanius senator senator L.
Juv. Assada, Air, 5.x.1922.
& ad., in moult (wings, tail, body above and below), but mostly in old faded
plumage, consequently rufous head and neck very pale, Tarabe River, Air,
6.1x.1922.
Qad., Tamanrasset, Ahaggar, 27.11.1923. A very fine adult bird.
Mr. Buchanan believes that Red-headed Shrikes nest in Air, and the natives
told him it did. I do not think so; young Shrikes often cross the Sahara in
juvenile plumage. Tuareg name, “ Erruff Wurtulemer,’ which means, “ No,
not a camel.” The Targi say the bird looks at strangers in the bush and then
says as above.
125. Harpolestes senegalus senegalus (L.).
3 ad., Farniso, near Kano, 15, 17, 18.iv.1922, all three in worn plumage.
126. Laniarius barbarus barbarus (L.).
4 8, 2 9, Farniso, April 1922.
“Tris dark umber. Bill deep black. Feet medium leaden grey.”
I cannot separate these specimens from a Senegal series, collected by
Riggenbach. The unusually dark crown of the specimen shot at Farniso,
27.xii.1919, is doubtless accidental, as the crowns of the six specimens shot in
1922 are like those of Senegal birds.
Frequenting low thick bush. Hausa, “ Kojay.” Buchanan says it “ has
a clear deep long ratchet-sounding call note.”’
127. Nilaus afer afer (Lath.).
6, Tebernit, Air, 16.x.1922.
128. Prionops plumatus haussarum Hart.
4 $9, Farniso, near Kano, April 1922.
““ Tris and naked skin round eye bright or clear lemon yellow, but in one male
bright brown.”
These specimens fully confirm the difference of the subspecies haussarum.
129. Corvinella corvina corvina (Shaw).
Lanius corvinus Shaw, Gen. Zool., vii. pt. ii. p. 337 (1809—ex Levaillant, locality unknown ; I regard
Senegal as the typical locality, as the most likely place it must have come from—at the end
of the eighteenth century).
3 3g, 2 2, Dan Kaba, northern Hausaland, 9, 10.v.1922.
“ Tris dark brown with a yellow eyelid-ring. Bill full yellow, once orange
yellow. Feet dark greyish black, underside and at ‘ knee’ green.”
Hausa name, “ Jabebi.”
These specimens agree with Senegal ones. Seen frequenting trees in Dan
Kaba valley.
38 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
130. Motacilla flava cinereocapilla Savi.
Motacilla cinereocapilla Savi, Nuovo Giornale dei Letterati, No. 57, p. 190 (1831—Italy).
d ad., Ten-a-Curt near Tamanrasset, Ahaggar, 23.11.1923.
This specimen has an indication of a narrow white superciliary line, but
this is sometimes found in M. f. cinereocapilla and nearly always well developed
in M. f. iberiae. (Cf. Vög. pal. Fauna, p. 2097, 1921; Nov. Zool., 1923, p. 99.)
Misrant.
131. Motacilla alba alba L.
gad., Bilma oasis, 9.xi.1922. Migrant.
132. Anthus campestris campestris (L.).
6, Tamanrasset, Ahaggar, 31 .i1i1.1923.
Small crickets and other insects in stomach.. Migrant.
133. Anthus trivialis trivialis (L.).
Q, Eluzzus River, Air, 7.x.1922.
©, Bilma oasis, 7.xi.1922.
3g, Ten-a-Curt, near Tamanrasset, Ahaggar, 24.iii.1923. This last has
exceptionally long hind claws, measuring in a straight line nearly as much as the
hind toe ; the pectoral spots are rather small, the upperside is browner than in
the autumn specimens. Migrant.
134. Anthus cervinus (Pall.).
Motacilla Cervina Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat., i. p. 511 (1827—Eastern—most Siberia).
Tazeruk, Ahaggar Mts., 18.iv.1923.
“Iris dark; bill brown-blackish with paler parts brownish yellow ; feet
medium umber brown, slightly golden.”
Geyr and Spatz found the Red-throated Pipit once in the Hoggar (Ahaggar)
Mts., and as it is not very rare on spring passage in southern Algeria and Tunisia
and has been found in southern Marocco, near Mogador, in winter, it probably
winters there regularly, though in small numbers.
135. Alaemon alaudipes alaudipes (Desf.).
6 ad., Melen, S.E. of Agades, 6.vii. 1922.
& ad., Tebeig, Air, 25.vii. 1922.
gad., d juv., Igadayan, West Air, 29.1.1923.
6 ad., Takkarech, West Air, 30.1.1923.
@ ad., In-Abbangarit, west of Air, 9.11.1923.
6 ad., In-Abbangarit, west of Air, 12.11.1923.
6 ad., near Ideles river-bed, Ahaggar Mts., 24.iv.1923.
This series is surprisingly uniform, rather sandy-brownish on the upperside,
the top of the head not greyish, but brownish, darker than the back and faintly
striated. In other countries (Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt) there is considerable
variation ; it would therefore be hazardous and unwise to bestow a name on these
southern birds, as they may vary in the same manner as the northern ones, though
our present small material does not show it.
The Targi in Air called this bird ‘‘ Zunkusharat,” in Ahaggar “‘ Towler-y-din.”
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924, 39
Geyr’s Tuareg called the “Muka” of the Arabs “‘ N-ged-edara.” Buchanan
tells us that in Tuareg folklore the ““ Muka ” is regarded as an evil bird, because
on account of its usual short flight boys think they can easily catch it and are
thus led away into the desert without watching where they go, until they are
lost. It is easily conceivable that such a tame, conspicuous bird, with such a
beautiful song, gives rise to folklore, and Koenig related a very pretty fairy-tale
about it in Journ. f. Orn., 1895, p. 437.
136. Mirafra erythropygia (Strickl.).
Alauda erythropygia Strickland, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1850, p. 219 (Kordofan, Petherick coll.).
&, Tanut, south Air, 11.viii. 1922.
lsex ? Marandet, southern Air, 16.viii. 1922.
2, Arrili Hill, Afara valley, S.W. of Agades, southern Air, 20.viii.1922.
“Tris dark brown. Bill blackish, basal half of lower and cutting edges of
upper mandible.”
There are not very many specimens in collections of this rare Lark, but
among those in the British and Tring Museums are two very different varieties,
one with the outer webs of the primaries broadly edged with cinnamon-rufous
and the basal two-thirds (about) of the inner webs rufous or rufescent, the other
without or with only a narrow outer rufous border and without any rufous on
the inner webs. After examining the specimens collected by A. L. Butler in the
Upper Nile province, Bahr-el-Ghazal, and Lado Enclave, our skin from Gambaga
(Giffard coll.), and the three sent by Buchanan, I come to the conclusion that
the specimens with the wide rufous outer and inner area of the primaries are
females and young, those without the rufous on the primaries adult males, and
that adult specimens with the great amount of rufous labelled “ 3” are
wrongly marked as males. These variations in the colour of the primaries
have duly been noticed by Heuglin and Shelley (B. Ajr., iii. p. 74), and Heuglin
described the bird with the rufous on the primaries as Melanocorypha infuscata
from Bongo. These differences cannot very well be individual, nor are there
two distinct species, and they must be sexual! The darker colour of the
Bahr-el-Ghazal specimens mentioned by Sclater & Praed (Ibis, 1918, p. 606)
appears to be due to the state of their plumage.
The g from Tanut has fresh body plumage only partially still moulting,
and moults quills and rectrices. The fresh feathers are much more black than
the old ones ; those of the upperside have creamy-cinnamon edges. The Marandet
specimen, which must be a J, is like the one from Tanut and similarly moulting,
The 2 from the Arrili Hill is also in moult, but the tail, primaries, and greater
part of body plumage is still in the old, faded plumage.
137. Mirafra cheniana chadensis Alex.
Mirafra chadensis Alexander, Bull. B.O. Club, xxi. p. 89 (1908—Kowa Baga, on Lake Chad).
9, Urufan, Tessawa, west of Zinder, 28.v.1922.
3, S.W. of Agades, south Air, 7. viii. 1922.
362, Marandet, south Air, 9.viii. 1922.
6 ad., 9 juv., Assada, Air, 5.x.1922.
“Tris umber brown. Crown of upper mandible umber brown, remainder
of bill pale greyish white. Feet pale flesh colour.”
40 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924,
These specimens agree with Alexander’s M. chadensis. They are a very pale
form of M. c. simplex and the spots on the jugulum are much smaller, the flanks
unstriped. The original description is bad, the edges to the wing-coverts and
secondaries not being white, but buff, not at all lighter than in M. c. simplez,
which is very near to cantillans, but different. The oldest name is, however,
cheniana, of which simplex, chadensis, and cantillans are subspecies. The young
2 is on the upperside pale yellowish sandy-buff, lighter than adults, each feather
with a very light edge and a dark-brown spot before the tip, the jugular spots
are very small and not well developed. Wings ¢ 79, 80, 80, 81, 83, 2 76 mm.
Two Darfur males (Lynes coll.) have wings of 79-5 and 80-5 mm. A nest was
taken in the Tarare valley, Air, 6.ix.1922. It contained four fresh eggs. The
eggs are smooth and glossy, ground-colour whitish, thickly but finely spotted
with dark brown, much closer on the thick end, which is thus very much darker,
and indistinct underlying paler greyish-brown spots. They measure 18 x 14,
19 x 14-8, 19-5 x 14,19 x 13-8 mm. The nest consists of fine grass and other
small plant stems, finest inside.
Another nest with four eggs was found in the Afara valley, S.W. Air, 20.viii.
1922. It was placed in a grassy valley, in a tuft of grass, hooded over so as to
be protected from rain and sun, built of the same material as the other. The
eggs are moderately, not quite so strongly, glossed as the others, and less longi-
tudinal, thicker. They are so thickly covered with brown that little is visible
of the brownish-white ground colour, the spots forming a dark zone near the
broad end, which in one egg is quite greyish. They measure 18-4 x 14:5, 18°5 x
15, 18-5 x 14-5, 17-5 x 15 mm.
The occurrence of this Mirafra in Asben (Air) extends its range farther west-
wards, and Admiral Lynes collected specimens in Darfur. It is therefore a bird
of the middle of the southern Sahara.
At Katsena the Hausa name, “ Dan Kajerkaja,” was given. A young lark
from Aouderas, 2.x.1922, just from the nest, wings about two-thirds grown, is
the young of this species (not of an Eremopterix as the collector believed). The
upperside, including the quills, is pale brown, each feather with a buff border and
a blackish ante-apical mark. Underside cream-colour, sides of head and jugulum
with brown spots. “Iris umber-brown. Upper mandible pale brownish, lower
mandible blackish! Feet very pale skin-brown.”’
138. Galerida cristata alexanderi Neum.
39. Farak, Damergu, 29.vi. 1922.
66, Ouna River, east of Aouderas, foot of Baguezan Mts., Air, 18.x.1922.
6, ? 2 juv., Aouderas, 13.ix.1922.
In Nov. Zool., 1921, pp. 129, 130, I have discussed the variation in the
specimens formerly collected by Captain Buchanan. The two specimens from
Farak, where the rocks and general surroundings are very similar to those of
Air, are in absolutely fresh plumage, some body feathers, tail, and primaries of
the female still growing. They are beautifully rufous, especially on the fore-
head, the spots on the jugulum not standing out very sharply, because the pale
edges of the feathers hide them somewhat. The two from the Ouna River are
worn and not so rufescent, one specimen much paler than the other, the jugular
spots stand out sharper, the edges of their feathers being worn off. The young
birds are, of those forms of the species of which I have young before me, nearest
NOoVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI, 1924. 41
to those of @. c. macrorhyncha and arenicola, but less rufescent, the secondaries
and dark spots to the feathers of the back darker. As I have remarked elsewhere,
the young of the various subspecies of Crested Larks differ generally quite as
much as the adults. Buchanan says the Hausa name is better pronounced
“ Daila.” Tuareg name “ Misunko,” because the bird is like a Tuareg boy-child
with his hair cut in the form of a crest.
139. Ammomanes deserti mya Hart. (2).
(Ammomanes deserts mya > geyri.)
3662, Tchwana, Air, 12.vii.1922.
6, Aouderas, Air, 20.x.1922.
9, Tamanrasset, Ahaggar, 1.iv.1923.
664, Een-dal-i-Wadi, Ahaggar (Hoggar) Mts., 12.iv.1923. Though we have
now beautifully freshly moulted Air specimens, I prefer still to add a query to
these birds, because I have no equally freshly moulted Oued-Mya specimens !
As I was there only in the spring months I could only obtain worn specimens.
The Tamanrasset (Ahaggar) specimens are slightly more grey-brown than the
topotypical Oued-Mya ones, though almost as much worn, but some of the latter
can hardly be distinguished at all. Moreover, some of the Air specimens in fresh
autumn plumage are so much like fresh autumn examples of A. d. algeriensis
that one could not distinguish them ; as the spring birds of A. d. algeriensis are
mostly exactly like A. d. mya in colour, differing only in size (length of wing,
thickness of bill), I presume that topotypical A. d. mya will look like algeriensis
in the autumn—but the majority from Air are darker than algeriensis, thus
being somewhat intermediate between A. d. mya and A. d. geyri hereafter
described.
A nest with two eggs, slightly incubated, was found on the upper reaches of
the Idelés River, Ahaggar, 23.iv.1923. The nest was placed in the shade of a
stone about one foot in size and was banked up with a terrace of stones about
3 to 3 in. in size, which had been placed there by the bird (cf. Nov. Zool., xx.
p. 43). The nest is a typical Ammomanes nest, fairly flat, consisting of stems
of grass and other small plants, fibres and string-like strips of cotton garments,
lined with finer material, and wool. The eggs are white, spotted and sprinkled
with brown and very few paler, slightly greyish underlying spots. They measure
21-7 x 15:3 and 22 x 15:7 mm. These two eggs are exactly like specimens of
the lighter variety of eggs of A. deserts algeriensis.
At Aouderas these birds were called by the Targi ““ A Bokova,” also “‘ Eba-
korian-Mallam ” (Mallam meaning a priest), ‘“ so named because they rob no one,
eating seeds dropped by the roadside, and do not interfere with homes.” In
Ahaggar the Tuareg called them “ Ti-ga-der or Tigadirt and Taba-how-it.”
These birds abound everywhere in Air proper. They frequent level stretches of
bare stones and pebbles and are found among the huge boulders on the mountains.
140. Ammomanes deserti geyri subsp. nov.
Persimilis speciminibus subspeciei Ammomanes deserti mya (?) dictis ex
montibus Air, sed colore supra saturatiore, rostro fortiore, maculis griseis
gutturis magnis.
6, 22? Farak, Damergu, 29.vi.1922.
42 NOVITATES Zootocican XXXI. 1924.
““ Iris umber-brown. Bill brownish, edges of upper and whole lower mandible
lemon-yellow.”’
These specimens are in moult on wings and tail, the body plumage freshly
moulted. The upperside is deeper and slightly more greyish brown than in
fresh Air specimens, the spots on the throat and jugulum are more extended,
the bills are thicker. The wings are in moult and can therefore not be measured
satisfactorily. Type & No. 148. Named after Dr. Geyr von Schweppenburg,
the first ornithological explorer of Ahaggar.
The Air (Asben) form might be looked upon as intermediate between A. d.
mya and A. d. geyri, and, if it is wise and possible to judge from three worn
specimens, the Ahaggar (Hoggar) examples are nearest to topotypical mya !
The cliffs at Farak are very similar to those of Air (Asben), this being the only
similar mountainous part of Damergu. Not observed anywhere else. The dark
coloration of the Farak birds was noticed in life.
141. Ammomanes phoenicurus arenicolor (Sund.).
3d, Agades, southern Air, 5.viii. 1922.
32, Oued Emoona, north Ahaggar, 28.iv.1923.
I cannot separate these specimens from typical arenicolor. The size of the
bill is somewhat variable. Perhaps examples from Lower Egypt and Sollum
(Meinertzhagen coll.) are somewhat more greyish, but apparently some Algerian
ones are equally grey ; unfortunately we have no western specimens in quite
fresh autumn plumage.
142. Calendula dunni Shell.
Calendula dunni Shelley, Bull. B.O. Club, xiv. p. 82 (1904—‘ Ogageh, Sudan,” more exactly Ogageh
Wells in Kordofan),
Calendula dunni pallidior Hartert, Nov. Zool., 1921, p. 130 (Damergu).
62, Tanut, southern Air, 15.viii.1922. Wings ¢ 85 mm., 2 moulting.
“ 8,” Marandet, southern Air, 16.viii.1922. Wing 81 mm.
The iris of all three specimens is marked as “ dark.”
These specimens in nearly fresh plumage show that the pale colour of the
Takukut (Damergu) specimens collected by Captain Buchanan in 1920 was due
to their being in worn plumage, and that “ Calendula dunni pallidior”’ is not
separable. The hope I expressed in 1921, that Admiral Lynes would come
across the species in Darfur, has been fulfilled, and his specimens helped me to
see that the form from Damergu and Air is not different. The bill varies some-
what in size and is apparently longer in males, slightly shorter but stouter in
females. The Marandet specimen shows distinct, though short and narrow
streaks on the jugulum.
143. Calandrella brachydactyla hermonensis Tristr.
(Cf. Nov. Zool., 1921, p. 130.)
36, Igadayan, western Air, 29.1.1923.
2, Tamat-Teddert, west of the Air Mts., 31.1.1923. These specimens have
the crown very distinctly striped and of almost the same colour as the back.
In spring the heads are more reddish, the stripes appearing shorter when tips
of feathers are worn off. Numbers were seen west of Air.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 43
144. Eremopterix leucotis melanocephala (Licht.).
6 in full moult, Gangara, Damergu, 5.vi.1922.
5 9, 3 Jin full fresh plumage and partly still moulting, Tanut, Damergu,
10.vi. 1922.
(About the generic name see Nov. Zool., 1915, p. 264.)
The males have no black patch on the lesser upper wing-coverts—cf. Nov.
Zool., 1921, p. 131. It seems to me that the western birds, which seem to lack
the black patch always, should have a new name, but in the British Museum the
majority of Nubian birds are exactly like the western (Senegal) birds. I therefore
refrain for the present from naming the latter.
Freshly moulted specimens are much darker chestnut on the upperside, this
colour fading considerably during the breeding season, and the lesser upper wing-
coverts become pure white.
Observed also at Dan Kaba, Hausa name “ Agali-Kusuru.”
145. Eremopterix frontalis frontalis (Bp.).
©, Farak, Damergu, 16.vi.1922. Body plumage in moult, fresh feathers
darker and more rufescent than afterwards.
69 ad., Tebeig, Air, 26.vii.1922.
2 gad., Aouderas, Air, 30.1x.1922.
Hausa name the same as that of E. leucotis melanocephala.
A nest with three eggs was found at Tarare, near Aouderas, 4.ix.1922,
among, stony hills, on the ground at the roots of a tussock of grass (the grass
called “‘ Amassa ” by the Tuareg). The nest was cup-shaped and placed in a
hollow depression ; it consisted of fibres and grass. The eggs are white with
not very dark rufous-brown spots and patches and very few underlying greyish
patches. They are but little more pointed at the thin end, and measure 19 x 13-5,
19-5 x 13-7, 19-3 x 13-3 mm.
146. Emberiza flaviventris fiavigaster Cretzschm.
Emberiza flavigaster Cretzschmar, Atlas Reise Rüppells N.O. Afr., Vög., pl. zzV. p. 38 (1826 —
Kordofan). 3
2 3,19, Dan Kaba, N. of Katsena, northern Hausaland, 10.v.1922.
“Tris dark. Bill dull black, upper mandible brown-black, lower pale fleshy
brown. Feet pale medium brown.”
Hausa name, “ Kudaku.”’
These specimens agree with specimens from Eritrea (Schrader), and from
Kordofan, Sennaar, and Kassala province in the British Museum. They are
usually slightly smaller than Z. f. flaviventris, and very little paler, but fresh
feathers are much darker than old faded ones. The principal difference is the
less extent of yellow on the breast, and paler sides, as pointed out by Witherby,
Ibis, 1901, p. 246, who first separated this subspecies, while Reichenow, in 1904,
did not come to a decision.
The birds shot by Buchanan frequented low scrub “ of the sub-desert type.”
“Song (not much more than a call) like peep-whur-r-r, peep-whur-r-r, peep-
whurr ; when calling the crest-feathers were slightly erected.”
44 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI, 1924.
147. Emberiza striolata sahari Levaill.
&, Tamanrasset, Ahaggar, 30.iii.1923.
“Tn the hills north of Agades very plentiful. The only common bird about
the Fort of Tamanrasset at the end of March. They have a chirp somewhat
like a Sparrow and a sweet song.”
A nest composed of dry grasses and camel’s hair was found in a hole in a
stone wall of a deserted hut at Aguellal, 6.vi.1920. It contained three eggs.
A nest with four eggs was found at Aouderas, Air, 23.ix.1922, in a cleft on
alarge rock. There was an outer framework of some twigs, and the nest consists
of stems of grasses and other small plants, lined with finer material. The eggs
are dirty whitish, spotted all over with rufous-brown and some mauve patches.
They measure 18-5 x 14-2, 17:8 x 14-2, 17-5 x 14-5, 17:6 x 14-2 mm.
Another nest, Tararet River, Air, 13.ix.1922. It consists of stems of grasses
and other small plants and is lined with smaller material, fibres, and down of
some seeds. It contained two eggs of a very different type from the other clutch ;
their ground colour is bluish white and they are spotted with brown and mauve.
They measure 18-7 x 15:2 and 21 x 15:6 mm., the latter probably quite un-
usually large.
148. Emberiza septemstriata goslingi (Alex.).
Fringillaria goslings Alexander, Bull. B.O. Club, xvi. p. 124 (1906—Welle River). Cf. Nov. Zool.
1921, p. 133, No. 137.
9, Kusada, N.W. of Kano, between Kano and Katsena, 30.iv.1922.
9, Gangara, S. Damergu, N. of Katsena, 30.vi.1922.
All three specimens in moult. These and the Zinder ones, obtained in 1920,
belong to the paler form goslingi, but specimens in fresh plumage are darker than
others in worn garb. Also observed at Gamram.
Hausa name, “ Kafa.” Tuareg name (Aouderas), ‘‘ Tara,” or “‘ Tarayit.”
149. Passer simplex saharae Erl.
6 jun., in moult, Taberghi, N. of Tanut, 4.vii.1922.
& ad., Tch-Bunker River, west of Air, 1.11.1923.
Q ad., Agouten, N. of Air, 2.11.1923.
&, Belkusi, S. of In-Azaoua, N. of Air, 6.111.1923.
The specimen from Taberghi has the “ upper mandible greyish, base and
lower mandible pale grey,” the males from Tch-Bunker and Belkusi have entirely
deep black bills, but the latter has the upperside isabelline, not grey, the feathers
being greyish (not grey) towards the base.
The Desert Sparrow wa’ seen plentiful as soon as the true desert was entered,
also west and north of Air. Also observed at Addanuk, Ahaggar, 26.iv.1923.
150. Passer luteus (Licht.).
66, Farak, Damergu, 17.vi.1922.
36, Fachi oasis (or Agram) between Bilma and Agades, 15.xi.1922.
“ One of the Farak specimens is in fresh, the other in worn and faded plumage.
One of the Fachi ones is moulting wings and tail, the head is more greenish,
back deeper chestnut—the paler specimens are probably younger. The species
was also observed at Tanut. At Fachi it was not rare in the date-palms and
said to be resident by the natives; none were, however, seen at Bilma.
NOVITATEsS ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 45
151. Gymnoris pyrgita pallida Neum.
$2, Gurari, Tessawa district, west of Zinder, 29.v.1922.
6, Farak, Damergu, 19.vi.1922.
In the acacia bush country. Hausa name, “ Jambaka.”’
152. Erythrospiza githaginea zedlitzi Neum.
2 &, Assode valley, Air, 20.1.1923.
3 d, 1 9, Zilalet River, Air, 23.1.1923.
3 gd juv., 2 9, Obga, West Air, 27.1.1923.
1 9, Belkusi, north of Air, south of In-Azaoua, 6.iii.1923.
1 Qad., Ten-a-curt, near Tamanrasset, Ahaggar, 23.iii.1923.
‘Observed in desolate ‘‘ Black Desert ” and seen feeding on berries of
** Abisgee ” bushes. At Belkusi considerable numbers came to the water, also
at Tamanrasset coming to the water. (The ‘ Trumpeter Bullfinch,” unlike several
other desert birds which do not require water, is fond of visiting water, and I
have, in Algeria, generally observed it not very far from water, or at least
temporary watercourses, though I am not sure that it is essential for these birds
to go to water.)
153. Sporopipes frontalis pallidior Hart.
Nov. Zool., 1921, p. 136.
3 &,1 9, Farak, Damergu, 15, 17.vi.1922.
69, Aouderas, Air, 28.1x.1922.
©, Teh-misgidda Nalburdaddi, Air, 4.x.1922.
The Farak specimens are in moult, but most of their body plumage is fresh.
Though freshly moulted individuals are darker than those in old faded garb, the
new series fully confirms the differences of this subspecies, which formerly Bucha-
nan only found in Zinder and Damergu, and now also in Air proper. He also
observed the species at Dan Kaba in northern Nigeria.
154. Ploceus cucullatus cucullatus (P. L. S. Müll.).
dg ad., Tessawa, N.E. of Katsena (Zinder Territory), 24.v.1922.
“Tris full reddish madder. Bill shining black. Feet pale skin-brown.”
The lesser and larger upper wing-coverts have pale buff tips, otherwise the
specimen agrees perfectly with adult males from N. Nigeria and Senegambia.
Tuarag name, “ Tagishit Akowat (In) Telgulmus,” referring to the black
mask which is supposed to resemble the veil of the Tuareg men.
155. Ploceus vitellinus vitellinus (Licht.).
Q ad., Tarare River, Air, 7.ix.1922, to identify eggs.
The nest with four eggs taken, 7.ix.1922, is the usual Weaver’s nest, large,
with lateral entrance-hole, built of hard grass. The eggs are pale blue, without
gloss, spotted with deep rufous-brown and mauve deeper-lying patches, measuring
20 x 14, 21 x 14, 20 x 13-5, 21 x 14 mm.
Another nest of a Weaver was found suspended from an acacia twig at
Tanut in South Air, 15.viii.1922, but was not identified! It contained two
white eggs with rufous and deeper-lying somewhat mauve spots. No other
weaver-bird is known in Air to which these eggs could belong. The nest is much
46 NoVvITATEs ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924,
smaller, the eggs only 19 x 13 and 19 x 13:5 mm. I don’t see why the nest
should not vary somewhat in size, and similar variations in eggs are, of course,
usual in eggs of other species of Ploceus.
Tuareg name at Aouderas, “ Tagishit Akowat.”
156. Ploceus luteolus luteolus (Licht.).
6 ad. (rather pale in colour), Tessawa, N. of Katsena, Zinder Territory,
24.v.1922.
A nest in an acacia tree was found at Aouderas, Air, 30.1x.1922. Unlike
those of the larger species of Ploceus the nest is composed of a kind of curly fine
wire-like brown root-fibres and has an entrance-tube about 9 cm. long. The
two eggs white, almost without gloss, and measure 18 x 12-5and 17-5 x 12-4mm.
157. Aidemosyne cantans cantans (Gm.).
An adult specimen was taken at the oasis of Bilma, 9.xi.1922.
“Iris dark. Eye-skin pale cobalt blue. Bill clear lead-grey. Feet pale
purplish grey.”
“ This and the Black Wheatear are the only birds seen commonly about the
dwellings at Bilma. Afew observed at Belkusi, en route to In-Azaoua, 7.iii.1923.”
158. Estrilda senegala brunneiceps (Sharpe).
This bird was found to be common in North Nigeria and everywhere north
to Asben (Air). Anest was found in the interior of a Tuareg grass hut at Aouderas,
Air, 28.viii.1922. It is built of fibre, leaves and pieces of cotton cloth, lined.
chiefly with guinea-fowl feathers, some white feathers, bits of string, and a few
leaves. It contained two eggs, which are white without gloss, and measure
13 x 12 and 13-5 x 11-5 mm.
159. Steganura aucupum aucupum Neum.
Steganura paradisea aucupum Neumann, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, xxi. p. 43 (1908—“‘ Upper Guinea,
especially Senegambia.” Type Diourbel, 140 km. east of Dakar).
Steganura paradisea verreauxi (nec Cassin 1850 !) Hartert, Nov. Zool., 1921, p. 138 (Zinder).
Three & in moult from “ off ” plumage, Farak, Damergu, 18.vi.1922.
James P. Chapin, Amer. Mus. Nov., No. 43 (1922), has pointed out the really
important differences between S. paradisaea from Hast and South Africa, and
S. aucupum, at the same time describing three new subspecies of the latter, and
pointing out that S. paradisaea (as the name must be spelt) and aucupum occur
together in vast areas, so that they must be treated as two species, and not as
subspecies of one species. The colour of the band on the hind-neck appears to
be of very little importance. It is regrettable that differences between females
and non-breeding males have not been found, but among other animals (fleas,
insects) such cases are by no means rare! At Farak always seen near the well.
Hausa name at Kano, “ Waaki-Waaki.”
160. Spreo pulcher pulcher (P. L. S. Müll.).
A nest in an acacia tree found near Tanut in S. Air, 14.viii.1922. The nest
was built of dry grass and contained two eggs. The eggs are greenish blue like
NoVvITATES ZOoOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 47
those of a Song Thrush, but without any gloss, with red-brown spots and a few
deeper-lying greyish ones. They measure 26:5 x 18-8 and 27 x 18:5 mm.
Tuareg name, “ Azagag,” plural ““ Azagagam.”’
““ Often seen in scrub, where it often feeds on the ground in open places.
The species was also observed in northern Nigeria.
(No. 162, p. 139, Nov. Zool., 1921, I called Lamprocolius chalybaeus hartlaubi,
but this is not correct! The species was described as Lamprotornis chalybaeus
Hempr. & Ehrb., Symb. Phys., fol. y, pl. x. (1828—Dongola !), and ranges from
Dongola through the Sudan to Air and Senegambia, while the Abyssinian cyani-
ventrisisa much larger bird The bird willtherefore have to be called L. chalybaeus
chalybaeus. Though it was Sclater & Praed’s opinion, and I have—WNov. Zool.,
1919, p. 134—endorsed it, that L. chloropterus schraderi Neum. is a synonym of
chalybaeus, this is certainly not the case! L. schraderi is apparently a different
species even, being smaller and having some colour differences.)
161. Cinnyricinclus leucogaster leucogaster (Gm.).
Turdus leucogaster Gmelin, Syst. Nat., 1, ii. p. 819 (1789—“ Habitat in regno Africae Whidah,”’
Slave Coast, W. Africa).
&, Dan Kaba, N. Hausaland, 16.v.1922.
“Tris clear yellow. Bill and feet deep black.”
The occurrence in the same countries of both (©. 1. leucogaster and verreauxi
is stillto be explained. This was the only specimen seen by Mr. Buchanan. The
Hausa name, “ Macheni,” was given him at Dan Kaba.
162. Oriolus oriolus.
Observed at Ideles, Ahaggar.
163. Corvus albus P. L. S. Mull.
& ad., Aouderas, Air, 30.x.1922.
“Iris dark. Bill and feet very deep black.”
The Targi call this crow “ Aralgi”’ (the male), or “ Taralgi ”’ the female.
““ It does much damage to dates at Aouderas and molests camels with sores,
sitting on their backs and pecking at the wounds. The crows are eaten by some
of the natives and I saw some taken home with their throats cut in proper
Mohammedan fashion, so that they could be eaten ” (Buchanan).
A nest with five eggs was found near Marandet in Air, 8.viii.1922, in a low
““ Giga ” thorn tree. The eggs are rather blue and sparsely spotted, but typical
Crows’ eggs. They measure: 43 x 30-4, 43:1 x 30, 42-5 x 30, 42-1 x 30,
42-6 x 30 mm.
164. Corvus corax ruficollis Less.
3, Bilma oasis, 10.xi.1922. Partially moulting. The fresh feathers raven-
black, some old ones brown !
““ Several were seen at Bilma, where they are said to be resident; no other
Ravens seen at Bilma. At Iferouane I was asked by a Chaggar native to shoot
48 NOVITATEsS ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
him one for medicine, the bile or spleen of the bird being rubbed below the eyes
in Air ” (Buchanan). Also observed at Ten-a-curt, near Tamanrasset, and else-
where in Ahaggar.
165. Corvus rhipidurus Hart.
Q, Tabello, Air, 21.x.1922.
“ These birds were frequently observed and always in pairs, and even in
the most solitary places when one is out shooting. At Iferouane I was asked by
a Tuareg from Ahaggar to shoot one for him for medicine for the eye. When
I had shot the bird he split it open from the breast and took out its liver ; from
the liver he extracted a long black thing, which was his coveted “‘ medicine.”
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924, 49
AN ORNITHOLOGICAL VISIT TO N.W. MAROCCO (SPANISH
PROVINCE OF YEBALA)
By REAR-ADMIRAL LYNES.
Plates I (Map)! to V.
PART I. FOREWORD.
HREE years ago, writing on the Ornithology of the Middle Atlas in Ibis,
January 1920, I hazarded the opinion that as affairs then stood, there
seemed little prospect of any naturalist being able to explore Spanish Marocco
on account of the hostility of the greater part of its native population towards
the Protectorate.
Sefior Angelo Cabrera, the well-known mammalogist of the Madrid Natural
History Museum, pointed out, however (in Boletin de la Real Sociedad Espanola
de Historia Natural, tomo xxii. 1922), that this surmise was scarcely correct,
since for some seven years past he and other Spanish naturalists had actually
been able to work, under Spanish protection as well as with native help and
goodwill, not, it is true, the high mountain-chain of the interior commonly known
as “the Rif,” * but considerable areas both in the east and west of the Spanish
zone, and I may add that to see to-day the fine collections, particularly of
Mammals and Insects, in the Madrid Museum, is to observe that these gentlemen
made good use of their opportunities.
In birds, however, scarcely anything save in the Tangier—Tetuan neighbour-
hood and Atlantic seaboard has been done during the last fifty years, and the
unsatisfactory state of some of the records is well shown in Hartert and Jour-
dain’s “ Hitherto known Birds of Marocco ” (Nov. Zool., xxx.)* so that in 1923
Spanish Marocco still presented a fruitful field for ornithological exploration.
When, therefore, I received last January, with approval of the high Authori-
ties concerned, an invitation from Sefior Cabrera to accompany him to Spanish
Marocco during the forthcoming spring, and “ see for myself,” it naturally gave
me great pleasure to accept so agreeable a proposal ; the more so, since the recent
conquests of Spain, and submission of the famous“ Raisuli ” ‘ now made accessible
to natural-history enterprise some of the highest and best-timbered mountains
lying in and on the borders of Yebala Province.
It is the ornithological results of this expedition which it is purposed to
record in the following pages.
1 The second (loose) map is supplied to enable readers to compare it with the text without
turning to the back.
2 See remarks in Part III on this name.
3 This up-to-date, ornithological record for Marocco has proved invaluable to me, both out
there and in the writing-up of our trip. It will be so constantly referred to, that the reader of this
paper is recommended to have it alongside him if possible.
4 Or “ Raisuni’’; his full style is given as ‘‘ Cherii Mulay Achmed er Raisuni,” or “ Si Ahmed
‘ben Mohammed el Raisuli.”
4
50 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
Our travels in Yebala took us, here by automobile along military roads,
there by bridle-path, into mountains, towns, and holy places of Islam, up to less
than three years ago jealously screened from foreign gaze, without a suspicion
of trouble or unfriendliness on the part of the native inhabitants, and although
it would doubtless be untrue to say that this happy state of affairs was not in
a great measure due to the efficiency of our police escorts, there really were times
and places where the harmonious atmosphere, Spanish Maroccan, seemed to
render a guard almost superfluous.
That Spain was able about a year ago to replace a military by a political
administration in her Maroccan Protectorate,and that sofar as Yebala is concerned
the resulting advance of civilisation has been very satisfactory, is in itself a high
tribute to the stability of her method of progress there,and to the admirable work
of the police force under General Castro Girona, aided by such officers as Major
Fuentes, Captains Portillo, Castello, and others with whom we have been so
pleasantly associated: a combination of the suaviter in modo with the
fortiter im re which, as experience with the Arab peoples under our own
British rule has shown, best gains their confidence, rather than a policy in which
coercion is the dominant factor.
So far as the Rif Province? is concerned, as we all know, things Spanish have
not prospered ; the Melilla disaster of 1922 upset much of the progress made in
that province, and is the real cause of the trouble in Spain about her “‘ Maroccan
afiairs ” of which we have read so much in the newspapers lately. Still, that is
no reason why Yebala should suffer ; there seems to be no suggestion of alliance
between the Yebala tribes and the dissident Rifi, except just in their adjacent
territories, where some of the former are still inclined to mingle common cause
with the latter.
Here, strong Spanish and Moorish guards are maintained, and the local
resources are quite able to compete with any such raids or invasion as may be
reasonably anticipated.
Tam glad to hear from my Spanish friends in Yebala that the recent political
volte-face in the mother-country has so far (October 1923) not upset the smooth
working of the governmental machinery in Yebala, and hope that so affairs will
continue, as well as inaugurating a new era of success in the East.
It would surely be lamentable if Europe still has to admit failure with these
troublesome neighbours, even though “ the Rif pirates ”’ no longer menace her
sea-traffic. Alike with some (physically) similar parts of the French Maroccan.
Protectorate, these large tracts of wild mountains dominating fertile valleys
remain to-day, as throughout the ages of history, closed to civilising influence,
their mountain Berber trikes maintain the independence they never seem to have
lost throughout the successive North African invasions of Phoenician, Roman,
Vandal, Goth, and Arab, or at least only relinquished by voluntary intermarriage
in the lower parts of their territory.
In bygone days a large Cherifian army was wont at long intervals, we read,
to compel some measure of obedience or obtain retribution from a particularly
troublesome tribe, for just so long only as the conquerors remained in sufficient
force in the neighbourhood. A few weeks—perhaps less! Arab-like, these tribes
appear to be constantly on the look out to plunder one another, and while they
1 See definition in Part III.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 51
undoubtedly have recurrent phases of combination? against European (or external)
invasion it seems highly improbable that any permanent condition of hegemony
is, or ever has been, in existence among them.
What is to be the future of this territory? One has but to view from air
or mountain-top the nature of the “ country ” to realise the difficulty of even
temporary military occupation. When will the philosophy of its tribes view
stability of government, and intercourse, social and mercantile, with external
peoples, as beneficial to their present and future existence ?
Whatever may be the modern solution of the problem, it must at least be
conceded that in the taming of these folk Spain has no mean feat to achieve !
But it is not my intention, nor indeed do I dare to speculate in political
events of the future ; thus far only have I ventured, in order to make the kow-
tow for my former misstatement, to record my just tribute of respect and admira-
tion for the strides of progress it was my privilege to observe in Spanish Marocco,
and to wish continued success to the administration in whatever form the mother-
country finds best suited to her own resources and the advance of civilisation.
Here, also, I wish to acknowledge most gratefully the egis and assistance
accorded to us by Sefior Aguirre, Minister of the Marocco Department, and by
Dr. Bolivar, Director of the Natural History Museum at Madrid ; also the cordial
co-operation of H.E. Sefior Silvela, High Commissioner for Marocco during our
visit, and of the Spanish authorities wherever we went, which made the expedi-
tion so pleasant, and we hope profitable in its small degree, to natural science.
Finally, I should like to record my appreciation of Sefior Quiros’ good work
in the preparation of our 270 bird-specimens; and last, but not least, to offer the
warmest of thanks tomy friend and cicerone, Senor Cabrera, for hiscompanionship,
and for the kind trouble he always took, sometimes, I fear, to the detriment of
his own researches, to arrange everything so well and suitably to the pursuits
of “ the British Admiral.”
I also wish to acknowledge the kind help given me by Dr. Hartert and Lord
Rothschild, whose acceptance of the bird specimens for inclusion with the fine
North-African collection at Tring assures their bestowal to the greatest possible
advantage.
PART Il.—ITINERARY.
March 13, 14 . . Ceuta (sea-level), Tetuan (300 ft.).
March 15 to 21. . Quitsan (600 ft.) four miles south of Tetuan, on lower
slopes of Beni-Hozmar Mountains (max. 3,600 ft.).
March 22,23 . . Tetuan.
March 24 to April4 . Xauen : (2,000 ft.), in E] Ajmas tribal territory and on
the lower slopes of Jebel Mago (7,200 ft.).
April 5to1l6 . . Tetuan (held up by bad weather).
1 Read the valuable account of a quite recent adventurous “ Visit to Abdul Krim, the despot
of the Rif” by a correspondent in The Times of September 15, 1923. But the idea of the “ Rifi’s ”’
descent from the Vandals is surely not in general acceptation ? On p. 95 of my paper will be found
some reasons for not including in the terms ‘‘ Rifi” (or “ Riffian ””) any of the Yebala tribes, with
which I think The Times correspondent will agree—if he ever sees them !
2 “Xauen”’=‘‘Chechauen”’ of our maps, ex Chef-Chauen or Xef-Xauen—the prefix being
merely a corruption of the Berber article ‘‘esh,’’ which, as with the Arabic ‘“ el” preceding the
names of most important towns, is, as often as not, dropped, both in conversation and writing.
53 Novitates ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924,
April 17 toMay8 . Tazarut (2,200 ft.) and the “col” or pass of Arosa
Mensoja (4,000 ft.) by Jebel Buhasem in Beni-Aros,
tribe of Raisuli.
May 9, 10 6 . Tetuan.
May lltol16 . . Ceuta, working Sierra Bullones, and the sea-coast of
Straits of Gibraltar, including the Isla de Perejil.
Leaving London on March 6, 1923, I joined Seüor Cabrera at Madrid the
following evening. Next day my companion took me to the fine new Natural
Science Museum, where I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of
Dr. Bolivar, its distinguished director, Seüor Gil, who is working at the birds
there, and other scientists.
In the hall devoted to mounted examples of mammals and birds are a number
of beautiful groups by Senor Jose M* Benedito ; Buzzards, Bee-eaters, Magpies,
Eagies, Owls, and others, with nests and nurseries ; works of artistic skill, as
true to Nature as I have seen anywhere.
In the Entomological Section Dr. Bolivar showed me a magnificent array of
specimens, already filling box after box in the Spanish Marocco cabinets. This
day I also had the honour of being presented to Sefior Aguirre, to Sefior Ortega,
head of the valuable Spanish “‘ African League,’ and to other gentlemen influential
in Maroccan affairs.
March 11 and 12 we spent at Gibraltar, where Rear-Admiral and Mrs.
Ellerton not only most kindly entertained us at the “‘ Mount,” but saw us, bag
and baggage, safely and luxuriously through all those usually tiresome, train-
customs-steamer transhipments, into the mail-boat for Ceuta early on the 13th.
A fresh Levanter was blowing, and we had a rough crossing.
We scanned many of the larger Gulls, both at sea and round the Ceuta fore-
shore, but without being able to arrive at any definite conclusions, specific or
racial, with regard to them ; the majority were certainly Pale-backed herring-
gulls (argentatus) with yellow legs, then there were a few with mantles that
seemed to us as dark as “‘ fuscus fuscus,” others intermediate in colour, and
whenever we got a glimpse of the legs, all seemed to be yellow or yellowish, which
may or may not have been an optical illusion. Size varied considerably. We
could do no more then, than to plan a visit to the seacoast gulleries on our return
in order to decide what species were breeders. This we eventually did, see
pp. 36, 86.
The two-hour train journey from Ceuta to Tetuan takes one along the
seashore as far as Cape Negro, across what is more or less a plain, or succession
of flats which receive the eastern spurs descending from the hill-spine connecting
Apes Hill and Jebel Dersa above Tetuan, where the wide “ Vega ” of Tetuan,
the bed of the Rio Martin, separates the latter from the southern ranges of
Beni-Hozmar, Beni-Hassan, etc.
This Ceuta to Cape Negro flat country is clad with palmetto scrub, asphodel
lentisk,’ eistus, and other low bushes ; swampy spots and small shallow lagoons
of fresh water are numerous at this season. On the lagoons were still a few ducks,
on the dry ground Stonechats abounded, Meadow pipits rose in scared parties as
the train rolled by—had it not been for a few Buff-backed herons, two Black
kites, and a few Swallows (which, by the way, with House-Martins were at
1 Chamaerops. 2 Pistachio lentiscus,
Novirates ZooLoGIcaE XXXI. 1924. 53
Madrid on March 9), one might have supposed it to be midwinter from the wet
state of the land and condition of its animal and plant life.
As can be seen from the train, all this N. and S. hill-spine is just a mono-
tonous descent of comparatively low spurs and rolling-hill country, clothed with
the usual West Mediterranean scrub, the Andalusian “ monte,’ ! no trees save
an occasional “‘ holy ”’ acebuche (wild olive), their heights are not even crag-
crowned. Whatever of bird interest is to be found in this district, almost cer-
tainly will be found in the flat country traversed by the railway, which in bygone
days was well known to the Royal Navy and Gibraltar Garrison as a good wild-
fowling place in winter. If anything special may be mentioned, it will be little
more than Munn and others allude to ; the Ospreys, Gulls, Rock-pigeons, etc.,
breeding on Cape Negro. Turnix sylvaticus must nest among the palmetto
scrub ; I have flushed them there in summer time; perhaps the Lesser bustard
summers, it is likely ground . . . but little of novelty to the Maroccan list is
likely to come out of the district.
This part of the railway passes by a number of Spanish military pickets,
posts, and training camps, as well as by long-established fishing hamlets, whence
the Ceuta markets get an abundant supply of Mediterranean fish and edible
(ahem !) crustaceans.
The Vega of Tetuan, little above sea-level, is just a wide flat to the southward
of and below Tetuan, largely cultivated and therefore dull in the bird line ;
through it the Rio Martin pursues its winding course and is now no longer navi-
gable for anything but small boats ; whatever it may have been in olden days,
for some twelve miles up (only eight as the crow flies) lies ancient Tamuda, men-
tioned by Plinyas a seaport. Excavation of these ruins, now in progress, show,
we were told, superposition of Roman on Carthaginian and again on still more
ancient buildings of great antiquity (but no architectural worth), and have
resulted in many interesting archeological finds, including coins of various ages,
some perhaps as old as 4000 B.c. !
Tamuda itself stands on the end of a spur from the Beni-Hozmar range ;
to the westward the Vega continues a little farther, until it loses identity in the
spurs that encircle the many affluents of the Rio Martin. Overlooking the Vega
lies the capital of Spanish Marocco, the ancient town of Tetuan—picturesque,
white, flat-topped, domed, mosqued, and minaretted as ever, with the new Spanish
quarter added on to the westward, in as good style as possible to avoid archi-
tectural lack of harmony with the Moorish: this part, of course, contains the
Government buildings, European shops, theatres, hotels, plazas, etc. The
Khalifa lives in the Moorish Town.
Tetuan no longer lies outside the civilised world, as it did up to a few
years ago.
At Tetuan we lodged luxuriously at the “ Alfonso XIII Hotel,” and paid
our respect to the Authorities. I had the additional pleasure of making the
acquaintance of Major Don Anatolio Fuentes, Chief Staff Officer to General
Castro Girona of the “ Policia Indigena,’’ Captain Portillo, and other gentlemen.
1 “Monte” as Andalusian “ brushwood”’: mainly composed of a 2 to 5 ft. high growth of
Cistus, Genistae, Heath, Lentisk, Wild Olive, and other low bushes, according to soil and locality ;
more or less analogous to “‘ maquis,”’ is a good descriptive term which, except in strict botanical
detail, equally well suits the growth on the treeless scrub-clad hillside expanses of Yebala in general,
and will, hereafter, be frequently used..
54 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE X XXI. 1924.
Acting on Sefior Cabrera’s previous experience of Yebala, we had decided,
if possible, not to camp out, but to get a roof over our heads in some suitable
bird-place, until after the heavy winter rains were over, which normally would
be early in April.
Our friends of the police force, having learned our wishes, at once most
kindly made all arrangements for us to go and stay in a Police Barrack at Quitsan,
some four miles south of Tetuan. We could see our prospective quarters from
Tetuan—a courtyarded house in the Spanish style—white walls and orange-tiled
roof—standing near a conspicuous little white mosque, on the lower end of a
spur of the Beni-Hozmar Mountains, whose grey-purple crags rose in towering
masses beyond, seemingly over it. Accordingly, the following day (March 15)
we rode across the Vega and by midday were comfortably installed in our
appointed quarters.
Here we stayed six days, much hampered in our work by the bad weather,
which set in just as we got to Quitsan, and lasted nearly the whole of our time
there.
A little below us stretched the small Moorish village—with the mosque
crowning it and the stream washing its foot. Orchards (the Quitsan oranges are
celebrated) and agriculture occupy nearly all the lowest ground from here right
into the Vega. Our house was just on the fringe of and above nearly all this
cultivation. Except for a few little hamlets with their accompanying clearings,
all at our back, so to speak, was first, “‘ monte ”’-clad slopes, then mountain.
For the first few days we worked the lower ground, but found bird-life there
rather dull. The orchards held a few Bulbuls, besides the common finches, black-
birds, chifichafis, etc.; among the thick bramble and cane brakes bordering
the streams Cetti’s warbler was frequently heard, and one Tschagra seen. In
the great wastes of monte one could walk, and struggle (for it is often over one’s
head in moist dips), for hours, without finding more than a fewSardinian warblers,
perhaps a Dartford, and a Blackbird “ clucking ” in a jungle of “ acebuche ”
and lentisk, or on a cleared patch flush a Wood or Crested lark and a few
Meadow pipits....
In fact, with the exception of certain tracts of scrub “ Arar,’ 1 which did
not appear to affect the ornithological aspect, these slopes seemed identical in
vegetation and (lack of) bird-life with those similar, dreary but aromatic, stretches
of low-hill country on the Spanish side of the Straits.
The only trees for miles around, save those of cultivation, are small groves
of ““ acebuche ”’ and “ Arar,” sheltering burial or “ holy ”’ places, and the Mosque.
In one such, near our house, were generally to be found a few Great and Blue
Tits, Finches, Blackbirds, ete., but the only bird of note there was a Wood-owl,
who was wont to call occasionally in the day-time until we discovered his
perch on an upper bough and made a specimen of him.
Having found so little in the lower zone, we turned with hope to the upper
streams and crags of Beni-Hozmar above us to the southward and westward.
Here, some two miles upstream of Quitsan, villages and cultivation cease at a
25 ft. cascade, and one enters the mountain-zone in a steep-sided rocky gully,
in which the stream has the character of a torrent, with occasional cascades.
Limestone cliffs and buttresses crown the horizon upwards, below them, where
soil rests among piles of rocks and clitters of stones, the “ screes,’” are thickly
1 Tetraclinis quadrivalvis (Vent.) = Sandarac tree—a conifer confined to N.W. Africa.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 55
clothed with Box ! and “ Arar ”’ scrub, Lentisk bushes, etc. ; here, again, except
in detail, the whole entourage is a repliqua of what one finds so much of in the
Campo de Gibraltar.° But, whereas there one would be pretty sure at this season
of finding Vultures at home in the crags, and likely enough see an Eagle or
Lämmergeier soaring overhead, here we sought in vain for any large bird; a
single Red kite and a passing Sparrow-hawk were the only birds of prey we
ever saw ; pairs of Barbary partridges frequently rose noisily from the scrub,
an occasional Rock Bunting or African Chaffinch, Crag and House Martins,
both species probably on passage, afew Wrens and one pair of Dippers about
complete the bird-census of that wild gully.
Continuous bad weather prevented us getting our projected day among the
crags, but their promise of ornithological interest, judging from spy-glass
inspection from half-way up, seemed small; later in the year Choughs and
Ravens would doubtless be up there, nesting, but now, except in the case of the
Dippers, and for early flirtations of Blue tits and Crested larks lower down,
_ there was no suggestion of breeding.
Generally speaking, Quitsan, while of course providing its interest from the
distributional point of view, and as being, presumably, near the place whence
came M. Henri Vaucher’s record of Alpine accentor, Ring-ousel, etc., proved dull
and rather lifeless. Migration was in marked progress in the case of Chiffchafis,
Blackcaps, Swallows, House and probably also Crag martins, and Meadow
pipits ; while some of the Finches by their restless movements appeared also
to be on the move northwards.
Diurnal movements of Choughs, Jackdaws, and Woodpigeons, at consider-
able height and range, were frequently observed.
Save for the migratory movements and the few exceptions just mentioned,
conditions of life in Beni-Hozmar gave the impression of being still those oi
winter.
On the day of equinox the weather cleared, enabling us to dry our things
and (on the 24th) proceed by motor-car to Xauen, forty miles south of Tetuan.
TETUAN TO XAUEN.
For the first twenty miles of this journey, with the exception of, first, the
crag-crowned mountains of Beni-Hozmar, and then the similar and virtually
connected Beni-Hassan range to our eastward, the whole landscape, right away
to its comparatively low hill horizons, is curiously like much of our own Northern
country in early spring ; hills and dales, moorland tops and slopes varied with
chequered arables ; here, green squares of young autumn-sown wheat, there,
red-brown ploughs ready for later crops, pastures in the wider dales, and so on,
no striking feature anywhere, practically no trees. . . .
Only, one must not look too closely into detail, for then the pseudo-moor-
land gorses, hedgerows, willows, ete., turn into four-foot high wastes of ‘“ monte ”’
with cancellations of the same between cleared areas ; the grazing, more asphodel
1 Buxus balearica.
2 The name of a Spanish military zone (to be found on most maps), part of the Provincia de
Cadiz, lying about thirty miles W. to N.N.W. of Gibraltar, which embraces most of Irby’s Spanish
hunting-ground, the cork-woods of Algeciras, Almoraima, Laguna de Janda, and the numerous
smal] sierras as far north as the “ Pico del Algibe.”
56 NoviTaTEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
and palmetto than grass and so forth . . . a country, so far as mankind is con-
cerned, peaceful, smiling, and prosperous, but dull and poor in wild life.
We passed military pickets and posts at frequent intervals along the whole
route, others at commanding positions were ever in view on the skyline, and
about half-way to Xauen the road crosses the water-parting Rio Martin / Wad
Lau at the considerable camp of Zoco Arba, 2,300 ft. Hereabouts were flocks
of Yellow-billed choughs and Ravens, the former rook-like, picking over the
ploughs, the latter scavenging the camp itself, House sparrows and Swallows
as usual... .
. The descent from Zoco Arba into the Wad Lau valley introduces a little
more character into the western landscape in the shape of a few cork-trees, a
wider river-bed grown with arbutus and bramble jungles, occasional willow- and
ash-trees, olives, and more pasture; while as the J. Alam—Buhasem—Sugna
chain (summits 5,500-4,500 ft.) opens out, one can see there, broken crests and
evidence of deciduous as well as of evergreen tree growth ; but nothing big or
extensive. The wealth of forest we later found on J. Buhasem, etc., lies almost
entirely on the reverse, i.e. the Beni-Aros face of the chain.
Bird-life continued scanty, but on crossing the Wad Lau (at 1,100 ft.) below
Xauen, it was cheering to see a pair of Grey shrikes on the telegraph wires and
our first hispanica Wheatear. Three miles farther, winding for its greater part
up a shale slope, the road reaches the cliffs of J. Kalaa, immediately under which,
on ground falling rather steeply to the westward, lies the picturesque old
Moorish town of Xauen.!
Here we spent the next ten days, sleeping in a very clean little inn, and
taking our meals, semi “ alfresco,” at a restaurant, both establishments Spanish.
J. Kalaa is merely the conspicuous terminal peak of the N.W. spur from
J. Mago,a well-defined mountain mass whose crown of conifers and twin summits,
the Pefias, 7,200 ft., at once inform the traveller from the northward that he
has come to something big and new. Mago is, in fact, the western terminal of
the high Rif chain: ; it is composed of compact limestone of the Mesozoic epoch !
resting on more ancient formations, which appear, mainly in shales, from its base
up to about 2,000 ft.
Precipitous cliffs on this (western) face are almost confined to the 2,000-
3,500 ft. zone just above the town level. The town itself is dominated on its
N.E. side by J. Kalaa, and to the eastward by the terminal cliffs of another spur,
falling due west from the North Pefia of Mago ; down between these two spurs
tears the torrent of the O. “ Raas el Maa ”’ which provides the town with its
copious and perennial water supply. To the southward this western spur com-
bines with the Pefias and main south-western slope of Mago itself, to enclose a
great steep-sided basin open only to the westward, which will hereafter be
referred to as “ the amphitheatre.”’
Around the town, and on either side of the Raas el Maa, down to its junction
with the O. Lau, three miles away and 1,000 ft. lower down, lie terraced orchards
1 See Plate II, a. 2 See Part III.
® I am indebted to Mr. W. Campbell Smith of the British Museum for the identification of our
geological specimens from J. Mago and of others from J. Buhasem. In general, they confirm the
anticipations of M. Louis Gentil in his excellent ‘‘ Carte géologique provisoire du Maroc . . . 1920,”
but as we were unable to find any fossils, our specimens cannot decide what is the period of Mago’s
limestone, although, as the distinguished French geologist surmises, it is probably Jurassic, as other
parts of the chain are known to be.
Novitates ZooLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 57
of olives, figs, and other fruit-trees, associated with vines and crops of fodder,
barley, beans, etc.
The remaining ground below town level is just a series of featureless shale
slopes, clad with low ‘‘ monte ” here and there cleared for agriculture, distinctly
dried up and monotonous.
A few days work around and below Xauen sufficed to show that the scarcity
of birds here was even more marked than at Quitsan. The orchards held a few
Bulbuls. Great and Blue tits, Blackbirds, ete., the “monte” slopes, nothing
but a sprinkling of (theklae) Crested larks and Sardinian warblers, a few Dartford
warblers, Cirl Buntings ; in the O. Lau valley, a few common Finches, the
usual Great and Blue tits, Chiffchaffs, the same old pair of Grey shrikes, and so
on—everything very scarce, one could ramble about there for half-an-hour or
more without sight or sound of bird-life, save perhaps of a Raven in the distance.
The cascading “‘ Raas-el-Maa ” was more cheerful ; for instance, a pair of
Dippers, Grey Wagtails, numbers of Kitty Wrens and Blackcaps, a few Cetti’s
Warblers and so on, and of these, despite the difficulties, first of shooting in what
was virtually the town laundry, and secondly of retrieving the result from out
of the dense brakes or swirling torrent, we got specimens.
Ravens about the camp, House Sparrows, Swallows, and one pair of Storks
appeared to be the only town-dwellers—perhaps later, Swifts could have been
added, but I think not Rollers.
In the upper zone of J. Mago, we hoped for altogether better things ; from
Xauen we could see its towering skyline serrated with conifers, and so lost no
time in making their closer acquaintance. We might not go higher or further
than the upper blockhouse, which at 6,500 ft. is the last (high) outpost before
coming to Rif territory. Nevertheless, a goodly expanse of forest in “ the
amphitheatre ’’ was accessible to us, and we made altogether three visits to it ;
capital exercise, since it meant about 4,000 ft. of very steep stony track up, before
one could get into the forest and begin work; then, since we might not be out
in the dark, there was the much less pleasant descent to Xauen before nightfall.
The following short account of one of these excursions from my diary of
March 29 will perhaps describe the place as well as anything :
“Leaving Xauen at 7.40 a.m. with two Moorish policemen, we cross the
Raas-el-Maa by the bridge of Bab-el-aonzar or ‘ Gate of the Fountain’ just
outside the eastern gate of the town, and skirt the talus below the cliffs of Mago’s
western spur, steadily rising. A few Kestrels are crying high up the cliffs, which
rise in tiers for several hundred feet above us. Crag martins are absent to-day ;
those we saw here four days ago (and never since) were therefore probably on
passage.
‘““A pair of Rock Buntings and one Chaffinch are the only other birds seen
before (at 2,700 ft.) we leave our pack-road and turn up the steep track by which
we are to enter “the amphitheatre ’ and ultimately reach the forest. For the
next 300 ft. we pass under and round many clifi-faces and rocks exhibiting
complex ‘ dips ’ and crumplings of ancient strata.
‘Now we begin to leave the clifis below us, and enter the great ‘ amphi-
theatre ’ whose lower slopes are here lightly clad with cistus and lentisk ‘ monte,’
then pass a little grassy patch with a spring of clear water ; below us, the ‘ bar-
ranca ’*: which drains the amphitheatre of snow and rain, but is now dry, is
1 Glen.
58 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
traced out by the usual oleanders and brambles. No birds so far, all is
silence.
““ At about 3,600 it., when weli inside “the amphitheatre,’ the track, hitherto
east-going, curves to the southward and we begin to ascend its north-facing
slope. Oak scrub now begins to appear among the ‘ monte,’ and large patches
of it have been cleared by fire during the recent winter. Still no sign of birds,
but at 4,000 ft. a pair of Dartford warblers appear, on the scrub tops. We shoot
both; they would soon have been nesting. The ground now gets moister, and up
to about 4,600 ft. supports a rather dense belt of oak, lentisk, juniper, arbutus,
myrtle, and heath 4 to 7 ft. high, in which we hear the chuckle of a Blackbird
and a robin-like song : a Moussier’s chat and another pair of Dartfords show
themselves for a few moments. Cistus has dropped out.
‘““In the small clearings among this bush-belt we begin to find a few of the
upper-zone plants ; this must be due to the northern aspect, for it proves to be
only above the belt that the vegetal character of the upper zone really begins to
establish itself.
“ This occurs at about 5,000 ft., where we find ourselves at a grove of scattered
“encinas ’! (now only just in tiny bud), on the main S.W. slope of Mago and
the mid-rim of our ‘amphitheatre.’ Hereata grassy patch adorned with peonies
and several kinds of bright upper-zone lilies, watered by an overflowing spring,
our ‘short-cut’ foot-track meets the path that climbs Mago by a longer but
easier gradient from farther south, and which up to this point, but no farther,
is possible for mules and donkeys.
“Here, too, something fresh occurs in the bird line : a pair of Jays. They
scream, and make off by short flights until over the ‘skyline’ 700 feet above
us, without giving chance of a shot ;2 a pair of Great tits are see-sawing in an
oak-tree. The view is fine; from N.N.W. all the way round through west and
south up to S.E., beyond which Mago hides everything. The J. Alam-Buhasem-
Sugna chain certainly has a fair number of trees, though nothing like ‘ forest,’
on this face, but nowhere else can we see a sign of tree-growth, even in the vista
of equally high, if not in places higher, mountains between S. and S.E. The
Moorish town and French camp of Ouzzan, thirty miles to the south-westward,
gleams white in the lowlands, through a gap in the hills which are considerably
less on that bearing... .
“Proceeding, we soon arrive at a point whence two tracks diverge, one
very steep, leading straight up to the two blockhouses at 5,800 and 6,400 ft.
respectively, the other, which we take, worming round on moderate up-grade
into “the amphitheatre ’ again. Allthis upper part of the mountain is composed
of hard, jagged, white-grey limestone, much of it weathered bare, in fact just
like many of the Sierras in the Campo de Gibraltar ; bushes, low or creeping,
of juniper and oak, wedge themselves into crevices wherever soil is sufficient
for their growth.
“More Dartfords here ; this time two cocks courting a hen. But now our
chief interest lies in the fact that we are approaching the outlying conifers, and
at 10.30, i.e. three hours from starting, on rounding a ridge which up to now has
screened it from our view, we enter the forest at 5,350 ft. The conifers are
1 Quercus lusitanica Lam., a deciduous oak (not “ Q. bellota,” which is only a variety of Q. ülex.
M.A. p. 272 gives the wrong name).
2 But we bagged one of them here on our next visit.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 59
Pinsapos,! a fir species, hitherto believed to be confined to the upper north-
facing slopes of three small limestone Sierras in S.W. Andalusia. Here, on this
northern slope, they stretch down to as low as 4,500 ft., almost to the inner
bottom of ‘the amphitheatre ’ ; and a few intermingled cedars ? are so stunted
as to be a negligible feature, but as we noted a few days previously, on the S.
and §.W. slopes, the conifer cap (so far as could be seen from the upper blockhouse
beyond which we might not go) descends only so low as about 5,500 ft., and
contains many fine cedars mixed with the Pinsapos.
““ There are thus these two differences in kind and altitude of the forest due
to ‘face.’ The trees extend up to the summit, wherever they can wedge them-
selves in among the jagged rocks : as viewed from here, the skyline, including
the Pefias or twin summits, looks about one-quarter serrate with Pinsapo
silhouettes.’
““ The average tree is not tall, only about 40 ft., but some of the old monarchs
are imposing ; one, about 70 ft. high, measured 14 ft. in girth at 4 ft. above the
ground. The proportion of dead, whitened trunks still standing is large ; these
are mostly old trees, seemingly snapped off halfway up the trunk in natural
process of decay.
“ A little woodcutting is going on, and evidently has been long before the
Spanish occupation, and in one place a number of trees had been damaged by
fire, but the forest in general does not appear to have suffered appreciably at
the hand of mankind.
“‘ Evidence in support of the latter surmise is the striking difference in growth
between these and the Pinsapos on San Cristobalin Andalusia. There, they have
mostly grown up with unnatural candelabra’d trunks,‘ weird and gnome-like as
in a Grimm’s fairy tale, almost certainly the result of early lopping for charcoal,
a fact equally evident in their companion oaks, but here it is the exception to
find but the single leader; we never saw more than three, and they all well
mast-headed.’
“Inside the ‘amphitheatre ’ much of the rock has been decomposed, but
while the soil so laid supports, in its moister parts, an occasional encina (up to
30 ft.), a few stunted maples (4-6 ft.), hawthorns (6-9 ft.), with a sprinkling of
wild gooseberry, buckthorn, and spurge laurel * bushes, hollies, and a few other
evergreen shrubs, there is but little real undergrowth. At this season the
vegetable kingdom so high up is only beginning to show signs of awakening ;
nothing is beyond the early bud stage ; peonies, which were in half-flower at
the 5,000 ft. grove, have only just thrust their fat red-brown bodies out of the
soil, and little else has yet appeared above-ground to show what the floral tapis
might be like in summer.
“ Although now snow-free, it is evident that winter’s mantle has not long
cleared.’
““ As to birds, we have scarce entered the forest than our hopes are agreeably
raised by seeing a Nuthatch fly by, calling, but a whole hour follows without
other signs of life, save a few Chaffinches and a pair of Blackstarts seen in
the offing.
1 Abies pinsapo Boiss. 2 Cedrus atlantica Manetti. 3 See Plates II and III.
* See Abel Chapman and Walter Buck’s Unexplored Spain, p. 350.
5 See Plate II, d.
6
7
Rhamnus alaternus L. and Daphne laureola L.
But more snow fell in April and was still lying there on May 5.
60 NOVITATES ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924.
“ At last a Nuthatch suddenly comes and calls from the top of one of the few
encinas, where by good luck I am standing, and is secured, evidently ‘ atlas,’
by its slender bill.
“ For the next four hours, with eyes and.ears on the alert, we scramble about
under the trees, the total result, expressed in terms of animal life, being—two
Treecreepers, both shot but only one retrieved, thanks to the awful clitter
of boulders into which the other dropped, two pairs of Blue tits, two single Fire-
crests, one Great tit, and a small troop of Barbary apes making a hasty retreat
uphill—seen ; and one Nuthatch in the distance and a few tiny squeaks unlocated
in the thick pinsapo foliage—heard.
“ At this season, at any rate, it is desperately lifeless up here, and withal
cold and gloomy when the drifting niebla! envelops us; we feel like to be
petrified body and soul before another bird comes along, and so wend (if that verb
can rightly be used for the homeward journey down that beastly slope), seeing
as little in the way of bird-life as on the way up, until down to the same Kestrels
in the cliffs, the Chaffinches in the orchards, the usual pair of Red-tailed buzzards
high over, and the Sparrows and Swallows in Xauen.”’
On April 1 we spent another five hours in the pinsapo forest, saw neither
Nuthatch nor Creeper, but added to our list one, possibly two, pairs of Coal-
tits, four Stockdoves in it, some Choughs, and a Falco of sorts high in air
over it. During the last two and a half hours of this (third) visit, no living
creature was seen or heard; the gloom of the place was extreme.
The scarcity of birds in all this Xauen district was even eclipsed by that
of small mammals ; Cabrera’s total catch, after much labour in various types of
environment, was one house-mouse caught in our bedroom ; he attributes this,
if to nothing else, to the masses of brown rats which swarm throughout the town
and camp like rabbits ina warren. As regards migration, except for Crag Martins
and Chiffchaffs, probably also Swallows and Blackcaps, though in their case some
of the individuals were summer visitors, courting and singing, there was little
noticeable. On the whole the Xauen neighbourhood, except the high zone of
J. Mago, proved of such very moderate interest in birds and beasts that we
unhesitatingly decided after ten days of it to seek pastures new.
Now the roads became a difficulty.
On the evening of April 1, there commenced a series of cold storms of wind
and rain, which not only kept washing away parts of the road, but gave me an
attack of “ flu.”
Thanks to hard road-mending work, our friends of the police corps were
able to get us back to Tetuan on April 4, by happy chance almost a fine day,
in one of their light Ford cars, so we were spared the discomfort of having to
stay “ rained in ” at Xauen, but our baggage could not be got through for another
week. The return journey to Tetuan was as free from ornithological incident
as the outward had been ; the Choughs were still on the ploughs, but despite
having got a gun ready, I stupidly missed my only shot, so never got a specimen :
at Tetuan, on the Vega, Corn-buntings had now become numerous and chortling,
and Swifts were flying about the town as well as Swallows.
It was a whole week of almost incessant storm before our baggage could be
retrieved from Xauen, by which time my “ flu’ was well enough to travel on,
1 “ Mist.”
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 61
but the storms held us up for yet another three days ; most of the fords we should
have to cross between Tetuan and Tazerut were still uncrossable torrents. Had
it not been for my illness and the bad weather, we might have improved our
migration records during these ten days at Tetuan ; as it was, we did very little
bird work there.
We had now completed the first half of our trip, and must own to having
regarded its ornithological results through very blue spectacles : we had hoped
for so much and achieved results mainly negative! Our hopes for the second half
lay almost entirely in Jebel Buhasem, in Raisuli’s territory of Beni-Aros, which
was known to contain a forest of large deciduous trees. This celebrated chief-
tain and descendant of the Prophet, who had finally submitted, on terms, to the
Spanish Government, about nine months ago, had given us a cordial entrée to
his village Tazarut and his domains in general. On the 16th it was reported
that the fords were crossable, so the following day, all, as usual, having
been nicely arranged for our journey, we left Tetuan, in company with
Mulay Moustafa, Pasha of Arzila and nephew of Raisuli, and after a two-hour
motor-drive to Zoco Arba, and then a seven-hour ride, arrived at Tazarut
just before sunset.
By our programme we should have had three weeks work in this neighbour-
hood, but this was reduced to little more than twelve days by the most appalling
weather ; quite unprecedented in Maroccan April, so everyone assured us.
From April 20 to 28 (inclusive) we had nothing but storms of wind and rain ;
it was bitterly cold, and we were glad to abandon our tents and accept a
more stable shelter in the shape of an empty barrack-room, kindly lent us
by Mulay Ali, Pasha of Tazarut, another nephew of Raisuli. During all
these nine days we were only able to work in the field for short spells now
and again, during a brief clearing or when it was only “raining ” instead of
“ deluging.”’
At last, with May, the proper fine spring weather set in, and we were able
to explore J. Buhasem and its forest properly, and this time were rewarded in
our finds.
The “ big forest,” i.e. the forest of big trees, covering some 10,000 acres (2),
lies on the western side and northern facets of the J. Alam-Buhasem-Sugna
range, between 3,000 and 5,000 ft., and is composed entirely of encinas, which,
especially those on the northern facets, are fine trees with straight trunks. One
of the largest of these oaks, which I judged to be about 80 ft. high, measured
10 ft. in girth at 4 ft. above its base—the general run is between two-thirds and
half of that size.
Perhaps owing to the cold, sunless weather they were later than usual coming
into leaf, but we were surprised to find in May (!) only the lowest ones in full
leaf, and those towards the top still only in bud. The “ big forest ”’ peters out
to the northward and southward of the Beni-Aros territory, and does not pro-
perly extend across the valley to the Sumata Mountains, our western vis-a-vis,
although there too we could see patches of fairly good-sized encinas towards the
tops.
Just below the “ big forest ”’ and merging into it, is a belt of cork-oaks, quite
small trees with masses of saplings, interspersed with thick tracts of jungle—
giant heath, arbutus, cistus, bramble, etc.
Below this “ cork-belt,” i.e. from about 2,500 ft., the mountains slope down
62 NoviraTEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924,
nearly to the valley 1 bottom at 1,200 ft., almost entirely in pasture, scrub, and
boulders, Tazerut lies at 2,100 ft.
Raisuli’s people have practically no agriculture or kitchen-gardens ; they are
pastoral folk, and obtain their grain and vegetables from neighbouring tribes in
barter for their stock. Some toll is taken of the timber for building purposes,
I think of quite negligible quantity at the present day; but the fact of there
being several sacred groves, as well as isolated examples, of splendid old oaks
and corks, down to 2,000 ft. on the otherwise bare slopes below the forest, is
perhaps suggestive of the “ big forest” having once extended lower down. If
it did, it must have been a very long time ago.
One very important feature of the Beni-Aros country and its mountains,
and one which at once struck us after coming from limestone Mago, is the sand-
stone formation. ‘Thus here: encinas and corks, no pinsapos ; copious water-
supplies at the surface (right up to 5,000 ft. in some parts), supporting a good
undergrowth of holly, laurustinus, bramble, arbutus, heath, etc., inside the
forest ; no special upper-zone plants like peonies, gooseberries, maples, etc.
(though this may be partly due to altitude); the top of Buhasem is just abouldery
““ moor ”’ clad with a 2-foot growth of heath, etc., see Plate V, d.
On the hillsides, the vegetal character is very different from that of Mago’s
dried-up expanses ; bracken, the heaths, and Cistaceae being especially luxuriant
and (some) of different kind, excellent grazing where cleared and so forth.
Similarly, and of course in part consequent on the foregoing differences of
environment, we found considerable difference in the bird-life of Beni-Aros, more
especially in the “‘ big forest.” In the upper two-thirds of the “ big forest,”
i.e. from about 3,600 ft. up to where at 5,000 ft. it peters out into small trees
and the last 500 ft. of bouldery moorland summit, Woodpeckers Green and Great-
spotted, Treecreepers, Nuthatches, Pied and Spotted flycatchers, Missel
thrushes, Robins, Wrens, Firecrests, Stock and Wood pigeons were abundant,
and these, though at first curiously silent, despite the fact that many of them
were on the point of breeding, when the fine weather arrived, enlivened the
forest with a chorus of song- and call-notes.
Migrants, represented daily by hordes of Swifts and Swallows with lesser
numbers of House-Martins, swept the air overhead, Bee-eaters passed over
chirruping in constant streams, Golden orioles flitted from tree to tree, shy
troops of Barbary apes barked from safely distant tree top or crag towards the
summit . .. here, there was always the expectancy of something fresh in the
bird-line—Mago had been a “ funeral.”
In fact, all was extremely pleasant after the dearth and bad weather of the
first part of our trip, save only for a perfect pest of the little blood-sucking “ black-
flies.”’? These horrid little creatures rose in swarms from the dead leaves and
foot growth, to bite one’s face and hands whenever one stopped for a moment:
there was no respite from them, unless one could get into a breeze exceeding in
velocity their maximum speed of flight about 8 m.p.h., and since this was seldom
obtainable in the forest one had generally to submit to their persecution, with
the result that the mere physical enjoyment of this otherwise charming place was
1 Of the O. Tzelatza de Beni Issef, whose waters by circuitous route essentially reach the
O. Luccus and Atlantic.
2 Simulium venustum and S. ornatum—the same genus as the Newfoundland “ black-fly ”’
which is so troublesome to fishermen on the rivers there.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 63
much spoilt. How long this plague continues I could not find out from the
natives ; they, however, seldom go into the forest, and were equally worried, but
I believe it ceases about midsummer. The flies do not exist in the lowest parts
of the forest, and when we camped at 3,800 ft. they mercifully retired at sun-
down for the night.
In the lowest part of the forest (i.e. below the “ big forest ”) and its con-
tiguous cork-belt there was very little bird-life ; the jungles hold little more than
an occasional Robin, Wren, or Blackbird, which could be heard oftener than
seen; altogether, work there did not repay the struggle of pushing and crawling
through the jungle.
Below the cork-belt the hill slopes, with their chequered scrub and pasture
and huge sandstone boulders, were bright with Larks, Crested (theklae) and
Wood, in full song, Little owls, Dartford and Sardinian Warblers, Stonechats
and other breeding birds, while migrants, such as Ortolans, Hippolais polyglotta,
Tawny pipits, etc. etc., were often very numerous (after the weather had
cleared up), resting on their passage. The sacred groves and, more from their
giving shelter to migrants, the orchards too, had plenty of bird-life.
The last four days of our stay in Beni-Aros we spent delightfully encamped
at 3,800 ft. by the Col or Pass of Arosa Mensoja,! connecting J. Buhasem with
J. Alam, the latter mountain famed for the shrine of the holy Mohammed Abd-es-
salaam near its summit, and on May 8 we returned to Tetuan by the same way
we had come.
Little in the bird line seemed to have changed on the route during the three
weeks; a very few Short-toed larks, hispanica Wheatears, and Tawny pipits
looked as if they would breed on the hitherto deserted “shaley ” hill ridge
separating the sandstone and limestone formations ; the flocks of Choughs on the
low ground had withdrawn, presumably into the mountains for breeding purposes,
and Ravens in numbers were scavenging the Zoco Arba camp just as before.
Our last week was devoted chiefly to investigating, so far as we could, the
effect of the Straits of Gibraltar as a separation “line ”’ between species and
subspecies of birds. This, we thought, could best be done by working woodlands
in Sierra Bullones, as nearly similar in character to those fruitful and well-known
ones just across the water near Algeciras.
But we found that, unfortunately, such delectable haunts do not really
exist on the African side of the Straits, and the best we could do was to explore,
first, a densely jungled valley with a sprinkling of cork-trees * on the south side
of J. Musa (Apes Hill), and secondly a pretty little cork wood at Benzu, on the sea-
coast to the north-eastward of the same Jebel. The former was extraordinarily
deficient in bird-life, the only bird worth getting that we saw there was a Green
woodpecker—from whom we were never separated by less than 200 yards of well-
nigh impenetrable jungle, and the latter, only about 30 acres, was really too
small: it held no Jays, Woodpeckers, Treecreepers, Robins, and, in fact, save
Blue and Great tits, none of the birds that would best have suited our purpose.
And there were no other wooded places to go to.
Thanks to the kindness of Sefior Rosende, the well-known Marine Engineer,
and maker of Ceuta’s fine new harbour, who gave us not only the use of his trains
1 “The petrified bride,” so called from a curious-shaped boulder on the Col, alongside the track.
2 Typical of what is called later a “ wooded jungle”’; see Part III.
64 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
to Benzu but placed a steam-tug at our disposal on May 14, we also made a
thorough inspection of the sea-coast for ten miles to westward of Ceuta, including
the Isla de Perejil, in order to clear up the question of breeding gulls.
Irby was certainly mistaken in supposing that the blackbacked gull is
anything more than a winter visitor to the Straits; the only sea breeding
gull there is the “herring,” of which we obtained four specimens out of a
hundred seen.
Migration was still going strong at Ceuta; for instance, in the afternoon of
May 13 every wretched little bush in a gully among the terribly arid hills outside
the town seemed to hold one or more birds, Garden warblers, Rufous warblers,
Hippolais polyglotta, Whitethroats, and other kinds. In its volume it reminded
me more of our autumn “rushes ” at Port Said than an episode of spring
migration.
On May 16 we crossed to Algeciras, where I bade good-bye to my companions
Sefiores Cabrera and Quiros, and on the 18th, all having again been made easy
and delightful by Admiral and Mrs. Ellerton, sailed from Gibraltar for England
with the collections in Orient line s.s. Orvieto.
PART III.—CATALOGUE OF BIRDS OBTAINED AND OBSERVED BY
US IN YEBALA.
(a) The order, nomenclature, and index number of the species are those of
Hartert and Jourdain’s “ The hitherto known Birds of Marocco,” Nov. Zool.,
xxx, 1923; but I only put the breeding * in our list for birds which gave us
certain evidence of breeding in N.W. Marocco.
(6) The English name is that of the species (since many racial forms have
never yet been given authoritative English names, and some care in giving and
using English—as well as Latin—names is desirable).
(c) The specimens collected are indicated by the prefix ““ Coll.” These,
with the exception of a representation in the “ Museo Nacional de Ciencias
Naturales ” of Madrid, are now in Lord Rothschild’s Museum at Tring.
(d) Dr. Hartert and I “ worked out” the collection together at Tring,
comparing also with material in the British Museum and Witherby collections,
aid we wish to gratefully acknowledge. The determinations are the joint result ;
the few exceptions in which we are not in complete agreement are alluded to in
the text, and only concern minutiae of characters, whose accommodation in our
system of classification, rather than the recognition of their existence, presents a
difficulty from some points of view.
(e) For the sake of emphasis, notifications of certain species and groups
which from past records we might have expected to, but did not meet with,
are also included in this catalogue. Such references are made in smaller type
in the text.
(f) References to Hartert and Jourdain’s “ Hitherto known Birds of Marocco,”
Nov. Zool., xxx., are abbreviated as “‘ H. and J.,” with index number of species.
References to Lynes’ “‘ Ornithology of the Maroccan Middle Atlas,” bis,
1920, are abbreviated as “ M.A.” with page number.
References to Henri et Alfred Vaucher, “Liste des Oiseaux . . .” Rev. Franc.
@ Orn, 1915, are abbreviated as “ Vaucher,” with page number.
NOVITATES ZooLoGIcaE XXXI. 1924, 65
*], Corvus corax tingitanus Irby. (Raven.)
Coll. 1 8, 27.3. Sex organs winter condition.
Common wherever we went. Each Spanish camp had its scavenging party
of Ravens ; at Zoco Arba, a large camp, there were some twenty or thirty birds,
at Xauen about sixteen, and only four at the small camp at Tazerut. They
were to be seen thus during the whole of our visit, and apparently at all hours
of the day, e.g. there seemed to be about as many at Zoco Arba at 3 p.m. on
May 8 as there had been at 11 a.m. on March 4; and so elsewhere.
When disturbed and scattered, these packs of ravens were apt to break up
into twos ; each bird ate its pickings on the spot, and altogether there was nothing
at any rate suggestive of the pack as being composed of single birds finding
food for breeding mates. Twos, not single, were the rule, apart from these
congregations. They doubtless pair for life like our Ravens, but it is curious
what a small proportion of the Maroccan birds seem to breed.
_ It was just the same in the Middle Atlas all through May, the nesting
month there.
The only direct evidence we had of nesting was that of the pair fighting the
Buzzards at their nest on May 7 (see 170).
(Note.) Corvus corone L. (Carrion Crow.)
On and over the Vega of Tetuan, we several times saw what we were almost
sure were Carrion crows ; but never close enough to be quite certain. On March 21
there were some twenty, with a few Jackdaws, on March 24, April 4 and 9, single
birds only, after which we saw no more.
The flock of twenty was apparently feeding among the young corn, and
rose so wild when approached that the local “‘ cazadors ” failed to shoot any for us.
Drake’s record may therefore be correct, and the Carrion crow a winter
visitor.
2. Coloeus monedula subsp. (?). (Jackdaw.)
From March 19 to April 14, off and on, we saw Jackdaws frequenting the
Beni-Hozmar slopes and the Vega of Tetuan. They were mostly in compact
flocks of thirty to seventy birds, roving for food, which they seemed to find on
newly ploughed fields, but our efforts to obtain specimens were not successful,
We saw nothing of the species anywhere else, nor in the above locality after
mid-April, but quite likely they breed in the high crags of Beni-Hozmar and Beni-
Hassan, which we never visited later than mid-April. Munn’s record seems to
me to put the Jackdaw definitely on the breeding-list.
3. Pica (Magpie).
Not observed.
*4. Garrulus glandarius whitakeri (Hart.). (Jay.)
Coll. 1 4 J. Mago; 3 g, 2 QJ. Buhasem.
Only found in these two forests, and in Mago, evidently frequenting the
few deciduous trees, not the conifers. In Buhasem forest plentiful from base
(2,400 ft.) up to at least 4,000 ft.
Although paired when first seen on April 1, breeding was evidently to be
oO
66 NOVITATEsS ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
much later: sexual organs’ evidence, and we found none other, pointed to mid-
May being the earliest date for eggs.
In habits and note this Jay is just the same as our British bird, and also as
its next-door neighbour of Central and South Marocco “ oenops,” from which
form “ whitakeri ” is well separated by colour.
7. Pyrrhocorax graculus (L.). (Yellow-billed Chough.)
Near Zoco Arba, on March 24, and again at the same place on April 4, flocks
of yellow-billed choughs were feeding on arable ground. I stupidly missed my
only shot at them, so failed to get a specimen, but there was no doubt about
the yellow bill—plainly visible at 25 yards to all three of us.
Pyrrhocorax (?) sp.
Flocks of Choughs were observed in April at J. Mago; also in March at
Quitsan, making, what seemed to be, diurnal flights between the Vega of Tetuan
and Beni-Hozmar ; and finally, in mid-May we saw choughs circling round the
tops of Sierra Bullones—very likely nesting there ; but as all these birds were
only seen at comparatively long range and high in air no specific diagnosis was
possible.
In Beni-Aros we saw no Choughs ; the smallsandstone crags of Buhasem’s
top are unlikely breeding-places for them.
To clearly define the Chough status in North Marocco is well worth special
effort ; so far, we have the Red-billed in the Great and Middle Atlas, and in certain
parts of Southern Andalusia (Serrania de Ronda), etc. etc., and the Yellow-billed in
North and Central Yebala and other parts of South Andalusia (Granada, Malaga)
(Irby), etc. ete. Do any of these forms differ subspecifically from the typical ?
More work is required here.
8. Sturnus unicolor Temm. (Spotless Starling.)
9. Sturnus vulgaris vulgaris L. (Common Starling.)
We found no Starlings anywhere.
10. Oriolus oriolus oriolus (L.). (Golden Oriole.)
Golden Orioles first arrived in the woods of J. Buhasem on May 1; these
evidently passed onwards and were more or less daily replaced by others, but
there was no song to indicate breeding individuals up to the day of our departure,
May 8. The Vaucher record as “ tres abondant comme höte d’hiver dans tout
le Maroc ” is surely an error ?
11. Coccothraustes coccothraustes. (Hawfinch.)
Not observed, although in J. Buhasem and particularly in the small cork wood at Benzu, seeing
that the typical race nests commonly in the Algeciras cork woods, we thought to have found one
or other of the races of Hawfinch.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924, 67
12. Chloris chloris aurantiiventris (Cab.). (Greenfinch.)
Coll. 1 g, 1 9, 19.3. Sex organs winter condition.
Greenfinches were in small parties in the orchards and groves at Quitsan
and Xauen in March, and at Tazarut in April and early May, but we noticed no
evidences of breeding, and some of migration in March and April.
13. Carduelis carduelis africana (Hart.). (Goldfinch.)
Coll. 1 &, 23.4. Testes enlarging.
At Quitsan, about Tetuan, and at Xauen in March and the first half of April,
goldfinches were fairly common in the orchards, but from the daily fluctuation
in numbers and their restlessness and formation in small parties, we judged these
birds, or at any rate the majority of them, to be on migration.
At Tazerut the species was not at all common, but had paired and would
probably nest about mid-May in the orchards, but not at all in the forest, where
we never saw the species.
14. Carduelis spinus (L.). (Siskin.)
Not observed.
*15. Carduelis cannabina mediterranea (Tschusi). (Linnet.)
Coll. 1 g, 23.4. Testes enlarging.
The Linnet is another Finch which evinced migratory movement, arrivals,
departures, and restless movement in small parties, even so late as May 13 on
the barren hillsides near Ceuta, but at Tazerut by the first week of May some
individuals had paired and certainly selected their breeding sites on the ‘‘ monte ”’-
clad hill slopes.
16. Serinus canaria serinus (L.). (Serin.)
Fairly common at Quitsan, not at all common at Xauen ; and I cannot find
a note of even seeing a Serin at Tazerut ! but I think there must have been one
or two in the orchards there.
19. Loxia curvirostra L. (Crossbill.)
Not observed. There are a few small pine-trees at one point on the western slope of Beni-
Hozmar, which may be the last remnant of a destroyed pine wood ; and we thought we saw a few
more in the distance towards the Northern Pena of J. Mago; but there is no likely present-day
Crossbill habitat anywhere we travelled, nor is there elsewhere in Yebala, from all accounts.
*21. Fringilla coelebs koenigi Rothsch. & Hart. (Chaffinch of North Marocco.)
Coll. 10 4,42.
This green-backed Chaffinch was one of the few really common birds,
frequenting orchards, groves, even the taller ““ monte ” and forests, as high as
6,000 ft. on J. Mago.
Cocks began to sing about the equinox, and the earliest evidence of actual
breeding was a hen-bird building her nest 35 ft. up a 50 ft. oak-tree in
J. Buhasem on May 7.
This race appears to me to be just (only) recognizable, by being on the
average slightly smaller and darker than africana, into which form it grades.
68 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
22. Fringilla coelebs coelebs L. (Chaffinch of Europe.)
I am nearly sure the European Chaffinch in small parties was about Quitsan
between March 15 and 20, but they were so restless and wild that we never brought
off a successful shot to prove it.
These would be winterers; we certainly never saw any but green-backed
chaffinches later.
24. Petronia petronia (L.). (Rock Sparrow.)
The Rock Sparrow was not identified for certain, but we are almost sure
that a party of six flew past our motor-car near Zoco Arba on April 4.
*25. Passer domesticus tingitanus Loche. (House Sparrow.)
Coll. 7 4, 2 &.
The House Sparrow was common enough in the towns, villages, and camps.
The black bases to crown feathers of the 3, characterising the form tingt-
tanus, are less well illustrated in these Yebala specimens than in Algerian ones
and identification has had to be based on the mass, not the individual, for two
out of the seven collected are equally like domesticus.
[With forms of sparrows which are known, in certain localities, to interbreed
with other forms, I think that without inconsistency one may well accept a
higher proportion of ‘“ duds ” than one does with the mass of bird kind when it
comes to identification of Geographical Races.—H. L.]
26. Passer hispaniolensis hispaniolensis (Temm.). (Spanish Sparrow.)
We never saw the Spanish Sparrow anywhere.
27. Emberiza calandra calandra L. (Corn Bunting.)
From April 4 onwards the Corn Bunting was common and in song over the
Vega of Tetuan. We never saw it earlier, and although this may well have been
due to incomplete field-work there and the birds being out of song in March,
we believe that the majority of (possibly all) these Tetuan Corn Buntings were
only summer visitors.
At Tazarut we never saw the species ; an absence or at any rate scarcity
doubtless due to the country being pastoral, not agricultural.
28. Emberiza cirlus L. (Cirl Bunting.)
Coll. 1 9,12. i
Here and there. In Beni-Hozmar and E] Hamas (Xauen’s territory) we
found the Cirl Bunting keeping to the valleys and hill bases, being replaced, above
about 2,000 ft., by the Rock Bunting, but in this distribution, environment,
independent of altitude, is of course the governing factor.
29. Emberiza cia africana le Roi. (Rock Bunting.)
Coll. 2 3.
We found the Rock Bunting fairly common about the rocky-stony-bushy
parts of the lower zones of the Mountains (on J. Mago up to 4,000 ft.).
Our two specimens quite agree with 3’s collected by Riggenbach in S.W.
NOVITATES ZoOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 69
Marocco, having the short grey throat and crop characteristie of africana, but
in tint below, incline towards (richer) cia. The former character is, however,
predominant and quite a good one for recognition.
30. Emberiza hortulana L. (Ortolan Bunting.)
Among numbers of other migrants observed on May 3 was one 3 Ortolan
—the first and, indeed, only one we saw— but we should doubtless have seen
others had we worked the lower and open ground more, instead of the forest.
34. Melanocorypha calandra calandra (L.). (Calandra Lark.)
The Calandra Lark had apparently not arrived up to April 16, when we went to Tazarut, where
the hill country is unsuited to the requirements of this plain-loving species, so we never saw it.
36. Calandrella brachydactyla brachydactyla (Leisler). (Short-toed Lark.)
The first Short-toed Larks arrived in the Vega of Tetuan about April 9;
later, a few individuals looked like having selected their breeding sites on some
bare uplands near Zoco Arba on May 8.
We obtained no specimens, so the identification above is only provisional.
38. Galerida cristata (? kleinschmidti Erl.). (Crested Lark.)
As we only saw cristata Crested Larks on the Vega of Tetuan, and not even
around Ceuta, which is the hilly country, I formed the opinion that in Eastern
Yebala the cristata lark is a coastal-plain inhabitant, giving way to theklae
directly the ground begins to undulate, although the two species doubtless over-
lap to some extent in other parts of Spanish Marocco.
We collected no specimens, but it is only the Race, not the Species, that is
in doubt, for we saw the birds quite close to.
40. Galerida theklae erlangeri Hart. (Short-billed Crested Lark.)
Coll. 10 3, 62.
The Short-billed Crested Lark was common everywhere, frequenting the
hill slopes, whether “‘ monte ” pasture or arable, from their bases up to 1,500 ft.
about Xauen, and 2,500 ft. at Tazarut, at which altitudes rocks, cliffs, or trees
begin to make an unsuitable habitat. Unlike the Wood Lark, this species does
not reappear on the “ moorland ” mountain-tops.
By mid-March some were paired and cocks singing, but nesting did not
commence until well on in April.
On May 2 we flushed a bird from her nest of four eggs slightly incubated.
We made a special point of obtaining a series of these birds from near Tetuan,
the type-locality of Sefior Cabrera’s G. t. berenguert (Boletin de la Real Soc. Hsp.
de Hist. Nat., January—February 1922, p. 11) obtained by himself in November
1921, and Hartert and I agree that his bird is only erlangeri in fresh plumage,
with the “pale edgings ” (mostly to be abraded away before the next breeding-
season) showing as a conspicuous colour feature of the secondaries.
In a series, it is noticeable that erlangeri, like other Crested Larks, is
liable to considerable variation in colour of under parts; often due to soil-
staining.
70 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
41. Galerida theklae ruficolor Whit. =G. c. aguirrei Cabrera.
In addition to sending us from the Madrid Museum a topotype of his @. t. berengueri, Sefior
Cabrera has kindly sent one of his Galerida theklae aguirrei described in the same Boletin. This
is a May-bird from the type locality, the “‘ Garet ” in “ the low Rif” (mihi).
After comparing it with a good series, we find it to be inseparable from ruficolor, of which
race it is an example in rather worn plumage.
Both races show considerable difference between their “ fresh ” and worn plumages. We are
glad to be able to add that Sefior Cabrera agrees with us in cancelling both names berenguert and
aguirres.
42. Lullula arborea harterti Hilgert. (Woodlark.)
Coll. 5 &.
Although less numerous on the lower slopes than the theklae lark, the
Woodlark is also there, and in addition ranges much higher, for instance at
Buhasem it was as plentiful on the heath-clad “‘ moorlands ” of the summits
at 5,500 ft. as on the lower slopes at 1,700 ft.
Considering that in the Middle Atlas at 4,000-5,000 ft. altitude Woodlarks
began to nest in March, and their song was to be heard on all sides in April, and
that much the same may be said of the species in South Andalusia, the Yebala
Woodlarks seemed extraordinarily late in breeding, for although some were
paired as early as mid-March it was quite rare to hear their song, and then only
a few poor snatches, until the beginning of May, and right up to May 6 the
sexual organs of our specimens were, none of them, up to breeding condition.
Surely in a species whose individuals are certainly resident, all this lateness
could not have been merely the effect of the stormy spring ? If so, it would be
against my own experience.
Dr. Hartert and I agree that although for a complete description in writing
of this race a series of freshly moulted specimens is still required, there is no doubt
that the “ North African ” Woodlark is distinguishable in worn plumage by the
characters given for L. a. harterti Hilgert, and that consequently the “*?” in
H. and J. 42 may now be removed.
43. Alauda arvensis L. (Skylark.)
We probably arrived in Jebala too late for wintering skylarks, since we saw none, and the species
is one of the earliest to leave Mediterranean winter quarters, e.g. in Crete all had left by the end of
February.
As regards the Skylark of non-typical but still undefined race, which breeds on the Middle
Atlas Plateau (see M.A., p. 291), Yebala for certain, and judging from what we know of its physical
geography, the whole of Spanish Marocco almost certainly, contains no high elevated “ downs ” or
plateaux to provide that environment which seems to be required by Skylarks breeding in Mediter-
ranean latitudes.
44. Eremophila alpestris atlas Whit. (Shorelark.)
What has been said of breeding Skylarks, applies equally to the Shorelark ; neither species is
at all likely to occur in Spanish Marocco.
45. Anthus campestris campestris (L.). (Tawny Pipit.)
Coll. 1 g, 13.5, testes large.
Tawny Pipits first appeared in the Vega of Tetuan the second week of April.
These were certainly on migration, but the single 3 (obtained), and a pair seen
on the dry hill tops near Ceuta on May 13 were quite likely about to breed there.
The Vaucher record as ‘“‘ héte d’hiver ” is surely an error ?
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXIJ. 1924, 71
46. Anthus trivialis trivialis (L.). (Tree Pipit.)
A misration of Tree Pipits coineided more or less with that in April of the
preceding species. I think it is very improbable that any Tree Pipits winter in
North Marocco.
47. Anthus pratensis (L.). (Meadow Pipit.)
Coll. 1 9, 24.4.
Meadow Pipits were plentiful in small parties when we arrived in mid-March.
These individuals, presumably winterers, appeared to have left for the North
by about the Equinox, after which the species was only intermittently represented
by what were, evidently, emigrants ; the last one seen (and obtained) being at
Tazarut on April 24, during a brief clearing between rain-storms.
48. Anthus cervinus (Pall.), (Red-throated Pipit.)
49. Anthus spinoletta petrosus (Mont.). (Rock Pipit.)
Neither of these species was seen.
50, 51, 52. Motacilla flava. (Yellow Wagtails.)
We did not actually see any Yellow Wagtails, but would of course have done so had we been
more in suitable places for them, such as the Vega of Tetuan.
*53. Motacilla cinerea cinerea Tunst. (Grey Wastail.)
Coll. 1 ¢ 31. 3, 1 2 3.4 Xauen breeding.
Two breeding pairs frequented the cascading “* Raas-el-Ma ” at Xauen during
our visit there; the 2 obtained would have commenced to lay in about a
week’s time.
In view of this, we were surprised not to have met with the species up the
very suitable Quitsan stream in March, but perhaps the birds are not resident
in North Marocco ?
55. Motacilla alba alba L. (White Wagtail.)
A White Wagtail, probably on migration, was noted on the Vega of Tetuan
on March 21, and I think we saw others elsewhere, later, but cannot find the
record in my notes.
[*57A.] Certhia brachydactyla brachydactyla Brehm. (Treecreeper.)
Coll. 7 g, 4 9, 1? sex.
The Treecreeper was found only in the forests of J. Mago and J. Buhasem.
In the former, the thick foliage of the “‘ pinsapos,” and the silence of the birds
at so early a season, made them very difficult to locate, but enough were seen
(two shot) to suggest a fair stock there, and in J. Buhasem the species was plentiful,
singing, and on the point of breeding when we left on May 8; earlier, that is,
than with mauretanica in the Middle Atlas (see M.A., p. 292).
Our twelve specimens all agree in being darker (and somewhat less rufescent)
above than mauretanica and cannot be ascribed to that form. Spanish birds
are generally classed as ultramontana, but the Yebala birds and a number of
72 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXIT. 1924.
Spanish specimens seem to me so like brachydactyla that I have thought it
best to use the typical name for the Yebala birds.
58. Tichodroma muraria (L.). (Wall-creeper.)
We did not find the Wall-creeper anywhere.
Re H. and J., 58. In 1892, since no European would have been likely to venture farther south
than a few miles from Tetuan, the mountains visited by M. Henri Vaucher were presumably those
Beni-Hozmar, whose summits we did not manage to reach.
But although crowned with imposing limestone crags, these mountains only attain a maximum
altitude of 3,600 ft., and so far as we could tell from their middle zone gave little promise of any-
thing special higher up.
In all their physical features, these mountains of Yebala are nearly identical with the minor
Sierras and Serranias of Southern Andalusia, where neither Wall-creeper nor Alpine Accentor are
known to occur, and in view of what we know of the distribution and habitats of these two species
I doubt whether it would be wise to accept them in the Maroccan list as other than “ possible rare
vagrants ” (e.g. their status on our British list) until positive evidence to the contrary is forthcoming.
*59. Sitta europaea hispaniensis With. (= atlas Lynes). (Nuthatch.)
Coll. 13 3, 8 2, J. Buhasem.
1 ? sex, J. Mago.
Like the Treecreeper, the Nuthatch was found to occur only in the forests
of J. Mago and J. Buhasem.
Judging as much from my Middle Atlas experience as from finding the birds
so scarce in early spring on J. Mago, I expect the Nuthatch will prove to be not
plentiful there owing to the scarcity of deciduous trees, but in the oak forest on
J. Buhasem the species was quite abundant between 4,000 and 5,000 ft. wherever
the trees were a good size, less so above and below those altitudes.
Towards the end of April the birds commenced courting, and on May 6
a 9, probably one of the earliest breeders, was shot beginning her nest (with dead
oak leaves) in a natural hole 20 ft. up a 30 ft. tree.
When I described atlas (Bull. B.O.C., November 1919) the only Nut-
hatches available for comparison with the Middle Atlas specimens, from nearer
to Marocco than the area of caesia, consisted of but four specimens from
Central Spain and Portugal in the Rothschild and Witherby collections, represent-
ing S. e. hispaniensis With. (Bull. B.O.C., xxxi. p. 78) = 8. e. minor Brehm (vide
Vög. Pal. Fauna, p. 2106); and although the Middle Atlas birds were like
enough to some of these, they differed about equally from the actual type-
specimen of hispaniensis and from the average caesia.
The distinctions were in either case small ; a larger series of the Iberian bird
was evidently necessary, hence in describing atlas I compared with the well-
known caesia, in order to provide a more stable description than one with
little-known hispaniensis.
But during the last four years Mr. and Mrs. Witherby have collected a
fine series of Nuthatches from Central Spain and Portugal, which show clearly
that the Tring type of hispaniensis is just one of those unfortunate cases in
which the “ type-specimen ” happens to illustrate the extreme of individual
variation from the racial aggregate, and above all, we arrive at the satisfactory
finding that the Portuguese, Central Spanish, Yebala, and Middle Ailas birds are
all racially identical.
Hartert, Witherby, and I therefore agree that atlas becomes a synonym
NoviratEs ZooLoGIcAE XXXI, 1924. 73
of hispaniensis, and that the following description of the form should be
substituted for that given in Bull. B.O.C., xxix. p. 76:
‘ Sitta europaea hispaniensis Witherby.
“Bill finer and slightly shorter than either caesia or britannica ; under
parts paler than caesia, that is like britannica, but chestnut of flanks dark,
like caesia.”
If Olcese’s “five or six Nuthatches ” came from North Marocco, they may
have been brought to him from Beni-Aros by a native collector, as indeed may
many of both the Tangier dealer’s specimens.
In the light of its “low rolling montafias,” and the past thirty-eight years
of ornithological record from near Tangier, I confess to having regarded this
particular record, ever since the discovery of the Nuthatch in the Middle Atlas,
as not worth more than “the likelihood of there being a Nuthatch in North
Marocco.”’
[Doubtless many records originating with the Tangier dealers do not refer to
the immediate neighbourhood of Tangier, but to anywhere in the Tangier
Peninsula to Ceuta, ete.—E. H.].
*60. Parus major excelsus Buvry. (Great Tit.)
Coll. 4 4,22.
We found the Great Tit everywhere, including Benzu in the extreme north,
and fairly common up to 5,000 ft. altitude so long as there were a few trees, wild
or cultivated, any sort except possibly the conifers.
A 2 (by ovary) laying eggs flew from the wild storm raging without into the
lighted “loggia ” where the Cherif Raisuli was entertaining us at a banquet
on the night of April 29. Her capture, made easy by the fact that she damaged
herself at the lantern, created a diversion.
*Parus coeruleus ultramarinus Bp. (Blue Tit.)
Coll. 11 g, 4 2, 1? sex.
About the commonest and most widespread resident bird we met in Yebala.
In our experience, there seemed scarcely any sort of country at moderate altitudes
where one should not expect to find this lovely little Blue Tit. Neither did we
find any diminution in its numbers or variation (in the aggregate) in its plumage
colour up to the very brink of the Straits of Gibraltar, which abruptly terminates
the northern extension of its very distinct Race.
62. Parus ater atlas Meade-Waldo. (Coal Tit.)
Coll. 1? sex, 1.4, J. Mago.
Our single specimen of the Coal Tit was one of two in company in the Pinsapo
forest. Another two were seen there the same day, but the species was not
in Beni-Aros, probably because of the absence of conifers there.
In the Middle-Atlas these birds, though often in the ilex-trees, were never far
from the cedars, and were most abundant in the cedars of the upper and middle
forest.
Our specimen quite agrees with atlas, whose known range is thus extended
some way farther north.
74 Noviratrs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924,
*63. Regulus ignicapillus ignicapillus (Temm.). (Firecrest.)
Coll. 4 &, 1 9, J. Buhasem.
Several Firecrests were seen in the Pinsapo forest on J. Mago at 6,000 ft.,
and the species was quite plentiful in the Oak forest on J. Buhasem, where on
May 6 at 4,700 ft. we watched a 9 attended by her mate, building their nest in
a frond of “ hair ” lichen, hanging from a big holly bush. The following day
another ® Firecrest was seen carrying (outer) nest material.
Judging from there being no previous records of the species in North Marocco,
it seems possible that in Yebala the Firecrest is confined to these two localities
(in common, it may fairly be said, with the Nuthatch and Treecreeper).
*Lanius excubitor algeriensis Less. (Grey Shrike.)
Coll. 2 9.
All we saw of Grey Shrikes was two pairs, one in the valley of the Wad Lau
at 1,200 ft., the other at Tazarut at 2,000 ft. near the village.
In both cases the 2 was shot. By sexual organs, the former on March 27
was just about to begin laying eggs, the latter, on April 28, had already laid hers,
but we could not find either nest.
Like meridionalis of South Andalusia, algeriensis is evidently an early
breeder in Yebala.
66. Lanius senator senator L. (Woodchat.)
The first few Woodchats arrived and passed on during the last days of March,
but it was not until the middle of April that the passage of the species became
marked. On April 14, in favourable passage weather the hill slopes just above
the Vega of Tetuan were crowded with Woodchats, certainly only on migration,
since there were no suitable breeding sites there ; but all the same we found
them impaling large Blister Beetles (Mylabris) on low thorn bushes, a habit I had
believed to be associated only with nesting.
We have no notes of the species at Tazarut ; very likely it breeds thereabouts,
but it is certainly not the “ abundant summer visitor ” there, like it is all over
the lowlands of South Andalusia.
67. Harpolestes senegalus cucullatus (Temm.). (Tschagra.)
On March 16, in some brambles near Quitsan, we roused a single inquisitive
Tschagra, who unfortunatély got away badly wounded. But never a sign of
another anywhere else ; although we explored many suitable-looking and similar
spots, so that the species cannot be very widespread in Yebala, though it may,
of course, be locally not uncommon.
68. Pycnonotus barbatus barbatus (Desf.). (Bulbul.)
Coll. 1 3,12.
The Bulbul was fairly common in the orchards, which, in our experience, are
very rarely higher in altitude than 2,000 ft., and the species certainly does not
inhabit either of the two forests we visited.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI, 1924, 75
*69. Muscicapa striata striata (Pall.). (Spotted Flycatcher.)
Coll. 3 g, 1 2.
Spotted Flycatchers began to arrive at Tazarut on May 1, and thenceforth
were plentiful, both in the orchards and the forest above, but we left too early
to witness breeding operations there. In the Benzu cork wood the species was
common ; we collected a pair with a half-built nest there on May 15.
The Vaucher record as “ pas rare en toutes saisons ” is surely an error.
*70. Muscicapa hypoleuca speculigera Bp. (Pied Flycatcher [Southern].)
Coll. 5 4, 1 2, Tazarut, 24.4 to 6.5.
This breeding Race of Pied Flycatcher began to arrive at Tazarut about
a week later than the first migrants of the Northern (typical) Race.
Field recognition of speculigera from hypoleuca, based on the large white
forehead patch, and aided by the purer black of 90 per cent. of the former,
is quite practical—in fact, so far as my own experience here and in the Middle
Atlas goes, it is infallible if one adopts the principle of disregarding rare
““ doubt£uls.”
Although speculigera was occasionally found on the bushed slopes, during
what were probably their first few hours (or minutes?!) of arrival, it was
quite obvious that they very soon found their home in the forest mainly between
4,000 and 4,800 ft. altitude, where they soon became plentiful, paired, and about
to breed when we left on May 8.
71. Muscicapa hypoleuca hypoleuca Pall. (Pied Flycatcher {Northern].)
Col. 3 4, 3 2, Tazarut, 18.4 to 2.5, 1& Benzu, 15.5.
(Vide remarks on preceding.) The Northern Pied Flycatchers, who passed
through Tazarut in numbers, more often frequented the groves and orchards
and lowest zone of the forest than anywhere else.
The specimen shot at Benzu in mid-May gave no indication, either by sex
organs or behaviour, of breeding there, and was doubtless one of the “ belated
migrants ” suggested in H. and J. 70.
72. Phylloscopus collybita collybita (Vieill.). (Chiffchaff.)
Coll. 1 ? sex, 15.3. (This species only for identification, not preserved.)
Chiffchaffs were numerous up to the first week of April. Up to the third
week of March they seemed to be winterers, after which daily fluctuation of their
numbers and other indications suggested departure of the winterers and the
migration of fresh individuals.
We saw none for certain after April 16, and probably none breed in Yebala.
If the Chiffchaff had been either in the Buhasem forest or the little Benzu cork
wood, we should certainly have heard it, for on May 17 we found the species in
full song (the peculiar song recorded in Jbis 1914, pp. 304 et seq.), and a com-
pleted nest near Almoraima,
I think it as well to mention this, for although H. and J. give the Chiffchaff
as a non-breeder in Marocco, it is reported as breeding in Algeria, and does so
abundantly just on the other side of the Straits of Gibraltar.
76 NOVITATEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
73. Phylloscopus trochilus trochilus (L.). (Willow Wren.)
Coll. g 15.3, 9 14.4, 9 12.5, 2 9 15.5, sex organs minute.
The Willow Wren is certainly, in the rule, only a migrant in North Marocco,
but remarkable though it be when the known winter range of the species is
considered, records exist tending to show that afew (exceptional ?) individuals
spend the winter so far north as Marocco. Our specimen of March 15, one
among many Chifichaffs, may have been such a one.
With regard to Irby’s “breeds near Tangier,” I think my explanation in
Ibis, 1914, p. 312, explains how he probably made his mistake about the Willow
Wren breeding near Gibraltar, and applies equally to Marocco ; and I quite agree
with H. and J. in rejecting Irby’s status of the species.
With us in Yebala, a strong passage of Willow Wrens began in mid-April,
and continued off and on right up to our last day in Marocco, May 15. No sex
organs examined gave the slightest indication of breeding.
74. Phylloscopus bonelli bonelli (Vieill.). (Bonelli’s Warbler.)
Coll. 1 9,1 &, 2.5, J. Buhasem, 9 14.5, Benzu.
Bonelli’s Warbler only began to arrive (in Beni-Aros) in early May, so our
departure thence on May 8 gave us no opportunity of seeing whether the species
breeds there or not.
In the Benzu cork wood on May 14, there were quite a few Bonelli’s Warblers,
but all were silent and the sex organs of our specimen quite small.
But they are late breeders both in the Campo de Gibraltar and in the Middle-
Atlas, and most probably also in North Marocco.
75. Phylloscopus sibilatrix (Bechst.). (Wood Wren.)
Coll. 1 2, Tazerut, 2.5, sex organs minute.
The above specimen was the only Wood Wren we saw for certain.
76. Cettia cetti cetti (Temm.). (Cetti’s Warbler.)
Coll. 1 &, Xauen, 31.3.
Cetti’s Warbler was rather common in the bramble and cane jungles over-
hanging the streams at Quitsan and Xauen. Doubtless also we should have
found it on the Tazerut stream, had we gone down it a little farther, for Cetti’s
Warbler, so far as my Mediterranean experience goes, besides being a resident
is everywhere a bird of low altitudes.
77 to 82. Genera Locustella and Acrocephalus.
We saw nothing of either genus, but our work in Yebala lay for the most part in unlikely
ground for any of their representatives, even if on passage.
83. Hippolais polyglotta (Vieill.). (Melodious Warbler.)
Coll. 2 3,22.
Melodious Warblers first appeared at Tazarut on May 2, in numbers,
migrating, silent, and mostly frequenting small dry bushes—a state of affairs that
continued up to May 15, except that on that day—our last in Marocco—one pair
at least out of the numbers seen at Benzu had selected their nesting site
among the oleanders, and the ¢ was singing.
NOVITATEsS ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 77
84. Hippolais pallida opaca Cab. (Pallid Warbler [Western].)
We have no record of the Pallid Warbler, but probably overlooked it, although it is notoriously
a very late-arriving summer visitor to the Mediterranean,
85. Sylvia hortensis hortensis (Gm.). (Orphean Warbler.)
Ca, 2:
A few Orphean Warblers were seen ; first on May 2—and off and on subse-
quently, but allon passage ; even on May 15a 3 shot at Benzu had testes scarcely
at all enlarged. We left the country too early to be able to say as to the species
breeding at Yebala: it doubtless does so, as H. and J. remark.
86. Sylvia borin (Bodd.). (Garden Warbler.)
Coll. 3 g, 1 9, all sex organs small.
The garden warbler first appeared in mid-April (J. Buhasem, April 17), after
which the species became more or less frequent, even abundant near Ceuta during
our stay there (May 11 to 16), but the birds were always silent, and we could
find no evidence whatever in support of their breeding anywhere in Yebala.
I think there can be little doubt that the species is only a passing migrant in
North Marocco.
87. Sylvia atricapilla atricapilla (L.). (Blackcap.)
Coll. 1 &.
Blackcaps were abundant during the whole of our visit to Quitsan and
Xauen (March 16 to April 4), the large majority, if not all, being on migration,
which evidently commences early in the year, and ceases about the end of April.
As I have often noticed in Andalusia, the earlier parties, those for instance at
Quitsan March 15 to 21, were composed almost entirely of cocks ; the hens follow
later. A few Blackcaps were courting and singing, both at Xauen at the end of
our stay there, and in the Buhasem forest, and would be pretty sure to breed
there a little later on, but to say whether these individual pairs were resident or
only summer visitors would be pure guesswork.
*88. Sylvia communis communis Lath. (Whitethroat.)
The Whitethroat was never plentiful; we noted its first occurrence on
March 31, a pair and a single cock, and thought them on migration. Later we
saw a few everywhere we went, and a hen shot on May 6 at 4,000 ft., in a forest
clearing, was in the middle of laying her eggs.
*89. Sylvia melanocephala melanocephala (Gm.). - (Sardinian Warbler.)
Common, and I believe resident, everywhere, except in the big forests and
heights.
On J. Mago up to about 4,600 ft., where the lowest of the high-zone plants
occur—not higher.
*90. Sylvia cantillans (probably inornata Tschusi). (Subalpine Warbler.)
Coll. 1 9, 6.5.
The Subalpine Warbler must be scarce in Yebala. On March 24 I was
nearly sure of hearing the Subalpine’s rather distinct call-note in a thick bush,
78 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
but never saw one until May 6, when, in a forest clearing at 4,000 ft., I shot
a Q about to lay eggs.
Unfortunately females of cantillans cannot be recognised with certainty from
inornata.
91. Sylvia conspicillata conspicillata Temm. (Spectacled Warbler.)
It was a surprise not to find the Spectacled Warbler in so likely a place as the dry slopes below
Xauen, but we never saw one anywhere.
*93. Sylvia undata toni Hart. (Dartford Warbler.)
Coll. 7 3, 4 2, nest 4 eggs, 29.4.
A fairly common and almost certainly resident bird of the scrub, and one
with considerable range of altitude in Yebala, e.g. near Xauen from the Lau
valley 1,100 ft. up to 5,300 ft. on J. Mago. Not observed above 3,600 ft. in
Beni-Aros.
Like British and Continental Dartfords, toni is very conservative to a
particular kind and density of scrub-growth, and this elusive little bird is like
to be sought in vain at any altitude if the bushes are not “just so.”
Earliest eggs were probably laid about the third week of April; the nest
of April 29 had four eggs, almost fresh, of the “ brown,” not “red ” type.
Our specimens illustrate the ultimate expression of ton? being extremely
dark, slaty-black above, without even the suspicion of brownwash that is notice-
able in most Algerian specimens.
94, Agrobates galactotes galactotes (Temm.). (Rufous Warbler.)
Coll. 1 &, 13.5.
The Rufous Warbler was probably unusually late in coming to Marocco
this year; we never saw one until May 13, and then they appeared in quantities
in the gullies among the Ceuta hills, evidently on passage. This is about ten
days later than Irby’s record for Gibraltar.
It is such a conspicuous bird, I feel sure we cannot have overlooked it earlier.
95. Cisticola juncidis cisticola (Temm.). (Fantail Warbler.)
The Fantail Warbler was always to be seen in the Vega of Tetuan, but we
visited no other places suited to the requirements of this plain and lowland
species. >
*98. Turdus viscivorus deichleri Erl. (Mistle Thrush.)
Coll. 2 g, 1 9, nest 3 eggs, 2.5.
We only found the Mistle Thrush in Beni-Aros, where it was quite plentiful
at all altitudes in the forest and occasional in some of the detached groves
below it.
The nest of May 2 was only 5 ft. above the ground, near the end of one of
the lowest boughs of a huge old cork tree in a sacred grove. See Plate IV, d.
Both nest and eggs were typical Mistle Thrush’s ; the first of the eggs must
have been laid on or about April 21.
NOVITATEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 79
99. Turdus philomelos philomelos Brehm. (Song-thrush.)
Coll. 19, 18.3.
Song Thrushes were frequent at Quitsan, and judging by their restlessness,
probably on the move northward. These were probably local winterers. Later
on, at Xauen and in Beni-Aros, others seen off and on were certainly only passing
through, having wintered further south.
April 26 is our last record of the species.
97. Turdus pilaris L.
100. Turdus musicus L.
101. Turdus torquatus L.
We never saw any Fieldfares, Redwings, or Ring Ouzels, and from such experience as we obtained
I am not optimistic about there being a breeding race of Ring Ouzel in Yebala.
102. Turdus merula algirus (Mad.). (Blackbird.)
Coll. 5 3, 2 Q, nest 4 eggs, 3.5.
Plentiful wherever we went, chiefly in and about the orchards and groves,
but also in the Buhasem forest. On Mago occasionally as high as 4,600 ft., but
probably no higher. These Blackbirds are extraordinarily shy, they cluck away
in thick bushes, and scarcely ever appear in full view, except when bustling off
into another piece of cover, or in the case of the cock, when singing on a bough
above the bushes. Consequently we had great difficulty in collecting hens which
have the distinctive “grey,” not “‘ brown ” coloration.
There seems otherwise no field difference between algirus and merula; nest
and eggs are the same.
104. Monticola saxatilis (L.). (Rock Thrush.)
Coll. 1 2, 30.4.
We only saw Rock Thrushes on the bare top of J. Buhasem, the single 2
collected on April 30, whose ovary, was quite small, and a gd and Q not paired,
and showing no signs of breeding there on May 5. If the species breeds there,
which is likely enough, it must be later in the season ; all our birds behaved as if
on passage. In the Sierras of Andalusia the species, according to my experience,
commences to breed about mid-May.
105. Monticola solitarius solitarius (L.). (Blue Rock Thrush.)
Seen, in all localities visited by us, in suitable places, preferably crags, small
and large. No evidence of migration among those we saw. On Mago up to
6,000 ft.; on Buhasem up to the summit (5,500 ft.).
106, 107. Oenanthe oenanthe. (Wheatear.)
The scarcity of Wheatears of all sorts was most marked. A few ¢ oenanthe
seen in the Vega of Tetuan, April 9 to 14, representing first arrivals, and one 2
(perhaps two) at Tazarut on April 23 were all we ever saw of oenanthe.
80 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
109. Oenanthe hispanica. (Black-throated, Black-eared Wheatear.)
A single d on 24th, another on March 27, both migrants, in the valley of
the Oued Lau, and two pairs probably breeding on the bare hill-sides between
Tazarut and Zoco Arba on May 8, represented all we ever saw of hispanica.
And yet all the lower hill country looked ideal for the nesting requirements of
this conspicuous and, par excellence, Mediterranean-breeding species !
110. Oenanthe leucurus (Gm.). (Black Chat.)
Despite all the admirable Black Chat ground that we worked, we never saw a single bird
anywhere.
*111. Saxicola torquata rubicola (L.). (Stonechat.)
Coll. 4 &.
Just at first, in mid-March, Stonechats were common enough, then seemed
to follow a total blank until nearly mid-April, after which, until the end of the
month, although some seemed to be paired, daily fluctuation in numbers indicated
some degree of passage migration.
At the beginning of May a few pairs at Tazarut had certainly settled-in, and
were breeding in spots we had constantly inspected earlier, without seeing Stone-
chats, and there were no further evidences of migration.
Our travels in the first half of the trip rather prevented the continuous
observation required for a definite conclusion, but I begin to doubt whether all
(or any of ?) the Yebala stonechats are “ resident,’ although it is of course beyond
doubt that numbers are so in many parts of the “ Mediterranean.”
The point could easily be cleared up by any Tetuan resident who cared to
give his attention to it in March and April.
112. Saxicola rubetra rubetra (L.). (Whinchat.)
Whinchats were seen off and on from April 9 to May 13, but never more than
one or two at a time. These were certainly all migrants. Surely the Vaucher
record as ‘‘ surtout höte d’hiver ” is an error.
114. Phoenicurus phoenicurus (L.). (Redstart.)
Redstarts, almost certainly of typical race and on migration, were frequent
up to May 1. There was no suspicion of any Redstart breeding in the Buhasem
forest ; in fact, we never saw but one in it, so that probably algeriensis does
not come so far north as Yebala.
115. Phoenieurus-ochruros gibraltariensis (Gm.). (Blackstart.)
Not uncommon at Quitsan and Xauen, J. Mago up to 5,400 ft., but none
seen between April 1 and May 14, when a single 2 was observed on Perejil Island,
certainly not breeding there, probably a straggler.
The status of the species in Yebala is probably “ winter visitor and migrant.”
116. Diplootocus moussieri (Olphe-Galliard). (Moussier’s Redstart.)
Coll. 1 Q, 26.3.
I cannot give much information about this species. We never saw any
cocks, and the hens are too like hen Redstarts to be quite sure of field diagnosis.
On J. Mago there were certainly a few; our specimen was one of two 9’s in the
NovitaTEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 81
burnt scrub at 4,200 ft., her ovary still in winter condition. In Beni-Aros they
seemed absent, but I think we saw one or two ®’s at Quitsan.
*117. Luscinia megarhyncha megarhyncha Brehm. (Nightingale.)
Coll. 12.
The first nightingales arrived at the end of March. After mid-April their
song was to be heard in most of the damp “ bottoms,” where they were un-
doubtedly breeding, as proved by the ovary of our specimen. The Vaucher
record as “ höte d’hiver ” is surely an error ?
118. Luscinia suecica (L.). (Bluethroat.)
On March 21, when riding across the Vega of Tetuan, we had a momentary
glimpse of a bluethroat at an overgrown irrigation course.
*119. Erithacus rubecula atlas Lynes. (Robin.)
Coll. 1917.3,1 $19.3; 5 &, 1? &, 30.4 to 7.5.
Robins rather puzzled us. At Quitsan, March 15 to 21, there were plenty,
and although the only two we shot there are inseparable from the Beni-Aros
specimens, I think wintering rubeculas must have been at Quitsan too, because
we constantly had glimpses of very brown-backed birds, flitting elusively between
bushes.
Then about Xauen, March 24 to April 4, Robins were so scarce (or absent ?)
that we never even saw one for certain, whereas in Beni-Aros they were plentiful
and on the point of breeding when we left on May 8.
Altogether, the Western Mediterranean Robins want more investigation
and study, both as to kind and status.
So far as numbers go, the combined series in the British Museum, Tring, and
Witherby collections are good, but as very few of the collectors have recorded,
by label or otherwise, more than (if as much as!) a date and locality with their
birds, scarcely any of the autumn and spring specimens can be used as data for
status. Consequently in reality the series are not good. The fact is, and in this
Dr. Hartert and Mr. Witherby agree with me, all these South European — North
African robins are uncommonly close to one another, and until good series of
fresh-plumaged and properly labelled (breeding and non-breeding,! etc.) specimens
are available, so long will the bird remain a puzzle.
To me it seems that the “ nutshell” analysis of the Race question of these
Southern Robins now stand thus :
Compared with rubecula.
atlas, breeders from Middle Above, like but no tinge of rufous.
Atlas (typ. loc.). 9 In richer, more like witherbyv.
ailas, breeders from Yebala . ditto, but earliest specimens show a suspicion of brown tinge
on rump and prox. outer webs of tail feathers, which tinge
may be more wide-spread still—in quite fresh-plumaged
birds.
witherbyi, breeders from Algeria | Above, browner.
(typ. loc.). Below, richer.
In all three Races—no tangible difference in size and (ai present) colour characters so near
one another that it is seldom possible to satisfactorily ascribe single examples from intermediate
localities to any particular one of the three Races.
1 Which item, in the case of the late spring and early autumn birds, may often be impossible
and seldom can be done without careful field observation.
6
82 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
On the whole, I suspect that when we get proper Series, opinion will incline
towards calling all rubecula, but consider that all three “‘races”’ should be
maintained until then.
It would go a long way towards the solution of this little problem if some of
our ornithological friends resident at Gibraltar and in Yebala would take the
matter up ; plenty of good field-work, and comparatively little slaughter necessary.
121, 122. No Prunella sp. seen.
123. Troglodytes troglodytes kabylorum Hart. (Wren.)
Coll. 8 g, 2 9, nest 3 fresh eggs, 2.4.
Plentiful in all localities. Abundant up and down the torrent at Xauen,
and up to 4,000 ft. on Mago, but seldom to be found far from water and damp
spots with thick undergrowth.
Singing merrily from March 16 onwards, typical song.
I caught a sitting on her three eggs on April 2; the nest was built into a
shallow cavity in one of the piers supporting the bridge of Bab-el-Aonzar—typical
in all respects, as are the eggs.
Re M.A. p. 297, the Yebala specimens do not confirm this suggestion.
Cinclus cinclus aquaticus Bechst. (Dipper.)
Coll. 1 & with nest 4 eggs, 20.3; 1 3, 1 2 with their nest of 3 young, 31.3.
There was one pair of Dippers on the torrent above Quitsan, and one pair
on the Xauen torrent—no more. In Beni-Aros the species was absent, but the
streams there are not very suitable.
They breed early, as customary in Europe; the first eggs taken must have
been laid about March 14: this nest was behind a cascade which entailed a cold
bath to get it.
Both nest and eggs are typical.
Although through the interposition of (it seems) cinclus in North and
Central Spain and pyrenaicus in the Pyrenees, this diagnosis of the Yebala
Dippers presents another apparent anomaly in Dipper distribution, and I call
our Yebala birds aquaticus, being unable, from very fair series, to see the
difference between minor of North Africa and perhaps Sierra Nevada, and
aquaticus of Germany, etc.
125. Hirundo rustica L. (Swallow.)
Swallows were with us all the time, i.e. from March 13 onwards, hosts of
migrants and a small proportion of summer visitors.
At Quitsan in the evening of March 15, two swallows arrived and spent that
and succeeding nights on the rim of a last year’s nest i the guard-room of our
Police Station, full, as usual, of Moors.
Of course, one supposes these two birds to have been a pair and last year’s
owners of the nest. The poetic Moors took it for granted.
1 In the Witherby collection are a few good Gibraltar-breeding specimens from Surgeon Rear-
Admiral Stenhouse, but more are wanted, even of midsummer birds from this locality.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 83
I regret now, too late, that we did not pay attention to the request in H. and
J., 125, for more breeding specimens from Marocco, but there is always a delicacy
about the conversion of these little feathered “‘ lares et penates ”’ into specimens.
127. Delichon urbica. (House Martin.)
In our experience, only a migrant. We saw no nests, old or new, anywhere,
even at Ceuta, where, however, we did see two birds so late as May 13; but they
were in company with Swallows over the crowded football ground, most likely
migrants, anyhow unobtainable.
The migration of the House Martin was of a more intermittent nature than
that of the Swallow, e.g., although quite a few passed during the third week of
March (and there were plenty at Madrid on March 9); a fortnight ensued without
our seeing another ; then they began to come through again, and during the first
week of May were migrating in considerable numbers, and in company with
swallows and hordes of swifts.
Favier’s record of breeding has the ring of truth, and Irby appears to have
accepted it ; I think there is good reason to expect confirmation in due course,
though very likely not as house-nesters, but as cave-nesters in the limestone crags,
as in the Campo de Gibraltar.
128. Riparia riparia riparia (L.). (Sand Martin.)
I can only say of the Sand Martin that we are almost sure of having seen a
few on passage on April 16.
130. Riparia rupestris rupestris (Scop.). (Crag Martin.)
Coll. 1 2, 20.3.
We frequently saw Crag Martins in March, but not again after April 1
on Mago. All these were certainly on migration. But I did not think J.
Buhasem, with its comparative lack of crags and caves, a suitable breeding haunt,
and as we never were among the limestone crags after the April 4, our experience
must not be regarded as evidence against the Crag Martin breeding in Yebala.
All the limestone crags from Apes Hill to J. Mago exactly resemble those in
Andalusia, in which the Crag Martin loves to breed, and I think a good re-examina-
tion in (say) June should be made before the species can be struck off the breeding
list, even provisionally.
131, Apus melba L. (Alpine Swift.)
132. Apus apus apus (L.). (Black Swift.)
Coll. 1 2, 30.4.
133. Apus murinus brehmorum (Hart.). (Pallid Swift.)
Coll. 1 9, 9.4.
We saw no Swifts until we returned to Tetuan from Xauen, where there were
none, so they must have arrived at Tetuan about the end of March.
We had ample opportunity of watching these Tetuan Swifts (in flight of
course), for they were all over the town, and never saw one we could put down as
other than apus; but our only specimen from Tetuan, a $ with ovary in winter
84 NOVITATEsS ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924,
state, who flew into Major Fuentes’ house on the stormy night of April 8-9, proved
a murinus.
Our next Swift experience was in Beni-Aros, where daily from April 30 to
May 6, at varied times of day, around and over the summits of the mountains
there appeared vast concourses of Swifts, Alpine Swifts, Swallows, and House
Martins. The majority were undoubtedly black Swifts, of which we shot three,
then there were a few white-bellied swifts, some certainly melba, and others
which looked no bigger than the apus (? an optical illusion—for what else could
they be but melba, unfortunately these rarely came within shot); swallows
numerous ; and House Martins, some days many, other days few or none.
It was a wonderful spectacle ; one day I watched it from 3.15 to 4.30 p.m.
and left it still going on. Now and again the whole swarm would shift a mile
or two, to over another summit ; then, perhaps in ten minutes, back to Buhasem
again, once more enveloping us in its ceaseless whirl of forms and swishing
of wings.
That the members of this concourse were engaged in fly-catching was
obvious, and also proved by the stomach-contents of our specimens, and first
impressions suggested the phenomenon as an incident in migration passage, thus:
a great hatch of flies had risen in the path of the migrants; first arrivals
on the scene, being hungry, had stopped their journey to feed, more birds
and yet more coming along in rear swelled the numbers, until the continued
“ banking-up ” formed them into a vast multitude, keeping at the fly swarm
wherever it shifted under the influence of the air-currents and the volition of its
members.
But was it so ? were the birds, all or any, on real “ passage ” ? or had they
merely collected from near and far, vulture fashion and by similar employment
of their senses, to the feast ?
Under, sometimes through, the swarm, bee-eaters and occasionally other
swallows would pass, without joining in; these were certainly on migration
flight—but then they were only a few representatives of regular “ see-go-by-all-
day-long ”’ species, the Swifts were not.
In our specimens the sex organs were enlarging, but not nearly in full
breeding condition ; the birds were all very fat—facts inclined to favour the
migration theory ; on the other hand, at home one often finds parties of Swifts
hawking flies over remote mountain and moor tops—during their nesting time.
Again, in Darfur near Jebel Marra we sometimes had exactly similar Swift
swarms, composed of four or five different species: hatches of flying termites
were there, the principal food (though not always), and we seldom had any real
grounds for supposing these birds to be on passage. I have seen other such
Swilt-swarms on a smaller scale in other parts of the world, China, etc.
It is doubtless a cosmopolitan Swift habit. We can add no other information
about the swifts in Yebala.
136. Caprimulgus europaeus europaeus L. (Nightjar.)
Coll. 1 2, 12.5.
The only Nightjar sp. we ever saw was the above specimen from the little
cork wood at Benzu, where she was obviously resting on migration. The Vaucher
record as “ plutöt höte d’hiver ” is surely an error.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 85
138. Merops apiaster L. (Bee-eater.)
We only saw Bee-eaters on migration flight, owing no doubt to not having
worked any likely breeding ground subsequent to their general arrival in the
country, which was about the second week of May.
Directly the fine weather set in on April 29, parties of Bee-eaters passed
overhead in their leisurely way—off and on all day long, and every day up to
May 8, perhaps even later.
139. Upupa epops L. (Hoopoe.)
At Quitsan in March there were quite a few Hoopoes about— who seemed to
be fresh arrivals—but there can be very few breeding birds in Yebala, surely ?
for after mid-April we never saw, or what will be still more significant to those
who know the Hoopoe on its breeding ground, never heard one.
140. Coracias garrulus garrulus L. (Roller.)
Mirabile dictu ! or so it seems to me, we never saw a single Roller anywhere.
141. Alcedo atthis. (Kingfisher).
If the Kingfisher does breed in Yebala, the banks of the Rio Martin would be a first-rate place
to look for its nest. We ourselves did scarcely any work there. In any case we saw the species
nowhere.
*142. Picus vaillanti (Malh.). (Le Vaillant’s Green Woodpecker.)
Coll. 4 &, 3 2, Beni-Aros.
Owing probably to lack of timber! near Quitsan, and the conifer forest of
Mago being evidently an unsuitable one, we did not come across any woodpeckers
until we reached Beni-Aros.
Here vaillanti was plentiful in the “ big forest ’ and quite frequent in the
groves as low down as they were large enough, about 1,700 ft.
The first one, shot on April 25, was a 9, just about to lay her eggs, another
on May 5 had laid half her clutch.
The common call of this species is extremely kestrel-like, and the alarm
note very like the ““ chuck ” of the Great Spotted Woodpecker, and I am almost
sure that it “jars ” like that species does (in China I have watched guerini
jarring).
We saw a Green Woodpecker in the cork trees of the El Bijut ‘‘ wooded
jungle ” behind Apes Hill, whence Irby records vaillantv.
*143. Dryobates major mauretanus (Brehm). (Greater Spotted Woodpecker.)
Coll. 2 g, 3 9, Beni-Aros.
Only found in the big forest on J. Buhasem, in numbers about equal to the
preceding species, and breeding apparently about ten days later.
1 But Irby “found this Green Woodpecker common near Tetuan,’’ and the Greater Spotted
“plentiful about Tetuan”’ (see H. and J., 143)—where, I cannot imagine, unless trees have been cut
down since their time.
86 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924,
*145. Cuculus canorus L. (Cuckoo.)
Our only records of the cuckoo are as follows: First seen crossing the
Vega of Tetuan April 9, then in the (lower) Buhasem forest seen on April 18,
first heard May 2, thenceforth daily seen and heard up to the day of our de-
parture May 8. Allsingle birds.
146. Clamator glandarius (L.). (Great Spotted Cuckoo.)
Not seen.
148. Otus scops scops (L.). (Scops Owl.)
Coll. 1 &, 3.5.
Piping, by night and twilight, began with us on May 3, and doubtless indicated
more or less nearly the arrival of the Scops Owls in their summer quarters in
Beni-Aros.
Judging from the sex organs of our specimen, breeding would not have
been much before the end of May.
149. Athene noctua (? race). (Little Owl.)
Coll. 3 g, Tazarut, 25.4-3.5.
It was not until April 25 that we saw Little Owls, after which they were
to be met with all round our camp on the pasture slopes, generally perched on
the boulders, in twos, presumably pairs, and noisy in the early morning. Probable
breeding date about the same as that of the Scops Owl.
Our three specimens, all quite alike, and therefore presumably typical of
the Beni-Aros aggregate, are a surprise and best left unnamed (racially) until
more material from North and Central Marocco is available. They are nothing
like sandy-brown glaux, and nearest of all in size and in colour above to
earthy-brown vidalii, but have earthy-brown stripe marks below instead of the
blackish-brown characteristic of vidalii. The North Maroccan bird is supposed
to be glauz.
It is not at all a case of the Beni-Aros birds being intermediate between
vidaliv and glaux (as the map might suggest).
154. Strix aluco mauretanica (With... (Wood Owl.)
Coll. 1 &, 18.3.
The Wood Owl must be moderately plentiful in Yebala, and not confined
to woodlands proper, since, besides our specimen from the little half-acre grove
at Quitsan, we heard one at Xauen, where it could not have had more woodland
than that furnished by the olive-trees of the orchards. We heard others o’nights
in the Buhasem forest. The note of mauretanica, though typical wood owl, is
extremely musical and perhaps characteristic of the race ?
No records of other Owls.
163. Falco naumanni naumanni Fleisch. (Lesser Kestrel.)
164. Falco tinnunculus tinnunculus L. (Kestrel.)
Kestrels were with us throughout our stay in Marocco, but I think, with
Irby, that except at close range—so that the plain or spotted mantle can be seen
Novitatrs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 87
—field diagnosis of these two species in localities where both occur, are apt to
be untrustworthy, so only record the following certainties :—Lesser Kestrel :
two, apparently some of the earliest migrants of the year, seen on April9; Kestrel;
fairly common during our whole visit wherever we went—individuals probably
resident.
Never a sign of any kestrel nesting in old towers and town walls did we see
in Yebala.
Falco sp.
Except for the Kestrels above, and occasional glimpses of small falcons like hobbies in the
distance, we never saw any other Falco sp.
Re H. and J.,160. Abel Chapman and I found numbers of hobbies (one party of about twenty-
five) migrating through the Coto Dofiana on May 18, 19, 1910. This, though a three or four weeks
later date, confirms Irby’s record of migration “‘ near Gibraltar.” I think Favier’s record for North
Marocco will probably prove to be correct (for subbuteo).
Aquila rapax belisarius (Lev.). (Tawny Eagle.)
A Tawny Eagle came within 50 yards of me on April 29 in Beni-Aros, and
May 3 we identified a pair over the Buhasem forest, so very likely they were
breeding there.
Hieraetus sp. ?
Both at Xauen and in Beni-Aros we saw occasional eagles, which must have
been of this genus ; we thought we saw Bonelli’s Eagle at Xauen, and Booted
in Beni-Aros, but they were always alone and at unknown long-range—so that
their size was uncertain.
*170. Buteo ferox cirtensis (Lev.). (Rufous Buzzard.)
A pair frequented the vicinity of Xauen and would breed there, for we saw
them in coitu on March 31. Two pairs were with us in Beni-Aros ; one of them
made a nest in the main fork—40 ft. high—of one of the largest oak-trees in the
“ big forest,” and on May 7 were found at it, engaged in battle with a pair of
Ravens, who seemed to be getting the better of it; but not having a climbing
apparatus, I could not get up to the nest to see whether it was eggs or nest (or
both !) the Ravens wanted.
On May 15 a ferox was hanging about the Benzu cork-wood, but I could
find no nest there. This bird, an adult, was in extreme “ light-phase ”’ plumage,
and I am now convinced that the Middle-Atlas birds of my note on M.A., p. 299,
were similar examples of the Buzzard. Examination of specimens suggests
that this “light phase ” is brought about through a general lack of the normal
red and brown pigments, and that in extreme cases the colour and markings of
the tail and under-parts are obliterated or become “obsolete” to the extent
of making the bird look, when seen in flight from below, like a sort of “ small,
square-tailed Neophron,” i.e. white with black wing-tips. As bearing on the
age of these birds, I will only remark that they are certainly not birds of the year,
and that the phase is not an uncommon one in Marocco.
88 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
171. Buteo buteo buteo (L.). (Common Buzzard.)
We have the following two reliable records of the Common Buzzard ; in
both cases seen at short range: at Quitsan March 19, at El Bijut (two miles S.W.
of Apes Hill) May 11. The latter was very likely breeding in one of the cork
trees of the El Bijut ““ wooded jungle.”
172. Circus aeruginosus (L.). (Marsh Harrier.)
Our only record of the Marsh Harrier is of a single old ¢, quartering the lower
eastern slopes of J. Buhasem on April 16. This bird was evidently on migration
and probably of typical Race.
175. Circus pygargus (L.). (Montagu’s Harrier.)
A young g Montagu’s Harrier, evidently on migration, was shot by a Spanish
Military Officer in the O. Lau valley, below Xauen, during the stormy April 2.
Sefior Quiros skinned this bird, so we were able to examine the sex organs, which
were in winter state.
177. Accipiter nisus (L.). (Sparrow-hawk.)
Single sparrow-hawks (? race) frequently passed us in rapid flight about
Quitsan and Xauen, and from memory (though I cannot find the record in my
notes) also in Beni-Aros. The forests of the last place are eminently suited to
the breeding requirements of the species, but we found no Sparrow-hawks’ nests
there, old or new.
*179. Milvus milvus (L.). (Red Kite.)
In Beni-Hozmar we constantly saw the Red Kite—a pair seen on April 16
appeared to be nesting in a grove on the upper western slopes of the range. At
Tazerut, during our stay, one pair was breeding in a big grove at 1,900 ft., con-
taining some splendid old cork and oak trees, and there seemed to be another
pair nesting in the lower forest about a mile away.
We have no evidence that the species is not resident in Yebala.
Milvus migrans migrans (Bodd.). (Black Kite.)
With us, Black Kites, though present wherever we went, were rather scarce.
They were about the country when we arrived there, and the actions of a bird
frequently seen at Tazarut suggested breeding in the vicinity.
183. Circaétus gallicus (Gm.). (Snake Eagle.)
In Beni-Aros we saw a single Snake Eagle several times between April 17
and May 8. Most probably this bird was nesting in the forest.
We have no other record of the species.
Pandion haliaetus haliaetus (L.). (Osprey.)
Judging by the actions of a single bird at Isla de Perejil on May 14, there
was an Osprey’s nest in its precipitous cliffs with young or a sitting bird.
Ospreys have been known to breed on this island for years past.
NOVITATEsS ZOOLOGIcAE XXXI. 1924. 89
185. Gypaétus barbatus barbatus (L.). (Bearded Vulture.)
All we can say of the Lammergeier in Yebala is that we were told, and the
evidence appeared circumstantially true, and the place with its fine, vulture-free
crags likely enough, that in the autumn of 1922 a party of three Gypaétus
came to the crags over Xauen and stayed about the place until one was shot
by a Spanish officer, on which the other two “ shook off the dust ” and departed.
At any rate, none were there during our visit, or anywhere else to our knowledge.
It was further related that the above specimen was skinned, and deposited some-
where in Tetuan, but we failed to trace it there.
186. Neophron percnopterus percnopterus (L.). (Egyptian Vulture.)
Our only records are: one just outside Tetuan on April 16 (positively our
first sight of any Vulture in Marocco !) and another single bird soaring over
Tazerut on May 1.
187. Gyps fulvus fulvus (Habl.). (Griffon Vulture.)
About Apes Hillin May, where Irby recorded “ a few pairs,” we saw numbers,
otherwise the following rather curious incident constitutes our sole record of the
species. About 3 p.m. on April 29, weather fine, with moderate N.E. breeze,
four Griffons sailed up from the south, about 300 ft. up, circling as they travelled
steadily northwards, i.e. more or less against the wind. In perhaps ten minutes
they were lost to view (field-glass) in the distance, and up sailed another four,
and went through the same performance.
In a vulture country like, say, Andalusia, I should not have even noted the
incident, but what did it indicate in this vultureless country ? These eight birds
were evidently travelling with a purpose, incidentally looking out for food (which
is probably never absent from their thoughts and actions, save when gorged or
in sleep ?) at the time of the year when breeding Grifions are busy with their
nurseries ; they were not (could not in any case have been) birds of the year,
though they may have been first year and non-breeding birds. Storks and
some other big birds constantly circle on passage flight, Vultures do not hunt
in this manner for food; a shifting of quarters of some sort was clearly the
purpose of these birds, but whence and whither is rather a puzzle ?
Orper ACCIPITRES. (Retrospect.)
Some of our records of Accipitres are scarcely worth having, but I have put them all down,
if only to show how extraordinarily poor in birds of prey, especially big birds of prey like Vultures
and Eagles, we found Western and Central Yebala. Most of the inhabited country is pastoral,
not agricultural ; splendid wild crags of every sort are within easy hail (even of Beni-Aros—for
a Vulture or an Eagle) and the natives do not go in for killing birds of prey.
In similar country, only just across the Straits of Gibraltar, the whole ORDER abounds. We
may have been singularly unfortunate (indeed, we were, if the records are not in some cases “‘ opti-
mistie ” ?), but if one looks out for birds, as we did to the best of our ability, Eagles and Vultures
are not trifles that escape observation easily. What can be the cause of the scarcity ?
189. Ciconia ciconia ciconia (L.). (White Stork.)
Storks, we were credibly informed, first arrived towards the end of March,
but we saw none ourselves until early in April.
One pair remained to breed at Xauen and another at Tazarut; at Tetuan
90 : NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
and Ceuta the species was very little in evidence, but Munn saw nests near
Tetuan in May.
198. Bubuleus ibis ibis (L.). (Buff-backed Heron.)
Buff-backed Herons arrived in the country before we did, and until mid-
April, when we went up country, were plentiful in the Vega of Tetuan. On our
return, May 8, the Vega only contained an odd bird or two, so far as we could see,
but there were likely enough more towards the mouth of the Rio Martin, where
Munn saw “ troops ” in early May, perhaps nesting there.
ORDERS GRESSORES, PHOENICOPTERI, ANSERES, PYGOPODES.
With the exception of the foregoing records (189, 198), we have no notes of value on any other
members of these Orders. Our ground and time of year were both unsuitable.
*232. Phalacrocorax graculus desmarestii (Payr.). (Shag.)
Coll. 1 9, 14.5.
Numbers of Shags were breeding in the sea-clifis of the mainland under
Apes Hill and those of Isla de Perejil on May 14. All stages of plumage were
represented among these birds, from the quite light-breasted immature to the
“all-black ” adult. Our specimen was one of the last, and would have laid her
first (of two) eggs in two or three days time.
ORDER TUBINARES.
Our examination of the sea-coast from Ceuta to Isla de Perejil on May 14 produced no signs
of any Petrel. ‘I have seen numbers of Stormy Petrels in the Straits in August ; Irby suggests their
breeding. In May any Petrels that might have been in the neighbourhood would probably be in
their ““ nest-burrows’ during the daytime, but from my Mediterranean acquaintanceship with
kuhlii, yelkouan, and pelagicus, after hunting the Isla de Perejil, I think no Petrels were breeding
on it. It looks the most promising place for breeding Petrels along that part of the coast;
nevertheless kuhlit and perhaps the Stormy Petrel may yet be found to breed in the Straits.
246. Columba livia livia Gm. (Rock Pigeon.)
Coll. 1 g, 14.5.
Numbers of Rock Pigeons were breeding or about to breed in the sea cliffs
under Apes Hill and those of Isla de Perejil on May 14.
247. Columba oenas oenas L. (Stock Pigeon.)
Coll. 2 g, 5.5.
Stock Doves were right up in the Pinsapo forest on J. Mago at 6,500 ft. on
May 1, and they abounded in the upper part of the “ big forest ” on J. Buhasem ;
resting in the trees at midday, and feeding morning and evening in the lowlands,
just like they do in the Middle Atlas. Also, as there, the Yebala birds evidently
breed late; our two specimens, shot out of a big flock resting in the forest at mid-
day May 5, had sex organs scarcely out of winter state.
248. Columba palumbus palumbus L. (Wood Pigeon.)
Coll. 2, 23.4.
Orchards and groves are sufficient woodland in Yebala for the Wood Pigeon.
We found the species wherever we went, and very abundant in Beni-Aros, where
NOVITATEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXII. 1924. 91
their habits are much like those of the Stock Pigeon—except that they probably
breed a little earlier, and occupy lower altitudes. The note is precisely like that
of our British bird.
Our only specimen is not a deeply coloured bird, and although this does not
of course put excelsa out of court for Yebala, I call it palumbus because
I do not think the proportion of deeper-coloured individuals (only some 50 per
cent. so far as I can see) from North Africa great enough to warrant separation.
249. Streptopelia turtur arenicola (Hart.). (Turtle Dove.)
Turtle Doves began to arrive about April 29, and numbers were still on
migration on May 13.
I think we left Marocco too early to make any notes on breeding.
276. Tringa ochropus L. (Green Sandpiper.)
A Green Sandpiper at the Xauen torrent on March 27 was, of course, on
migration.
289. Capella gallinago gallinago (L.). (Common Snipe.)
The migrant Snipe were coming through in April (April 9, Vega of Tetuan,
plentiful).
ORDER LIMICOLAE. (Retrospect.)
Excepting the above two notes (276, 289) we can add nothing to the records concerning Waders.
Those members of the Order already in the North Marocco list are nearly all winter visitors and
migrants in Western Yebala, and few are likely to occur except as stragglers in the east and central
parts we visited in spring.
Larus argentatus michahellesii Bruch. (Yellow-legged Herring Gull.)
Coll. 3 g, 1 9, 14.5.
This, the Mediterranean race of the Herring Gull (in the nomenclature of
which I follow Dr. Hartert !), according to our experience, seems to be the only
sea-coast breeding gull in the Straits of Gibraltar. On May 14 we visited two
colonies of these gulls only 14 miles apart. One, of about 50 pairs, had young
and eggs in the mainland sea cliffs under Apes Hill, and the other at Isla de
Perejil of some six hundred birds, who, although clearly going to breed there (and
gulls’ eggs are known to be collected there annually), had not even started to
make their nests ; infact, by sex organs of our three specimens, this colony would
not be laying until well into June. All birds at these two colonies were in fully
adult plumage, and all of identical kind; the few immature plumaged birds
seen kept out at sea in the offing. What is the reason for this curious “ separate
identity ”? do the members of each colony come from different winter quarters,
or what ? Four or five weeks difference in breeding date is such a big one in an
aggregate of birds of the same kind in the same locality. It is not easy to see
how the question could be explored except by “ ringing.”
1 Vög. Pal. Fauna Nachtrag i. p. 86.
92 NOVITATEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
Larus fuscus L. (Lesser Black-backed Gull.)
Probably the majority of the dark-backed gulls we saw when crossing
the Straits in March were L. fuscus affinis, the British breeding form with
the slate-grey mantle, and a few fuscus, the Scandinavian breeding form,
with the slate-black mantle; but I think it is now clear that no form of Lesser
Black-backed Gull breeds in the Straits.
330. Crex erex (L.). (Corncrake.)
On April 14 a local “ cazador ” shot a Corncrake and some Quails in the
Vega of Tetuan.
337. Alectoris barbara barbara (Bonn.). (Barbary Partridge.)
Coll. 1 g, 19.4, testes large.
Quite plentiful everywhere : stony, scrub-clad hill-sides are their favourite
ground. In twos, presumably pairs, during our whole visit, but we have no
breeding data to give.
339. Coturnix coturnix coturnix (L.). (Quail.)
As early as March 19 we heard the Quail calling, but although the species
was migrating in numbers all through April and up to the day we left Marocco
(May 17, market at Ceuta well-stocked), we never but once heard the call again.
Iam under the impression that the birds found in winter in the Mediterranean
are mostly or all resident individuals, and breed early, but are of course in
numbers infinitesimal compared to the migrants (plus whatever Mediterranean
summer visitors = “ late ’’ breeders there may be as well).
PART IV.—SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS.
A. MAINLY GEOGRAPHICAL.
The Map (Plate I) has been compiled mainly from two military maps, one
Spanish, of Yebala, scale 1: 150,000, February 1922, the other French, of (all)
Marocco, scale 1: 1,000,000, 1921. These are the latest published, and a great
advance on all the older ones of both Protectorates.
In most of our atlases Marocco never appears but to tiny scale, and since
mention is made in this paper of certain relationships between the Spanish zone
and other parts of Marocco, I think this compilation will be of more use to
the reader than a big-scale one of Yebala only.
There is now a considerable literature about Marocco, out of which those
who would study such known facts as are published about its physical qualities,
as well as some of its modern political and social conditions, will do well to read,
if no others :
For all Marocco: Le Maroc physique, Louis Gentil, 1912; and Les confins
Algéro-Marocaines, Augustin Bernard, 1911.
For Spanish Marocco: the paper in Geographical Journals, May and June,
1920, by H.E. the Spanish Ambassador, Sefior Merry del Val.
And for Yebala: Yebala y el bajo Lucus, an excellent little work published
by the “ Real Sociedad Espafia de Historia Naturel,’” 1914.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 93
But Spanish Maroccan affairs have undergone much change during the last
three years ; and since we have no account of the country, except of the Tangier-
Tetuan neighbourhood, in our English literature treating of North Marocco
natural history, as well as to explain the geographical nomenclature of this paper
I think the following brief summary will be useful.
Spanish Marocco is divided into two administrative Provinces, the Western
called “ Yebala ” ! and the Eastern called “ Rif.”
The whole Protectorate, more or less, coincides with the well-defined physical
area called ‘‘ North Marocco, which is therefore synonymous with “ Spanish
Marocco,” and its two provincial divisions are well called respectively “‘ N.W.”
and “ N.E. Marocco,” hence the title of this paper.
In the Map (Plate I), a distinetion is shown between the political and phy-
sical? divisions of Spanish Marocco. This, in itself, is nothing very remarkable,
but the nomenclature presents a difficulty ; for instance, not to call the high
mountain-chain, which par excellence is ihe geographical feature of North
Marocco, “the Rif,” would be to ignore the name by which it has been known
for centuries past, and yet without explanation that name would convey no
precise meaning.
The fact is, the term “the Rif” =“ Riff’ =“ El Rif” (Sp.) = “Er
Rif ” (Moor.) has had, and still has, many different interpretations. Thus:
(a) In standard works of reference “ the Rif” is commonly defined as the
territory inhabited by the Riffians (=Rifi) . . . indicating more or less vaguely
allthe country between Algeria and Ceuta, or even all North Marocco.
(6) The present Spanish Province of “Rif” extends from Oued Moulouya
only so far westward as Oued Uaringa,’ where it marches with “‘ Yebala ”’ Province
—thus dividing our great physical unit into two indivisible parts.
(c) “ The Rif” is also in frequent use as a convenient abbreviation for the
Rif Mountains or Rif Chain, which again has no universally accepted conception ;
for instance, since the high Rif chain, the mountains of Beni-Hassan, Beni-
Hozmar, Haus, and Anjera are all part of the same continuous earth-crinkle,
orographically speaking “the Rif” chain ends at the Straits of Gibraltar in
Apes Hill. Hartert and Jourdain ® and others take the Beni-Hozmar Moun-
tains as the end of their “ Rif.” It is only fair to say that there is no confusion
here, because these authors, like most other scientists, take care to make their
meaning clear.
(d) It is in frequent use in connection with anything concerning the Spanish
“Rif Province.” Thus, “ Spain and the Rif” will often head a newspaper
paragraph about little more than affairs at (say) Melilla, which is not of course
1 “Jebala ’’ = “ Yebala’ = “‘ The mountain people,” from “Jebel” = “mountain,” or plural
of “ Yebli” = “ an inhabitant of the mountains’’ (Cabrera).
2 I use the word “ physical ’’ throughout in its somewhat restricted sense as commonly applied
to natural history; perhaps the word ‘‘natural’’ would be better, but I think my meaning will be
clear from the context.
3 That is, the coastal end of the boundary-line, which thence runs first southerly and then in a
general way to the south-eastward (following supposed tribal boundaries or physical features ?)
until it meets the French zone to the northward of Taza.
How or why this boundary originated I do not know, but it seems to have done so about the
middle of the nineteenth century ; and that it is still the official boundary between the two Spanish
Provinces is beyond all question—see Merry del Val, pp. 341, 342, confirmed to date by Cabrera.
* See Gentil, pp. 3, 86, 163, etc.; this view is in general acceptance.
5 See H. & J., 58, 124, etc.
94 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
occupied by the Rifi. But here the use of the term is justified by the theme,
which will be sure to concern the Rifi, directly or indirectly.
(e) ‘“ The Rif,” as the country inhabited collectively by the Rifi tribes to-day, is
most commonly considered, even in Marocco itself, as all the unconquered terri-
tory between J. Mago and the submitted eastern part of the “‘ Rif Province ”
(coincident with the physical division I have called the high Rif). Outside of
this, both to eastward and westward, the inhabitants are not now classed as
“ Rifi ” but with their territories according to the various tribal names ; thus, the
Beni-Aros tribe inhabits the Beni-Aros territory ; Beni-Bu-Yahi, the Beni-Bu-
Yahiterritory ; andsoon. This ‘ popular ” conception of “the Rif ” is endorsed
(in part) by Sefior Merry del Val, who quotes Xauen as “isolated between the
savage Rif country to the east...” and the “tribe of Beni Said [on the south
side of the lower Oued Lau], likewise bordering on the Rif... ,” and it also
appears in other recent literature.
(f) Within the “ Rif Province ” itself, the political as well as the physical
distinction between its eastern, i.e. Oued Moulouya to O. Kert portion (comprising
the tribal territories of Beni-Bu-Yahi, Metalza, and others ; coincident with the
physical division I have called the low Rif), and the remaining western part,
is remarked on by both Sefior Merry del Val: and M. Bernard °; the latter,
indeed, evidently, like me, in search of a name, calls the whole territory after
Leo Africanus, the “‘ Garet,” but nowadays this name is applied only to a small
part of it, a sterile plain to the southward and south-eastward of Melilla.
There are perhaps other definitions of “the Rif,” but enough has been said,
I think, to show that the way out of the nomenclatorial maze is not so easy
when physical territories come under discussion.
Assuming that at least common parlance ‘ will always require the “ Rif
territory ” to be properly that inhabited by the Rifi or Rif tribes, and vice
versa, may it not be said that all this confusion arises from the fact that the
Rifi have always been, and still are an unknown quantity ?
Who, for instance, does Abd-el-Krim lead to-day ? Does his influence extend
over all “ the high Rif ” territory, or only as far east as the O. Uaringa, or what ?
To learn that Abd-el-Krim leads “ all the Rif tribes ” gets us no nearer to our
point.’
It seems to me that the term “ Riffians ” or “ Rifi,” having started life in
early times as embracing, in a general way, all the tribes of North Marocco, has,
in recent years, through Europe acquiring more knowledge and ground there,
become less nebulous ; and that now, all the peoples of North Marocco are classed
according to their tribal names except those inhabiting “ the high Rif ” territory.
May we not assume that when these folk, too, have been brought to order, or at
least to unaggressive recognition of the Sultan (through Spain, their nominal
ruler), they, too, will emerge into clear definition under their tribal names ? which,
by the way, are already more or less known.
Who will then be the “ Rifi,”? and what “the Rif ” 2
1 Pp. 339, 412, op. cit. 2 Pp. 333, 348, op. cit. 3 P. 8, op. cit.
4 In this criticism I exclude nomenclature required by political administrations, and certain
particular departments of natural science like ethnology, orography, etc. Presumably “common ”’
parlance should take its lead, when possible, from the first, but must generally be independent of
the others. 5 See Times, September 15, 1923.
NovItates Zoonogicar XXXI. 1924. 95
6
I suppose the right answer is to “‘ wait and see”; but for the present,
knowing what we do, and on the ground that all parlance, whether political,
common, or scientific, is simplified by being as much in one line as possible,
I propose the following names for the three well-marked physical divisions of
North Marocco : For the territory containing the high chain, i.e. summits of over
2,000 m., the high Rif, that to the eastward of it, the low Rif, and to the
westward, Yebala.
To attempt definition of the base of “the high Rif ” is not possible yet,
nor is it here required ; it is supposed, towards the sea-coast, to be somewhere
near O. Kert ; to the eastward and south-eastward it can only be imagined as,
vaguely, “the end of the massif whose high peaks are visible from the offing,”
and although the O. Lau, encircling the base of Mago, seems the natural western
boundary, I shall not attempt to disturb Xauen’s political Yebala-dom, or that
of any place we visited ; we only just peeped into “the high Rif” from its
western boundary—a good broad line on the map.
Now to briefly state the characters of these three physical divisions.
“The high Rif.”
Is very roughly about eighty miles long (E.-W.), by twenty to thirty
broad, 3,000 square miles.
Although no one has ever entered it to do any surveying work, owing to its
shape and comparatively small size, the whole territory being visible en sıl-
houette on a clear day to an observer to the northward or southward of it,
it cannot be called quite a geographical terra incognita. In the French map
1: 1,000,000 of 1921 the provisional representation of “the high Rif ”—presumably
derived from distant observation and (Spanish) air reconnaissances ?—differs
considerably from earlier attempts (most of which are manifestly quite inadequate)
and fits in much better than any yet published with the few facts that can be
regarded as more or less known about its geography, which seem to be, broadly,
these :
1. It is dominated from end to end by the high Rif chain with its series of
summits considerably higher than anything else in North Marocco.
2. Its narrowness and the accurate knowledge of the hydrography of its
border lands prove that the high Rif must be a continuous chain.
3. J. Mago (7,200 ft.) at its extreme western end is known and surveyed ;
we found it to be composed of secondary limestone in agreement with M. Gentil’s
“ Carte géologique provisoire, 1920,” and crowned with a considerable forest of
Pinsapos and Cedars.
4, We can also add the following fragment :
When on Mago itself, owing to our not being allowed to go beyond its western
face, we could never see what lay beyond it to the eastward ; but, from the top
of J. Buhasem one fairly clear day (May 5) we could see very well the high Rif
chain stretching away beyond Mago.
There seemed to be three distinct summits, No. 1 about five, No. 2 about
ten, and No. 3 about twenty-five miles beyond Mago. Nos. 1 and 2 were clearly
crowned with conifer forest, No. 3, unless the distance deceived us, was so too
(see Map, Plate I, at “1,” “ 2,” “3 ”),
Snow, probably, like that on Mago, recently fallen, was lying on all, but
whereas Mago was only, so to speak, “ heavily patched ” down to about 6,300 ft.,
96 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
‘Nos. 1 and 3” were gleaming stretches of pure white, an effect, we thought,
due to perspective rather than to greatly superior altitude or high plateaux free
of timber. |
Bad atmospheric visibility prevented our seeing beyond ‘“ No. 3.”
In our Map the position and contours of the mountains to the eastward of
No. 3, and also the tracts of “ known ” forest there, are as shown on the
French map.
I think it will turn out that the highest peak of the chain will be near to
7,500 ft., not exceeding 8,000 ft.; most maps show 2,500 m. (8,200 ft.).
No two maps are alike in nomenclature of the principal peaks, so I have
attempted none.
“ The low Rif.”
Is a country of comparatively low hills, plains and plateaux, some 1,200
square miles in extent, rising gradually to the south-eastward to merge in-
sensibly into the steppes of Western Algeria across the O. Moulouya. Sandy,
stony, much of it arid, the soil is only cultivated in the lower and moister parts.
Throughout, pasture is the principal domestic feature ; these alternate with great
dreary stretches of esparto grass and semi-desert wastes.
The vegetation inclines to “ xerophytism,” and save for the few olives and
other trees of cultivation the whole territory is practically treeless. ‘‘ The
low Rif,” in fact, lies in a gap, between “ the high Rif ” and the Algerian Tell,
through which gap the Sahara tries to escape, as it were, into the Mediterranean
Sea. The desert influence over this territory is well shown in M. Bernard’s
““ Carte pluriométrique,” which gives its mean annual rainfall as about 12 inches,
against Yebala’s 32 inches. A type of country obviously quite unlike Yebala
or anything we know of, or may expect in, “ the high Rif.”
Sefior Cabrera has done a good deal of natural history work in “ The low
Rif,” and has found the mammalian fauna in general very like that of West
Algeria,’ very different to that of Yebala.
There are no definite ornithological records, but we may certainly expect
interesting larks and chats, and indeed any information from this border-zone,
bearing on the separation between Maroccan and Algerian fauna and flora,
cannot fail to be of value.
** Yebala.”
Area about 3,500 square miles. As its name implies, Yebala is a moun-
tainous territory, but the heights are rarely more than “ moderate ”; the low
land is all coastal and nearly all on the Atlantic side. The Spanish 1: 150,000
map of 1922 shows accurately all topographic details, and revises positions and
most of the heights shown on older maps. In particular Jebel Kelti, the “ Mount
Anna ” of most maps, which, viewed from the northwards, is very conspicuous
by reason of its isolation and 750 ft. of superiority to any others in the territory,
is reduced from 7,200 to 6,250 ft.
Geologically, the territory is varied, but the outstanding feature is simple
enough ; all the eastern mountains, i.e. the chain Beni-Hassan, Beni-Hozmar,
Sierras de Haus, and Bullones (the orographie extension of the high Rif chain)
1 Some characteristic mammals are: Scirtopoda orientalis mauritanica, Poecilictis vaillanti,
Lepus schlumbergeri pediscus, Elephantulus rozeti rozeti, (Cabrera.)
2 J. Mago, fourteen miles south of J. Kelti, is 7,200 ft., a suggestive coincidence ?
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 97
of Primary and Secondary, all the remainder of later, formations. This produces
corresponding important differences in relief and vegetation, which, together
with other remarks on the physical geography of most of the eastern and central
parts of the territory, are recorded in Part II.
Of the parts of Yebala not visited by us, the north is in general like the
north-eastern without the Sierra, but the western, i.e. the Atlantic coastal, part
has considerable individuality apart from the rest of the whole Province. Thus,
it is lower and flatter, much sand-dune and palmetto-scrub country in the northern
half, swamp and jungle with scattered woodland in the Southern; its ocean
frontage gives it a more humid atmosphere, which reacts on the character of its
vegetation, and so forth. This is all well recorded in Yebala y el bajo Lucus ; in
fact, the physical geography of Yebala is now rather well known.
The question of “ trees ” apart from those of cultivation (in orchards, planta-
tions, gardens, at the towns and villages) is so specially pertinent to the Ornitho-
logical record for North Marocco, that I have taken some pains to inquire what
there is in the way of “ trees ” in those parts not included in our recent itinerary.
Cabrera, who has considerable personal knowledge of most of it, has given me
the benefit of his experience, and putting this with what the literature records
on the subject the facts seem to be as follows:
Yebala has no “ forests’ or even “‘ woods ” worthy of the names (in the
English sense), other than those in its central parts, i.e. Beni-Aros, Sumata,!
and just where the high Rif touches it at J. Mago.
Elsewhere ® there are:
Firstly, occasional “ wooded jungles” (jungles with a sprinkling of small to
medium-sized trees, of cork, acebuche, and ilex), as at El Bijut* and Charf
la Kab,‘ which are about the largest of their kind.
Secondly, a fair number of sacred “groves ” '—frequently big, old trees,
of cork, acebuche, ilex, or arar, according to station ; often only four or five
trees, seldom covering more ground than half-an-acre.
These “‘ groves ”’ are scattered all over the country, more or less attached
to the villages ; a big village may have several “groves ”’ within its hail, a small
village only one, or even nothing more than a single patriarchal tree, and so on.
Thirdly, the little 30 acre cork-wood at Benzu,° which is scarcely more
than a glorified “‘ grove,” and in its isolation unique.
Finally, more important than any of the foregoing, nearly approaching
the dignity of “ woods” but better described here as ““ woodments,” are the
“patches” of big, old cork and acebuche trees, with tamarisks,” jungle, and
swamp, scattered over the Khabyla of Es-Sahel, from near Larache for some
eight miles to the northward. These “ woodments ” are collectively called the
“ Gaba de Es-Sahel ” * and are, in whole or part, “ les foréts de Boucharen ” of
M. Vaucher.
1 As described pp. 30, 31,
2 Especially see Yebala y el bajo Lucus and Irby, Orn. Str. Gib., 1895, pp. 8, 11, 13.
3 See p. 35.
4 On some maps ‘“ Xarf,” more correctly ‘‘ Cherf el Aa Kab”=““the Rock of the fox ” (Cabrera).
5 As described at Quitsan, p. 55, and about Tazarut, p. 63.
6 See p. 36.
? I quote Cabrera (in epistola).
8 “Gaba”=woods. The nomenclature is varied. The wooded patches, some of which are
mere “‘ groves,’’ are sufficiently separated to be more often called by individual names. Another
collective name which appears on a Spanish map is ‘“‘ Bosque de Larache.’’ ‘“ Boucharen ’’ seems
7
29
29
98 NoVITATES ZooLogicaE XXXII. 1924.
Of course, as well illustrated in the Canadian lumberer’s ‘“ what! only this
little shrubbery ! ” when introduced to one of our best English woods, “ forests ”’
and “‘ woods ” are only comparative and inexact terms, and although M. Vaucher
alludes to “les vastes foréts de Boucharen ” and “les foréts de Charf la Kab
et Boucharen,” the idea of either of these meriting such distinction in a
terminology which calls Beni-Aros “ forested ’’ is out of the question.
Neither must Boucharen’s ornithological record be allowed to hold
weight as evidence to the contrary. That it has recently produced nests and
eggs of both Spotted and Green Woodpeckers, even of eagles like adalberti
and Bonelli’s and perhaps Booted (which the “ big forest ” of Beni-Aros has so
far failed to do), is suggestive of spacious forests very different from the “‘ wood-
ments ” of Es-Sahel, but they certainly do not exist.
That the patches of big, old trees represent, in the woods of Sefior Merry del
Val, “the remains of once great forests,” is a fact in general aceptance, and
although there is no suggestion of such a state within the period covered by
modern history (and certainly not of Maroccan ornithological history), we
probably have here merely an illustration of the way in which some kinds
of birds will cling to the breeding haunts of their ancestors, despite their
spoliation at the hand of man.
I have been unable to find out whether any material alteration in the tree-
growth of Yebala has taken place during the past hundred years, the period
covering the whole of our Ornithological record.
Unfortunately, the latter provides no data as to “ change,” and none can be
deduced inferentially from it, as the localities of so many important woodland
species are unknown—see for instance H. and J., 143, on the subject.
Irby’s record of what he saw himself in Marocco is sure to be “ sterling,” and
judging from it and a few other stray facts it seems that the (lack of) wild-tree
growth must have been very much the same fifty years ago as it is to-day, and
the plantations at Tangier itself considerably increased.
Besides its Gaba, the swamps of this Atlantic coastal part of Yebala have
already been proved to hold many species of birds which do not breed or are even
likely to be found in other parts of the Province, and there is certainly a great
deal more we want to know about its natural history.
With regard to its climate, the account in Part II of our March and April
weather will not have given the reader a very couleur de rose impression of
Yebala spring weather, but, as a matter of fact, in normal years it is really quite
pleasant. Details, from accurate meteorologic records and other observations,
are given in Yebala y el bajo Lucus; the mean average annual rainfall at
Tangier is about: spring 11, summer 1, autumn 7, winter 13 inches. Most
of the “ spring ” rain falls in March and early April; after mid-April at the latest
delightful “‘ Mediterranean ” spring weather may be expected with occasional
showers, until summer sets in.
Spring 1923 was abnormally cold and wet all over South-Western Europe,
and Marocco was no exception. We only had four quite fine days in all April.
Our being among the mountains gave us a worse time, both in duration and
to be very rarely used ; it appears on none of the Spanish or French maps that I have seen, and it
was unknown to Cabrera; in fact, I have only been able to identify it through M. Vaucher’s “prés de
Larache’’ and Seüor Merry del Val’s “‘ . . . Gaba or woods of Es-Sahel, Bujaren, and Laraiche ”
(op. cit,, p. 337).
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924, 99
quantity of rain, than had we been in the lowlands all the time, but the storms
were of cyclonic type and therefore general throughout the country.
Beni-Aros probably has a much heavier annual rainfall than Tangier or
Tetuan. Constantly, during those nine days deluge of April 20-28 (when I verily
believe some 15 inches fell on us) looking out from our shower-bath at Tazarut,
we could see the sun shining over the valley 1,000 ft. below us, and blue sky to
the westward. It was evident that the main body of nimbus cloud was coming
in from the Atlantic at about 4,000 ft. and higher levels, thus passing clear over
the Sumata Mountains (3,600 ft.) and not condensing into rain until it struck
the upper 2,000 ft. of the Alam-Buhasem-Sugna Range. Most likely this local
climatic condition is a normal one, and an important influence in the growth,
if not the existence, of the Beni-Aros forest.
B. Brrps.
The ornithological results of our field-work and collections have been given
in detail in Part II.
They are small, and rather disappointing, for we found the bird-life less in
quantity and variety than we had hoped, indeed expected to, from the records,
and also from the look of the country when we got there.
The following is a brief analysis of them:
1. Additions to knowledge of the geography of North Marocco in relation
to its bird-life (detailed in Parts I and II).
2. New forms: None. Only in the case of Athene noctua (149) is there
doubt as to identity with some known form.
3. New names: None.
4. Names cancelled :
59. Sitta europaea atlas Lynes (=S. e. hispaniensis With.).
38. Galerida theklae berengueri Cabrera (=G. t. erlangeri Hart.).
38a. Galerida theklae aguirrei Cabrera (=G. t. ruficolor Whit.).
In the North Maroccan “ List ” in kind.
5. Additions :
59. Sitta europaea hispaniensis With. (Nuthatch), as Resident.
62. Parus ater atlas Meade-Waldo (Coal Tit), as Resident.
63. Regulus ignicapillus ignicapillus (Temm.) (Firecrest), as Resident.
70. Muscicapa hypoleuca 'speculigera Bp. (Pied Flycatcher [Southern]), as
summer visitor.
57a. Certhia brachydactyla brachydactyla Brehm. (Treecreeper), as
resident.
. Definite confirmation :
7. Pyrrhocorax graculus (L.) (Yellow-billed Chough), as probable resident.
123. Troglodytes troglodytes kabylorum Hart. (Wren), as the resident
race.
124. Cinclus cinclus aquaticus Bechst. (or minor Tristr.) (Dipper), as the
resident race.
171. Buteo buteo (Common Buzzard), perhaps breeding,
7. Some evidence towards a conclusion on doubtful records :
1 (part). Corvus corone (Carrion Crow), as probable winter visitor.
11. Coccothraustes coccothraustes (Hawfinch), no breeding race.
for)
100 NovITATEsS ZooLoGIcaE XXXI. 1924.
19. Loxia curvirostra (Crossbill), as absent.
43. Alauda arvensis (Skylark), no breeding race.
58. Tichodroma muraria (Wall-creeper), as absent.
101. Turdus torquatus (Ring Ouzel), no breeding race.
121. Prunella collaris (Alpine Accentor), as absent.
122. Prunella modularis (Hedge Sparrow), no breeding race.
In the North Maroccan “list ” in STATUS (resident or migrant or etc.).
8. Definite confirmation (and negative evidence amounting to the same):
22. Fringilla coelebs coelebs L. (European Chaffinch), as only a winter
visitor.
86. Sylvia borin (Bodd.), (Garden Warbler), of not breeding.
232. Phalacrocorax graculus desmarestii (Payr.) (Shag), of breeding.
Part 306. Larus argentatus mischahellesii Bruch (Yellow-legged Herring
Gull), of breeding.
307. Larus fuscus (Lesser Black-backed Gull), of not breeding.
In the North Maroccan list in DISTRIBUTION.
9. Better knowledge of :
5. Garrulus glandarius whitakeri Hart. (Jay).
102. Turdus merula algirus (Mad.) (Blackbird).
142. Picus vaillanti (Malh.) (Le Vaillant’s Green Woodpecker).
143. Dryobates major mauritanus (Brehm.) (Greater Spotted Wood-
pecker).
10. Smallness of our Results and “ List.”—I feel that some explanation
ought to be forthcoming, for although the bad weather somewhat curtailed our
work, it did not prevent us having a thorough hunt in all the places we had
planned to visit.
The scarcity of birds often alluded to in Part I was not the result of
slack field-work; our united comprehension of what constitutes “likely
ground ” in these latitudes was sufficient—in any case we tried nearly all sorts ;
we hunted hard enough, but the BIRDS WERE NOT THERE.
Some explanation may be among the following thoughts:
That we expected too much from the “ list,” which when in doubt is inclined
to “ optimism.”
That our work being all inland, among the hills and mountains, we missed
seeing most of the species frequenting the plains, swamps, lakes, lagoons.
That our visit was too short to gauge the “status ” of most species; we
came too late to discriminate between wintering and migrant individuals of some
species, and left too early to be sure whether other species bred or only passed
through the country.
That the abnormal stormy weather all through April prevented our seeing
so many of the migrants as we might have done in a normal year, and also
accounted. for the absence of “‘ song ” commented on as so marked until the fine
weather set in in May.
But nothing short of confirmation can convince me, nor will it any “ bird-
man ” acquainted with these latitudes, that the dearth of Wheatears, Birds of
Prey, and such characteristic ‘‘ Mediterranean ” species as the Roller, Hoopoe,
etc., can be a normal condition of Yebala’s spring.
Noviratrs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 101
11. Migration. —Our records are given in detail in the Catalogue (Part II).
Allthis part of N.W. Africa is well known to be a great “ highway ” of migration.
The outstanding features with us this year seem to be firstly a general lateness
(see Rufous Warbler and other notations), and secondly, marked suspension
during the half of April, when one would have expected migration to be about
its normal maximum. The abnormal weather conditions were clearly the cause
of the latter, and probably had much to do with the former too.
If, as is thought by some, rise of temperature is, or is the principal factor
in, the stimulus that causes migrant birds to start on their spring journey, or
conversely, if cold weather retains them in their winter quarters or arrests their
progress, then one may suggest as a cause of the general lateness the unusual
coldness of April.
This, we know, extended to South Marocco, but how much farther south
we are not likely to know.
The “‘ warm wave ” theory, which has the support of considerable fact, or
at least circumstantial evidence, is suggestive in our case, either of the abnormal
weather conditions having extended right away south to Senegal and tropical
Africa, which is surely improbable ? or, assuming that once having started from
their winter quarters, the birds would not, or could not, stop in numbers for any
length of time in the desert (oases included), of an unusual pack of migrant birds
in South Marocco in mid-April.
I fear we are not likely to get the facts necessary for testing either of these
suggestions.
The suspension of migration must have been due largely to the heavy rains.
We have ample evidence to show that it is “types of” weather rather than
““ fine ” weather, over wide areas, which, if not embracing both, must include the
departure, rather than the arrival point, that chiefly influence passage-flight,
and we know that birds do not, cannot, fly for any length of time in heavy rain.
I think nearly all our evidence goes to show that if birds on passage get caught
in heavy rain over the wide sea, and they cannot find a ship to settle on, or
make land pretty quickly, they “drown.” If overland, then, of course, the
migrants come down and shelter.
But my particular point is that with us, during those nine days of deluge
April 20-28, no birds were there taking shelter, that none ? could have been flying
over while the rain was pouring down and that none came along during the few
fine intervals: in short, that migration was in suspension so far as our point of
observation was concerned, until the fine weather set in in May, when at once
crowds of migrants appeared on the scene.
The cold storms of that period were widespread: was the whole migration
stream across N.W. Marocco held up ? and if so, where ? or did it in whole or part
diverge and steer clear of the storms, or did it just carry on across the lowlands
during the finer intervals which were more frequent and of longer duration there
than with us ?
Tf the first, then N.W. Europe and Great Britain might be expected to have
shown something of lateness too ; if not, then the storms of S.W. Europe would
1 See Brit. Birds, vol. xvii. p. 131, re homing pigeons, also Brit. Birds, vol. iii. p. 141 et seq., and
many other records on this subject.
2 The few stray specimens of migrant species which we managed to pick up during the clearings
do not forbid the use of the word ‘‘none” in so large a phenomenon as bird-migration,
102 Novitatrs ZooLogIcae XXXI. 1924.
probably not have materially affected the migration over N.W. Europe, where
the weather-type was “ north-westerly ” and not rainy.
Here, too, I fear, we cannot advance far beyond the realms of speculation,
but the facts are worth emphasis for the future study of migration in Marocco.
12, “ Geographical Distribution.”—In my Middle Atlas paper of 1920 I made
some remarks on “ geographical distribution ” in Marocco.
The facts acquired since 1920 are too few and small to make any alteration
in its main substance, and I do not intend to bring it up to date in detail. Analysis
by tables of figures and statistics are generally boring, because they can seldom
be put in a digestible form for readers not already engrossed in the subject, and
I now think are best omitted except when necessary to support a controversial
statement or a broad conclusion ; also that since no conclusions on this big
problem of Nature can be useful if based on a study of Birds alone, it is best
for the Ornithologist to present his facts in a more plastic form.
I will therefore merely attempt to show here, very roughly, the extent to
which North Marocco exhibits Individuality through its Birds, selecting for that
purpose examples of known resident and breeding forms, whose distribution
seems to be due to something, such as present environment, etc., not now obvious.
The only forms known to be peculiar to North Marocco, Fringilla coelebs
koengt, Galerida cristata kleinschmidti, and possibly the Athene, are so nearly
related to neighbouring forms as to throw an almost negligible weight into the
scale, but when we compare its “list ” with those of the territories adjacent
to North Marocco we find the following :
A. North Marocco differs from S.W. Spain, from which it is separated by
the Straits of Gibraltar :
in having Harpolestes, Pycnonotus, Diplootocus, Aquila rapax, Buteo
ferox, Elanus ;
in lacking Aegithalos, Parus cristatus, Saxicola oenanthe ;
in having different Species of Gecinus, Alectoris ;
in having different Races of Corvus corax, Garrulus glandarius, Fringilla
coelebs, Emberiza cia, Galerida cristata and theklae, Parus coeruleus and
ater, Lanius excubitor, Dryobates major, Athene noctua.
B. North Marocco differs from N. Algeria, from which it is separated by the
(semi-desert) territory of Lower Moulouya :
in having Sitta ;
in having different Races of Fringilla coelebs, Galerida cristata and theklae,
Parus ater, Dryobates major, Athene noctua.
C. North Marocco differs from Central Marocco, from which it is separated
by the “ Détroit Sud-Rifain ”’ :
in having Sylvia undata ;
in lacking Eremophila, Saxicola oenanthe, Choriotis, Numida ;
in having different Races of Garrulus glandarius, Fringilla coelebs, Galerida
cristata and theklae, Certhia brachydactyla, Lanius excubitor, Athene noctua.
(If South Marocco were added the differences would be considerably
increased.)
So that, although North-Marocco has very few bird-forms quite peculiar
to itself, it really has very considerable Individuality in relation to the territories
surrounding it.
A very rough idea of the proportion in which its boundaries contribute
Novirates ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924. 103
towards this Individuality (though it must be quite dissociated from the notion
that these boundaries are to be considered as the barriers that have caused it,
thereby solving the problem!) may be conveniently expressed as something of
this sort :
Straits of Gibraltar . ‘ ; P ; . 85 per cent.
Moulouya ‘ 3 : : ö . 10 per cent.
““ Detroit Sud-Rifain ” i : . 15 per cent.
I have already put the case for North Maroceo’ s claim to consideration as
a convenient geographical unit, and if it be agreed from what we can see of its
Birds, that a corresponding Individuality is likely to be found in other depart-
ments of Biology, an additional zest is added to the Ornithological first-step
of making a satisfactory “list” of the birds of North Marocco, which brings
me to my final point, viz. :
13. Future Work.—If it be agreed that a satisfactory “ list ” of the birds
of any area cannot be made except from a reliable record of Kind, Status, and
Distribution of its bird-forms, then we shall see at a glance, thanks to the clear
way in which Dr. Hartert and Mr. Jourdain have marshalled the facts and guided
discrimination between them and the doubtful records, that much work will
have to be done in North Marocco before even a satisfactory “list ” of its birds
can be made. Particularly do we want to know the Status of many of the
Species ; to know merely that such and such a bird has been, or is to be, found
in such and such a place, is a very “ bald ” fact, if unaccompanied by the know-
ledge of whether it is so as a “ Resident ” or a “ Summer visitor ” or what ?
Then, we want a record from ‘“‘ The low Rif,” which, even now, is accessible
to the naturalist : there must be interesting semi-desert forms there, as of larks
and chats; and we should be sure of gaining valuable information from it con-
cerning the distribution of bird-forms in the Algero-Maroccan borderland on its
eastern edge.
“ The high Rif ” cannot yet be explored, but we may hope that it will soon
be accessible. If any “great surprises ” are to come from North Marocco, it
will be more likely from those high summits and conifer forests than from any-
where else in the country—though I am not very sanguine about it.
Lastly, there is ““ Yebala.” Here and there in Part II of this paper I have
pointed out certain specific objectives for future workers, but those who study
the present “ record ” will readily perceive what, besides a great deal of confirma-
tion of doubtful records, requires to be done.
May we hope that our Spanish ornithological friends will take up the subject ?
104 NoVvITATEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924,
NOTES ON SOME BIRDS FROM BURU
By ERNST HARTERT, Pu.D.
‘J HE avifauna of Buru, the westernmost of the Southern Moluccas, has
recently, after a somewhat long interval, been fairly well explored, and
the results of most of the recent expeditions since Doherty’s visit to Buru in 1897
are in the Tring Museum. Stresemann was the first to stay a longer time in the
highlands, and after his thorough work, carefully described in Nov. ZooL. xxi.
1914, not very much seemed to remain unknown on Buru, as far as the occurrence
of resident species was concerned. It must, however, not be forgotten that
a large part of the island iscovered with forest and very thick, impregnable
bush, and, if one considers how long it takes to bring together all the birds
of a civilized country with all commodities of roads and transport, it seems
unreasonable to believe that every species occurring on Buru should have been
obtained, notwithstanding the excellent work done on the island by the various
collectors who have visited Buru, and especially by Stresemann, during a stay
of about three months.
It is thereforenot surprising that the brothers Pratt, the experienced collectors
of lepidoptera, who worked a long time on Buru in 1922, especially in the mountain
ranges, for Mr. Joicey, and made remarkable discoveries of butterflies and moths,
discovered also several birds new to Buru, among them a fine new species,
Madanga ruficollis. Though primarily out to collect lepidoptera, they also
brought together a collection of 200 birdskins. Of these the Tring Museum
acquired 32, which complete its Buru ornis, as far as known, almost entirely,
The rest of the collection has passed into the British Museum. Except the new
Madanga ruficollis they collected 5 species new to the Buru fauna: Fulica atra
australis, Sterna s. sumatrana, Falco severus papuanus, Pitta elegans elegans,
Erythrura trichroa pinaiae. They discovered the adult male of Prioniturus
mada and the second known specimen of Accipiter hiogaster pallidiceps. It is
a pity that, from information received, these very able collectors do not at
present continue their collecting expeditions in the eastern archipelago.
No doubt the plan of the recent collectors to search the mountains was
the best, as there most of the endemic forms might be expected, and their
expectations have come wonderfully true ; on the other hand, it seems to me that
the plains of Buru, especially near Kayeli, require some further attention. It
was there where one of the rarest of the parrots, Tanygnathus gramineus, was
shot, and where my beautiful T'yto cayelw (Strix cayelii, Nov. ZooL. 1900, p. 228)
was found.
In 1921 Dr. Toxopeus of Amsterdam collected about 600 birds on Buru,
but the results of his collection are not yet fully known. This gentleman first
obtained the male of Prioniturus mada, and there are now two alive in
Buitenzorg in Java, while others brought home to Holland have died. A
few notes about this are published in the Handelingen (Proceedings) of the
““ Tweede Nederlandsch-Indisch Natuurwetenschappelijk Congres,” Bandoeng,
May 1922. Toxopeus also tells me that he got a Tanygnathus gramineus
Novirates ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 105
’
“brought by natives from the mountains’ and a specimen of T’yto cayelii,
and that his notes on the supposed Androphilus disturbans in the Handelingen
really refer to Locustella fasciolata, a Siberian bird that visits the Moluccas
on migration—which explains that he found it in the plains, while Stresemann
correctly described the Androphilus as a mountain bird. In fact, all Andro-
phili are mountain birds. Full notes on Toxopeus’ collection, I understand,
will shortly be published by Dr. Siebers in Buitenzorg.
In the following notes I have only mentioned and discussed the most
interesting birds collected by Pratt Bros. Of the other species they collected
the following are the more noteworthy ones : Columba mada (common), Egreita
alba modesta, Dupetor flavicollis gouldi, Hemiprocne mystacea confirmaia,
Eryihromyias buruensis buruensis, Dendrobiastes hyperythrus alifurus, Microeca
addita, Pitta rubrinucha rubrinucha, Pachycephala griseonota examinata, Pachy-
cephala pectoralis buruensis, Myzomela wakoloensis, Stigmatops deningeri ; of
Zosterops only Z. buruensis was obtained.
For fullest information about the Buru avifauna see Stresemann, Nov. ZooL.
1914, pp. 358-400.
Treron aromatica aromatica (Gm.).
This beautiful and not at all common species was collected at Wa Fehat,
2,400 feet high, 10.iv.1922. “ Bill black and grey. Iris grey. Feet reddish.”
(Columba mada mada was found fairly common in the mountains of N.W.
Buru.)
Ptilinopus rivolii buruanus Hart. & Goods.
Ptilinopus rivolit buruanus Hartert & Goodson, Nov. Zool. 1918, p. 347 (Buru).
This distinct subspecies is easily distinguished from P. r. prasinorrhous,
its nearest ally, by the greater amount of yellow on the under tail-coverts. It
is also generally smaller. Wings: &, 122-128 mm. It has been found by nearly
all collectors and seems to occur in all parts of the island. Pratt Bros. brought
two from Wa Fehat, 2,700 feet high, one from the “‘ Mada Range ”’ 5,000 feet high.
Porphyrio melanotus melanotus Temm.
Porphyrio melanotus Temminck, Man. d’Orn., 2nd ed., ii. p. 701 (Oct. 1820—‘‘ Nouvelle Hollande ”’).
“ &” Fogha, W. Buru, 16.ii.1902. Heinr. Kühn coll. Ad., “ Buru,”
4.1v.1922. Pratt coll.
Stresemann, Nov. ZooL. xxi. p. 362, enumerated the Buru Purple Coot as
“ Porphyrio calvus Vieill.”” According to some literature (Schlegel, Mus. Pays Bas)
this would be correct, but our two specimens are uniform purplish blue underneath,
like Australian specimens, and very different from so-called calvus. The Java
form has the chest “greenish cobalt, contrasting with the rest of the under
surface, which is rich purplish blue ” as it has been well described by Sharpe.
Our two Buru examples, however, are underneath uniform purplish blue, only
the middle of the lower abdomen being blackish. I cannot see any differences
between these Buru specimens and those from Australia (except S.W. Australia).
While mentioning these Purple Coots I must correct the nomenclature
recently in use for some of them. First of all I must say that the Australian
106 NoVITATEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXT. 1924,
and other forms are certainly of the same specific chain of forms as the Javan
form. Mathews & Iredale, Manual B. Australia, i. p. 210, say that it “ did not
seem justified ” that I “ranged the species westward to Java,” but theirs is
merely an unjustified statement of their opinion, as they state no reason whatever
why this should not be done. The fact is that most birds from the Moluccan
Islands, New Guinea, and Celebes are somewhat intermediate between the
Java-Sumatran and the Australian forms. Their chest-patch is not quite so
greenish cobalt, and their thighs not in such striking contrast to the sides of
the abdomen as in Java birds, but they are not uniform underneath like the
common Australian form. Therefore there is no better instance in which tri-
nomials should be used than in this case. These birds have been called smarag-
dinus, but this name cannot possibly be applied to it. Porphyrio smaragdinus
Temminck, Pl. Col. 421 (1826—“ Java & Banda’), is a synonym of Porphyrio
indicus Horsfield, Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 194 (published 1821), type Java !
Temminck’s figure and description of his smaragdinus are absolutely clear and
refer to the bird from Java, from where he had a number of specimens ; he says
it is also found on Banda, but there are no Banda specimens in the Museum in
Leyden, while Sumatra examples agree perfectly with the Java ones. Recent
authors have adopted the name calvus (Porphyrio calvus Vieillot, Nouv. Dict.
d@’ Hist. Nat., 2nd ed., xxviii. p. 28 (1819—no locality !)) for the Java form, but
without reason! Hardly any recent authors seem to have looked up and read
Vieillot’s description, as they quote “‘ Java’ as the typical locality of calvus !
This error arose evidently from Elliot’s article in Stray Feathers, vii. 1878, where
on page 16 Elliot quotes Java as the locality, and on page 17 he says: “This
species is generally known as Porphyrio indicus of Horsfield, but it was described
two years previously by Vieillot as P. calvus, which is the name it should properly
bear. Thespecimen in the Paris Museum, which I believe is Vieillot’s type, came
from Java.” There was, however, no reason for believing that a Java specimen
in Paris is Vieillot’s type; on the contrary, Pucheran, in his valuable list of
Vieillot’s types in Paris, does not mention it! Moreover, the Java form does not
agree with Vieillot’s description, as the underside is not all violet blue, but the
foreneck and chest are greenish cobalt, in contrast with the rest of the underside.
As the description of calvus agrees with a number of forms and no locality is
given, we must consider it as doubtful, and I should quote it with a query as a
synonym of P. melanotus !
The oldest name of the S.W. Australian form may possibly be Porphyrio
cyanophalus [sic !) Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., 2nd ed., xxviii. p. 28 (1819—
no locality !), because Vieillot says that the feet are green, but this also must
remain uncertain, because the back is called blackish brown and the forehead
orange yellow, and no locality has been given. Mathews says that the feet
are green, but on the labels of our skins they are not always quoted as merely
green, but partially as orange in parts, and in one as red—and in 1921 Mathews
says “ olive-green to reddish.” Elliot says that ‘“‘cyanophalus’”’ should read
“ cyanocephalus,”’ and Sharpe (Cat. B. xxiii. p. 205) endorses this opinion by saying
it was “doubtless correct.” There is, however, absolutely no reason for this
opinion. How could Vieillot calla bird of which he says that “‘ la téte en entier ”
is of a “‘ brun noiratre,” the blue-headed Porphyrio ? It is absurd to assume this,
but nothing is more probable than that Vieillot wished to call the bird
““ cyanophaeus,” meaning blue and dusky, a very suitable name, and used by
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 107
him in other genera in the combination leucophaeus. Ane and are of course
very easily mistaken for each other, and the same error has been committed
elsewhere in print.
I see that Stresemann also calls the Purple Gallinule from Ceram Porphyrio
calvus! This is less incorrect than calling our Buru specimens by that name,
but our Ceram example is not like the Javan ““ calvus ” (recte indicus !), but it
agrees with specimens from the Sudest and Trobriand Islands, from some other
Moluccan Islands, Celebes, and parts of New Guinea in being somewhat inter-
mediate between P. melanotus melanotus (Australia) and P. melanotus indicus
(Java, Sumatra, Kangean, Borneo), the chest-patch being more purplish than in
indicus, but still in contrast with the rest of the underside. I have shown above
that the name smaragdinus cannot be used for this form, but we may call it
P. melanotus melanopterus. Bonaparte created this name with an inadequate
description and without stating a locality (Compt. Rend. Acad. Paris, xliii. p. 599
(1856—as seen in the Leyden Museum from Temminck MS!), but the types from
Ceram are in the Leyden Museum, and therefore we may accept this name for
the birds from Ceram and other islands mentioned above.
Now there are, however, in the Leyden Museum skins, obtained on
Buru by Hoedt, which have the light chest-patch like the Ceram birds, and
we have also received from St. Aignan (Louisiade group), among specimens
with the light chest-patch, i.e. P. m. melanopterus, one of the Australian form,
but I believe that the specimens of P. m. melanotus are migrants from Australia,
where there seems to be a certain amount of migratory movement, at least
certain places are entirely left when the flat lakes, which all Porphyrio love, dry
out in the dry season.
I therefore recognize the following subspecies :
Porphyrio melanotus indicus Horsf., Java, Sumatra, Kangean, Borneo.
P. m. melanopterus Bp., Moluccas, New Guinea, and Papuan Islands.
P. m. melanotus Temm., Australia (except south-western area).
P. m. fleicherae Mathews, Tasmania.
(Of this form we have only one skin, the only one Mathews had when describ-
ing this form, but there is another in the British Museum. The specimen is
so much larger (specially bill and wings) than Australian specimens, that probably
this subspecies is ““ very good,”’ but it is regrettable that Mathews has not stated
how few specimens he examined! Thus the reader is left in the dark on what
grounds the author based his judgment, which may be good or not.)
P. m. bellus Gould, south-west Australia.
(In the B. Australia, i. p. 238, duly named as a subspecies of P. melanotus,
but in the Manuel, p. 210, as a species, without explanation. P. m. woodwardi
Mathews, 1912, from S.W. Australia, is now duly admitted to be a synonym of
bellus, and it is regrettable that even P. m. bellus, of which Mathews & Iredale say,
“ Restricted to south-west Australia and therefore no subspecies’ has now a
synonym !)
I am unable to separate P. m. neomelanotus Mathews, which is figured in the
B. Australia, i. pl. 60—while P. m. melanotus remains unfigured in that work—
described from a beautiful fresh skin from N.W. Australia, as its supposed
difference, more ultramarine underside, is not constant.)
All the described forms from the Pacific Islands seem to be separable, but
of some of them I have not examined sufficient material. They are: P. m.
108 NOVITATES ZootocicaE XXXI. 1924,
stanleyi from New Zealand, P. m. chathamensis, samoensis, vitiensis, pelewensis,
aneitumensis, elliott (Admiralty Islands), neobrittanicus, caledonicus (like bellus
but apparently much smaller), and mertoni Berl. from the Key Islands.
Fulica atra australis Gould.
Fulica australis Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1845, p. 2 (W. Australia).
Fulica atra ingrami Mathews, Nov. Zool. xviii. p. 196 (1912—Alexandra, Northern Territory).
g, 2.v.1922, Rana Lake, 2,400 feet. “ Bill light grey, feet blue-grey,
iris red.”
The Australian form differs from F. atra aira in having less white at the tips
of the secondaries, if any at all, bill and frontal shield more grey, not white,
and in being smaller. F. «a. ingrami differs in no way whatever ; the author says
it is blacker on the head and underside, but this is not the case. (The Tasmanian
form has also been separated, but is probably also inseparable ; we have, however,
insufficient unsexed material from Tasmania, and I cannot look up the original
description in the Tring Museum. I can therefore not finally decide.)
F. a. australis is new to the Moluccan fauna.
Sterna sumatrana sumatrana Raffl.
Sterna sumatrana Raffles, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, xiii. p. 329 (1822—Sumatra).
1 ad., Laksola, on the coast of Buru, 6.vi. 1922.
Not yet registered from Buru, but having occurred on Ceram and Celebes,
as well as many other islands from Australia to Sumatra and Malay Peninsula,
its occurrence there was to be expected. I use trinomials for this bird, because
Sterna sumatrana mathewsi Stresemann, Nov. ZooL. 1914, p. 61 (Aldabra !), seems
to me to be a well-founded form, having the wings shorter and bill rather long.
They overlap in a few specimens only, but the series gives obviously smaller
measurements of the wings. On the other hand, the supposed differences of
S. sumatrana kempi Mathews, 1912 (Nov. Zoot. xviii. p.210), do not exist in a series
from Australia, and kempi is therefore a synonym of swmatrana. (About the
name sumatrana versus melanauchen Temm., see Mathews, B. Austr. ii. p. 370.)
Accipiter hiogaster pallidiceps (Salvad.).
Urospizias pallidiceps Salvadori, Ibis, 1879, p. 474 (Buru).
Accipiter hiogaster pallidiceps Stresemann, Nov. Zool. pp. 73, 381.
(2) ad., Rana Lake, Central Buru, 2,400 feet, 10.v.1922.
This specimen agrees perfectly with the descriptions given by Salvadori and
Stresemann, but it must be a female as it is very much larger, wing 232 mm.,
as opposed to 197 in the ¢ type, the only other known specimen. I should not
call the underside “sehr blass zimtfarben ’” in this beautiful fresh specimen,
but perhaps the type, shot 44 years ago, has faded a little, having been
mounted nearly half a century.
This is the second known specimen in Europe.
1 This, Dr. Toxopeus tells me, is the lake which was formerly ‘‘ erroneously called Wakoholo ’”
or Wakolo.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 109
Aceipiter erythrauchen ceramensis (Schleg.).
This interesting Hawk inhabits Ceram and Buru. Pratts shot a beautiful
adult female at the Kunturun swamp, 2,700 feet high, May 22nd, 1922. Wing
211 mm.
Falco severus papuanus Meyer & Wiglesw., 1893.
(2) ad., Rana Lake, 2,400 feet, 10.v.1922.
“Iris brown. Bill horn-black, at base yellow. Feet yellow.”
This species is new to the Buru list. The form papuanus is very near to
F. severus severus (terra typica Java), but the tail is darker, generally uniform
black, not slate-colour, with more or less barring, and the general colour is some-
what darker. The Indian form (F. s. indicus Mey. & Wiglesw.) is more distinct
and paler.
Prioniturus mada Hart.
Prioniturus mada Hartert, Nov. Zool. vii. p. 230 (1900—Buru).
So far only the females of this species were known. Hoedt, over 50 years ago,
Dumas, 1898, Deninger and Stresemann only obtained females! Pratt Bros.,
however, found this species not at all rare at Wa Fehat and Gamu M’Rapat, at
elevations from 2,700 and 5,000 feet, and collected nine specimens. The adult
male has the forehead and crown grass-green, nape, hind-neck, adjoining upper-
most part of back, lesser wing-coverts and a patch on the rump lavender-blue,
rest of upperside green. Underside green, middle of throat with a bluish tinge,
abdomen more yellowish green, under tail-coverts bright yellow, the shorter ones
sometimes with greenish tips. Protruding part of central rectrices for 20-30 mm.
bare, at tip a blue and green “racket”? of 8-15 mm. in length. One of the
females has also rackets, but with the bare portion of the shafts only 15 mm.
long. Wings: 4, 174, 180, 186, 172, 182; 9, 172, 177, 177 mm. Toxopeus
also discovered the male and had a number of live specimens.
Micropsitta bruijni (Salvad.).
Only a single specimen was so far known from Buru, collected by Kihn
on Mt. Fogha. Pratt Bros. brought home an adult male shot on Lake Rana,
Central Buru, 2,400 feet high, 20.v.1922. Wing 68 mm.
Centropus bengalensis medius Bp.
A number of specimens were collected, one much larger than any one known,
wing 210 mm., collected at Wa Fehat, 2,700 feet high. “ Iris red.” Marked
ce On
Caprimulgus macrurus mesophanis Oberh.
Cf. Nov. Zool. 1918, p. 322.
A beautiful male, Buru, 24.iii1.1922. It is larger than’ C. m. kuehni
Rothsch. & Hart., from Key Islands, the wing measuring 192 mm.
1 Kunturun is “a peat-moor ” discovered by Dr. Toxopeus, but he gives the elevation as 3,300
feet (in litt.). He says it is there where Pratt brothers did most of their collecting.
110 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
Pitta elegans elegans Temm.
(Pitta irena auct. errore !)
Pitta elegans Temminck, Pl. Col., text to plate 591 (1836 —Timor !).
[It is strange that this name has been quoted as Pitta vrena by many others
and that the latter came into common use. Since it was used by Salvadori
in his great work and by Sclater in the Cat. B., it is no wonder that it was
also adopted in the first edition of Elliot’s Mon. Pittidae. There is, however,
no such name as Pitta irena in the text to the plate, in livraison 100, which was
published 1836, but Temminck, in the contents of his book, in systematic rrange-
ment, published 1839, calls the birds erroneously P. irena, thus being himself
the originator of this silly mistake. In the second edition of his Monograph
of the Pittidae Elliot calls the species Pitta coronata (P. c. Müller, Natursystem,
Suppl. p. 144, 1776, ex Daubenton), but this plate is so bad that I do not accept it.
The locality “‘ Bengale ”’ may have been incorrect, as no Bengal Pitta has a black
throat, but P. elegans has not a black neck either! It is therefore unwise to
accept the name of coronata for a bad figure with uncertain locality, and the
species must be called P. elegans !
Lord Rothschild and I have carefully compared the specimens in the British
Museum with ours, and there is no doubt that P. elegans (Timor) and crassirostris
(Sula Is.) are inseparable. The latter is not larger and has no thicker bill than
Timor and Buru specimens. This has already been stated by Elliot. It must
be remembered that Wallace compared his “ crassirosiris’’ with vigorsi and
concinna and that he knew “ P. irena from Timor,” i.e. elegans, only from Tem-
minck’s plate. As we have hitherto with certainty only known this form from
Timor, Samao, and the Sula Islands—both Sula Mangoli and Sula Bessi—
the new locality Buru is very interesting, so to say connecting the chain. Cf.
Nov. Zoor. 1902, p. 549, 1922, p. 378.]
Pratt Bros. shot a male and a female 5,000 feet high on the ‘“‘ Madang Range,”’
24.iv.1922. They marked them “Bill black. Iris brown. Feet flesh-colour.”’
Wings: 8, 120; 9, 116 mm.
As stated above this Piita has hitherto not been known to occur on Buru !
Geocichla dumasi Rothsch.
Pratt Bros. found this endemic species at Wa Fehat, 2,400 feet, at Gama
M’Rapat, 5,000 feet, and on Mt. Tagalago, 3,000 feet high, not very rare. At
Wa Fehat on May 20th and Gamu M’Rapat, 10.iv.1922, young birds were
obtained ; they have on the upperside buff shaft-lines; the spots on the
wing-coverts are not pure white but tinged with yellowish brown ; the throat
is not black but white with a faint greyish tinge; the jugulum buff or white
with black spots, each feather being whitish with black tip and base. Adult
birds like the type and Stresemann’s specimens, wing, 9 ad., 86, 88 mm.
Phyllergates cucullatus dumasi Hart.
On Gamu M’Rapat at about 5,000 feet, young birds 10.iv.1922.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 111
Androphilus castaneus disturbans Hart.
Wa Fehat, 2,700 feet, Central Buru, 4,000 feet.
The adult female has the abdomen darker, much more rufous-brown than
that of Stresemann. It had the “ bill black, lower mandible brownish. Iris
brown. Feet brown.” Wing 92 mm. The throat is not so extensively white.
Perhaps the supposed ® of Pratts is the hitherto undescribed 3. (Of the allied
A. castaneus musculus Stres. from Ceram, also only females are known.)
Madanga ruficollis Rothsch. & Hart.
Madanga ruficollis Rothschild & Hartert, Bull. B.O. Club, xliii. p. 118 (March 1923—Madung or
Fogha range, Buru).
This peculiarly coloured bird appears to be a member of the “‘ Zosteropidae,”’
but generically different from Zosterops. Its upperside is yellowish green, but
head and neck ashy grey. The throat is bright cinnamon rufous, rest of under-
side dark grey, under tail-coverts yellowish brown. For fuller description see
Bull. B.O. Club, ].c.
Three specimens were shot at Wa Fehat, 2,700 feet, in April, one at the
““Mada range,” 5,000 feet, also in April. One at Wa Fehat, 8.iv, one at
Mada Range, 9. iv.
Erythrura trichroa pinaiae Stres.
Erythrura trichroa pinaiae Stresemann, Nov. Zool. 1914, p. 147 (Gunong Pinaia, Middle Ceram).
“ &,” Gamu M’Rapat, Mada Range, ‘“‘ Central Buru,’ 5,000 feet, 17.iv.1922.
“Bill blackish. Iris bluish white [sic ?]. Feet straw-colour.”’
This specimen agrees perfectly with the younger male of E.t. pinaiae, except
that the upperside is somewhat brighter green, the abdomen is a little more
greenish, and the forehead darker with a faint indication of blue. As it is also
smaller than the males collected by Stresemann, I think it is erroneously marked
“ ¢” and is really an adult 9.
Wing 59'5 mm.
Hitherto only known from Ceram, where Stresemann collected two
specimens.
112 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
TYPES OF BIRDS IN THE TRING MUSEUM
By ERNST HARTERT, Pn.D.
B. Types in the General Collection.! IV.
MEROPES.
1183. Merops viridis cleopatra Nicoll = Merops orientalis cleopatra.
Merops viridis cleopatra Nicoll, Bull. B.O. Club, xxvii. p. 11 (1910—Egypt).
Type: 6d ad., Mazghouna, near Giza, 6.iii.1908. M. J. Nicoll ieg.
No. 436.
1184. Merops viridis beludschicus Neum. = Merops orientalis beludschicus.
Merops viridis beludschicus Neumann, Orn. Monatsber. 1910, p. 80 (‘“ Südost-Persien, Beludschistan,
und Indus-Ebene ’’).
Type: dg ad., Sarbac, Persian Baluchistan, 18.xi.1900. M. Harms leg.
1185. Melittophagus sharpei Hart. = Melitiophagus pusillus sharpei.
Mehttophagus sharpei Hartert, Bull. B.O. Club, x. p. xxvii (1899 —“‘ The East African Bird,” a very
sweeping and misleading statement, as the type was from the Hand, Somaliland ; Nov. Zool.,
1900, p. 35 (“ Shoa, Somaliland, and the coast districts of East Africa to Mombasa, Dar-es-
Salaam, Lamu, and Melindi, type Haud, Somaliland’’).
Type: & ad., The Haud, 22.vii.1894. Dr. A. Donaldson Smith Coll.
No. 65.
The various forms of M. pusillus have been separated lately into a
number of subspecies, some more or less closely allied, though certainly dis-
tinguishable. The nomenclature has suffered some confusion, and I am sorry
to say I have added to the latter, but hope now to clear up our recent errors.
East African birds first received a name in 1869 as follows :
Melittophagus erythropterus (Gm.) An dist. ?= Merops cyanostictus Cab. MSS.,
Cabanis, v. d. Deckens Reis. O. Afr., iii, 1, p. 34, 1869.
The name cyanostictus was doubtfully proposed, if found to be constant, for
4 specimens in spirits from Mombasa and 3 from Dschagga—restrieted terra
typica Mombasa. >
Melittophagus eyanostietus Cabanis, Journ. f. Orn. 1875, p. 340 (E. Africa
and also Natal and Loango!). In the descriptions in both cases distinguished
from birds from Senegal and N.E. Africa (!), the distinct blue superciliary line
being mentioned, but nothing about the connecting blue frontal line !
In 1899 and 1900 I separated sharpei, as quoted above, and made the wrong
statement that Cabanis’ type was the same as Sharpe’s meridionalis! Afterwards
I was informed by Sharpe and Reichenow that I altogether made a mistake, that
cyanostictus differed from meridionalis and that my sharpei was identical with
1 Continued from NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE, 1922, p. 412. See NovITATEs ZOOLOGICAE, 1918,
pp. 4-63; 1919, pp. 124-178; 1920, 425-505; and 1922, pp. 365-412.
Noviratrs Zoonogicar XXXI. 1924. 113
cyanostictus. I acquiesced in this, but while certainly meridionalis differed from
cyanostictus, my sharpei, restricted to Somaliland and southern Shoa, must be
kept separate after all! The specimens from Somaliland and Shoa differ from
typical cyanostictus of the Hast African coast region, Mombasa, Maunga, to Nai-
robi, Fort Hall, to Mt. Elgon, etc., in having the blue superciliary line extending
further back, right to the end of the head, connected across the forehead by a
blue band, and in fresh plumage mostly of a darker blue. WW. p. sharpei, Somali-
land, S. Shoa,south, at least, to Tuni on the Tana River (H. Blayney Percival leg.),
must therefore be added to the list of subspecies of M. pusillus.
1186. Melittophagus mulleri yalensis van Som. = Melittophagus mülleri yalensis.
Melittophagus mulleri yalensis van Someren, Bull. B.O. Club, xl. p. 26 (1919—‘‘ Elgon and Suk, and
Kavirondo ”’).
Type: & (in moult), Lerundo, N. Kavirondo, 17.iii.1917. J. W. Allen
Turner leg., for Col. Meinertzhagen. No. 1742.
Van Someren says that he compared seven skins and that they agreed
perfectly in the characters given for his new race. He left us only the type-
specimen which was presented to Tring by Col. Meinertzhagen. This certainly
differs from West African M. m. mülleri, of which batesiana Sharpe is a synonym ;
the blue underside is less deep and less purplish, but not “ brighter,’” nor would
I call the chestnut above brighter, though it is certainly lighter.
} 1187. Dicrocercus hirundineus omoensis Neum. = Dicrocercus hirundineus
heuglini.:
Dicrocercus hirundineus heuglint Neumann, Bull. B.O. Club, xvi. p. 113 (1906—Upper White Nile).
Dicrocercus hirundineus omoensis Neumann, Bull. B.O. Club, xvi. p. 114 (1906—Omo River, described
from a single male).
Type: dad., near Koscha on the Omo River, southern Abyssinia, 20.11.1901.
It is curious how rare this species is in E. and N.E. Africa.
There appears to be no doubt that D. h. omoensis is the same as heuglini,
I agree with Claude Grant and Sclater & Praed, cf. Ibis, 1915, pp. 292-293,
1919, p. 663. The shade and intensity of the blue colour in these birds is rather
variable, though different in the three known subspecies.
UPUPAE.
2 + 1188. Scoptelus aterrimus major Neum. ? = Scoptelus aterrimus major.
Scoptelus aterrimus major (in the heading the editor changed the spelling to maior, according to his
habit, but in the list of subspecies the original spelling of the author remained unaltered)
Neumann, Journ. f. Orn. 1905, p. 197 (one specimen from Suksuk River).
Type: dg ad., Suksuk River, south Abyssinian Lake district, 27.xi.1900.
Oscar Neumann leg. No. 296.
I doubt that this race is distinct. We have from southern Abyssinia: 2g
Jattaba, Arussi, 11.xii.1917, Kovacs leg., wing 111, 106; 2 Seddo, Hauash,
30.xi.1915, Kovacs leg, wing 101 ; 3 Q Lac Daka, Boule Boule R., Hauash River,
Trofimoff leg, wings 100, 101, 101 mm., i.e. as long as the wing of a female collected
by Schrader in Erythrea. Males from the latter country have wings of 105
(about), 106, 106. The wing of the type of S. a. major measures 113 mm., and it
8
114 Noviratrs ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924.
is probably an exceptionally long-winged specimen. There is nothing in the
supposed colour differences, as the colours are rather variable. A series from
the Suksuk River is, however, wanted to decide finally about this form.
1189. Scoptelus aterrimus eryptostietus Hart. = Scoptelus aterrimus cryptostictus.
Scoptelus aterrimus cryptostictus Hartert, Nov. Zool. 1921, p. 108 (Air).
Type: gad., Mt. Baguezan, 5,200 feet, 5.vi.1920. A. Buchanan leg.
? t 1190. Scoptelus pallidiceps van Som. = ? Scoptelus adolfi-fridericz.
Scoptelus adolji-friderici Reichenow, Orn. Monatsber. 1908, p. 160 (Ituri River).
Scoptelus pallidiceps van Someren, Bull. B.O. Club, xxxv. p. 116 (1915—‘‘ Mabira and Kasala Forests,
Uganda; Mumias Forest, British East Africa”); also Nov. Zool. 1922, p. 83.
Type: 3, Kasala Forest, 14.v.1914. V. G. L. van Someren leg.
Oscar Neumann, in litt., is of opinion that “‘ S. pallidiceps ” is the same as
S. adolfi-friderict, which is very near brunneiceps.
1191. Irrisor erythrorhynchos abyssinicus Neum. = Phoeniculus erythrorhynchos
abyssinicus.
Irrisor erythrorhynchos abyssinicus Neumann, Orn. Monatsber. 1903, p. 181 (‘‘ Abyssinische Gebirge
vom Bogosland im Norden bis in die Berge des südlichen Aethiopiens im Süden ”).
Type: 6 fere ad. (still some brown feathers on throat), Arba-Schiko, Anseba
River, 17.iii.1903, Erythrea. G. Schrader leg.
The various forms of P. erythrorhynchus require further elucidation. While
P. e. niloticus Neum. appears to be well distinguishable, his neglectus seems to be
founded on younger black-billed specimens, but of abyssinicus no entirely red-
billed example seems to be known ; though the supposed colour—differences of
abyssinicus from niloticus (and neglectus) do not hold good, it must be kept
separate, until red-billed birds in the countries inhabited by it are found—
if they should exist. Doubtless the bills of niloticus become red much later than
those of other red-billed subspecies, but they do become red in old birds!
(Phoeniculus Jarocki 1821 antedates Irrisor !)
BUCEROTES.
1192. Rhytidoceros everetti Rothsch. = Rhytidoceros everetiz.
Rhytidoceros everetti Rothschild, Journ. f. Orn. 1897, p. 513 (‘‘ Monjeli, Sumba.”’ Monjeli error for
Manjeli) ; see also Nov. Zool. 1898, p. 472.
Type: 6, Manjeli, Samba Island, autumn 1896. Collected by one of Alfred
Everett’s trained natives.
Rhyt. narcondami is not of the same size, but considerably smaller !
1193. Lophoceros granti Hart. = Lophoceros granti.
Lophoceros grantt Hartert, Nov. Zool. 1895, p. 55 (Aruwimi River).
Type : Ad., Aruwimi River, Upper Congo. W. Bonny, of the ill-fated Emin
Pasha Relief Expedition’s Rear-Column, leg.
Mr. Rudolf Grauer sent a male from Kindu Forest near Baraka, 400 m. high,
16.ii.1909, and another from the forest 340 km. west of Baraka, 600 m. high,
29.1.1909.
Noviratrs ZooLoGIcaE XXXI. 1924, 1i5
1194. Lophoceros melanoleucos geloensis Neum. = Lophoceros melanoleucos
geloensis.
Lophoceros melanoleucos geloensis Neumann, Journ. f. Orn. 1905, p. 187 (Upper Gelo River, one
specimen).
Type: dad., Shekko, Upper Gelo River, 24.iv.1901. Oscar Neumann leg.
No. 1160.
Requires confirmation by series, but from the evidence of the single specimen
appears to be distinct, there being more white on the head.
CORACIAE.
1195. Eurystomus afer aethiopicus Neum. = Hurystomus glaucurus aethiopicus.
Eurystomus afer aethiopicus Neumann, Journ. f. Orn. 1905, p. 184 (“‘ Süd-Aethiopien, ferner auch
Gebiet des Blauen Nils ”).
Type: Qad., Shekko on the Upper Gelo River, 25.iv.1901. Oscar Neumann
leg. No. 1162.
This form is very closely allied to H. glaucurus afer from Senegal to Niger, and
BE. glaucurus rufobuccalis from Uganda ; it is generally larger than E. g. afer,
but the colour differences are not constant, freshly moulted examples being very
different from worn ones! 2. g. rufobuccalis is separable by the colour of the sides
of the head, but even of this race single specimens are difficult to distinguish.
E. g. pulcherrimus is a better, more striking subspecies.—Neumann overlooked
that glaucurus is a much older name than afer, but I agree that they are subspecies.
1196. Eurystomus gularis neglectus Neum. = Eurystomus gularis neglectus.
Eurystomus gularis neglectus Neumann, Orn. Monatsber. 1908, p. 28 (‘“ Von Kamerun bis nach Angola,
im Innern bis zum Central-Seen-Gebiet ”’).
Type: dad., Canhoca (Angola), 17.xi.1903. W.J. Ansorgeleg. No. 1150.
1197. Eurystomus orientalis neohanoveranus Hart. = Hurystomus orientalis
neohanoveranus.
Eurystomus neohanoveranus [sic !] Hartert, Nov. Zool. 1901, p. 185 (New Hanover).
Type: Ad., Expedition Bay, New Hanover, 22.iii.1897. Cayley Webster leg.
1198. Eurystomus orientalis gigas Stres. = Hurystomus orientalis gigas.
Hurystomus orientalis gigas Stresemann, Nov. Zool. 1913, p. 299 (Southern Andaman ]s.).
Type: dad., Rutland I., S. Andamans, 4.iii.1907. B. B. Osmaston leg.
1199. Eurystomus orientalis connectens Stres. = Hurystomus orientalis
conneciens.
Eurystomus orientalis connectens Stresemann, Nov. Zool. 1913, p. 302 (‘“ Inselkette von Kangean und
Lombok bis Tenimber ; Djampea, Kalidupa, Süd-Celebes ”’).
Type: &ad., Moa Island, 18.xi.1902. Heinrich Kühn leg. No. 6126.
This form is separable from #. o. pacificus of Australia, but it seems to me
that the darker upperside is even a better character than the brighter, more
bluish underside which Stresemann only mentioned.
116 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
1200. Leptosomus discolor intermedius Hartert & Neumann, subsp: nov.
Type: Qad., Anjouan I., Comoro Is., 7.x.1906. Krishnasamy Naidoo leg.
Like Leptosomus discolor discolor from Madagascar, but very much smaller.
The Madagascar form of Leptosomus is large and the females have very deep
brown tails; the form from Great Comoro, L. discolor gracilis, is much smaller
and the females have light chestnut-red tails, the head and back are much lighter,
and the underside is less heavily spotted. The females from Anjouan (Johanna)
Island are as small as those of L. d. gracilis, but the tail is deep brown, only on
the outer webs sometimes with a good amount of chestnut red, upper- and
underside are coloured asin L. d. discolor. The males are like those of L. d. gracilis,
that is to say much smaller than those of L. d. discolor—in colour the males of
the three subspecies do not differ. We have no specimens from Mayotte, but
they are as large as the Madagascar ones and apparently indistinguishable.
Wings: JL. discolor discolor, 3, 253-261; 9, 259-270 mm. JL. discolor
gracilis, 215-224 ; 9, 216-227. L. discolor intermedius : &, 220-227 ; 2, 238-255.
Besides the smaller wings of L. d. intermedius the very much smaller bill of both
sexes distinguishes them at a glance from L. d. discolor. In all forms the females
average larger. Years ago Professor Oscar Neumann called my attention to this
form, but as neither of us had found time to describe it so far, we decided to take
this opportunity to name it, as above.
1201. Uratelornis chimaera Rothsch. = Uratelornis chimaera.
Uratelornis chimaera Rothschild, Nov. Zool. ii. p. 479 (1895—Madagascar) ; see also Nov. Zool. iii.
1896, pl. ii.
Type: Adult, Madagascar. Purchased from a dealer.
The Tring Museum has since received another specimen which agrees with
the original description and figure, but is in much better plumage, the wings and
tail not worn, while in the type they are rather badly worn. The bill of this
second specimen is shorter, 36 mm. from base to tip, quite 39 in the type.
Wing 111, in the type 114; tail: middle rectrices 235, in the type about 275,
but undoubtedly longer, because worn. Possibly the smaller bird is a female
but nothing is known about the sex of either of these two birds. This second
specimen is probably one of those sent to Paris by Mr. Bensch or Mr. Bastard,
who discovered the species in the sandy plains near the S.W. coast of Madagascar,
where it was also found by M. M. Geay in 1906.
PSITTACI,
1202. Eos bornea rothschildi Stres.= Hos bornea rothschildi.
Eos bornea rothschildi Stresemann, Nov. Zool. xix. p. 340 (1912—Ceram) ; also Nov. Zool. 1914, p. 80.
Type: &ad., Manusela, Ceram, 3,000 feet, 13.vi.1911. Erwin Stresemann
leg. No. 649.
7 1203. Eos kühni Rothsch. = Hos bornea bernsteini.
Eos bernsteini Rosenberg, Nat. Tijdschr. Ned. Ind. xxv. p. 145 (1863—Key Islands).
Eos kühni Rothschild, Nov. Zool. v. p. 110 (1898—Key Islands).
Type: ¢ juv., Toeal, Little Key, Key Islands, 19.x.1897. Heinr. Kühn
leg. No. 226.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 117
1204. Hos variegata obiensis Rothsch. = Hos variegata obiensis.
Eos variegata obiensis Rothschild, Bull. B.O. Club, x. p. xvi (1899—Obi Major Island, Moluccas).
Type: Adult, Obi Major, October to December 1898. W. Lucas leg.
1205. Eos insularis Guill. = Hos variegata insularis.
Eos insularis Guillemard, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1885, p. 565, pl. 34 (“ Weeda Is., a coral group
hitherto unvisited by any naturalist, lying to the east of the extreme south point of Halmaheira
or Gilolo ”).
Type: dad., Weeda Is., 16.x.1883. Powell leg.
As Dr. Guillemard had 4 males and a female, this form must be admitted,
though, of course, as a subspecies of H. varvegata = riciniata. The differences,
however, require some confirmation and modification. Dr. Guillemard says it
is larger : this is strikingly born out by our specimen, but not by his own measure-
ments! Our bird has a wing of 154 mm., as against 137-147 in variegata, while
Guillemard quotes 138, 144, 146, 146, and 152 for his insularis. The blue patch
on the occiput is quite separated in our insularis, and usually widely connected
in variegata (riciniata), but we have two from Ternate in which it is only brokenly
and narrowly connected, while Guillemard had one in which the occipital spot
is partially connected with the nuchal collar. Dr. Guillemard also made a
point of the red iris, while he found it yellow in Batjan and Ternate specimens.
This last character is also not an absolutely certain difference, as we have a male
from Batjan in which Dr. Platen marked the iris as orange red, and one from
the same island on which W. Doherty stated “ iris chiefly red (outwardly), then
black, then whitish.” It is thus evident that insularis is a subspecies of which
all distinguishing characters are variable, though obvious in a series.
1206. Lorius hypoenochrous devittatus Hart. = Domicella hypoinochroa devittata.
Lorius hypoenochrous devitiatus Hartert, Nov. Zool. 1898, p. 530 (‘“‘ The low country of S.E. New
Guinea, Fergusson, Woodlark, New Britain, and New Ireland,” type Fergusson).
Type: d ad., Fergusson Island, d’Entrecasteaux group, September 1894.
Albert S. Meek leg. :
1207. Lorius hypoenochrous rosselianus Rothsch. & Hart. = Domicella hypoino-
chroa rosseliana.
Lorius hypoenochrous rosselianus Rothschild & Hartert, Nov. Zool. xxv. p. 312 (1918—Rossel Island).
Type: Jad., Mt. Rossel, Rossel Island, Lousiade group, 14.xi.1915. A.S.
Meek Coll. No. 6831.
1208. Lorius lory major Rothsch. & Hart. = Domicella lory major.
Lorius lory major Rothschild & Hartert, Nov. Zool. viii. p. 66 (1901—Waigiu Island).
Type: &ad.. Waigiu, 25.x.1883. Dr. H. Guillemard leg.
In the description it is said “ wing shorter,” which is of course a slip, as
the measurements show that the wings are longer! The island of Waigiu, if
thoroughly explored, will yield still a number of hitherto unknown forms. The
brothers Pratt have recently discovered there many new forms of lepidoptera.
118 Novirates ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924,
1209. Trichoglossus haematodus intermedius Rothsch. & Hart. = Trichoglossus
haematodus intermedius.
Trichoglossus haematodus intermedius, viii. p. 70 (1901—““ Kaiser Wilhelm’s Land ”’).
Type: dad., Stephansort, December 1899. E. Nyman leg. No. 9.
1210. Trichoglossus haematodus fortis Hart. = Trichoglossus haematodus fortis.
Trichoglossus haematodus fortis Hartert, Nov. Zool. v. p. 120 (1898 —Sumba Island).
Type: gad., Waingapo, Sumba I., September 1896. Alfred Everett leg.
1211. Trichoglossus haematodus flavotectus Hellm. = Trichoglossus haematodus
flavotectus.
Trichoglossus haematodus flavotectus Hellmayr, Avifauna von Timor, p. 79 (1914—Wetter and Roma
Islands).
Type: Qad., Roma, 25.vii.1902. Heinrich Kühn leg. No. 02725.
1212. Trichoglossus forsteni djiampeanus Hart. = Trichoglossus forstent
djampeanus.
Trichoglossus forsteni djampeanus Hartert, Nov. Zool. iv. p. 172 (1897—Island of Djampea).
Type: Qad., Djampea Island, between South Celebes and Flores, December
1895. Alfred Everett leg.
1213. Trichoglossus johnstoniae Hart.= Trichoglossus johnstoniae.
Trichoglossus johnstoniae Hartert, Bull. B.O. Club, xiv. p. 10 (1903—Mt. Apo, S. Mindanao).
Type: dad., Mt. Apo, 8,000 feet, April 1903. Walter Goodfellow leg.
This striking species is figured in the Avicultural Magazine.
1214. Hypocharmosyna rubrigularis krakari Rothsch. & Hart. = Charmosynopsis
rubrigularis krakari.
Hypocharmosyna rubrigularis krakart Rothschild & Hartert, Nov. Zool. xxii. p. 31 (1915—Dampier
or Krakar Island, north coast of Papua).
Type: & ad., Dampier Island, 16.11.1914. A. S. Meek’s Expedition
(Eichhorn). No. 6678.
A series from New Britain is wanted! There is a slip in the description:
the red patches are on the outer rectrices, not outer primaries ! !
1215. Charmosynopsis placentis pallidior Rothsch. & Hart. = Oharmosynopsis
placentis pallidior.
Charmosynopsis placentis pallidior Rothschild & Hartert, Nov. Zool. xii. p. 253 (1905—Bougainville,
Solomon Is.).
Type: &ad., Bougainville Island, 8.v.1904. A.S. Meek Coll. No. A 1757:
1216. Hypocharmosyna meeki Rothsch. & Hart. = Charmosynopsis meek.
Hypocharmosyna meeki Rothschild & Hartert, Nov. Zool. viii. p. 187 (1901—Kulambangra I.,
Solomon Is.).
Type: gad., Kulambangra Island, 22.11.1901. A,S,MeekColl. No. 2783.
(Figured Nov. Zoot. ix.)
NOVITATEsS ZOOLOGICAE XXXI, 1924. 119
1217. Charmosynopsis multistriata Rothsch. = Charmosynopsis multistriata.
Charmosynopsis multistriata Rothschild, Bull. B.O. Club, xxvii, p. 45 (1911—Upper “ Letekwa ”—
should be Setekwa—River, east of Oetakwa River, slopes of Snow Mountains in southern
central Dutch Papua).
Type: dad., Upper Setekwa River, 2.vii.1910. A.S. Meek Coll. No. 4252.
1218. Charmosyna stellae wahnesi Rothsch. = Charmosyna stellae wahnesi.
Charmosyna stellae wahnesi Rothschild, Bull. B.O. Club, xix, p. 27 (1906—“ Sattelberg, German New
Guinea ”).
Type: 3 ad., Sattelberg, inland Huon Gulf, December 1905 or January
1906. Wahnes leg. (per Foerster).
Besides the type we have since received : 3 not quite adult specimens from
high altitudes in the Huon Gulf Hinterland, collected by the Rev. C. Keysser,
one from the Rawlinson Mts., 1910, also collected by Keysser, none with original
labels but labels written by the late Prof. Foerster, from whom we received these
specimens. All these five specimens have the yellow breast-band.
1219. Charmosyna stellae goliathina Rothsch. & Hart. = Charmosyna stellae
goliathina.
Charmosyna stellae goliathina Rothschild & Hartert, Nov. Zool. xviii. p. 161 (1911—“ Mt. Mn
Central Dutch New Guinea ”).
Type: dG ad., Mt. Goliath, 27.1.1911. A. S. Meek Coll. No. 5211.
71220. Charmosyna atrata Rothsch. = Charmosyna stellae stellae.
Charmosyna atrata Rothschild, Bull. B.O. Club, vii. p. liv (1898—“ Mt. Scratchley, British New
Guinea ’’).
Type: 6, Mt. Scratchley, collected by Anthony, according to preparation,
bought from London merchant.
There is in my opinion hardly any doubt that the striking Charmosyna atrata
is not, as anyone was entitled to believe without further evidence, a species occur-
ring side by side with €. stellae stellae and its subspecies, but a melanistic variety,
which appears to be not at all rare, so that Lord Rothschild (see Nov. Zoot.
1921, pp. 289, 290) is quite justified in calling it a “‘ dimorphic melanistic form,”
meaning that C. stellaeis dimorphic or dichromatic. The curious sexual difference,
the back of the 2 green to the blue tail-coverts, that of the & with a wide red band
between the green back and the blue tail-coverts, is remarkable. The C. atrata,
however, occurs apparently wherever C. siellae is found. We have now 1 ¢ and
2 2 from the mountains of British New Guinea, i.e. the home of C. stellae stellae ;
1 gand 1 2from Mt. Goliath, 2 Sand 2 9 from the Weylandt Mts., i.e. the home
of C. s. goliathina; 1 9 fromthe Hinterland of Huon Gulf, i.e. the home of C. s.
wahnesi. The latter does not differ from those of British New Guinea, nor could
it be expected that the yellow band would remain in a melanistic variety, but the
longer upper tail-coverts of the Mt. Goliath and Weylandt Mts. specimens are dark
green instead of purplish green as in the eastern specimens ; this clearly indicates
the difference of C. s. goliathina, which differs in a similar way from C. s. stellae.
This melanism is perhaps much more interesting than another separate species
would have been,
120 NOoVITATES ZooLoGIcAe XXXI. 1924.
1221. Neopsittacus pullicauda Hart. = Neopsittacus pullicauda.
Neopsitiacus pullicauda Hartert, Nov. Zool. iii. p. 17 (1896—“‘ Owen Stanley Mts., Victoria district”).
Type: Adult, Mt. Victoria, Owen Stanley Mts., Anthony’s skin according to
preparation. Purchased in London 1895 from merchant.
Occurs both in British New Guinea as well as on the Schraderberg and in
the Snow Mts. in Dutch New Guinea at higher altitudes, but it is found also
together with N. musschenbroeki in most localities.
1222. Neopsittacus iris wetterensis Hellm. = Neopsitiacus iris wetterensis.
Neopsittacus iris wetterensis Hellmayr, Nov. Zool. xix. p. 211 (1912—Wetter Island).
Type: dad., Wetter Island, 18.ix.1902. Heinrich Kühn leg. No. 02918.
This is a quite distinct form, having pale (not “ deep ”’) grass-green instead
of yellowish green (not “ yellowish grey ” as said in the diagnosis, apparently
by a misprint) cheeks, and much longer wings. The alleged more powerful bill
can be of no importance, as the bills are not larger in our single specimen of
N. tris iris. The type is not well selected, as its crown and nape are exceptionally
almost without the purplish blue wash which is usual in N. i. wetterensis as well
as in N. 2. iris.
1223. Cyclopsittacus virago Hart. = Opopsitta diophthalmus virago.
Cyclopsittacus virago Hartert, Nov. Zool. ii. p. 61 (1895—Fergusson I., D’Entrecasteaux Is.).
Type: dad., Fergusson Island, 25.ix.1894. A. S. Meek leg. No. 47.
Possibly it may not meet with general approval if this parrot is looked upon
as a subspecies of O. diophthalmus ; the females are rather different, the males,
however, very much alike, and virago is only the representative of diophthalmus
on Fergusson Island.
1224. Cyclopsittacus inseparabilis Hart. = Opopsitia inseparabilis.
Cyclopsittacus inseparabilis Hartert, Bull. B.O. Club, viii. p. ix (1898—Sudest I., Louisiade Archi
pelago).
Type: 9 ad., Sudest Island, 1.iv.1898. A. S. Meek Coll. No. 1641.
11225. Cyclopsittacus macilwraithi Rothsch. = Opopsitia nigrifrons amabilis.
Cyclopsittacus amabilis Reichenow, Bericht vii. p. 6, Allg. Deutsche Orn. Ges.; Journ. f. Orn. 1891,
p. 427 (Saparako, Huon Gulf).
Cyclopsitiacus macilwraithi Rothschild, Bull. B.O. Club, vii. p. xxi (northern coast, British New
Guinea). in
Type : Adult, said to be from the northern coast of British Papua, collected
by Anthony, bought from Mellwraith, MeEacharn & Co.
Cf. Nov. Zoor. 1912, p. 194, for synonymy and problem of sexes !
71226. Cyclopsitta blythi meeki Rothsch. & Hart. = Opopsitta blythi godmani.
Cyclopsittacus godmani Ogilvie-Grant, Bull. B.O. Club, xxvii. p. 67 (March 1911—Upper Mimika
River).
Cyclopsitta blythi meeki Rothschild & Hartert, Nov. Zool. xviii. p. 160 (September 1911—Eilanden
River),
Type: gad., Eilanden River, 10.xii.1910. Albert S, Meek Coll. No. 5056.
NovITATEs ZOOLOGIOAE XXXI. 1924. 121
1227. Cacatua parvula occidentalis Hart. = Cacatoes sulphurea occidentalis.
Cacatua parvula occidentalis Hartert, Nov. Zool. v. p. 120 (1898—Lombok and Flores, type Lombok).
Type: dad. (nat. coll.), North Lombok, July 1896. Alfred Everett.
1228. Cacatua sulphurea djampeana Hart. = Cacatoes sulphurea djampeana.
Cacatus sulphurea djampeana Hartert, Nov. Zool. iv. p. 164 (1897-—Djampea Island between Celebes
and Flores).
Type: Qad., Djampea, December 1895. Alfred Everett leg.
1229. Nasiterna pygmaea viridipectus Rothsch. = Micropsitia keiensis viridipectus.
Nasiterna pygmaea viridipectus Rothschild, Bull. B.O. Club, xxvii. p. 45 (1911—Upper Setekwa
River, southern Snow Mts.).
Nasiterna keiensis viridipectus Rothschild & Hartert, Nov. Zool. xx. p. 486 (1913—Snow Mountains
and Upper Eilanden River).
Type : Sad., Upper Setekwa River, 1.viii.1910. A.S.Meek Coll. No. 4460.
1230. Nasiterna salvadorii Rothsch. & Hart. = Micropsitia pusio salvadorii.
Nasiterna salvadorii Rothschild & Hartert, Nov. Zool. viii. p. 81 (1901—Ambernoh River, northern
Papua).
Type : Ambernoh River (Mamberano R.). J. Dumas leg.
This form will probably be confined to the northern coast between Geelvink
Bay and Kaiser-Wilhelm Land. Cf. Nov. Zoou., 1915, p. 30.
1231. Nasiterna tristrami Rothsch. & Hart. = Micropsitta aolae tristrami.
Nasiterna tristrami Rothschild & Hartert, Nov. Zool. ix. p. 589 (1902—Kulambangra, western central
group of Solomon Islands).
Type: gad., Kulambangra, 11.iii.1901. A.S. Meek Coll. No. 2863.
Later on also discovered by Meek and his collectors on Gizo, Rendova, and
New Georgia Islands.
1232. Micropsitta meeki Rothsch. & Hart. = Micropsitia meek.
Micropsitta meeki Rothschild & Hartert, Bull. B.O. Club, xxxiii. p. 107 (1914—Manus, Admiralty
Islands).
Type: dgad., Manus, 25.ix.1913. A.S. Meek Coll. No. 6155.
1233. Nasiterna viridifrons Rothsch. & Hart. = Micropsitta viridifrons.
Nasiterna viridifrons Rothschild & Hartert, Orn. Monatsber. 1899, p. 138 (New Hanover).
Type: Adult, from spirits, Expedition Bay, New Hanover, 22.iii.1897.
Cayley Webster Coll. No. 372.
7 1234. Conurus canibuccalis Rothsch. = Aratinga weddelhi.
Conurus Weddellii Deville, Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1851, p. 209 (Pibavs, Upper Amazons River).
Conurus canibuccalis Rothschild, Bull. B.O. Club, xix. pp. 48, 64 (Humaytha, Rio Madeira, Brazil)
Type: dg ad., Humaytha, 11.viii.1906. W. Hoffmanns leg. No. 1076.
122 Novirates Zootocicar XXXI. 1924,
1235. Conurus arubensis Hart. = Aratinga pertinax arubensis.
Conurus arubensis Hartert, Bull. B.O. Club, i. p. xvi (1892—Aruba Island near Curacao).
Type: &ad., Aruba, 2.vii.1892. Ernst Hartert leg. No. 140.
1236. Pyrrhura picta amazonum Hellm. = Aratinga picta amazonum.
Pyrrhura picta amazonum Hellmayr, Bull. B.O. Club, xix. p. 8 (1906—Obidos, Lower Amazons»
Brazil). See also Nov. Zool. 1907, p. 36.
Type: @ ad., Obidos, north bank of River Amazons, 11.iii.1906. W.
Hoffmanns leg. No. 586.
(Pyrrhura seems to me only a colour-genus and should be united with
Aratinga.)
1237. Pyrrhura hypoxantha Salvad.=Aratinga hypoxantha.
Pyrrhura hypoxantha Salvadori, Bull. Mus. Zool. Torino, xiv. No. 363, p. 1 (1899—‘‘ Matto Grosso,
in sylvis prope Urucum ”). See also op. cit. xv. No. 378, p. 12.
Type: Qad., Urucum, near Corumba in S.W. Matto Grosso, Brazil, no date.
A. Borelli leg.
Two adult females were obtained, a third seen. No other specimens seem
to be known ? ?
1238. Chrysotis rothschildi Hart. = Amazona barbadensis rothschildt.
Chrysotis rothschildi Hartert, Bull. B.O. Club, i. p. xiii (1892—Bonaire) ; Ibis, 1893, p. 328, pl. ix.
Type: & ad., near Fontein, Island of Aruba, 17.vii.1892. Ernst and
Claudia Hartert leg. No. 199.
Unfortunately Gmelin’s name barbadensis, Syst. Nat. i, p. 339, has page priority
over Gmelin’s ochroptera and doubtless refers to the same bird, which, however,
never occurs on Barbados !
+ 1239. Poicephalus meyeri nyansae Neum. = Poicephalus meyeri saturatus.
Poeocephalus saturatus Sharpe, Bull. B.O. Club, xi. p. 67 (1901—N. Ankole).
Poicephalus meyeri nyansae Neumann, Nov. Zool. 1908, p. 383 (““ Unyoro, Uganda, Ussoga, Kavi-
rondo ”).
Type: & Unyoro. Rud. Grauer leg.
I agree with C. H. B. Grant that Neumann’s name refers to the form called
saturatus by Sharpe, ranging from North Ankole to Unyoro, and apparently
eastwards to Kavirondo and south to Lake Kivu and Ruwenzori—but this requires
further confirmation. C. H. B. Grant quotes Reichenow’s virescens also as a
synonym of saturatus (Ibis, 1915, p. 260), but virescens is a synonym principally of
erythreae, though he unites with it the Kavirondo birds (‘‘ Schoa bis Kawirondo’’),
and the type locality (not mentioned! ) cannot be constructed to be Kavirondo.
(See Neumann, Nov. ZooL., 1908, p. 383.)
1240. Poicephalus rufiventris pallidus van Som. = Poicephalus rufiventris
pallidus.
Poicephalus rufiventris pallidus van Someren, Nov. Zool. 1922, p. 47 (North Somaliland).
Type: &ad., Burao, N. Somaliland, 8.i.1906. G.B. Bury leg. No. 1132,
This form is quite distinct, the upperside, neck, and chest are paler, the red
NOVITATES ZOoOLOGIOAE XXXI. 1924. 123
abdomen lighter, belly and under tail-coverts as a rule more bluish, than in
P. r. rufiventris, while P. r. simplex has a larger bill, but in colour is much nearer
P. r. rufiventris.
1241. Poicephalus flavifrons aurantiiceps Neum. = Poicephalus flavifrons
aurantiiceps.
Poscephalus flavifrons aurantiiceps Neumann, Journ. f. Orn, 1904, p. 376 (“‘ Gebiet der Sobat-Quell-
ströme, Gebirgsgegenden ’’).
Type: &ad., Maschango, Upper Gelo River, 29.iv.1901. Oscar Neumann
leg. No. 1174.
Three specimens (not four) of Neumann are before me, and all show the
orange-tinged, not deep yellow, forehead. Over 40 specimens from southern
Shoa and Galla Land differ by the pure deep yellow, only one from the Galba
River, collected by M. Trofimoff, shows an approach to aurantiiceps. Neumann’s
subspecies must therefore be recognized, though the difference is slight.
1242. Eclectus pectoralis solomonensis Rothsch. & Hart. = Lorius roratus
solomonensis.
Eclectus pectoralis solomonensis Rothschild & Hartert, Nov. Zool. viii. p. 82 (188, 378) (1901—Solomon
Islands).
Type: &ad., Fauro Island, 20.xi.1893. Wahnes & Ribbe Coll.
Differs from L. roratus pectoralis not only in its shorter wing but also in its
much smaller bill !
1243. Lorius roratus goodsoni subsp. nov.
Has the short wing of L. r. solomonensis and the large bill of L. r. pectoralis.
Named after my assistant Mr. Arthur Goodson, who first called attention to the
large bill of this new form. The colour of the abdomen in the females is generally
lighter, more bluish, but this character is somewhat variable.
Type: Qad., Manus, Admiralty Is., 30.ix.1913. Collected by A. S. Meek’s
collectors (Eichhorn Bros.). No. 6186.
When mentioning these birds, Nov. ZooL., 1914, p. 290, we united them with
L. r. solomonensis (Eclectus pectoralis solomonensis), and did not notice the size
of the bills. The latter equal or surpass those of L. r. pectoralis from New Guinea,
while in L. r. solomonensis they are much smaller. Wing: 4 gad., 240, 241, 254,
255 ; 4 9, 230, 235, 239, 240 mm. Billfromceretotip, g 435-45, 2 39-41 mm.,
measured with compass.
1244. Geoffroyus timorlaoénsis A. B. Meyer = Geoffroyus geoffroyi timorlaoénsis.
Geoffroyus timorlaoensis Meyer, Abhandl. (not Sitzungsber.!) Isis, Dresden, 1884, p. 15 (perhaps not
publ. before 1885—Tenimber or Timorlaut Is.).
Cotype (on the label “ Typus ” written by A. B. Meyer): 3 ad., Timorlaut,
collected by Governor Riedel.
(Mathews, B. Austr. vi. p. 25, calls attention to the fact that the names
personatus and geoffroyi, in the Cat. B. xx. p. 402, both quoted as published in 1811,
were probably not published in the same year. He says “the volume of the
General Zoology in which Shaw’s name appeared ” (it would have been shorter and
124 Novitatrs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
more helpful and saved one to find out the volume if he had simply quoted vol. viii)
has two title-pages, one dated 1812, the other 1811, and he says that 1812 was the
correct date. I have no doubt that the later date is probably the correct one,
but it is only a supposition, and I call what Mathews calls the ““ first title-page ”
undoubtedly the second title-page, the first being the general one of the General
Zoology, the other the particular one of the Birds. As there is any doubt about
the date and the great probability that 1812 is the correct year, the name
personatus which Salvadori adopted is better replaced by geoffroyi, which dates
from 1811; the sooner we employ the oldest names the better, though only a
few who are fond of changing names welcome such alterations when they become
known.)
1245. Geoffroytis aruensis cyanicarpus Hart. = Geoffroyus geoffroyi cyanicarpus.
Geoffroyus aruensis cyanicarpus Hartert, Nov. Zool. vi. p. 81 (1899—Rossel Island, Louisiade group).
Type: dad., Rossel Island, 3.iii.1898. A.S. Meekleg. No. 1523.
1246. Pseudopsittacus maclennani Mace. = Geoffroyus geoffroy: maclennant.
Pseudopsittacus maclennani Macgillivray, Emu, xiii. p. 105 (1913—Pascoe River, North Queensland).
Type: & ad., Pascoe River, Cape York Peninsula, 14.vii.1913. McLennan leg,
This form is hardly separable from true @. geoffroyt aruensis from the Aru
Islands, but in the majority of true aruensis the bill is larger than in the two
maclennani I have seen, and the underside is a shade more grass-green. Mathews
says it differs from the “ Aru Island bird ” by the coloration of the under wing-
coverts, but does not explain how. I find that the under wing-coverts are deeper,
more purplish in so-called aruensis from British Papua, which must be distin-
guished as @. g. orientalis from aruensis, while the Aru Islands specimens have
the under wing-coverts paler and less purplish ; this is also the case in maclennant,
where they are even lighter than in the majority of true arwensis, but some few
are perfectly similar. The upperside is slightly deeper green, the underside a
shade less yellowish. Thus maclennani is very slightly different indeed, but its
discovery in the Cape York Peninsula is of great interest, as the genus @eoffroyus
is otherwise unknown in Australia.
(On p. 253, vol. vi, B. Austr., Mathews says that the type of P. maclennani
““is my type of Geoffroyus geoffroyi macgillivrayi.” This, the author kindy in-
forms me, was “ a slip pure and simple, he having in mind his Lorius macgillivrayt.”
This might have been explained in B. Austr. vii, suppl. i, p. 84, where Geoffroyus
geoffroyi macgillivrayi is quoted as a synonym of maclennani, and referring to the
type of maclellani, which it was not meant to do, of course.)
1247. Geoffroyus sumbavensis Salvad. = Geoffroyus geoffroyi swmbavensis.
Geoffroyus sumbavensis Salvadori, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xx. p. 407 (1891—Sumbawa Island).
Type: dad., Bima, Sumbawa, 12.viii.1883. H. Guillemard leg.
(We have a ¢ specimen of Geoffroyus geoffroyi rhodops from Amboina labelled
by Count Salvadori as specimen c of his list in Orn. Pap. e. Mol. i. p. 179, and as
“Typus, Geoffroyus schlegelii Salvad.” This would therefore be a cotype of
G. schlegelii Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Genova, x. p. 29, but there the name is not
based on an Amboina specimen, but on Schlegel’s Zelectus rhodops, which was
Novitatzs ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924. 125
rejected on account of Gray’s Psittacus rhodops, which was a nomen nudum attached
to specimens from the South Moluccas with erroneous lealities. The name rhodops
is now generally admitted.)
(I take this opportunity to call attention to the fact that the African Parrot
now called Poicephalus fuscicapillus (Pionus fuscicapillus Verr. et Des Murs, 1849)
cannot be called by this name, because of Pionus fuscicapillus Wagler, 1832,
which is a new name for Psittacus spadiocephalus Kuhl, 1820, and refers apparently
to a female of a Geoffroyus, but it is not possible to say which form.)
1248. Geoffroyus personatus explorator Hart. = Geoffroyus geoffroyi explorator.
Geoffroyus personatus explorator Hartert, Nov. Zool. viii. p.4 (1901—Manawoka in the Goram Islands).
Type: &ad., Manawoka, 14.xi.1899. Heinrich Kühn leg. No. 1935.
1249. Prioniturus platurus talautensis Hart. = Prioniturus platurus talautensis.
Prioniturus platurus talautensis Hartert, Nov. Zool. v. p. 89 (1898—Lirung or Salibabu, the largest
of Talaut Is., north of Celebes).
Type: &ad., Lirong (Lirung), April 1897. John Waterstradt leg.
1250. Prioniturus discurus var. suluensis W. Blas. = Prioniturus discurus suluénsis,
Prioniturus discurus suluénsis W. Blasius, Journ. f. Orn. 1890, p. 140 (Sulu Islands).
Types: & ad., Jolo, Sulu, 22.iv.1887. Dr. Platen leg. (Received in
exchange from the late Ad. Nehrkorn.)
7 1251. Prioniturus eyaneiceps Sharpe = Prioniturus platenae.
Prioniturus cyaneiceps Sharpe, Ibis, April 1888, p. 194 (Palawan).
Prioniturus platenae W. Blasius, Braunschweig. Anzeig. No. 37, Feb. 12th, 1888 (Palawan).
Type : Taguso, Palawan, 4.viii.1887. John Whitehead leg. No. 1661.
1252. Prioniturus waterstradti Rothsch. = Prioniturus waterstradti.
Prioniturus waterstradti Rothschild, Bull. B.O. Club, xiv. p. 73 (1904—Mt. Apo, S. Mindanao).
Type: & ad., Mt. Apo, S. Mindanao, 3,000 feet, October 1903. John
Waterstradt leg. No. 77.
1253. Prioniturus mada Hart. = Prioniturus mada.
Prioniturus mada Hartert, Nov. Zool. vii. p. 230 (1900—Buru).
Type: Mt. Mada (Madang, Fogha), ‘‘ 3,000 feet,” August or September
1898. Dumas leg.
Over 50 years ago the Dutch collector Hoedt obtained a specimen on Buru,
which Schlegel mentioned under the name “ Eclectus platurus.” The type was
shot by Dumas 1898, afterwards Deninger (1906) got one and Stresemann (1912)
another, but all these were females or young males. Dumas’ specimen is a young
male, Stresemann’s a female, perhaps not adult, as shown by the middle rectrices
which have no rackets. In 1921 Dr. Toxopeus discovered the adult male and
brought home live specimens. In 1922 the brothers Pratt, the successful col-
lectors of lepidoptera, and of birds in New Guinea (see Nov. ZooL. 1921, p. 280),
collected adult males and adult females. They evidently found the species not.
126 Novitates ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924.
rare in the mountains of the interior, at elevations of from 2,700 to 5,000 feet.
The adult ¢ has forehead and crown grass-green, nape, hind-neck, uppermost
back, lesser wing-coverts and rump (where the bases and tips of the feathers are
greyish blue) lavender-blue, rest of upperside green. Underside green, middle of
throat bluish green, abdomen yellowish green, under tail-coverts bright yellow,
sometimes with greenish tips except the longest. Protruding part of shaft of
central rectrices for about 20-30 mm. bare with a blue and green racket of 8-15
mm. in length. One apparently adult female has also rackets like the male,
but with the bare part of the shaft only about 15 mm. long. Another female
has the middle rectrices elongated and narrowed, but not bare, and not racket-
like ; a third has the tips broken away. Wings: 64, 174, 180, 186, 172, 182;
9, 172, 177, 177 mm.
1254. Tanygnathus megalorhynchos floris subsp. nov.
Nearest to T. m. sumbensis A. B. Mey. (from Sumba), but top of head lighter
green, back and wings less blue, underside slightly more yellowish. Differs
widely from 7’. m. megalorhynchos (Bodd.) (from the Talaut and Sanghir Is.,
Waigiu, and North Moluccas) in having the underside more green, less yellow,
the rump deeper blue, wings shorter. Wings: 3 9, 233, 235, 243mm. Therump
is as deep blue as in 7. m. sumbensis.
Type: Qad., South Flores (Mangarai), October 1896. Alfred Everett leg.
See Nov. ZooL. 1898, p. 44.
1255. Tanygnathus megalorhynchos djampeae subsp. nov.
Nearest to 7’. m. floris, but rump paler blue (as in 7. m. megalorhynchos),
primaries still more green (less blue, bills larger, wing apparently longer).
Wings: &, 248; 9,263; Qjun., 230 mm.
Type: Qad., Djampea Island, December 1895. Alfred Everett leg.
1256. Palaeornis intermedia Rothsch. = Psittacula intermedia.
Palaeornis intermedia Rothschild, Nov. Zool. ii. p. 492 (1895—India).
Type: dad., a trade skin shipped at Bombay, which evidently came from
some part of the Himalayas, as it was accompanied by other Himalayan birds.
Six males were received from a plumassier in London. As described by Lord
Rothschild these birds are intermediate between P. schisticeps and cyanocephalus,
which are both found in the western Himalayas. It is probable that P. intermedia
is a local form, the habitat of which is not yet known. If it were a hybrid, so
many specimens would not very likely have come at the same time,’ and one
would expect them to vary, but they are all alike.
1257. Psittacella picta Rothsch. = Psittacella picta.
Psittacella picta Rothschild, Bull. B.O. Club, vi. p. v (Mt. Victoria, Owen Stanley Mts., British New
Guinea).
Type: dad., Mt. Victoria, native coll., purchased.
Cf. plate iii, Ibis, 1897, both sexes figured.
1 According to Mathews, B. Australia, vi. p. 169, Palaeornis must be replaced by the earlier
Psittacula of Cuvier !
2 Our six males were selected by Mr. Dunstall, a dealer in feathers, from a greater number of
these birds, he told us,
Novıtates Zootoaican XXXI. 1924. 127
1258. Agapornis pullaria ugandae Neum. = Agapornis pullaria ugandae.
Agapornis pullaria ugandae Neumann, Nov, Zool. xv. p. 388 (1908—“ Uganda, Karagwe, Ruanda,
Unyoro, and the Omo region ”).
Type: dad., Entebbe, Uganda, 26.iv.1907. Rud. Grauer leg. No. 61.
This form is very closely allied to A. p. pullaria of West Africa, and some
individuals, especially females, cannot be distinguished, but it is perfectly true,
as Neumann says, that “ the rump is never dark blue as in adult specimens of the
western form.” In Nov. Zoor. 1922 van Someren said that Uganda and East
African specimens were A. p. ugandae, but the Masindi ones western A. p. pullaria.
This is not correct according to the Masindi examples he left us, which agree with
other Uganda ones and are A. p. ugandae.
1259. Agapornis swinderianus emini Neum. = Agapornis swinderianus emint.
Agapornis swinderianus emini Neumann, Bull. B.O. Club, xxi. p. 42 (1908—Ituri Forest).
Type: dad., Ituri Forest, 3,800 feet, 14. vii.1906. C.F. Camburn, No. 329.
This form is very closely allied to A. swinder. zenkeri from S. Kamerun, but
differs in the rump being of a slightly deeper, more purplish blue, and the red
nuchal collar less wide, a character which however is often influenced by prepara-
tion. The green of the upperside is not darker. Rud. Grauer collected a pair
in the primeval forest 340 km. west of Baraka, 600 m. high, nos. 4211, 4223,
February 1909.
1260. Loriculus aurantiifrons meeki Hart. = Loriculus aurantifrons meeki.
Loriculus aurantiifrons meeki Hartert, Nov. Zool. ii. p. 62 (1895—Fergusson Island, d’Entrecasteaux
group).
Type: gad., Fergusson Island, September 1894. A.S.Meekleg. No. 146
1261. Loriculus aurantiifrons batavorum Stres. = Loriculus aurantiifrons
batavorum.
Loriculus aurantiifrons batavorum Stresemann, Journ. f. Orn. 1913, p. 602 (““ Waigeu, Berau-Halbinsel
und das Schneegebirge ”). ‘
Type: g ad., Snow Mountains, Dutch New Guinea, 19.x.1910. A. S.
Meek Coll. No. 4855.
1262. Loriculus philippensis dohertyi Hart. = Loriculus philippensis dohertyt.
Loriculus philippensis doherty: Hartert, Nov. Zool. xiii. p. 757 (Basilan).
Type: & ad., Basilan Island, January 1898. William Doherty Coll.
No. 119898.
1263. Cyanorhamphus forbesi Rothsch. = Cyanorhamphus forbesi.
Cyanorhamphus forbesi Rothschild, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1893, p. 529 (Chatham Islands).
Type: Adult, Chatham Is ands east of New Zealand. H.C. Palmer Coll.
This very distinct form is a very large edition of C. auriceps from New
Zealand, from which, however, it does not differ in colour and markings.
128 NOoVITATEs ZooLoGICAE XXXI. 1924,
1264. Leptosittaca branickii Berl. & Stolzm. = Lepiositiaca branicki.
Leptosittaca branickit Berlepsch & Stolzmann, Ibis. 1894, p. 402, pl. xi(‘ Hab. in Peruvia alta centrali,
ad. alt. 10,000 ad 13,000 pedum—Maraynioc, Culumachay, Pariayacu, et Huarmipacha ”).
Cotype: @ ad., Maraynioc, 6.vii.1892. J. Kalinowski Coll. No. 1604.
Marked “typus ” by M. Stolzmann.
1265. Deroptyus accipitrinus fuscifrons Hellm. = Deroptyus accipitrinus fuscifrons.
Deroptyus accipitrinus fuscifrons Hellmayr, Nov. Zool. xii. p. 303 (1905—Parä, Brazil).
Type: 6 ad., Igarape-Assüu, Para, 50 m., 19.iii.1904. A. Robert Coll.
No. 2020.
COLII.
1266. Colius leucotis berlepschi Hart. = Colius striatus berlepschi.
Colius leucotis berlepschi Hartert, in Ansorge’s Under the African Sun, p. 333 (1899—“‘ Central Africa
from the White Nile to German East Africa ’’).
Type: @ ad., Neu-Helgoland, Lake Nyassa, 17.viii.1895. Dr. Perey
Rendall Coll. No. 133).
I confess that I do not yet quite understand the distribution of the forms
of Colius striatus ; I was doubtless wrong in thinking that C. s. berlepschi extended
from the White Nile to Lake Nyassa ; I am now of opinion that this subspecies is
only found in the south-western parts of Tanganyika Territory and perhaps, as
van Someren says, in N.E. Rhodesia. It is nearest affinis, but is darker on the
upperside, and apparently also on the underside.
1267. Colius striatus ugandensis van Som. = Colius striatus ugandensis.
Colius striatus ugandensis van Someren, Bull. B.O. Club, xl. p. 26 (1919—‘ From Lake Albert and
Ruwenzori to Elgon and the Turkwell River ”).
Type: dad., Chagwe in Uganda, 28.v.1906. V.G.L. van Someren Coll.
1268. Colius striatus kikuyensis van Som. = Colius striatus kikuyensis.
Colius striatus kikuyensis van Someren, Bull. B.O. Club, xl. p. 27 (1919—‘‘ South Ukambani to
Kavirondo, including the Loita plains and east to Kenia”).
Type: dad., Nairobi, 14.v.1918. V.G. L. van Someren Coll.
I cannot agree with Granvik (Journ. f. Orn. Ixxi, Sonderheft, pp 95, 96)
that kikuyensis is not distinguishable from ugandensis. Our series shows that
kikuyensis is a much darker form than ugandensis.
1269 Colius striatus mombassicus van Som.— Colius striatus mombassicus ?
Colius striatus mombassicus van Someren, Bull. B.O. Club, xl. p. 26 (1919—“‘ Mombasa to Lamu”’).
Type: dg ad., Changamwe, 19.vii.1918. V.G. L. van Someren Coll.
This form is well distinguishable from C. s. kikuyensis and ugandensis, but
its differences from C. s. afinis (restricted typical locality Dar-es-salaam) require
confirmation ; the throat, breast, and mantle are not always heavier-barred, the
underside not always darker. Granvik, l.c., accepted mombassicus as a valid
race, and he must have seen topotypical affinis (from Dar-es-salaam) in the Berlin
Museum.
NovITAtEs ZooLoOGIcAE XXXI. 1924. 129
1270. Colius leucocephalus turneri van Som. = Colius leucocephalus turnert.
Colius leucocephalus turneri van Someren, Bull. B.O. Club, xl. p. 27 (1919—‘‘ Northern Guasso
N’yiro’’).
Type: dad, Northern Guasso N’yiro, March 1919. V.G. L. van Someren
Coll.
The feathers of crown and occiput are light grey, not pinkish cream colour,
also the colour between the black bars on the upper back is less pinkish, and the
abdomen is lighter yellowish brown. The other differences stated by the author
are not genuine, being merely due to the freshly moulted condition of the type-
specimen.
1271. Urocolius macrurus griseogularis van Som. = Colius macrurus griseogularis.
Urocolius macrurus griseogularis van Someren, Bull. B.O. Club, xl. p. 27 (1919—‘‘ Central Lake
District, Kivu, Albert Edward, and N. Tanganyika’’).
Type: &ad., in thick wood, south shore of Lake Albert Edward, 21.1.1908.
Rudolf Grauer Coll. No. 1886.
This is just a darker form of C. m. pulcher, to which it is very similar.
MOMOTI.
1272. Prionirhynchus platyrhynchus minor Hart. = Electron platyrhynchus minor.
Prionirhynchus platyrhynchus minor Hartert, Nov. Zool. v. p. 498 (1898—Panama).
Type: dad., Panama, 13.ii.1889. Father Heyde Coll.
HALCYONES.
1273. Pelargopsis melanorhyncha eutreptorhyncha Hart. = Pelargopsis !
melanorhyncha eutreptorhyncha.
Pelargopsis melanorhyncha eutreptorhyncha Hartert, Nov. Zool. v. p. 128 (1898—Sula Mangoli).
Type: d, Sula Mangoli, October 1897. William Doherty Coll.
7 1274. Ceryle lugubris continentalis Hart. = Ceryle lugubris guttulata.
Ceryle lugubris continentalis Hartert, Nov. Zool. 1900, p. 534 (“ Himalaya and Assam”’).
Ceryle guttulata Stejneger, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xv. pp. 294, 295 (1893—India and China).
Type: Qad., Sikkim, 30.iii.1876. H. J. Elwes Coll.
1275. Ceryle rudis insignis Hart. = Ceryle rudis insignis.
Ceryle rudis insignis Hartert, Nov. Zool. xvii. p. 216 (1910—Hainan).
Type: dg ad., Hoihow, Hainan, 13.xi.1903. Katsumata Coll.
1 Oberholser, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xxxv. p. 659, says the name Pelargopsis must be rejected,
because it is a nomen nudum. As a description is given it is not a nude name! As the name
has been used for nearly half a century and the comparison of the head with that of a stork is not
bad, we may as well retain the name as adopted by Sharpe in 1870, though no type was mentioned.
Surely our aim should not be to alter and upset as many names as possible, but to retain them if
possible and not obviously wrong !
9
130 NovITATEs ZooLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
1276. Alcedo ispida pelagica Stres. = Alcedo atthis pelagica.
Alcedo ispida pelagica Stresemann, Nov. Zool. xx. p. 316 (1913—Eastern New Guinea, D’Entre-
casteaux and Louisiade Is., type St. Aignan).
Type: &ad., St. Aignan I., 3.ix.1897. A. S. Meek Coll. No. 963.
This form differs only on average size, but many specimens are indistinguish-
able from A. a. hispidoides. Wings: A. a. pelagica, 66-72; A. a. hispidoides,
68:5-75 mm., according to Stresemann’s measurements of 21 and 57 skins.
1277. Alcedo ispida salomonensis R. & H. = Alcedo atthis salomonensis.
Alcedo ispida salomonensis Rothschild & Hartert, Nov. Zool. xii. p. 255 (1905—Central group of
Solomon Is., Rendova, and Gizo). N
Type: dgad., Rendova I., 10.11.1904. A. S. Meek Coll. No. A 1244.
Differs not only by a longer wing (73-77 mm.), but also in much darker
and more violet blue colours, and a larger bill from A. 7%. hispidoides and
pelagica. Cf. also Nov. Zoor. 1913, p. 316.
1278. Aleyone websteri Hart. = Alcyone websteri.
Alcyone websteri Hartert, in Webster’s Through New Guinea, p. 371, and Ibis, 1899, p. 278, pl. iii
(New Hanover).
Type: Ad., New Hanover, 20.11.1897. Cayley Webster Coll. No. 422.
See also Nov. Zoor. xxi. 1914: Rook Island.
1279. Aleyone azurea yamdenae Rothsch. = Alcyone azurea yamdenae ?
Alcyone azurea yamdenae Rothschild, Bull. B.O. Club, xi. p. 65 (1901—Yamdena, Tenimber Is.).
Type: “ &’” ad., Yamdena Island, 30.1.1901. H. Kühn Coll. No. 3058.
The type—the only specimen received from Yamdena—is marked d, but its
small size suggests its being a female. More material is required to make sure
whether this is a separate subspecies or not. I have formerly united with
yamdenae our four specimens from Babber and Romah, which are very dark,
but they are larger, except the 9, which has the wing only 1 mm. longer. The
Babber and Romah specimens do not seem to differ from the Cape York subspecies,
which is also very dark underneath, but, if the Yamdena bird really isa &, then it
must be a very smallrace probably peculiar to the Tenimber or Timorlaut Islands.
Could these birds be semi-migratory ? The occurrence of only one or two
specimens on Aru, Yamdena, Babber, Romah suggests irregular appearance
only.
1280. Ceyx lepida collectoris R. & H. = Ceyx lepida collectoris.
Ceyx lepida collectoris Rothschild & Hartert, Nov. Zool. viii. p. 376 (1901—‘ Solomon Is.” type,
Kulambangra, cf. p. 186).
Type: 6, Kulambangra I., Solomon Is., 28.ii.1901. A. S. Meek Coll.
No. 2809.
1281. Ceyx lepida nigromaxilla R. & H. = Ceyx lepida nigromazilla.
Ceyx lepida nigromaxilla Rothschild & Hartert, Nov. Zool. xii. p. 256 (Guadalcanar).
Type: 9, Guadalcanar, 18.iv.1901. A.S. Meek Coll. No. 2925.
NOVITATES ZooLocıcar XXXT. 1924. 131
1282. Ceyx solitaria muleata R. & H. = Ceyx lepida mulcata.
Ceyz solitaria mulcata Rothschild & Hartert, Bull. B.O. Club, xxxv. p. 24 (1914—New Hanover).
Type: Adult, New Hanover, 18.11.1897. Cayley Webster Coll.
C. lepida is No. 1 on the plate and first in the text. The above two forms
seem to bridge over the hiatus between the two supposed species, and I regard
them as belonging to the same species.
1283. Ceyx meeki Rothsch. = Ceyx meeki.
Ceyx meeki Rothschild, Bull. B.O. Club, xii. p. 23 (1901—Isabel Island, Solomon Is.) (Plate, Nov.
Zool. ix).
Type: 6, Isabel Island, 13.vi.1901. A.S. Meek Coll. No. 3269.
1284. Ceyx dispar Rothsch. & Hart. = Ceyx dispar.
Ceyx dispar Rothschild & Hartert, Bull. B.O. Club, xxxiii. p. 106 (1914—Admiralty Is.) ; Nov. Zool.
1914, p. 292.
Type: &, Manus, Admiralty Is., 6.ix.1913. A.S. Meek’s Exped. (Eichhorn
Bros.). No. 5979.
Both sexes of this species, which are rather different, are figured Nov. Zoot.,
1914, pl. x.
1285. Myioceyx ruficeps ugandae Som. = Myioceyx ruficeps ugandae.
Myioceyx ruficeps ugandae van Someren, Bull. B.O. Club, xli. p. 105 (1921—Lugalambo, Mabira,
Budongo).
Type: 3, Budongo in Uganda, 1.vi.1919. V.G. L. van Someren Coll.
The type-specimen, the only one before me now, has the tiny spots on the
occiput more bluish, forehead a little wider black, crown a little darker chestnut,
the ultramarine blue back darker. The original description mentions only the
““more decided blue spots on the head,” but I do not find them to be ‘“ more
decided,” though more decidedly blue.
1286. Syma torotoro meeki R. & H. = Syma torotoro meeki.
Syma torotoro meeki Rothschild & Hartert, Nov. Zool. viii. p. 147 (1901—S.E. New Guinea).
Type: Qad., Milne Bay, 26.x.1898. A.S. Meek Coll. No. 2116.
1287. Syma torotoro ochracea R. & H. = Syma torotoro ochracea.
Syma torotoro ochracea Rothschild & Hartert, Nov. Zool. viii. p. 148 (1901—Fergusson and Goodenough
Islands).
Type : Goodenough Island, 9.xii.1896. A. S. Meek Coll. No. 29.
1288. Syma torotoro tentelare Hart. = Syma torotoro tentelare.
Syma torotoro tentelare Hartert, Nov. Zool. iii. p. 534 (1896—Aru Islands).
Type: Qad., Wanambai, Aru Is., 24.vi.1896. Cayley Webster Coll.
132 NoVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924,
1289 Halcyon owstoni Rothsch. = Halcyon albicilla owstont.
Halcyon owstoni Rothschild, Bull. B.O. Club. xv. p. 6 (1904—Asuncion Island, Northern Marianne
Islands).
Type: dg, Asuncion I., 16.1.1904. From Alan Owston’s collectors
This distinct form has been fully described, l.c. Its systematic position was,
however, not recognized. It is, in fact, a subspecies of H. albicilla from the
southern Marianne Islands (series from Saipan), differing only in ‘having the bill
shorter and a large greenish-blue patch on the crown of the head! All our Saipan
birds except one have a small green-blue patch on the crown; the type was
described as having a quite white crown, while young birds are supposed to have
the entire crown greenish blue. I wonder if they were not from another island
and a third form, or young of owstoni ? Surely some of the other Marianne Islands
must also be inhabited by some form of 4. albicilla, and probably there are even
more than two subspecies. 4. albicilla saurophaga is also a subspecies of H.
albicilla.
1290. Halcyon australasia tringorum Hellm. = Halcyon australasia iringorum.
Halcyon australasia tringorum Hellmayr, Avifauna von Timor, p. 69 (1914—Roma Island).
Type: gad., Roma, 20.vii.1902. Heinr. Kühn Coll. No. 5179.
1291. Halcyon australasiae dammeriana Hart. = Halcyon australasia
. dammeriana.
Halcyon australasiae dammeriana Hartert, Nov. Zool. vii. p. 19 (1900—Dammer Island).
Type: Qad., Dammer, 25.xi.1898. Heinr. Kühn Coll. No. 1110.
1292. Haleyon ausiralasia interposita Hart. = Halcyon australasia interposita.
Halcyon australasia interposita Hartert, Nov. Zool. xi. p. 196 (1904—Letti and Moa).
Type: 6, Moa, 2.xii.1902. Heinr. Kühn Coll. No. 6281.
1293. Halcyon tristrami alberti R. & H. = Halcyon tristrami alberti.
Halcyon tristrami alberti Rothschild & Hartert, Nov. Zool. xii. p. 256 (1905—Kulambangra, Rendova,
Gizo, Bougainville).
Type: gad., Kulambangra, 21.ii.1901. A.S. Meek Coll. No. 2780.
1294. Halcyon perplexa R. & H. = Halcyon perplexa.
Halcyon perplexa Rothschild & Hartert, Nov. Zool. xv. p. 361 (1908—San Christoval I., Solomon Is.),
Type: dg fere ad., Yanuta, San Christoval, 20.iv.1908. A. S. Meek Coll.
No. 4007.
(See remarks about species, but I think H. perplexa is the representative of
H. tristrami on San Christoval.)
NovitaTEs Z0o0LOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 133
1295. Haleyon sordidus colonus Hart. = Halcyon sordida colonus.
Halcyon sordidus colonus Hartert, Nov. Zool. iii. p. 244 (1896—Egum Island, Egum Group).
Type: dad., Egum I., between D’Entrecasteaux Is. and Woodlark, 25.vii.
1895. A.S. Meek Coll. No. 154.
This very distinet subspecies also extends to the Louisiade Islands, where
Meek collected it on St. Aignan, Rossel, and Sudest Island.
1296. Halcyon bougainvillei Rothsch. = Halcyon bougainviller.
Halcyon bougainvillei Rothschild, Bull. B.O. Club, xv. p. 5 (1904—Bougainville Island, Solomon
Islands).
Type: d ad., Bougainville I., 11.v.1904. A. S. Meek Coll. No. A 1770.
Plate in Nov. Zoot., 1905, pl. x, both sexes figured.
1297. Haleyon enigma Hart. = Halcyon enigma.
Halcyon enigma Hartert, Nov. Zool. xi. p. 199 (1904—Talaut Is. north of Celebes).
Type: &ad., Lirong, Talaut Is., April 1897. Collected by John Water-
stradt’s hunters.
(I have fully explained, l.c., that I am not sure if this is a subspecies of
H. chloris, which occurs together with H. enigma on Talaut, as I cannot say for
certain that both nest there, and am therefore obliged to name it provisionally
with binomials, and not trinomially).
1298. Halcyon chelicuti eremogiton Hart. = Halcyon chelicuti eremogiton.
Halcyon chelicuti eremogiton Hartert, Nov. Zool. 1921 p. 106 (North Hausaland and Zinder).
Type: 9, Zinder, 10.11.1920. Angus Buchanan Coll., No. 356.
1299. Monachaleyon monachus intermedius Hart. = Monachalcyon monachus
intermedius.
Monachalcyon monachus intermedius Hartert, Nov. Zool. iv. p. 163 (1897—Tawaya, north of Palos
Bay, W. Celebes).
Type: dgad., Tawaya, September 1896. William Doherty Coll.
(Messrs. Meyer & Wiglesworth say that, while intermedius is a subspecies of
M. monachus, their capucinus may stand as a species, and that I agree to this.
I am, however, decidedly of opinion that capucinus is also a subspecies of this
group and intermedius obviously connects the two other forms.)
1300. Tanysiptera hydrocharis vulcani R. & H. = Tanysiptera hydrocharis vulcant.
Tanysiptera hydrocharis vulcani Rothschild & Hartert, Nov. Zool. 1915, p. 42 (Vulcan Island, 10 SQ ad.).
Type: &ad., Vulcan Island or Manumudar, 30.xi.1913. A. S. Meek’s
Exp. (Hichhorn leg.). No. 6324.
1301. Tanysiptera danae intensa R. & H. = Tanysiptera danae intensa.
Tanysiptera danae intensa Rothschild & Hartert, Bull. B.O. Club, xlii. p. 91 (1922—
Type: g, Hydrographer Mts., W. of Dyke Acland Bay, S.E. Papua,
20.iv.1918. Eichhorn Bros. coll. No. 7894 of the Meek Collections.
134 NoVITATEsS ZooLoGIcaE XXXI. 1924.
1302. Tanysiptera nigriceps leucura Neum. = Tanysiptera nigriceps leucura.
Tanysiptera nigriceps leucura Neumann, Orn. Monatsber. 1915, p. 180 (Rook Island, between New
Guinea and New Britain).
Type: dad., Rook I., 5.viii.1913. No. 5924 of Meek Coll., Eichhorn Bros. leg.
(Neumann described this subspecies from our notes in Nov. ZooL. xxi.
p. 212, 1914, where we stated the differences, but could not decide, because our
material from 7’. n. nigriceps from Duke of York I. and New Britain was quite
insufficient. Neumann has seen a good series in the Berlin Museum, and correctly
stated that specimens from these islands never have a perfectly white tail. He
agreed with me in conversation that the above specimen should be considered
as the type.)
NOVITATES ZooLOGIOAE XXXI. 1924, 135
‘ON THE SATURNOIDEAN FAMILIES OXYTENIDAE AND
CERCOPHANIDAE
By DR. KARL JORDAN.
(With Plates VI-XX1.)
N this second instalment of our monograph of the Saturnioideae (cf. Nov.
ZOOL. xxix. p. 249, 1922) we deal with a few American genera which do
not conform with the generally accepted type of a Saturnian and which for that
reason may be considered aberrant. But their aberrancy consists more in
having preserved some ancestral traits in their constitution than in having
wandered along lines of development of their own. The six genera in which
we place the 37 species belong to two groups which have nothing in common
except that they both stand at the outskirts of the great bulk of the Saturnioideans
—each in its own place. It is of no importance for the present whether we
consider these groups as constituting two tribes, subfamilies or families. We will
call them families in order to emphasize that they fit neither in the Ceratocampidae
nor the Saturniidae. Further investigations may possibly reduce them to a
lower rank in the systematics of the Saturnioideae.
Faminy : OXYTENIDAE fam. nov.
The species of this group belong to genera of which the position in classifica-
tion has hitherto been doubtful. Guenée, Herrich-Schäffer, and the Felders
recognised their affinity with the Saturnians, but other authors remained very
uncertain about the place which should be assigned to these moths.
We have explained in Nov. ZooL. xxx. p. 166 (1923) that the Saturnioideae
differ from all the allied families in the total absence of a frenulum (not only of
its bristles, but also of its base in the wing-membrane), and said that “ Oxytenis,
Asthenidia, and some other genera” agreed herein with the Saturnioideae
and not with the Hupterotidae and Bombycidae, the only families with which
these moths might possibly be placed. We therefore classify them with the
Saturnioideae, reducing the genera to three.
The family differs from all the other Saturnioideae particularly in the pro-
boscis being fairly strong and bearing large carinate papillae, in the antenna
being bipectinate in both sexes, with the branches arising on the ventral side
(Pl. xii. fig. 11), and the shaft being scaled to the tip, in the spurs of the mid- and
hindtibiae (Pl. xii. fig. 10) being scaled to the apex and not having a strongly
chitinised claw-like tip, and in the hindwing having a well-developed precostal
vein. Labrum transverse, more or less convex, but not projecting as a cone or
ridge ; a deep groove (hole) at each side of it. Proboscis quite distinct and rolled
in; its carinate papillae recall the seeds of Umbellifers. Pilifer placed lower
than the dorsal surface of the base of the proboscis and clothed with scales only.
Palpus long, the tip approaching the base of the antenna, segment I short, IT
long, III short, porrect. Shaft of antenna without stiff sensory cone or cones
ventrally at the apex, with the exception of the last three segments in Homoeo-
136 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924,
pteryx ; in Oxytenis the ventral apical cone of the Agliinae replaced by a soft forked
appendage ; cilia of branches directed downward. Thorax woolly. Epiphysis
of foretibia long in both sexes, reaching to, or to near, apex of tibia ; tarsi with-
out spines, with the exception of the fourth foretarsal segment of the 9, which
has an apical spine on each side ; hindtibia with one or two pairs of spurs, usually
two, the inner apical spur at least two-thirds the length of the first tarsal segment.
Suture separating the parasternum from the episternum of the mesosternite
(cf. Nov. ZooL. 1922, p. 252) oblique.
Neuration (Pl. xiii. figs. 1, 2, 3): In forewing 4 subcostals, SC! from cell or
beyond, SC? absent, SC’ a short spur off SC‘; R* from upper angle of cell or
from stalk of subcostals ; SM? anastomosing with SM?, its apex being free. In
hindwing the precostal a well-developed tubular vein ; C and SC separate from
near base, but sometimes almost parallel with one another for some distance ;
cross-vein D’ obsolescent or obsolete, as in forewing ; SM? present.
Early stages very distinctive, known of only a few species :
Larvae (Pl. xiii. figs. 4, 5) of a more or less oily, repulsive appearance, resting
on the upperside of a leaf with the anterior third turned side- and backwards, and
resembling birds’ droppings. Earlier instars with six rows of small tubercles
bearing minute bristles, the tubercles smaller and fewer in the last stage ; meta-
thorax enlarged laterally, bearing dorsally on each side an eye-spot ; on preanal
segment an S-shaped horn with bifid tip.
Food-plants : Rubiaceae.
Pupa not in a cocoon, but concealed in a dry leaf of which the margins are
more or less drawn together by silken threads. Sheaths of appendages of head
and thorax recalling the pupae of Arsenura, but only one leg is showing, the
foreleg, which is much smaller than the sheath of the proboscis ; antenna longer
than proboscis (Pl. xiii. fig. 6).
The family is purely tropical American, being distributed from Honduras
to South Bolivia, Matto Grosso, and South-East Brazil ; not known from
Paraguay and Northern Argentina.
Three genera :
1. SC! of forewing far beyond cell off SC* 5 2
SC! of forewing from cell, SC? and R! of hindwing ale 3. H omoesnenie
2. Hindwing tailed in both sexes, the tail at R* ; : 1. Asthenidia
Hindwing not tailed, or the short tail at R!. : ; 2. Oxytenis
1. Genus : Asthenidia Westw. (1879).
Phalaena Geomeira L., Cramer, Pap. Exot. iii. p. 144 (1780).
Phalaena Attacus L., Stoll, ibid. Index, p. 175 (1780).
Therinia Hübner, Verz. bek. Schmett. p. 290 (1825) (partim); Möschl., Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien,
p. 682 (1877) ; Kirby, Cat. Lep. Het. p. 715 (1892) (type: lactucina).
Phalaena L., Guérin, Icon. R. Anim., Ins. p. 523 (1829-44).
Asthenia Westwood (nec Hübn., 1826), in Jardine, Nat. Libr. xxxvii. p. 209 (1841) (type: podalt-
riaria); Guen., Uran. & Phal. i. p. 28, ii. p. 23 (1858) (Asthenia not a Geometrid, but a
Saturnid).
Thrinia (!) Hübn., Herrich-Schaff., Schmett. Hur. vi. p. 89 (1856) (belongs to the Saturnians).
Asthenidia Westwood, Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond. x. p. 515 (1879) (nom. nov. pro Asthenia praeoce.).
Genotypus, podaliriaria Westw. (1841).
Hübner defined his genus Therinia as follows: “ Flügel nur mit anderthalb
dunklen Strichen bezeichnet ; blassfärbig im Grunde,” He placed under this
Noviratrs ZooLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 137
diagnosis three species: T. lactucinaria (= lactucina), T. strigaria, and T. sam-
bucaria, of which the second and third agree with the description, whereas the
first does not. Under the first a synonym is put with a question mark; the
insect to which this synonym refers agrees with the diagnosis of the genus (=
Coitus of Hübner) and is quite different from lactucina = lactucinaria even as
to the family.
Guenée, l.c., clearly stated that Therinia was synonymous with Ourapteryx,
a Geometrid genus, of which the third species under Hübner’s Therinia is the
genotype. This action of Guenée’s equals a selection of that third species
sambucaria as genotype of Therinia.
Thirty-five years later Kirby, l.c., disregarding Htibner’s diagnosis of the
genus and Guenée’s explicit statement of the status of Therinia, arbitrarily
selected lactucina as type of Therinia, i.e. just that one species which does not
agree with Hübner’s description. Moreover, he placed without question mark
as synonymous under lactucina the entirely different sambucaria Clerk nec L.,
a Uraniid.
The lactucina of Kirby’s Catalogue, therefore, consists of two species belong-
ing to two families, and the selection of this mixture as genotype is not admissible.
However, Kirby’s action was ultra vires anyhow, as Guenée had definitely settled
the question of Therinia as above. Therinia being a synonym of Ourapteryx
and, therefore, not available for the Saturnioideans we are dealing with, and
Asthenia being preoccupied, the correct generic name is Asthenidia Westw.
(1879), with the Brazilian podaliriaria as genotype.
32. Third segment of palpus short, concealed in the vestiture. Proboscis
rather weak, with large papillae as in Oxytenis. Antenna bipectinate to apex
in both sexes, the branches shorter in 9 than in &; segments of shaft without
sensory cone ventrally at apex, but the branches with such a cone at the tip, at
least the distal ones ; the branches basal and ventral, curved down, shaft scaled
to apex, upperside of branches with numerous bristles, which are very thin.
Foretibia with large epiphysis; mid- and hindtibial spurs cylindrical, scaled
to tip, usually two pairs on hindtibia, the proximal pair sometimes obsolete,
the longer apical spur reaching to two-thirds of first tarsal segment or beyond ;
foretarsus longer than foretibia, hindtarsus shorter than hindtibia, no spines on
tarsi excepting the spine at each side of apex of fourth foretarsal segment of 9,
scales of ventral surface of tarsi pointed, lanceolate or spiniform, fifth fore-
tarsal segment of 2 without scales beneath, densely ciliated instead. Pulvillus
large.
Wings alike in the sexes, except that those of the 9 are a little broader than
in the ¢.
No discocellular tuft of raised scales (hindwing often with a minute black
dot at lower cell-angle, but the scales composing it not erect) ; hindwing tailed
at R’.
Neuration (Pl. xiii. fig. 1): Cell of forewing very short (antenna reaching
beyond apex of cell), SC! and SC? off SC! as very short spurs towards apex of
wing, tip of SC‘ bent down, ending in termen; R! off stalk of subcostals, R?
curved at extreme base, cross-vein D’ as in hindwing very thin or obsolete. In
hindwing precostal present, SM? distinct, short.
Colour white or buff, with a few bands or lines across the wings, and usually
with marginal spots immediately in front of and behind the tail.
138 ; NovitatErs ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924.
Wing-scales nearly all bidentate, with the exception of the fringes; in A.
buckleyi, however, the two teeth less thin and rather shorter, with a third, central,
tooth or an indication of one in the majority of the broader kind of scales.
6. Scent-tuft at base of abdomen conspicuous, generally well protruding,
or at least easily recognized in the scaling, the tuft of hairs being long. Genitalia
most varied in the different species. The clasper proper composed of two different
sclerites : a strongly chitinised main sclerite which is produced into two processes,
P? ventral, always long, pointed, often hooked, and P!, apical, variable in size,
sometimes vestigial ; on the outer side of these processes a small soft scaled flap,
easily overlooked and sometimes absent, corresponding to the dorsal portion of
a normal clasper. Manubrium (= saccus) of segment IX, of which the claspers
(= valves) are the pleurites, short, broad, rounded. Penis-sheath varying from
being slender, with the apex pointed, to being stout, with the apex dilated and
variously armed with processes.
2. The genital armature much less strongly diversified than in the $0,
but different in the various species (8 examined) ; cavity large, the swellings and
folds not very prominent as a rule, one species with a long flat median process ;
aperture in the middle line, usually proximal, in some species more central.
Larva (Pl. xiii. figs. 4, 13, 14): Metathorax enlarged, but not widened into
a large lateral flap as in Oxytenis, on upperside a kind of ocellus on each side,
the two eye-spots connected by a bar. Tubercles of pronotum small, on meta-
notum a small dorsal double tubercle, a slight protuberance on third abdominal
segment, no distinct tubercles on the other segments ; tubercles more distinct and
more numerous in earlier instars. Sits at rest with a half-turn on the upper side
of a leaf.—Food-plant : Rubiaceae.
Pupa glossy, antennae reaching to apex of wings (with the exception of
A, buckleyi ?).
Hab. Nicaragua to Bolivia and S.E. Brazil.
Only one species is known from Central America and two from S.E. Brazil,
whereas in the Guianas and in Amazonia four or five, if not more, may be met
with in the same district. The species seem to occur at lower elevations only.
Asthenia (?) flavicapilla Mabille (1879), from Madagascar, is possibly an
Anaphe according to the description, certainly not an Asthenidia.
In the outline of the wings and the colour and markings most of the species
of Asthenidia bear a remarkably intimate resemblance to a tribe of Old World
Uranudae (Sirophidia, Micronia, etc.), and to some white Geometridae, such as
the Palaearctic Ourapteryx sambucaria. Such close similarity between non-
related groups of species inhabiting widely separate Peglons being rare, the present
striking instance deserves to be emphasized.
The white species resembling Ourapteryx sambucaria in the straight bands
which cross the wings are further interesting on account of the great diversity
in the genital armature of species which are almost identical in externals, as well
as for the strong geographical variation which obtains in these organs in some
of the species.
A. Forewing with large black apical patch . ; E . Species 1.
B. No black apical area. Proximal band of hindwing parallel (or nearly)
with the abdominal margin . 5 . Species 2 to 10.
C. No black apical patch. Bol pana or fine of hindwing transverse,
almost parallel with termen . i , : N 5 Species 11 and 12.
Novirares Zoonocicar XXXI. 1924. 139
1. Asthenidia podaliriaria Westw. (1841) (Pl. vi. fig. 8. &).
Asthenia podaliriaria Westwood, per Duncan in Jardine, Nat. Libr. xxxvii, Exot. Moths, p. 209.
tab. 19. fig. 1. g (1841) (Rio de Janeiro); Walk., Lep. Het. B.M. xxxii. p. 379 (1865) (Brazil).
Asthenidia podaliriaria Westwood, Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond. x. p. 515. tab. 86. fig. 10 (neur.) (1879) ;
Jord., Nov. Zool. xxx. tab. 3. fig. 11 (1923) (neurat.).
Therinia podaliriaria Westw., Kirby, Cat. Lep. Het. p. 715. no. 7 (1892) ; zd., in Allen’s Nat. Libr.,
Moths, iv. p. 63. tab. iii. fig. 1 (1897).
Female not known to us, not described, probably similar to the g. Early
stages not known.
g. White. Antenna drab brown. Wings with three narrow drab brown
bands, the outer one of them submarginal, on forewing a thin discocellular bar,
apex of forewing brownish black above and below. On hindwing the fringe
brownish black from costal angle to tail; the black spot in front of tail with an
orange spot at the outer margin. No submarginal line on underside.
Proximal pair of spurs of hindtibia much reduced, usually vestigial only,
concealed in the scaling of the tibia. In forewing the cell closed, the discocellular
D} being distinct though very thin, M' stalked with R*, not arising from cell. In
hindwing the cell open; SC? stalked with Rt.
6. Eighth abdominal segment without distinction, the species therein
differing much from the other species ; the apical margin of the eighth sternite
medianly slightly convex (Pl. ix. fig. 1, VIII. st.), feebly chitinised. Tenth tergite
(X. t.) very broad, without median process, but the lateral apical angles produced
as a blunt cone (PI. ix. fig. 2). Tenth sternite (X. st.) raised into a prominent
transverse ridge which projects laterad and is armed with teeth at the apex of
this lateral projection. Anal cone very large (An), strongly chitinised ventrally
and laterally, sharply defined. The clasper composed of two processes, P? finger-
shaped in ventral aspect, but pointed if viewed from the side (Pl. ix. fig. 3);
process P* broad from base to beyond middle, here abruptly narrowed and sinuate,
the apex compressed, twisted, sharply pointed, and curved upward; flap Cl
absent. Penis-sheath (Pen) thin, with small apical hook.
Length of forewing: 3, 24 to 28 mm.
Hab. S.E. Brazil: Rio de Janeiro, probably more widely distributed.
In the Tring Museum a small series. Also in Mus. Brit. and Mus. Joicey.
2. Asthenidia amphira Druce (1890) (Pl. vi. fig. 10. 3).
Asthenidia amphira Druce, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. p. 508 (1890) (Intaj, Ecuador).
Therinia amphira Druce, Kirby, Cat. Lep. Het. p. 715. no. 3 (1892).
39. The second largest species known, A. buckleyi being the largest. As
in A. geometraria the forewing with a discocellular bar, two discal bands, con-
vergent posteriorly, and a subterminal band, all of a leaden grey colour, without
the cinnamon tint which the bands of the allied species have ; outer discal band
not broken at M?. Outer band of hindwing broader than in A. geomeiraria, not
wavy in the region of the tail ; subterminal leaden band of hindwing abbreviated
in front of tail, not extending forward to costal angle ; tail comparatively long,
traversed by a black line (= R*); fringe from tail to costal angle blackish at
base and whitish grey distally.
Blackish scaling on head and legs much reduced. Hindtibia with two
pairs of spurs. M! of forewing from near angle of cell or irom R?; cell closed in
140 NovITATEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
both wings, but the cross-vein D* very thin ; SC? of hindwing stalked with Rt;
RB} ending just below tip of tail, in all the other species at the hindmargin of
the tail.
6. Highth abdominal sternite (VIII. st., Pl. ix. fig. 4) deeply incurved, not
lobate or convex in middle of apical margin. Anal tergite (X. t.) with a median
process, which is rather long, slightly spathulate, obtuse (Pl. ix. fig. 5), and with
an irregularly triangular, large, acuminate lateral process. Anal cone soft, and
therefore quite irregular in shape in dry specimens. Tenth sternite without
ridge or lobes. Outer lobe Cl of clasper distinct (Pl. ix. fig. 4); the two inner
processes P! and P? long, P? pointed, P! obtuse. Penis-sheath (Pen) with a long
collar projecting from a penis-funnel (P-F) which is larger than usual; penis-
sheath itself (Pl. ix. fig. 6) large, apically divided into two long processes, of
which the shorter one is broad, elongate-triangular, the longer one very slender
and more than twice the length of the former.
9. The walls of the genital cavity not strongly chitinised (Pl. xi. fig. 8);
aperture (0) proximal, surrounded by irregularly concentrical folds, the lateral
fold bounding this plicate area extends backwards at each side of middle as a
distinct though small ridge, these two ridges slightly diverging posteriorly and
disappearing on the smooth, glossy apical area of the sclerite.
Early stages unknown.
Length of forewing: 49, 33 to 40 mm.
Hab. Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. Evidently confined to moder-
ately high altitudes of the Andes.
In the Tring Museum a series of dd and one 2 from: Popayan, Colombia
(Lehmann). Coca, Upper R. Napo, Ecuador, v.-vi. 1899 (W. Goodfellow) ;
Zamora, S.E. Ecuador, 900 to 1,200 m. (O. T. Baron). Chanchamayo, H. Peru
(Schunke) ; Pozuzo, Huanuco (W. Hoffmanns) ; Huancabamba, Junin, 1,500 m.
(E. Boettger) ; La Union, La Pampa, and St. Domingo, Carabaya, S.E. Peru,
June, July, November, and December, at altitudes from 600 to 1,800 m. (G. R.
Ockenden).——Chulumani, Bolivia, 2,000 m., December (Simons), and Yungas de
la Paz, Bolivia, November 1899, 1,000 m. (O. Garlepp).
In Mus. Joicey likewise a good series.
In Mus. Brit. three ¢ 4 from El Porvenir and Huancabamba, Peru.
3. Asthenidia transversaria Druce (1887) (Pl. vi. fig. 2. 3).
&. Asthenidia transversaria Druce, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Lep. Het. i. p. 226. tab. 24. fig. 1 (1887)
(Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia).
Therinia transversaria Druce, Kirby, Cat. Lep. Het. p. 715. no. 1 (1892).
$@. In colour and markings similar to A. amphira, on an average smaller,
more chalky white, the bands more cinnamon (i.e. with a yellowish tone), tail
shorter and without black line. Spot before tail for the greater part yellow,
black spot behind tail large, larger than in the allied species ; subterminal drab
band of hindwing continued forward as a thin line some distance beyond the
antecaudal spot, postmedian band of hindwing broadened in caudal area, marginal
line from tail forward much deeper black than in A. amphira.
Distinguished from A. geometraria by the second discal band of the forewing
not being broken at M?, the postmedian band of the hindwing being wider and not
distinctly dentate in caudal region, by the large antecaudal yellow spot and the
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 141
large postcaudal spot, further by the much abbreviated and much thinner sub-
terminal line of the hindwing, the presence of two pairs of spurs on the hindtibia,
the more restricted black colouring on the head and legs, and by the widely
different genitalia.
Cell closed in both wings, cross-vein D’ complete though thin ; in forewing
M: from cell-angle or on a short stalk with R’ ; in hindwing SC’ and R! from a point
or separate, not distinctly stalked.
6. Eighth sternite characteristically modified (Pl. ix. fig. 7, VIII. st.): dis-
tally strongly chitinised, depressed, with the apex enlarged anad and the apical
margin curved ventrad, a well-defined, rounded glossy lobe being formed which
is broader than long. Tenth tergite (Pl. ix. figs. 7-11) divided into two dorso-
lateral processes, which are acuminate, in lateral aspect elongate-triangular ;
at the base of each process, dorsally, there is a rounded hump, geographically
variable in size. Tenth sternite without lobe or ridge. Anal cone transverse.
Clasper (Pl. ix. figs. 15-18) with two processes, the exterior flap Cl absent ; lower
process P? much the longer, pointed, the tip curved dorsad ; the upper process
P! geographically variable. Penis-sheath (Pl. ix. figs. 12-14) likewise different
according to locality, always large, ending with three processes, of which the
middle one is broad, triangular, and bears the large aperture.
2. We have of this sex only one, rather dilapidated, specimen without locality
from the Felder collection. Our figure (Pl. xi. fig. 9) of the genital sclerite re-
quires confirmation. Seventh sternite internally strongly chitinised and convex,
forming the roof of a large genital cavity. In front of the vaginal aperture (0)
a transverse ridge ; behind the aperture two nearly parallel, longitudinal ridges
as continuations of the lateral edges of the aperture, the space between this pair
of ridges very little concave and almost on a level with the ridges ; at each side
of this narrow raised median triangle a rather deep longitudinal ditch, laterally
of which the sclerite is rounded-convex.
Length of forewing : 22 to 34 mm.
Early stages not known.
Hab. Nicaragua to Colombia, in several geographical forms, which differ in
the genital armature of the dd (only one 2 has been examined).
(a) A. transversaria salax subsp. nov. (Pl. vi. fig. 2, 3).
A, t. Druce, l.c. (partim).
g. Dorsal humps of anal tergite (Pl. ix. figs. 7-9) low ; upper process P! of
clasper (Pl. ix. figs. 15, 16) not divided or only with indications of projections ;
penis-sheath (Pl. ix. fig. 12) with the upper process (on the backside of the
aperture) very large, slightly resembling a cricket-bat, but with the offside
and apex rounded and the apex denticulate, the second process bearing the
aperture much shorter than the third, which is slender and has a few teeth at
apex and lower margin.
Hab. Nicaragua ; Costa Rica.
In the Tring Museum three ¢¢ from: Rio Wanks, Nicaragua, ix. 1905
(M. G. Palmer); Carreblanco, Costa Rica, type (Lankester), and Costa Rica,
ix. 1919.
In Mus. Brit. four $3, one 2 (without abdomen) from : Chontales, Nicaragua;
Cache, Costa Rica ; and Costa Rica.
142 NOVITATEs ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924,
(b) A. transversaria transversaria Druce (1887).
Asthenidia transversaria Druce, l.c. (1887).
g. Upper process P! of clasper shorter than in the previous race, with short
apical projections (Pl. ix. fig. 17) ; longest process of penis-sheath (Pl. ix. fig. 13)
much narrower than in A. ¢. salax, and the third process quite short.
Hab. Panama; West Colombia ?
In Mus. Tring one & from Chiriqui.
In Mus. Joicey some dd from Bugaba and Chiriqui; “type ” from Chiriqui
ex coll. Druce.
In Mus. Brit. seven JG, two 99 from Chiriqui, 2-3,000 ft., Bugaba, 800-
1,500 ft., Panama, and “Colombia.” The.single Colombian 4, from an old
collection, without precise locality, agrees with the present subspecies, not with
the next ; it probably came from Western Colombia.
(c) A. transversaria columbiana subsp. nov.
(1) Asthenia geometraria Feld., Weymer, in Stübel, Reise Süd-Amer. p. 25. no. 131 (1890) (Villavicencio,
Probably this subsp. not geometraria).
Colombia.
&. Dorsal humps of anal tergite much higher than in the previous races,
being modified into prominent processes (Pl. ix. figs. 10, 11); lateral processes
of this tergite broader. Upper process of clasper (Pl. ix. fig. 18) short, divided
into two curved prongs, of which the upper one is united with a third projection,
simple or forked, placed on the inner side. Penis-sheath (Pl. ix. fig. 14) nearly
as in A. ¢. transversaria, but the upper process comparatively shorter and without
teeth at the apex, lower process hooked.
Hab. Colombia.
In Mus. Tring from: Muzo, R. Cantinero, 400 m. (A. H. Fassl), 1 3 (type) ;
Bogota, 1 §; and 1 9 ex coll. Felder, presumably received from Lindig, Bogota.
4. Asthenidia terminalis spec. nov. (Pl. vi. fig. 3, 3).
g. Colour and pattern as in A. transversaria, but forewing with a thin black
line at the terminal margin itself, the fringe remaining white, the line interrupted
at the veins and more or less indistinct towards hind angle. Hindwing as in
A. transversaria, but the subterminal band much more distinct from the tail
forward than in the forms of transversaria, postcaudal spot larger than ante-
caudal one, the yellow portion of the latter smaller than in transversaria and of
a more ferruginous tint ; on tail a brown vein-streak as in A. amphira.
Length of forewing : 33 to 35 mm.
Two pairs of spurs on hindtibia. Cell closed in both wings, but D* very
thin ; M! of forewing from cell close to angle ; SC’ and R! of hindwing separate
or from a point, not stalked.
Eighth sternite (VIII. st., Pl. ix. fig. 19, J) most peculiar, bearing a large,
somewhat convex, rounded median lobe which is armed at the margin with
blunt, tooth-like, projections. Tenth tergite (X. t., Pl. x. fig. 1) likewise distine-
tive, slightly resembling that of A. transversaria columbiana ; divided into four
obtuse processes of about equal lengths, the processes diverging and recalling the
tentacles of a slug. Anal sternite without ridge or lobe. Lower process P? of
clasper (Pl. x. fig. 2) long, more or less compressed and slightly twisted, ending
NOoVITATES ZoOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 143
with a short, feebly curved, hook; process P! quite short, connected by means
of a ridge with another small process which is placed inward of it and a little
further back ; at the base of the claspers, concealed by the eighth sternite, there
is a smooth erect median sclerite, almost vertical posteriorly, convex anteriorly
and rounded transversely, somewhat resembling a quarter of a globe in a ventral
aspect (but its longitudinal diameter too short), and representing the ninth ster-
nite (IX. st., Pl. x. fig. 2, lateral aspect). Penis-sheath large, with two pointed
apical processes (Pl. x. figs. 3, 4), the shorter one curved dorsad and sinistro-
laterad, the other nearly straight.
2 and early stages not known.
Hab. Ecuador ; Colombia.
In Mus. Tring from: Paramba, N.W. Ecuador, 3,500 ft., iii. 1897 (W. F. H.
Rosenberg), 3g, type, another & from the same place, without name of collector,
and a third from R. Dagua, W. Colombia (W. F. H. Rosenberg).
In coll. Paul Dognin 1 ¢ from Ecuador, probably Ambato.
5. Asthenidia geometraria Feld. (1862) (Pl. vi. fig. 9).
Q. Asthenia geometraria Felder, Wien. Ent. Mon. vi. p. 188. no. 177 (1862) (R. Negro); iid., Reise
Novara, Lep. p. 2. tab. 92. fig. 2 (1874).
Therinia geometraria Feld., Kirby, Cat. Lep. Het. p. 715, no. 6 (1892).
$9. One pair of spurs on hindtibia. White, with the usual blackish brown
colouring on frons, palpus, and legs. Bands of wings varying from wood-brown
to sepia-brown, three on both wings, the third subterminal, close to margin but
separate from it ; on forewing a discocellular bar of the same colour, first band
of forewing the broadest, 1 to 1-5 mm. wide, straight, oblique, running from
about middle of costal margin to three-fourths of posterior margin, second band
commencing at three-fourths of costa, less oblique than the first, broken upon
M:. First band of hindwing nearly parallel with abdominal margin, second
curved in middle and here widened and irregularly zigzag or dentate, fringe black
from tail to costal angle, antecaudal black spot with ferruginous outer dot.
Underside white, costal margin of forewing cinnamomeous drab, this colouring
fading away distally.
d. Eighth sternite (Pl. x. fig. 7) well chitinised, with a broad, truncate-
rotundate, median lobe, which varies in size, is widest apically, and usually has
the angles subacuminate (we have drawn the lobe separately, as it conceals too
much of the claspers) ; its dorsal surface transversely ribbed. Tenth tergite
truncate-rotundate, dorsally hardly at all projecting (Pl. x. figs. 5, 6, X. t.), but
far down the sides with a very long and slender process, which is pointed and
slightly curved inward, the two processes far apart (Pl. x. fig. 6), and curved
like a pair of round brackets, but less strongly so, in a lateral view almost straight,
with the tip usually bent down (Pl. x. fig. 5). Anal cone large, long, ventrally
rather strongly chitinised. Tenth sternite without ridge or lobes. Clasper with
two very long, slender processes, in a ventral aspect these processes together with
the penis-sheath and the two processes of the anal tergite look like a bundle of
swords ; lower process P? compressed, much broader in a lateral view (Pl. x. fig. 5)
than when seen from below, its apex pointed and curved upwards, the base
gradually swelling out, its ventral surface convex ; upper process P! very slender,
shorter than P*. All these processes vary to some extent. Penis-sheath (Pen)
144 Novirates ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924.
large, long, distally compressed, the apex entire and rounded (in a lateral view,
Pl. x. fig. 5).
Q. Genital cavity smooth, without prominent ridges ; from the orifice side-
wards extends a median belt which is more strongly chitinised (Pl. xi. fig. 7).
Larva unknown. Pupa-shell (in coll. A. M. Moss) pale clay-colour.
Length of forewing: $9, 24 to 33 mm.
Hab. The Guianas, Amazonia, Peru, Matto Grosso; probably also Bolivia,
Ecuador, and Colombia, but we have not seen specimens from these countries.
In the Tring Museum a series of both sexes from: Surinam, French and
British Guiana, Para, R. Madeira, R. Negro (type, ex coll. Felder), East and
South-East Peru (Pozuzo, Chanchamayo, Carabaya), Matto Grosso.
In Mus. Joicey likewise a series.
In us. Brit. eight $d from Venezuela and British Guiana.
6. Asthenidia celata spec. nov. (Pl. vi. fig. 5. 2).
Asthenidia geometraria Feld., Druce, Biol. Cenir.-Amer., Lep. Het. i. p. 226 (1887) (Ecuador).
$2. In colour and pattern almost identical with A. geometraria ; the bands
of both wings rather thinner, particularly the second ; this band on the forewing
much less distinctly broken at M’, sometimes not broken, and on hindwing more
regularly scalloped before middle; an indication of a brown marginal line from
postcaudal spot towards anal angle. Hindtibia with two pairs of spurs (in
A. geometraria one pair), and the cell of the hindwing closed, cross-vein D® being
complete though very thin. Genitalia quite different :
¢. Eighth sternite simple, slightly incurved, without lobe, feebly chitinised
(VII. st., Pl. x. fig. 8). Anal tergite with two long dorsal processes, which point
downwards and are compressed, their transverse diameter much shorter than
the vertical one (cf. dorsal and lateral views, Pl. x. figs. 9, 11). Anal sternite
without armature. Anal cone very large, strongly chitinised dorsally in roof-
shape. Clasper with two processes, the lower one, P?, broad, compressed, sinuate
below tip, with the upper angle projecting. P! quite different from that of
any other known species : somewhat resembling a slightly bent arm in a ventral
aspect, with the fingers replaced by spines. Penis-sheath very slender (Pen),
slightly dilated before apex, with the tip acuminate (Pl. x. fig. 10).
®. Anterior wall of genital cavity rather strongly chitinised, with a well-
raised sharp transverse ridge laterally, in front of this ridge a moderately high
swelling ; from the vaginal aperture backwards two nearly parallel ridges, which
are the edges of an elevated median area and are continuous with the posterior
margin of the eighth sternite (PI. -xi. fig. 11).
Early stages not known.
Hab. Amazons ; Ecuador.
In Mus. Tring from: Fonteboa, Upper Amazons, ix.1906 (S. M. Klages),
one 6, two 99.
In Mus. Joicey a 9 from Sarayaco, Ecuador (Buckley).
7. Asthenidia paulina spec. nov.
9. In colour and pattern like A. geometraria, the bands of the only known
specimen (which is bad condition) thin, the outer discal band of the forewing
more strongly broken at M’, the anterior end of the short posterior portion being
Novitates ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 145
more distant from the posterior end of the main portion of the band. Hindtibia
with two pairs of spurs as in A. celata.
External genital armature (Pl. xi. fig. 10) quite different from that of any other
known species ; the genital sclerite medianly produced into a very prominent,
flat process projecting from the cavity and about twice as long as broad; the
apex of the process asymmetrically rounded (in this specimen).
Length of forewing : 32 mm.
Hab. S.E. Brazil.
In Mus. Brit. one 2 from Sad Paulo, 750 m., ex coll. F. Dukinfield Jones.
8. Asthenidia diffissa spec. nov. (Pl. vi. fig. 6. g).
6. Another species with the colour and pattern of A. geometraria. Second
band of forewing not broken at M?. Inner band of hindwing forked on M! and
more or less hooked at the end, nearly as in A. séricturaria, second band almost
of even width from below costa to caudal region, thence thinner and scalloped or
undulated, the veins in the band slightly darker in transmitted light than the
band ; subterminal band as in A. geometraria, continued to near costal angle,
thin behind tail, from tail forward slightly broader than the subterminal band
of the forewing and placed a little farther away from the fringe than even in
A. geometraria, much farther away than in A. terminalis and A. transversaria ;
antecaudal spot somewhat larger than, or about as large as, the postcaudal one,
with a ferruginous marginal dot; fringe and extreme edge of wing black or
blackish from tail to costal angle. Hindtibia with two pairs of spurs. Cell
closed in both wings, but cross-vein D* very thin; M! of forewing from cell
close to angle or from angle ; SC? of hindwing stalked with Rt.
6. The eighth sternite (Pl. xii. figs. 1, 2, 4-6) differs from that of all the
known species in being armed with a very long curved pointed process at each
side, the processes reaching to the apex of the anal tergite and varying geographi-
cally ; in the middle between the bases of these processes a hump or projection ;
the portion of the segment from this hump to the apical margin membranous.
Anal tergite broad, divided into two broad dorsal processes (Pl. xii. figs. 2, 3).
Anal sternite with neither ridge nor lobe. Clasper with one long process and a
short lateral one which appears to correspond to flap Cl of A. stricturaria, the
process P! missing ; P® compressed, pointed, the tip curved upwards (Pl. xii,
figs. 1, 4). Penis-sheath slender, ending in a long, narrow, sharply pointed,
nearly straight apical process.
2. Genital armature (Pl. xii. fig. 7) characterised by the aperture of the
vagina being placed behind a large, rounded, hump.
Length of forewing: 9, 31 to 38 mm.
Early stages not known.
Hab. Ecuador to South-East Peru, in four subspecies differing in the ¢
genitalia.
(a) A. diffissa diffissa subsp. onomatotypica.
6. Processes of eighth sternite with the apex curved ventrad, median
tubercle small; process P? of clasper broad, rather strongly curved (Pl. xii. figs.
Ts 8),
Hab. Amazons; Ecuador ; Northern Peru.
In Mus. Tring from: Teffé, Upper Amazons, x.1897 (M. de Mathan), 1 3.
10
146 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
In Mus. Joicey from: Sarayaco, Ecuador (Buckley), 1 9; Rentema Falls,
Upper Marajion, N. Peru, 1,000 ft. (A. K. E. Pratt), 1 £.
(0) A. diffissa fortis subsp. nov.
6. Processes of eighth sternite longer than in the other races of the species,
curved sidewards and up, not down, median tubercle small ; process P? of clasper
nearly as above, but less curved (Pl. xii. fig. 4).
Whether there are differences between the races also in the 22 we do not
know, as we have no specimens of this sex of races a and c.
Hab. Central East Peru. ;
In Mus. Tring from: La Merced, Chanchamayo (type), 1 pair, “ Peru ”
(probably from thedepartment of Junin or Huanuco), 1 3, and 1 2 without locality.
(c) A. difissa inca subsp. nov.
6. Processes of eighth sternite nearly as in A. d. diffissa, but more strongly
curved, median tubercle very much higher, having developed into a conical
process which inclines anad ; process P? of clasper narrower than in the two pre-
vious subspecies, the apical hook less abrupt (PI. xii. fig. 5).
Hab. Southern East Peru.
In Mus. Tring from: Cajon, Cuzco, xi.1890 (Garlepp), 1 d.
(d) A. diffissa tridens subsp. nov.
6. Processes of eighth sternite more strongly curved than in J. d. inca and
somewhat twisted ; median tubercle replaced by a long process which reaches
well in between the processes P? of the claspers, being about three times as long
as in A. d. inca; P* as in A. d. diffissa (Pl. xii. fig. 6). Postcaudal spot a
little larger than antecaudal one.
Hab. South-East Peru.
In coll. Paul Dognin 1 from R. Yahuarmayo, Carabaya, 1,200 ft., iv.1912.
9. Asthenidia stricturaria Hübn. (1825).
&. Therinia stricturaria Hübner, Zutr. Samml. Exot. Schmett. 3. p. 36. no. 284. figs. 567, 568 (1825)
(“ Java” error); Kirby, Cat. Lep. Het. p. 715. no. 5 (1892) (Para).
6. Phalaena machaonaria Guérin, Icon. R. Anim., Ins. p. 523. tab. 90. fig. 1 (1829-44) (Colombia).
Asthenia machaonaria Guér., Duncan, in Jardine, Nat. Libr. xxxvii. p. 210 (1841); Walk., Lep. Het.
B.M. xxxii. p. 379 (1865) (Para).
Asthenia strictuaria (!) Hühn., Walker, l.c. xxxv. p. 1919 (1866) (= machaonaria).
Thrinia (!) strigaria (!) Hübn., Herrich-Schäffer, Schmett. Eur. vi. p. 89 (1856).
Therinia machaonaria Guér., Möschler, Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien, p. 682 (1877) (Surinam).
62. White, forewing with three bands, the proximal one corresponding to the
discocellular bar of the other white species, complete from costal to hind margin,
second band parallel to the first, third converging with second posteriorly, com-
mencing at costal margin or below it halfway between second band and apex of
wing, no subterminal line, but fringe blackish brown, as it is on hindwing between
costal angle and tail. On hindwing three bands, the first a continuation of the
proximal band of the forewing, converging with the abdominal margin, which
it does not reach, ending at M?, where it is curved basad, usually an outward
tooth before M+; second band a mere line, erenulate or zigzag in posterior half
and here approximated to the third band, which is parallel to the termen, being
Novirates ZOOLOGICAE X XXI. 1924. 147
rounded-elbowed in the region of the tail, from anal angle to anterior marginal
spot (or a little farther forward) a subterminal band ; black antecaudal spot with
a hazel dot on the proximal side, not at the outer margin. Cf. Pl. vi. fig. 7.
On underside often a distinct line corresponding to the submarginal line of
species Nos. 11 and 12; usually some diffuse brownish subterminal scaling
from tail backwards. Cell open in both wings, in forewing cross-vein D* present
as a small spur off R}, the spur continued for some distance as a longitudinal fold
in the cell, M! from cell ; in hindwing D3 absent, SC’ stalked with R!. Hindtibia
with two pairs of spurs.
¢. Highth sternite well chitinised, large, extending far up the sides of the
body, its upper apical angle a short, but distinct, free, hard lobe, ventral surface
convex, the sclerite rather far distant from the bases of the claspers, the sternite
forming the roof of a large cavity, margin of sternite deeply incurved, minutely
denticulate. Anal tergite with a median process (Pl. xi. fig. 5) which is about
twice as long as broad, its upper surface but moderately convex, the apex with
a small sinus or entire. Anal sternite (X. st., Pl. xi. fig. 4) with two rather long
contiguous lobes, thick, not strongly chitinised, with the apex slightly sinuate.
Outer flap Cl of clasper present; process P* large, narrowed from beyond
middle, widened again at apex, the apical portion compressed, apex sinuate,
with the upper projection pointed and the lower rounded; upper process P}
finger-shaped, its outer surface convex, inner surface somewhat concave and
pilose; in front of the claspers a smooth, transverse, semi-erect, and almost
semicircular sclerite (IX. st.), part of the ninth sternite. Penis-sheath (Pen)
very slender, rather strongly curved twice, with a short, pointed, apical projection.
9. We have at Tring only one very much battered specimen, the abdomen
of which is not well enough preserved for a description of the genital armature.
Length of forewing: 39, 26 to 33 mm.
Karly stages not known.
Hab. The Guianas and Amazonia.
In the Tring Museum a series of Sand 1 bad 2: from Surinam, French and
British Guiana, Para, and Teffé. The 9 mentioned by Felder in Wien. Ent. Mon.
vi. p. 188 sub no. 177 (1862) is no longer in the Felder collection.
Also in Mus. Joicey and Mus. Brit., both sexes.
10. Asthenidia spinicauda spec. nov. (Pl. vi. fig. 7. 3).
d. Among our $¢ from French Guiana there are seven in which the eighth
abdominal tergite has not the simple margin of the preceding species, but bears
at each side a marginal projection which is very sharply pointed, the apical portion
of the projection being spiniform. I cannot find any other difference from A.
stricturaria. This may be a case of dimorphism, but such a clear-cut dimorphism
in the tail-end would be an exception among Lepidoptera (only Papilio xuthus is
known to differ slightly in the tail-ends of the seasonal forms) that I prefer for
the present to look upon the difference as specific.
Hab. French Guiana; Amazonia.
In Mus. Tring from: St. Jean and St. Laurent, Maroni R., French Guiana,
7 $< (received from E. Le Moult), also a g without locality in the Felder col-
lection.
In coll. Paul Dognin 1 g¢ from R. Maues, Amazonas.
148 NOVITATEsS ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
11. Asthenidia lactucina Cram. (1780) (Pl. vi. fig. 1).
32. Phalaena Geometra lactucina Cramer, Pap. Exot. iii. p. 144. tab. 273. fig. B, C. & (1780)
(Surinam, 3).
Phalaena Attacus lactucina Cram., Stoll, in Cramer, l.c. Index, p. 175 (1780).
Therinia lactucinaria Hübner, Verz. bek. Schmett. p. 290. no. 2818 (1825) (nec synon.).
Asthenia lactucina Cram., Duncan, in Jardine, Nat. Libr. xxxii. Exot. Moths, p. 211 (1841) (Surinam) ;
Walk., Lep. Het. B.M. xxxii. p. 379 (1865) (Surinam, Para) ; Butl., Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. p. 77.
no. 144 (1878) (R. Madeira) ; Dognin, Lép. Loja, ii. p. 40 (1891) (Loja, Ecuador).
Thrinia (!) lactucinaria, Hübn., Herrich-Schaff., Schmett. Europ. vi. p. 89 (1856).
Therinia lactucina Cram., Möschler, Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien, p. 682 (1877) (Surinam); Kirby,
Cat. Lep. Het. p. 715. no. 4 (1892) (nec synon.) ; id., in Allen’s Nat. Libr., Moths, iv. p. 63 (1897).
Evidently the commonest species of the genus.
&2. Creamy white, often buffish, rarely chalky white without a buff tone.
Face brown from the apex of the palpi to beyond the antennae, the dark colour
extending around the eyes; palpus except underside, upperside of foretibia
except a basal spot and a median one, two spots on midtibia, and tarsal segments
I and V dark purplish brown. Upperside of wings with dark cinnamon mark-
ings which are more or less shaded with fawn: on forewing a thin discocellular
bar, sometimes interrupted, a little before or beyond middle a nearly straight
band, usually less than 1 mm. broad, occasionally crenulated, on disc a crenulated
or wavy line, in most specimens accompanied on outer side by a diffuse shadowy
band, outer half of wing, sometimes the whole wing, irrorated with brown specks.
The lines of forewing continued across hindwing, terminal area irrorated, a small
discocellular dot, fringe from tail to costal angle blackish brown ; in front of tail
a largish black spot, chocolate colour in middle, behind tail two smaller spots,
the posterior one of them minute, often vestigial, rarely absent.
Underside likewise irrorated with brown on the forewing and in the terminal
area of the hindwing ; a submarginal line dark brown, nearly parallel to termen
of wings, commencing at costal margin of forewing close to apex.
The irroration of the wings distinguishes this species at a glance. Cell open
in both wings, D* being interrupted on forewing, or vestigial in middle, absent or
barely indicated on hindwing, M! of forewing from before apex of cell, SC? of
hindwing stalked with R!. Hindtibia with two pairs of spurs.
g. Eighth sternite (Pl. x. fig. 12) resembling that of A. geometraria, being
produced into a large, individually variable, median lobe which is widest at
the apex and truncate or rounded with the angles distinct and the sides incurved ;.
on the dorsal side the lobe not ribbed as in A. geometraria. Tenth tergite (X. t.)
broad, about as long as it is wide at its junction with the ninth tergite (Pl. x.
fig. 13), divided by a narrow triangular sinus into two short, broad, rounded
lobes of somewhat variable length. Anal cone small. Tenth sternite (X. st.)
raised into a somewhat inflated ridge which is divided into four humps or short
processes, the median sinus the deepest one, the two middle humps obtuse and less
chitinised than the lateral ones, which are more or less pointed. Lower process P?
of clasper broad at base, apically claw-like, upper process P! broad, obtuse, at
the outside of P? the small flap Cl. Penis-sheath (Pen) quite slender.
Q. Genital sclerite proximally deeply concave, the aperture in this groove ;
behind the groove on each side two transverse ridges united medianly in arc-
shape, the anterior ridge the higher ; further frontad at the sides another ridge
which becomes visible when the apical portion of the seventh sternite is turned.
over (Pl. xii. fig. 8).
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 149
Length of forewing: 39, 27to 34 mm.
Larva (Pl. xiii. fig. 4) green, on metanotum a clayish brown transverse bar
which terminates at the sides with a small black ocellus, another bar on segment
X, tapering laterally, tail and anal segment brown, from tail down a white
line which runs along abdomen above the legs. Pupa shell black-brown (bred
by A. M. Moss at Para). Foodplant: Ourouparia guianensis.
Hab. Venezuela, the Guianas, Amazonia, Ecuador southwards to Bolivia,
Paraguay, and Matto Grosso.
In the Mus. Tring a series from : La Union and La Vuelta, Caura R., Orinoco,
v. vi.1903, Venezuela (S. M. Klages). British Guiana ; Maroni R. and Kourou
R., French Guiana, vii. ix.1905 (E. Le Moult), also Cayenne ; Aroewarwa
Creek, Maroewym Valley, Surinam, ii.-iv. 1905 (S. M. Klages), also old speci-
mens from Surinam, among them a ¢ ex coll. Lennep, which does not agree
with Cramer’s figure. Para (A. M. Moss) ; Humayta, R. Madeira, vii.-ix.1906
(W. Hoffmanns) ; Teffé, vi.1906 (W. Hoffmanns) ; Pebas, xi. 1906 (M. de Mathan) ;
Fonteboa, v.1906, viii.1907 (S. M. Klages). Zamora, Ecuador (O. T. Baron).
Pozuzo, Huanuco, 800-1,000 m. (W. Hoffmanns) ; Cuzco, iii.1901 (Garlepp) ;
Yahuarmayo, S.E. Peru, iii.1912, 1,200 ft. (Watkins) ; various places in Cara-
baya, S.E. Peru, at 3,100 ft. and 3,400 ft., i. iii. iv. viii. ix. xii. (G. R. Ockenden).
——Salampioni, 800 m., viii., San Ernesto, 1,000 m., viii. ix., Charaplaya,
1,300 m., i., all in Bolivia (P. ©. Simons), Yungas de la Paz, 1,000 m., x., and
Yungas de Coroico, 1,800 m. (Garlepp), Buenavista, East Bolivia, vii.-x.
(J. Steinbach). Cuyaba, Matto Grosso (received from Paul Zobrys).
In Mus. Joicey also a series.
In Mus. Brit. 6 gg, 2 22 from Brit. Guiana, Amazonas, Peru, and Paraguay.
12. Asthenidia buckleyi Druce (1890). (Pl. vi. fig. 4. 9).
3. Asthenidia buckleyi Druce, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. p. 507 (1890) (Bolivia; E. Peru).
Therinia buckleyi Druce, Kirby, Cat. Lep. Het. p. 715. no. 2 (1892).
62. The largest species of the genus. Wings and body pale buff yellow or
cream-colour ; head black or drab brown, yellow or creamy anteriorly as far
as covered by the palpi; upperside of tarsi and of fore- and midtibiae black or
dark brown, spotted or irrorated with cream-colour ; palpus blackish at side ;
scaling of hindtibia near spurs the same dark colour irrorated with light scaling.
Wings, on upperside, with two cinnamon bands varying much in width and
distinctness, the proximal one postmedian on forewing, nearly straight, almost
at right angles to hindmargin, often absent or vestigial, on hindwing this band
median and slightly curved, occasionally absent; distal band submarginal,
on forewing usually single and often very indistinct, on hindwing usually
double and more distinct.
On underside a submarginal line or band on both wings, almost parallel to
termen on hindwing and more or less elbowed at R*, sepia brown to cinnamon.
Cell open in both wings, D* being represented by a longitudinal rudimentary
vein or fold which is often very indistinct and curves down distally to join R*
on the forewing and the stalk of M'-R* on the hindwing, M! of forewing arising
from the cell; SC: and R! of hindwing stalked together. Two pairs of spurs on
hindtibia.
d. Eighth sternite medianly produced and broadly rounded (VIII. st.,
150 NOVITATEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
Pl. xi. fig. 1). Tenth tergite (Pl. xi. fig. 2) long, triangular, apically cleft, the
incision quite narrow and the lobes formed about twice as long as they are broad
proximally. Anal cone comparatively small. Tenth sternite raised into a broad
swollen ridge medianly divided by a narrow sinus, the exposed ventral surface
densely granulose. Outer flap Cl of clasper present, small, closely applied to
the basal portion of the upper process P?, this broad, widest in a view from the
side, obtuse, its ventral surface flattened in distal half and somewhat concave,
lower process P? broad in basal half, abruptly narrowed on the inner side, apical
portion first slightly widened and then gradually narrowed to a point and curved.
Penis-sheath peculiar, gradually widened distally, then again narrowed, curved,
the apical portion bent down, forming a long, pointed, and somewhat twisted
process which is directed frontad.
. Genital aperture proximal (Pl. xii. fig. 9), in a cavity which is partly
roofed over by a long, smooth transverse ridge of the seventh sternite ; behind
the cavity at each side a large swelling raised into a well-marked hump ; at the
median side of this hump a circular groove, the edges of which are sharp, the
median edge forming a short, oblique, longitudinal carina, the middle line of
the sclerite in between the humps impressed.
Larva not known. Pupa shell more glossy than in A. lactucina, paler, the
minutely denticulate carinulate apical belts of the middle segments of the abdo-
men narrower (in coll. A. M. Moss, from Para).
Length of forewing : 37 to 46 mm.
Hab. Colombia, the Guianas, Amazonia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia.
Two subspecies, differing in the pattern :
(a) A. buckleyt buckleyi Druce (1890) (Pl. vi. fig. 4. 9).
6. Asthenidia buckleyi Druce, l.c. (Bolivia; E. Peru).
62. Submarginal line on underside thin, at the most 1 mm. wide on fore-
wing, thinner on hindwing and here occasionally vestigial or even absent.
Hab. Colombia southward to Bolivia, the Guianas (presumably also Vene-
zuela), Middle Amazonas (presumably also Upper Amazonas).
In Mus. Tring a series of dd and three 9? from: Muzo, Colombia, ix.1903
(Mathan); British Guiana; mouth of Kourou R., French Guiana, x.1905
(E. Le Moult) ; Chanchamayo, E. Peru (A. M. Moss) ; various places in Carabaya,
S.E. Peru, 2,000-3,400 ft., i. viii. ix. xii. (G. R. Ockenden) ; Bolivia (from
Staudinger, coll. by Garlepp); Buenavista, 750 m., viii—iv., Bellavista,
1,400 m., ix., and Prov. Sara, Depart. de Sta. Cruz de la Sierra, ii.-vi. 1904,
Bolivia (J. Steinbach).
In Mus. Joicey from: Mapiri, Bolivia; Rio Napo, Ecuador; Maroni R.,
French Guiana.
In Mus. Brit. 2 SS from Bogota and Yahuarmayo, Peru.
(0) A. buckleyt paraensis subsp. nov.
6. Submarginal line of underside about 3 mm. wide in middle on forewing,
where it is broadest, 2 mm. or less in middle of hindwing, on both wings very
much more conspicuous than in the previous race.
Hab. Lower Amazonas.
In coll. A. Miles Moss 4 $d from Para, of which the type and another speci-
men have very kindly been presented to the Tring Museum.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 151
2. Genus: Oxytenis Hübn. (1820).
Phalaena Attacus L., Cramer, Pap. Exot. i. p. 61 (1775) (partim).
Bombyx, Fabricius, Ent. Syst. iii. 1. p. 418 (1793) (partim).
Syssaura Hübner, Verz. bek. Schmiett. p. 150 (1820) (partim) ; Herr.-Sch., Schmett. Eur. vi. p. 89
(1856) ; id., Aussereur. Schmett. p. 9 (1856).
Oxytenis Hübner, J.c. (1820) (partim) ; Walk., Lep. Het. B.M. v. p. 1181 (1855) ; Kirby, Cat. Lep.
Het. p. 770 (1892) (modestia selected as genotype); Pack., Monogr. Bomb. Moths, iii. p. 269
(1914) (partim ; descript. & fig. of neurat. evidently taken from some other Saturnian, not an
Oxytenis).
3. Draconipteris Hübner, l.c. (1860) (partim) ; Walk., l.c. p. 1185 (1855) ; Kirby, I.c. p. 764 (1892)
(mirabilis designated as genotype); Pack., l.c. p. 271 (1914).
&. Teratopteris Hübner, l.c. p. 151 (1820) (one species, angulata) ; Walk., l.c. p. 1184 (1855) ; Méschl.,
Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. p. 679 (1877) (“ belongs to the Saturnians’”’); Kirby, l.c. p. 764 (1892) ;
Pack., l.c. (1914).
&. Lycabis Doumet, Rev. Zool. (2). xi. p. 263 (1859) (type: bimaculatus = 3 modestia) ; Kirby
l.c. p. 803 (1892).
Asthenia Westw., Felder, Wien. Ent. Mon. vi. p. 189 (1862) (“ The species of Teratopteris, Draconi-
pteris, and Oxytenis should be included in Asthenia’’).
6. Husyssaura Packard, Journ. N.Y. Ent. Soc. xi. p. 246 (1903) (type: honesta = 3 modestia) ;
id., Monogr. Bomb. Moths, iii. p. 269 (1914) (partim).
Though in general aspect, especially in colouring, very different from
Asthenidia, the present genus closely agrees with it in the structure of the wings
and the early stages. The Felders’ remark quoted above in the synonymy under
Asthenia reveals a remarkable insight in the true relationship of these moths.
The name Syssaura was proposed by Hübner (1820) for a mixture of five
species, of which two are Drepanids (falcula = falcataria and sicula = curvatula),
two Saturniids (zebrina and honesta), and one a Geometrid (drepanula). Stephens,
in 1834, applied the name Syssaura Hiibn. to the section A of Drepana, placing
in this section one species, falcatarıa. Most subsequent authors appear to have
followed Stephens in associating the name Syssaura with the Drepanidae.
Herrich-Schaffer, however, twenty-two years later, reserved Syssaura for the
Saturnians, placing in it “ honesta und viele andere.”
We consider Stephens’s action quite legitimate ; but in order to set at rest
any doubt about the application of the name Syssaura, we designate falcataria =
falcula Hübn., Eur. Schmeit. ii. Bomb. fig. 44, as genotype, there being to our
knowledge no contrary prior definite selection of a genotype for Syssaura Hübn.
(1820).
The name next in priority is Oxytenis Hübn. (1820). Kirby selected modestia
as genotype from among the three species included in it by Hübner. This selec-
tion is valid.
The later names Lycabis and Husyssaura were both proposed for $4 of this
same modestia (usually misspelt modesta).
. Draconipteris Hübn. (1820) and Teratopteris Hübn. (1820) are based on
gd in which the termen of the wings is sinuate or angulate. Such differences
do not justify generic separation, because (1) there are wing-contours intermediate
between the extremes, and (2) there is nothing in the 92 to support a division
based on the shape of the $-wings. We therefore sink both Draconipteris and
Teratopteris as synonyms of Oxytenis.
In both sexes of Oxytenis the wings have above, and usually also below, a
tuft of erect scales at the lower angle of the cell. Termen of wings always entire
in 2; in g it is entire, or dentate, or lobate, and in the hindwing often short-
152 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
tailed, the tail being a prolongation of the angle between R! and R}, not as in
Asthenidia between R? and R'; SC? of hindwing from cell.
Proboscis distinct ; as in Asthenidia with numerous large carinate papillae,
the carinae of which usually end with spiniform projections. Antennae not
reaching cell-apex ; the shaft scaled to apex ; branches ventral, curving ventrad
from origin, arising at the bases of the segments, one on each side ; proximal
segments a little broader than long, distal ones longer, sometimes about twice
as long as broad, usually but a little longer than broad in a ventral aspect ;
apices of segments in distal half of antennae more or less elevate ventrally, a
small tubercle being formed which projects ventrad-distad and bears a soft,
longish, cone, generally split into two or three prongs ; no stiff bristles on shaft,
but the branches with an apical bristle and one or two dorsal ones, on the distal
branches sometimes a few more thin bristles hardly thicker than the ventral
cilia ; branches shorter in 9 than in 3, but even in Q at least as long as two seg-
ments of the shaft, in the 9° of several species apically dilated and studded
on the flattened apical surface with minute cilia (Pl. xiii. figs. 13-19).
Neuration (Pl. xiii. fig. 2) similar to that of Asthenidia ; cell as short as in
that genus, but broader in both wings ; in forewing the upper angle of cell obtuse
or rectangular, SC! from far beyond cell, R! from stalk of subcostals, SC’ nearer
to cell than SC, SM’ anastomosing with SM’, M? from cell; in hindwing the
precostal distinct, SC’ from cell, not stalked with Rt, cross-vein D’ as in forewing
very thin, M! from cell, SM? present, though short and thin.
6. At base of abdomen of ¢ a lateral scent-tuft of long radiating hairs,
usually concealed under the woolly vestiture ; we have not observed it in all the
species, there being possibly some in which the organ is obliterated. Eighth
abdominal sternite (cf. Pl. xiv.-xviii.) rather strongly chitinised, truncate or
sinuate, the angles not produced in O. modestia, in all the others produced as a
lobe or pointed horn. Anal tergite broad, truncate (O. modestia) or bilobate ;
no anal sternite. The clasper consists of a large ventral sclerite (harpe, H) ending
with a beak-like process, and of a broader, feebler chitinised dorsal flap (valve,
Cl) which is longer than the harpe, concave on the inner side, and more strongly
chitinised at the dorsal margin than ventrally. Penis-sheath different in the
various species, but always has a rod-like, somewhat tapering, process attached
to its base, the sheath bearing a small impression where the rod touches it ; this
guiding rod projects from the dorsally open lumen of the penis-funnel (P-F),
in which it slides like a piston in its cylinder; this structure is confined to
Oxytenis.
9. The genital armature on the whole simple, but different in each species
of which the true 2 is known ; the genital sclerites do not appear to have a feature
in common by which the genus as a whole is distinguished from the allied genera.
The small discocellular tuft of oar-shaped erect or semi-erect scales on the
upperside of the wings is a feature peculiar to this genus ; it is usually more or
less distinct also on the underside ; it probably serves to enhance the similarity
of the imago at rest to a dry leaf.
Larva (Pl. xiii. figs. 5, 11, 13): early instars resembling birds’ droppings, of
an oily, offensive aspect, last stage very snake-like ; at rest the anterior portion
of the body curved sidewards and backwards and lying close to the abdomen.
Metathorax strongly widened on each side into a sort of broad lobe, above each
lobe a luniform ocellus ; all segments, at least in the earlier stages, with a trans-
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 153
verse row of four tubercles, two on each side; the dorsal tubercles of segment
XI forming the bifid tip of the S-shaped tail.
In O. naemia, of which my friend the Rev. A. J. Miles Moss, of Para, has given
me a dried larva in the last but one instar, the prothoracic tubercles are the
largest (Pl. xiii. fig. 11); in front of the prothoracic stigma a small tubercle,
and a similar one on the mesothorax, whereas the corresponding tubercle of
the metathorax is larger and placed at the apex of the lateral expansion of the
segment; on first abdominal segment a minute tubercle below stigma ; all the
dorsal and dorso-lateral tubercles, as well as the lateral metathoracic one, bear
a peculiar black process, the homologon of a spine, about twice or thrice as long
as wide, narrowed at the base, the apex truncate or obliquely acuminate, not
sharply pointed, this obtuse spine probably tumid in life; the dorsal and dorso-
lateral thoracic tubercles with two such spines, the other tubercles with one.
The tubercles, as well as a great portion of the surface of the body, -bear small
pustules crowned with a very short thin spine which is rounded-enlarged at the
tip. Tail fairly long, with a joint in it, movable, the basal portion being a
swelling of the eleventh segment, and the apical portion corresponding to the
combined two dorsal tubercles of the other abdominal segments; the four
tubercles behind the tail pointed and rather larger than the other abdominal
ones; anal flap with two tubercles. Opposite the claw of the thoracic tarsi a
pair of blackish, strongly chitinised, bifid, flattened spines (Pl. xiii. fig. 13).
Food-plants : Rubiaceae.
Pupa coriaceous, somewhat glossy ; antenna shorter than in Asthenidia,
falling far short of the apex of the wing-cases ; foreleg broader and longer than in
Asthenidia, more than half the length of the proboscis ; bases of abdominal
segments V, VI, VII dorsally as far down as the stigmata, densely carinulate
and punctate ; cremaster with involute spines (Pl. xiii. fig. 6, 8).
Hab. Honduras to Bolivia, eastward to S.E. Brazil and Para ; 17 species, of
7 the 3 only being known.
A very interesting feature of the present genus is the strong sexual dimor-
phism which obtains in nearly every species in the contour and colouring of the
wings. Itis further worthy of note that quite a number of species are distinguish-
able with certainty only by the genitalia, which have been compared in very
specimen in the Tring Museum as well as in those lent to us.
1. Oxytenis modestia Cram. (1780) (Pl. vii. fig. 8. &, 12. 9).
9. Phalaena Attacus modestia Cramer, Pap. Exot. iii. p. 143. tab. 272. figs. C.D (1780) (Surinam) ;
‘ id., Index, p. 175 (1780).
Phalaena Attacus modesta (!), id., l.c. French text (1780).
. Phalaena Attacus honesta id., l.c. iv. p. 25. tab. 302. figs. C.D (1780) (Surinam).
. Syssaura honesta Cram., Hübner, Verz. bek. Schmett. p. 150. no. 1575 (1820).
. Oxytenis modestia Cram., id., l.c. no 1578 (1820).
. Oxytenis honesta Cram., Walker, Lep. Het. B.M. v. p. 1182. no. 2 (1855); Druce, Biol. Centr.-Amer.,
Lep. Het. i. p. 198. no. 1 (1886) (Nicaragua, Chiriqui, Ecuador, Peru, Surinam, Paré) ; Kirby,
Cat. Lep. Het. p. 170. no. 2 (1892) ; Druce, l.c. ii. p. 427 (1897) (Brit. Honduras ; Honduras),
. Oxytenis modesta (!) Cram., Walker, l.c. v. p. 1183. no. 3 (1855) ; Kirby, l.c. no. 3 (1892).
Lycabis bimaculatus Doumet, Rev. Zool. (2). xi. p. 263 (1859) (Para) ; Kirby, l.c. p. 803 (1892).
. Oxytenis attacina Walker, l.c. xxxv. p. 1941 (1865) (Bogota) ; Kirby, l.c. no. 7 (1892).
. Oxytenis lonomica Druce, l.c. i. p. 198. no. 2. tab. 21. fig. 1 (1886) (Guatemala ; Panama).
. Oxytenis lonomia (!) Druce, Kirby, l.c. no. 8 (1892).
. Eusyssaura honesta Cram., Packard, Journ. Ent. Soc. N.Y. xi. p. 246 (1903); id., Monogr. Bomb.
Moths, iii. p. 270. tab. 36. fig. 4 (1914) (Nicaragua to Amazons).
Oy tO Os 9
Os 0 0 & Oy tO
154 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
A widely distributed and fairly common species, evidently. being more
frequently met with than any other species of the genus. There is a great deal
of individual variability, but the species has apparently not split up into geo-
graphical forms, though it is found in very different faunistic districts.
g. This and O. albilunulata are the only species of the genus in which the
terminal margins of both wings are entire in both sexes. Colouring variable above
and below, markings of upperside sometimes absent or obsolescent, with the
exception of the line which runs from the apex of the forewing to the middle of the
abdominal margin of the hindwing. In most specimens the upperside paler
from line to base than from line to termen, on forewing a discocellular patch, two
patches on proximal side of line and a third before tornus deeper brown, the last
often blackish ; on hindwing a row of discal lunules filled in with scaling about
as pale as the basal area. Underside yellow from base to line, outer area
brown, but sometimes the whole of the wings brown, in other cases the distal area
pale and much shaded with grey; the line of the hindwing irregularly curved
distad in middle.
Eighth abdominal sternite (Pl. xiv. figs. 1-4) simple, very little projecting,
apical margin truncate, slightly incurved medianly, rounded at the sides. Tenth
tergite broad, with a broad, dorsally somewhat convex, median process, which is
either truncate-rotundate at the apex or sinuate, the sinus varying in size, but
always small, the two lobes of the sinuate tergite rounded or irregularly truncate.
Clasper, in lateral aspect, finger-shaped, slightly narrowed and beyond middle
curved, the apical portion subtriangular ; harpe forked, its ventral process P?
long, slender, thorn-like, regularly curved dorsad, the upper process P! of the
fork shorter, directed dorsad, broad, obtuse, its broad side facing the spiniform
process somewhat concave. Penis-sheath stout, widest at the orifice, on the
left side rounded-widened from before the elongate orifice to beyond it, on this
convex part dorsally two teeth, one larger than the other, apical portion from
the orifice distad slightly curved towards the right side, flattened, apex sub-
acuminate ; from the base of the sheath, ventrally, a slender, straight, cylindrical
rod, which reaches to the orifice, its tip blunt. Penis-funnel ventrally sinuate.
©. Colour of upperside nearest to vinaceous cinnamon (Ridgway, Nomencl.
Colours, iv. 15), shaded with fawn, usually without blackish brown blotches, line
asin 4, but more tawny, outside the line on forewing more or less distinct blackish
lunules edged with white on outer side, the row of lunules continued across hind-
wing, but here indistinct ; no black spots on forewing in front of tornus. At
apex of distal branches of antenna a dense patch of minute cilia.——Underside
variable as in g, as a rule yellow from base to line, the outer area usually not
much contrasting, being buff or.buffish ochreous shaded with purple brown,
sometimes the purple brown scaling dense ; line of forewing broader than above,
replaced on hindwing by an irregular row of purple-brown uniform blotches, the
middle lunule more distal than the two before and the two behind it, the yellow
area penetrating distad between R? and R’ as in 3. Genital cavity of 9
(Pl. xviii. fig. 1) large, flanked at each side by a broad elevation, the surface of
which is concave; farther towards middle a sharply marked narrow ridge
which runs frontad and then becomes transverse, bounding the orifice o on the
frontal side.
Larva: A. M. Moss obtained at Para a larva which is probably that of the
present species. Green, on metanotum two small dorsal eye-spots, one each side,
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 155
consisting of a black pupil surrounded by a pale ring which is white anteriorly
and yellowish posteriorly; behind middle a large transverse whitish dorsal
patch bearing some brown dots in front and behind ; tail blackish brown, in front
of tail a large diamond-shaped dorsal area purple-brown, anal segment the same
colour ; above the legs a white line from below tail forward.
Length of forewing: 3, 27 to 38mm. ; 9, 33 to 39 mm.
Hab. From Guatemala to Bolivia and South-East Brazil, presumably
occurring also in Mexico and Northern Argentina.
In the Tring Museum a series of both sexes, from : Nicaragua : San Ramon,
R. Wanks, 375 ft., vii.1905 (M. G. Palmer), 1 9. ——Costa Rica: Tuis (W.
Schaus), 1 &.—— Colombia : Purnio, 280 m., x., xi. 1896 (Dr. Bürger), 1 ¢.
Venezuela: San Esteban, vii.1909 (S. M. Klages), 12 gg, 1 2; Palma Sola,
2 dd; Lower Orinoco, x.1897 (Cherrie), 19. Trinidad : Port of Spain (F.
Birch), 1 &. British Guiana: Rio Demerera, Christianburg, and without
exact locality, 8 dd, 2 22. French Guiana : St. Jean and St. Laurent, Maroni
R., Vil. Vili. xii. 1905 (E. Le Moult), 5 3d, 2 22. Surinam : Aroewarwa Creek,
Maroewym valley, v.1905 (S. M. Klages), 3 gg; Onoribo, iii. 1893 (C. W. Ella-
combe), 1 9. Amazonia: Para (A. M. Moss), 3 dd (in coll. Moss also 3 6) ;
Fonteboa, v. vii. viii.x.1907 (S. M. Klages), 6 gg; Teffé, ix. x.1907, and Pebas,
x.1907 (M. de Mathan), 4 99; in coll. Felder 1 3 collected by Bates, without
precise locality ; Rio Negro, 1 6. Ecuador : Quevedo, West Ecuador (v.
Buchwald), 2 dd; Lita, W. Ec., 3,000 ft. (Flemming), 1 3; Coca, Upper R.
Napo, v.-vii.1899 (W. Goodfellow), 1 3. Peru : Chanchamayo (Schuncke),
1 g; Cajon, Cuzco, xi.1900 (Garlepp), 1 3. Bolivia: Buenavista, 750 m.,
Vili. 1906-iv.1907 (J. Steinbach), 1 g, 1 9——HE. Brazil: Rio de Janeiro, 2 33;
Miritiba, 1 6.
The species evidently is very rare in eastern Peru ; Ockenden, who sent very
large collections from S.E. Peru, never met with it, and the numerous consign-
ments we have received from the Chanchamayo district contained only one £&.
The chief home of the species seems to be Amazonia and the northern countries
of South America.
2. Oxytenis albilunulata Schaus (1912) (PI. vii. fig. 13 g, 14 9).
&. Oxytenis albilunulata Schaus, Ann. Mag. N.H. (8). ix. p. 44 (1912) (Costa Rica).
6. The outline of the wings almost as in the @ of O. angulata : termen of
both wings entire, rounded, apex of forewing produced, anal angle of hindwing
not widened inward as a lobe.
Body and wings above varying from ochraceous to chestnut. On forewing
from base of M? to middle of hindmargin a dark brown curved line, its posterior
section darker, in cell a little beyond this line a brown bar, on discocellulars a
diffuse brownish bar, accentuated by a dot of raised scales, and on inner side of
oblique line, which is yellowish ochraceous or reddish brown on both wings, a
broad shadowy deep brown band which curves costad anteriorly, an admarginal
line at apex and the fringe from apex to near middle blackish brown, outside the
oblique line a thin crenate line edged with white lunules, a row of subterminal,
smal], dark brown bars, and usually two minute dashes before tornus. On
hindwing an oblique dark-brown line, 8 mm. from base at abdominal margin, not
extending forward beyond cell, converging posteriorly with the median line ; on
156 NoVITATEs Zoonocicar XXXI. 1924,
disc a strongly dentate crenate line, black at abdominal margin, effaced from
before middle to costa ; a row of conspicuous black-brown submarginal dots, the
last three nearer the crenate line than the others, no dot below costa ; fringe of
termen dark brown, with a white line ; wool of abdominal margin creamy buff.
Underside bright buff, distally shaded with ochraceous, in costal area of both
wings irrorated with dark brown. On forewing a broad line (about 1 mm. wide),
broadest in middle, from apex to hindmargin, distinctly curved posteriorly,
blackish brown ; some minute subterminal spots dark brown. On hindwing
a broad blackish brown line, 2:5 mm. wide in the specimen figured, 1-5 in a second
specimen, straight across wing or slightly curved, sometimes lunulate, placed
about midway between lower angle of cell and termen ; a row of small dark brown
subterminal dots, the last two touching the line. Fringe of both wings dark
brown.
Genitalia of 9 (Pl. xiv. figs. 5-11): Highth sternite drawn out into a very
long slender, sharply pointed process on each side. Anal tergite broad, with
a narrow median sinus, the lobes much broader than the sinus and also much
broader than long. Setiferous submedian ventral swelling of clasper not drawn
out into a process ; hook of harpe slender, with very sharp point, curved inward
and dorsad. Penis-sheath strongly curved ventrad ; guiding rod reaching beyond
middle of sheath ; orifice apical, extending down on the left side ; on this side
no special armature, while on the right side there is a dentate ridge, visible in
a ventral view as well as in a view from the right and dorsal sides.
©. Upperside darker than in g, cinnamon shaded with russet and greyish
white ; at base of terminal fringe a thin white line (also in 3), more or less incom-
plete. On forewing an oblique bar in middle of cell, and from below cell to
hindmargin a line curved as in g and reaching hindmargin about at two-fifths,
dark brown, a diffuse discocellular bar and nearly halfway to apex a similar bar
parallel with the discocellular one pale walnut-brown ; from apex of forewing
to three-fifths of abdominal margin of hindwing a nearly straight line about
1 mm. broad, walnut brown with a slight tawny tint, beyond this line on forewing
a series of thin, but well-marked, white lunules edged with brown on the proximal
side and bounding submarginal patches of a clayish buff tint, of which the outer
side is bounded by dark-brown bars, the patches R!-M? nearly circular and much
larger than the others, patch M'-M? being much the largest. On hindwing at
nearly equal distances between postcellular line and termen first a diffuse
blackish zigzag line, anteriorly nearly simple and straight, then a row of dark
brown dots, some of which are more or less anguliform ; anal angle lobate, but
less distinctly than in O. peregrina ; costal area partly buff as far as covered by.
forewing. :
Underside orange buff, paler towards the base; from apex of forewing a
black-brown thick line, fading away near hindmargin, slightly curved, at M?
7 mm. from fringe and 12 from cell, a row of four minute dark brown subterminal
dots. On hindwing the submarginal line thicker than on forewing, straight,
feebly or more distinctly lunulate, at abdominal margin nearer to the fringe than
anteriorly, a subterminal row of dark brown dots as above but more distinct, no
dot before subcostal vein, last two dots small and contiguous with the line ;
fringe of both wings blackish tawny.
Antenna similar to that of O. epiphaea-2 ; from the twentieth bipectinate
segment the apices of the branches (PI. xiii. figs. 15, 16) become gradually enlarged
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI, 1924. 157
and bear on the oblique apical surface a large number of small cilia, which are
curved and have blunt tips (as in O. epiphaea-9).
Genitalia similar to those of O. epiphaea-2: postvaginal sclerite with two
oblique ridges, converging towards the orifice, but remaining far apart ; they
end abruptly, at some distance above the orifice, in a transverse ridge, which
laterally curves frontad flanking the orifice. In front of the orifice a large,
smooth, strongly chitinised swelling or tubercle, which corresponds to the lid
of the orifice in O. epiphaea.
Length of forewing: 929 mm.; 2 35 to 40 mm.
Hab. West Ecuador ; Panama.
In Mus. Tring from West Ecuador : Paramba, 2 &&; Bulim, 160 ft., i. 1901
(Flemming and Miketta) ; Lita, 3,000 ft. (Flemming), 1 9.—— Panama : Chiriqui,
i &
3. Oxytenis mirabilis Cram. (1780) (Pl. vii. fig. 1. 3).
6. Phalaena Attacus mirabilis Cramer, Pap. Hxot. iii. p. 143. tab. 272. fig. B (1780) (Surinam).
6. Draconipteris mirabilis Cram., Hübner, Verz. bek. Schmett. p. 150. no. 1580 (1820); Walk., Lep.
Het. B.M. v. p. 1186. no. 1 (1855) (Demerara) ; Kirby, Cat. Lep. Het. p. 764. no. 1 (1892)
(“ Nicaragua to Guiana” ex err.); Pack., Monogr. Bomb. Moths, iii. p. 271 (1914) (partim:
Demerara ; “ Peru”’ alia spec.).
3. Body and wings, above, clay-colour to tawny-ochraceous ; a brown line
(often with a pale border on basal side) from costal margin of forewing close to
apex to abdominal margin of hindwing, which it reaches at two-fifths. On fore-
wing a small grey spot at upper cell-angle and a black tuft at lower angle, on
disc usually some diffuse dark brown clouds, sometimes the greater part of the
wing shaded with dark brown ; termen lobate in middle, at R’, and denticulate
at the other veins; parallel with the oblique line and placed close to it on
the distal side a very thin blackish line outlined in white on the outer side, in
the last loop of this line three blackish dots. Hindwing more or less shaded
with white on disc, this scaling usually concentrated in diffuse blotches, central
area often with pink flush, in middle a thin brown line incurved from costal
margin to R’ and then three times deeply angulate, a variable number of small
blackish brown submarginal spots ; termen entire; anal angle not enlarged as
a lobe.
Underside warmer brown than upper, much irrorated with blackish brown,
base paler. On forewing a black-brown submarginal line more or less bordered
with white on the outer side, termen dark brown. Hindwing with a nearly
straight row of blackish brown spots, which are diffuse, luniform or anguliform,
and more or less shaded with white, the costal spot conspicuously white, the row
about halfway between cell and termen in centre of wing, terminal area shaded
with white posteriorly.
Genitalia (Pl. xiv. fig. 12; Pl. xv. figs. 1, 4, 9-11): Lobes of eighth sternite
broader than long, truncate, not acuminate, the angles rounded off and the apex
somewhat curved inward (dorsad); sinus round. Tenth tergite divided into
two lobes, which are longer than broad, with nearly parallel sides and with the
apex rounded. Clasper (Cl) broad, concave on the inner side ; process of harpe
(H) glossy, tapering, curved dorsad, the base of this process swollen, setose, with
a small setose expansion on the dorsal side (left in figure). Apex of penis-sheath
in a left-side view with an oblique row of teeth which give this portion of the
158 NOVITATEsS ZOOLOGICAE X XXI. 1924.
sheath sometimes the aspect of a flat helmet (fig. 10, taken from one of our two
British Guiana specimens ; in our other specimen from that country the apex
is as in fig. 9). Seen from the right side the opening of the sheath appears as
a curved slit partly covered by a flap L; on the apical side of the slip a tooth
D, the last of the left-side row ; on the dorsal side the sheath is cariniform,
sharp, not rounded or convex.
Q and early stages not known.
Hab. The Guianas.
In Mus. Tring from : Cayenne, 4 dd (2 ex coll. Felder) ; St. Jean de Maroni,
1 3 (figured) and St. Laurent de Maroni (E. Le Moult), 1 &; British Guiana, 2 3g.
In Mus. Brit. from: British Guiana, 1 ¢.
4. Oxytenis sobrina spec. nov.
d. Outline of wings as in O. mirabilis, but as a rule the hindwing with a
slight sinus at and below the apex almost as in O. naemia-3. Colour varying
from warm tawny (type) to buff, markings as in O. mirabilis ; in two of our five
specimens forewing with large black blotches on disc, and hindwing with
submarginal black spots, of which the third and fifth are more proximal and
larger than the others. ‘Underside as in O. mirabilis. x
The only constant difference is found in the genitalia (Pl. xiv. fig. 13; Pl. xv.
figs. 5, 12): Lobes of eighth sternite narrower than in O. mirabilis, individually
variable, but always narrowing towards apex, sometimes more, sometimes less.
Last tergite as in O. mirabilis, likewise the clasper and harpe except that the
setose base of the curved process P is narrower and the dorsal extension of this
swollen portion less distinct. The penis-sheath differs in the apical, helmet-like,
hook being much broader than in O. mirabilis.
Q and early stages not known.
This insect evidently represents O. mirabilis in the Andesian countries, and
the two perhaps will ultimately rank as geographical forms of one species.
Hab. Peru; probably more widely distributed.
In Mus. Tring from : Chanchamayo (A. M. Moss), 1 ¢; Pozuzo, Huanuco,
800-1,000 m. (W. Hoffmanns), 1 &; Yahuarmayo, 1,200 ft., ii. iii.1912 (H. &
C. Watkins), 1 &; La Union (type) and Tinguri, Carabaya, 2,000 and 3,000 ft.,
vill. and xii.1904 (G. R. Ockenden), 2 Id.
In Mus. Brit. from: Chanchamayo, 2,500-3,000 ft., vii.-x.1910 (H. & C.
Watkins), 1 3.
In Mus. Joicey from: Rentema Falls, Upper Marafion, 1,000 ft. (A. & E.
Pratt), 1 &; Chanchamayo, x. xi. 1906, 2 gd.
5. Oxytenis naemia Druce (1906) (PI. vii. figs. 2 3, 11 9).
9. Oxytenis naemia Druce, Ann. Mag. N.H. (7). xvii. p. 412 (1906) (Peru).
This is the commonest and most widely distributed of the species in which
the ¢ has the forewing lobate.
d. Like O. mirabilis variable in colouring, usually buffish clay-colour, often
with a more or less distinct pinkish or vinaceous-cinnamon tint, occasionally
almost tawny-olive, markings as in O. mirabilis ; forewing often with black discal
blotches, in one of our specimens from 8.E. Peru such spots on hindwing, not on
NOVITATES Zo0LOGICAE XXXI. 1924, 159
forewing ; the three black dots near tornus of forewing very variable, sometimes
obsolescent ; oblique line frequently cinnamon ‘and not much contrasting with
the ground-colour, in other specimens almost black and very prominent, with
intergradations. As arule the hindwing bisinuate at apex, but some specimens
have scarcely a trace of the two sinus; the termen from second sinus to anal
angle more rounded in some specimens than in others, sometimes almost straight.
The tail-end offers the only reliable differences :
Genitalia (Pl. xiv. fig. 14; Pl. xv. figs. 2, 13-16): Sinus of eighth abdominal
sternite large, widest distally, lobes narrowed towards apex, variable in size and
outline, sometimes very obtuse, sometimes more triangular, the outer surface
slanting upwards, the outer margin of the lobe being more dorsal than the inner
margin. Lobes of anal tergite shorter than in O. mirabilis. Hook F of harpe
broader and somewhat shorter and its swollen setiferous base larger. Penis-
sheath rather strongly curved, with a dentate, variable, apical process, which
in a ventral aspect is curved towards the left side and more or less frontad in
some subspecies ; above the opening, i.e. on the apical side of it, a large tooth
D, which projects above the orifice; a large, somewhat variable, ventral lobe
partly covers the orifice; in a view from the dextro-lateral side the surface
of the sheath on the right side of the orifice is convex, not cariniform as
in O. mirabilis; dentition variable, frequently a tooth at the highest point of
curvature of the apical process.
Q. Distribution, frequency of occurrence, and the fact that the Rev. A. Miles
Moss has obtained at Para of this group of species dd of the above kind, and only
specimens of the present @ convince us that O. naemia really is the 9 of the 3
above described. Branches of antenna shorter than in O. modestia-?, acuminate,
no patch of short cilia at apices of distal branches (Pl. xviii. fig. 9). Upperside
of body and wings dark clay-colour to tawny, more or less irrorated with grey
and brownish black scales, sometimes large blackish blotches on disc of both
wings ; an oblique line as in ¢ from costal margin of forewing close to apex to
abdominal margin of hindwing, which it reaches proximally to two-fifths, crossing
hind margin of forewing a short distance beyond middle ; on the outside of this
line on forewing at apex a grey line continued by a row of grey lunules, usually
bounded with black-brown, in last lunule two black-brown spots and a third,
smaller, spot of the same colour at hindmargin ; apex of forewing produced as a
well-projecting lobe.——Hindwing in markings similar to that of 3; termen
entire, apical and anal angles distinct, anal angle not widened inward as a
distinct lobe.
Underside of body and wings (and apex of abdomen above) ochreous yellow
or ochreous buff, the termen of both wings usually brighter yellow. On forewing
the apical lobe blackish brown, a straight blackish line from apex to hindmargin,
variable in width, crossing R’ at two-thirds from lower angle of cell; about
halfway to termen some black spots. On hindwing the oblique line of forewing
continued by a lunate line which is nearly parallel with termen, being slightly
less curved than terminal margin, none of its lunules shifted in the direction
of the cell; a submarginal row of black spots, of which the middle one, R’-R’,
is shifted basad and less distinct, sometimes the submarginal spots of both wings
and the line of the hindwing obsolete or partly obsolete.
Genitalia: The apical margin of the postvaginal sclerite rounded laterally
and a little projecting anad ; from this margin obliquely frontad and mesad runs
160 NoVvITATEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
at each side an obtuse ridge towards the orifice (Pl. xviii. fig. 4), in some specimens
the two ridges approach one another closely, in others they remain rather far
apart ; posterior portion of the sides of this sclerite convex ; in front of the orifice
a strongly chitinised, high, sharp, transverse ridge covering on the ventral side
the large cavity in which the orifice is situated, and curving anad at the sides.
Larva (according to Rev. A. M. Moss, Para) in fourth instar oily red brown,
with many small spines and a short, dark, bifid tail, the dorsal humps larger and
lighter on segments 6 and 10, no ocellus on third thoracic segment, which is en-
larged sidewards ; at rest resembling bird-dung, the anterior portion of the body
being curved anad. Final (5th) instar (Pl. xiii. fig. 5) dark chocolate, tubercles
small and fewer ; on third (enlarged) thoracic segment on each side dorsally a
spot resembling a half-closed eye when the larva is at rest : consisting of a black
pupil and a yellow iris edged with black and bearing a touch of white in the
upper corner. Very snake-like, rears up and turns the flexible horn down.
Food-plant : Palicourea, Rubiaceae.
Hab. Costa Rica to Peru, eastward to Para. Not known to us from Bolivia,
Matto Grosso, Paraguay, and South-East Brazil.
We distinguish the following geographical races by differences in the structure
of the penis-sheaths.
(a) O. naemia orecta subsp. nov. (Pl. vii. fig. 2. 3).
dg. Apical process of penis-sheath (Pl. xv. fig. 16) curved obliquely anad and
laterad, not frontad, narrow, compressed, more or less twisted, with the posterior
edge denticulate. In our only specimen from Costa Rica the process fishtail-
shaped, with few teeth; in a specimen from Panama in coll. Dognin shorter,
much more dentate; in the specimen from Sta. Marta, likewise unique, the pro-
cess still shorter, broader, flatter, and strongly denticulate. As in the other
subspecies the armature of the sheath is individually variable to a certain extent,
we assume this to be the case also in the present subspecies.
©. We have of this sex a specimen from Sta. Marta ; it differs from other
2° of O. naemia in the underside being practically devoid of brown irroration.
A @ from Bogota in coll. Dognin (PI. viii. fig. 12) on the contrary is strongly irro-
rated ; it is of a warm ochraceous tawny colour and much resembles PI. viii.
fig. 2 (3); it is much shaded with purplish black-brown ; oblique line very
prominent, black dots before tornus of forewing obsolescent as in PI. vii. fig. 2,
almost entirely replaced by grey scaling. Underside ochreous yellow, irrorated
with purplish dark brown ; oblique line of forewing broad.
Hab. Costa Rica; Panama; Colombia.
In Mus. Tring from: Sixola R., Costa Rica (W. Schaus), 1 3, type; Onaca,
Sta. Marta, North Colombia, 2,200 ft. (Engelke), 1 g, 1 9.
In coll. Paul Dognin 1 2 from Sta. Fé de Bogotä, and 1 from Lino, Panama,
800 m. (A. H. Fassl).
(b) O. naemia aravaca subsp. nov. (Pl. vii. fig. 11. 9).
&. Apical process of penis-sheath compressed, therefore narrow if viewed
from the anal direction, its vertical diameter (parallel with the main portion of
the sheath) as well as its length and dentition variable, but the apex always curved
more or less strongly frontad, forming a hook.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 161
2. Apparently not different from O. n. naemia.
Hab. Venezuela and the Guianas.
In Mus. Tring from: San Esteban, Venezuela (S. M. Klages), 4 $4, 12;
British Guiana, 5 dd, 5 29, type gd; St. Laurent de Maroni, French Guiana,
vii. 1905 (E. Le Moult), 1 2.
In Mus. Brit. from: British Guiana (Rodway, Roberts, and Crowley Bequest),
433,12
In Mus. Joicey from: San Esteban, Venezuela, 1 ¢; British Guiana,
1 &; French Guiana, 3 jg, 1 9.
(c) O. naemia naemia Druce (1906).
Q. Oxytenis naemia Druce, l.c. (1906) (Peru).
9. Apical process of penis-sheath curved frontad, forming a hook, its tip
broadened and flattened, not compressed (PI. xv. figs. 13-15) ; this characteristic
less pronounced in Para specimens.
9. Apparently not distinguishable from the preceding subspecies.
Hab. Peru, Ecuador, and Amazonia.
In Mus. Tring from Ecuador : Coca, R. Napo, v.—vii. 1899 (W. Goodfellow),
IT Peru : Chanchamayo (A. M. Moss), 1 &; Pozuzo, Huanuco, 800-1,000:
m. (W. Hoffmanns), 1 3, 2 92; La Oroya, R. Inambari, Carabaya, 3,700 ft.,
x. 1904, xii.1905 (G. R. Ockenden), 2 3d. Amazonia : R. Cachiyaco (Stuart),
1 2; Fonteboa, vii.1906 (S. M. Klages), 1 g; Teffé, i.1905 (M. de Mathan),
1 8; Manäos and Para (A. M. Moss), 5 &&, 4 29, 5 pupae-cases, 1 dry larva.
In Mus. Brit. from Peru: Chanchamayo, 1 2 (very pale).
In Mus. Joicey from Ecuador: E. Ecuador (ex coll. Druce), 1 ¢. Peru :
La Merced, Chanchamayo, 3,000-4,500 ft., i. 11.1920 (C. Watkins), 2 dd; Chan-
chamayo, 1,000 m., x. xi.1906, 1 &; Chanchamayo, 1 8; R. Pacaya, Lower
Ucayali, viii. ix.1912, 1 &; Pozuzo, 2,000-4,000 ft. (J. Egg), 1 g; “ Peru,” 1 2
(type); R. Yahuarmayo, 1,200 ft., v.-vii. (Watkins), 1 g.——Amazonia: R.
Madeira, 1 &.
6. Oxytenis leda Druce (1906) (Pl. vii. fig. 4. $; viii. fig. 13. 9).
Q. Oxytenis leda Druce, Ann. Mag. N.H. (7). xvii. p. 412 (1906) (Peru).
The species was described from a single 9. Among the various kinds of
Sg from Peru (and Amazonia) there is one which appears to us to belong to
leda on account of the concentration in patches of the whitish grey scaling of the
upperside. The specimen we figure of the ¢ sex does not show these grey patches,
but agrees in structure with the others in which the upperside is strongly varie-
gated with grey.
d. Wings slightly narrower than in O. naemia-g; median lobe of termen
of forewing a little broader ; hindwing more distinctly bisinuate at apex, the
angle separating the bays and the one below the second sinus much more pro-
jecting, the termen straight (or nearly so) from this lower angle to anal angle.
Otherwise similar to O. naemia- 3, but the tail-end different.
Genitalia (Pl. xiv. fig. 15; xv. figs. 3, 6, 17, 18): Sinus of eighth sternite
deeper than in O. naemia, the lobes therefore longer, shape of lobes individually
variable, the inner apical angle more projecting than the outer angle, the latter
11
162 NOoVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI, 1924.
effaced in one of ourspecimens. Tenth tergite much broader than in the previous
species, the lobes much shorter. The apical hook of the harpe broader in a
ventral aspect, its ventral surface being so extended that the oblique distal edge
runs nearly straight from the apex of the hook to its base, the incrassate outer
portion of the dorsal surface shining through. Penis-sheath quite different
from that of any other species: the extreme tip is curved ventrad as a small
dentate lobe, the teeth being directed frontad ; in a sinistro-lateral aspect only
this group of teeth can be seen of the armature, but at the dorsal side, at a con-
siderable distance from the apex, the sheath is suddenly narrowed. Distally of
this point the sheath is widened on the right side into a large triangular lobe,
which is curved ventrad. The orifice lies further distad ; it is large, being flanked
on the ventral side by a short broad lobe L ;.above its distal end a tooth D.
Q. The type has the upperside of the wings dark burnt-umber brown irrorated
with blackish brown and variegated with whitish grey ; oblique discal line very
faint, scarcely visible on hindwing ; on forewing a half-moon before middle of
hindmargin, convex on outer side, a row of lunules beyond discal line and some
submarginal spots, on hindwing a broken subbasal line of three dots (the line
indicated also on forewing), an irregular median line of diffuse lunules and some
discal blotches whitish grey, conspicuous ; the three black spots near tornus of
forewing larger than in any @ of O. naemia we have seen (individual character).
Underside as in O. naemia, but hindwing with the submarginal row of spots
extending to costa, i.e. a spot present behind C.
In another specimen, in the Berlin Museum, from Massauary, Rio Maues,
Amazons, the whitish grey patches of the upperside are barely indicated and the
oblique line is very distinct across both wings.
The chief difference from O. naemia-@ is the more strongly convex termen
of the forewing (in consequence of which the discal line is a little farther away
from the margin) and the structure of the antenna. The longest branches of the
innerside almost as long as four segments of the shaft; in distal half of the
antenna the tips of the branches flattened on the basi-lateral side (Pl. xviii. fig. 10)
and slightly widened, bearing on this small flattened area a number of very short
curved close-set cilia quite different from the long seriated cilia of the branches.
Genital plate similar to that of O. naemia, the oblique ridges strongly marked
and evidently (the specimen not dissected) united in a swelling behind the orifice
as in the species from S.E. Brazil (cf. no. 9).
In the British Museum there is a Peruvian 2 which evidently belongs to the
same species, although its colouring is different. Upperside buff shaded with
clay colour and irrorated with dark brown, no grey patches ; on forewing a con-
tinuous dark-brown crenate line outside the faint discal line and not so close to
it as in O. naemia, in last lunule two small black spots, on disc two diffuse blackish
blotches ; termen as strongly convex as in type-specimen. Underside ochreous
as in type; no distinct dark-brown submarginal spot behind C of hindwing.
Antenne missing except the proximal segments.
Hab. Peru and Amazons.
In Mus. Tring from Peru: La Oroya, R. Inambari, Carabaya, 3,100 ft.,
111.1905 (G. R. Ockenden), 1 d. Amazonia: Fonteboa, v.1906 (S. M. Klages),
1 &; “ Amazons ” (Bates) ex coll. Felder, 1 ¢.
In Mus. Brit. from Peru: Yahuarmayo, 1,200 ft., iv.1912, 1 g; Chan-
chamayo, 2,000 m. (!), x. xi.1906, 1 2.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 163
In Mus. Joicey from Peru, 12.
In Mus. Berlin from Rio Maues, Amazons, 1 9, and Chanchamayo, 1 d.
7. Oxytenis erosa spec. nov.
&. Only this sex known. In outline and markings of the wings like
O. leda-&, differing in the tail-end. One of the 8 specimens examined is
without conspicuous grey markings on the upperside.
Genitalia : Lobes of eighth sternite apically narrower than in O. leda, usually
triangular with the tip rounded, sometimes the apex truncate. Tenth tergite
and harpe as in O. leda. Penis-sheath (Pl. xv. figs. 19-21) widened from the bent
apicad, flattened and concave on ventral side; at apex a dentate lobe as in
O. leda, but larger, and at the right side of it a strong conical tooth, the left margin
at about two-fifths from apex to bent with a small tooth, and the margin between
this tooth and the apex cariniform and minutely serrate; there is no large flap
as in O. leda; in a ventral aspect (as presented in non-dissected specimens) the
sheath broader than in a sinistro-lateral aspect, the large subapical tooth
appearing to be larger, and the right-side margin more convex, otherwise much
the same as fig. 19. The orifice not visible from the ventral side (as it is in O.
leda), being shifted on to the dorsal surface ; fig. 21 represents the sheath as seen
from the right side.
© not known.
Hab. The Guianas.
In the Mus. Tring from British Guiana : Potaro R., vii. 1912 (Dr. P. Rendall),
1 4, type; Rio Demerara, 1 3. French Guiana: Nouveau Chantier, ii., and
St. Jean du Maroni, 2 dd (from E. Le Moult).
In Mus. Joicey from British Guiana, 1 ¢ ex coll. Druce.——French Guiana :
‘Nouveau Chantier, v. vi., and St. Jean du Maroni, x., 3 dd (from E. Le Moult)
ex coll. Brabant.
8. Oxytenis nubila spec. nov.
6. In the outline of the wings similar to those specimens of O. naemia in
which the hindwing is bisinuate at apex, but the angles between and below these
bays slightly sharper. Wings and body above clay colour, beneath warmer
brown, halfway between tawny-ochraceous and hazel, breast with an ochreous
tint. Markings as in the other species; the last one of the three black dots
near termen of forewing above larger than or at least as large as the second.
Genitalia (Pl. xiv. fig. 16; xv. figs. 7, 8; xvi. figs. 1-3): Sinus of eighth
sternite very broad, the lobes narrowing towards apex, but the apex itself dilated
on the dorsal side and this dilatation curved mesad, the lobe being somewhat
shaped like a spoon. Lobes of tenth tergite nearly as in Pl. xv. fig. 2, being about
the same size and shape as the sinus reversed. Hook of harpe long, narrow,
pointed, the setiferous swelling at its base appearing, in a ventral view, under-
neath the hook as an elliptical lobe which is concave on the ventral side. Penis-
sheath less curved than in O. erosa, with a similar armature, but the subapical
tooth of the right side smaller, the marginal tooth of the left side absent, the
apical projection longer.
© not known.
Hab. Colombia and Nicaragua.
The two specimens known to us evidently represent two subspecies.
164 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
(a) Oxytenis nubila nubila.
d. Upperside as much variegated with white-grey as in O. erosa and O.leda ;
the three black spots near tornus of forewing rather large, the last much larger
than the others. Lobes of eighth sternite (Pl. xiv. fig. 16) short, their inner sur-
faces deeply concave, sinus very wide, semicircular. Tip of penis-sheath not
sharply pointed (Pl. xvi. figs. 1-3).
Length of forewing : 39 mm.
Hab. Colombia ; 1 gin Mus. Tring, without more precise locality.
(6) Oxytenis nubila acuta subsp. nov.
6. Draconipteris mirabilis Cram., Druce, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Lep. Het. i. p. 187. no. 1 (1886)
(Nicaragua, “ 2” ex err.).
6. No conspicuous white-grey patches, the three black dots near tornus
of forewing small, the last a little larger than the middle one, the first minute.
Termen of hindwing less rounded from subapical sinus, anal angle sharper. Lobes
of eighth sternite apically narrower and their inner surfaces less concave ; the
sinus less wide. Hook of harpe more sharply pointed. Extreme tip of penis-
sheath curved towards the left side, pointed, forming a short sharp hook.
Length of forewing : 32 mm.
Hab. Chontales, Nicaragua (T. Belt), 1 Gin Mus. Brit.
9. Oxytenis bicornis spec. nov. (Pl. vii. fig. 3. 3; viii. fig. 14. 9).
Sg. Wing-shape as in O. leda- 3; apex of hindwing distinctly bisinuate, termen
from these bays to anal angle slightly rounded. No conspicuous grey patches.
Oblique line distinct or rather feebly marked. On underside the crenate discal
line of hindwing farthest from termen at R!, grey costal spot obsolescent or absent.
Genitalia (Pl. xvi. figs. 4-7): Eighth abdominal sternite produced at each
side into a long curved spiniform process; sinus very wide. Tenth tergite
variable, the lobes as a rule much shorter than they are broad in middle.
Harpe as in O. erosa. Penis-sheath likewise of the same type as in that species,
narrower, the apical dentate lobe and the dorsal subapical tooth much smaller.
9. So similar to O. leda-@ (cf. p. 162) in the outline of the wings and in the
structure of the antenna that I am unable to distinguish the Peruvian and
Brazilian specimens with certainty; cf. figs. 13 and 14 of Pl. viii. The
question can only be settled when more material from Peru and S.E. Brazil is
available for comparison. The two Q-specimens of the present species we have
seen differ from one another much in colour ; the one figured is dark burnt umber-
brown, with a conspicuous dark brown oblique line on both wings, the grey
markings less prominent than in leda-2 ; the other specimen is ochraceous, the
oblique line not conspicuous, of a deeper tawny tint than the ground; both
specimens smaller than leda-2, the black spots near tornus of forewing smaller,
on underside of hindwing no black submarginal spot below costal vein.
Genitalia (Pl. xviii. fig. 11): the genital sclerite with two strongly marked
ridges as in O. naemia, these ridges united behind the orifice in a swelling which.
abruptly terminates on the frontal side (towards the orifice).
Length of forewing: 3, 29-34 mm.; 9, 32-34 mm.
Hab. S.E. Brazil.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 165
In Mus. Brit. from: Alto da Serra, Santos, 800 m., iii.1913, 2 33, 1 =
type d, and Castro, Parana, 1 $ (pale), ex coll. E. D. Jones.
In Mus. Tring. 2 && without locality, one of them figured.
10. Oxytenis peregrina Cram. (1780) (Pl. vii. fig. 5. 3).
©. Phalaena Atiacus peregrina Cramer, Pap. Exot. iv. pp. 30, 251. tab. 305. fig. A (1780) (Surinam).
©. Oxytenis peregrina Cram., Hübner, Verz. bek. Schmett. p. 150. no. 1 (1820); Walk., List Lep.
Het. B.M. v. p. 1183. no. 4 (1855) (“ & ” ex err., descr. from Cram.’s fig.) ; Kirby, Cat. Lep. Het.
p. 770. no. 4 (1892) (Surinam).
¢. Forewing denticulate, with the antemedian tooth prominent, hindwing
strongly bisinuate at apex, a short tail being formed, termen straight from this
tail to anal angle, the latter lobate.
Upperside of wings and body deep burnt umber-brown, some submarginal
rounded spots on forewing and distal area of hindwing from crenate discal line
to termen clay colour ; oblique line from near tip of forewing to middle of
abdominal margin of hindwing walnut brown.
Underside greyish clay colour, pale ochraceous buff from blackish submar-
ginal line to termen, this line crenate on hindwing and somewhat elbowed.
Genitalia (Pl. xvi. figs. 8-10, 12, 13): Highth sternite with a median sinus
which is about semicircular, the lobes flanking it triangular, their apex rounded
and somewhat curved mesad. Lobes of tenth tergite narrower than the sinus,
triangular, with the apex broadly rounded. Clasper very distinctive; it is
strongly chitinised proximally and ventrally, while the apical dorsal flap is soft ;
in middle of ventral margin a conical process P!, the ventral portion of the clasper
forming at three-fourths another process (H), which is large, acuminate, slightly
longer than the soft dorsal flap ; from the dorsal side of this large hook, near its
apex, emanates a fold connecting the hook with the dorsal flap and projecting
mesad, being only visible if the clasper is viewed from the inner side. Apex of
penis-sheath produced ventrad into a pointed, slightly curved, conical process ;
orifice terminal, flanked on the dorsal side by a ridge which is bent down and
below which there is a small projection from the sheath.
©. The three specimens before me russet-fawn colour, not so dark as Cramer’s
figure ; large subterminal spots on both wings clay colour, subcircular on fore-
wing, elongate-elliptical on hindwing ; a prominent walnut brown line from near
apex of forewing, reaching abdominal margin of hindwing beyond middle ;
discocellular tufts large; anal angle of hindwing projecting abdominad as a
broad lobe.
Underside clayish buff, ochreous from submarginal line to termen, this line
broad and straight on forewing, somewhat thinner, partly crenulate, parallel
with termen on hindwing.
Branches of apical half of antenna (except last two segments) very strongly
clavate (Pl. xiii. figs. 17-19), truncate, the terminal surface concave, subcentrally
densely covered with minute silky cilia, which lie more or less flat on the surface
and are all directed towards the base of the antenna; about 25 segments have
these clavate branches, on the segments preceding them the incrassation gradually
becomes less pronounced, being entirely absent from the branches of the proximal
eighteen (about) bipectinate segments.
166 Novitates ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
Genitalia : A broad median stripe of the postvaginal sclerite strongly chiti-
nised, glossy, slightly widened at apex and here convex (Pl. xvi. fig. 12); this
strip of chitin projecting from between the segments, being visible without
dissection ; in the cavity the strip continuous with the ridge which bounds the
orifice on the right and left sides ; in front of the orifice a nearly semicircular
fold which serves as a movable lid for the orifice, which it completely closes.
Pl. xvi. fig. 13 is taken from another, old, specimen with doubtful locality.
Early stages not known.
Length of forewing: 3, 35 to 40 mm. ; 9, 44 to 47 mm.
Hab. The Guianas, Amazonia, and Peru ; may be expected to occur also in
Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia.
In Mus. Tring from : Cayenne, 19, ex coll. Felder. Amazonia : Santarem
(A. M. Moss), 1 &; Fonteboa, v. 1906 (S. M. Klages), 1 Q. La Union,
Carabaya, S.E. Peru, xi.1904 (G. R. Ockenden), 4 SG.
In Mus. Joicey from : Nouveau Chantier, French Guiana (ex coll. Brabant),
1 3,19. Essequibo R., British Guiana (Whiteley), 1 2.
11. Oxytenis epiphaea spec. nov.
6. Shape of wings as in O. peregrina- (PI. vii. fig. 5), but the apical lobe
of the forewing narrower and the minute teeth of the termen between the
prominent antemedian tooth and the tornus absent. Upperside of wings
almost uniformly mummy brown from base to termen; on forewing two
clayish submarginal spots R'—M’; on hindwing :obsolescent, elongate-elliptical,
submarginal, clayish spots R'-M? bounded distally by blackish brown lunules ;
oblique line from near apex of forewing reaching abdominal margin of hindwing
before middle.
Underside cinnamon, densely irrorated with blackish brown as in O. pere-
grina, black submarginal line on both wings as in O. peregrina, subterminal
cinnamon spots indicated, but not so distinct as in O. peregrina, hardly brighter
than the disc, base shading into wood-brown, which is the colour of the underside
of the body.
Antenna with 49 bipectinate segments, the branches much longer than in
O. peregrina- 3, the branch of the inner (= anterior) side of the tenth segment
from apex as long as five segments of the shaft, in O. peregrina- 3 as long as three
segments.
Genitalia (Pl. xvi. figs. 14-18) : Eighth sternite truncate, the angles produced
each into a long, thin, spiniform, curved process. Sides of anal tergite incurved,
the apical lobes about as large as-the median sinus. On the clasper the short
conical process found in O. peregrina- 3 replaced by a swelling, the apical process
of the harpe not so long as the dorsal flap, ending with a sharply pointed, gently
curved, and rather long hook. Penis-sheath rather strongly curved twice ; the
apex as in O. peregrina strongly enlarged ventrad, but this portion not forming
a long conical tooth, but remaining broad to the end, flattened underneath, and
bearing a small tooth on the left side at the apical edge ; dorsally at the subapical
bent the sheath is compressed into an obtuse ridge, and between this ridge and
the orifice there is a compressed, triangular, tooth.
2. We place here two Peruvian 99 in coll. Joicey ; they are much worn
on the upperside and therefore appear strongly mottled with buff and burnt
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924, 167
umber-brown. Body above fawn colour, wings shaded with the same tint,
oblique discal line deep russet, pale submarginal ovate blotches on both wings
as in O. peregrina, discocellular tufts conspicuous above and below, anal angle
of hindwing lobate.
Underside of body and wings ochre yellow, foretibia and all the tarsi dark
brown, not spotted ; black line from apex of forewing very conspicuous, parallel
with termen on hindwing and about 7 mm. distant from it, somewhat crenate in
posterior half.
Antenna of 2 nearly as in O. peregrina-2, the branches of the nineteen
proximal segments pointed, the others clavate with the exception of the last
three, the apices not so strongly widened and their ciliate areas more slanting
than in O. peregrina.
Genitalia (Pl. xviii. fig. 8): Postvaginal sclerite with two anteriorly con-
verging, short ridges nearly as in O. naemia-9; in front of the orifice there is
a semicircular, glossy, strongly chitinised flap which forms a kind of lid for the
cavity ; this lid lies asymmetrically towards the right side and its margin is on
this side continuous with a ridge of the postvaginal sclerite, whereas on the left
side the cavity is open and the margin of the lid runs deep down into it, not
being continuous with the ridge which bounds the cavity on this side.
Length of forewing: 4, 33 mm.; 9, 41 to 45 mm.
Hab. Peru.
In Mus. Tring from: La Oroya, R. Inambari, Carabaya, ix.1904, 3,100 ft.,
dry season (G. R. Ockenden), 1 3, type.
In Mus. Joicey from: Huancabamba, 6,000-10,000 ft. (E. Böttger), 1 2;
Marcapata (from Staudinger), 1 2.
12. Oxytenis plettina spec. nov.
6. Two specimens different in size and colouring, but agreeing in structure.
The larger one (type) almost exactly like PI. vii. fig. 5 ; a little smaller, the termen
of the forewing and the apical area and angle of the hindwing dark burnt umber-
brown like the median area of both wings ; two submarginal spots on forewing
and a less distinct lunule below them tawny olive, on hindwing a large area
from tail to M’ and from fringe to the sharply dentate postmedian crenate line
likewise tawny olive, less pale than in O. peregrina- d.
Underside russet-fawn colour ; brownish black submarginal line crenulate on
both wings except towards apex of forewing ; outside the line two rounded spots
on forewing and five patches on hindwing from SC? to M? dull ferruginous, this
colour extending to termen from SC? to R’, some black subterminal bars as in
other species.
The smaller specimen is above almost entirely deep fawn colour with
a pale walnut-brown tint, on forewing two round, pale, submarginal spots, less
prominent than in the larger specimen, on hindwing the crenate line visible, the
ground outside this line very slightly paler than the median area, the large ellipti-
cal patches of O. peregrina being but very faintly indicated, and the whole termen
being the brown colour of the median area. Underside pale wood-brown
shaded with fawn colour, the blackish submarginal line faint, and the ferruginous
subterminal patches obsolescent. In both specimens the branches of the antenna
not quite so long as in O. epiphaea, but longer than in O. peregrina, the inner
168 NoviraTEs ZooLoGICAE XXXI. 1924.
branch of the tenth segment from apex being about as long as four segments of
the shaft.
Genitalia (Pl. xvii. figs. 1-6): Eighth sternite medianly incised, the lateral
pointed process proximally broader than in O. epiphaea, recurved distad. Lobes
of anal tergite smaller than the median sinus, the lateral margin of the segment
angulate in middle, not so strongly incurved as in O. epiphaea. The antemedian
setiferous swelling of the clasper more prominent than in O. epiphaea, the apical
process of the harpe as sharply pointed as in that species, but rather more directed
anad. Penis-sheath curved as in O. epiphaea ; the apex less widened, the orifice
not terminal, but dorsal, and the left portion of the ventral margin of the orifice
enlarged into a long pointed process which is directed sinistrad and dorsad ; on
the dorsal side there is a broad lobe at the orifice, dentate at the edge and curved
basad away from the orifice.
2 not known.
Length of forewing: dg, 28 to 34 mm.
Hab. Ecuador.
Bulim, 160 ft., xii. 1900 (Flemming & Miketta), 2 JS.
13. Oxytenis beprea Druce (1886) (Pl. vii. fig. 10. $; viii. fig. 1. g).
9. Oxytenis beprea Druce, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Lep. Het. i. p. 199. no. 4. tab. 21. fig. 3, 4 (1886)
(Chiriqui, coll. Staudinger) ; Kirby, Cat. Lep. Het. p. 770. no. 10 (1892).
3. Draconipteris mirabilis Cram., Druce (err. determinationis), Biol. Centr.- Amer., Lep. Het. i. p. 187.
no. 1 (1886) (partim ; Chiriqui) ; id., 2.c. ii. p. 422 (1897) (Belize).
6. Small. Apex of forewing sharply pointed, more so than in any of the
previous species with tailed hindwing, termen of forewing either entire or with
a small antemedian tooth, anterior sinus of hindwing often almost effaced, tail .
a little less pointed than in ©. epiphaea and plettina.
Colour very variable. Upperside (Pl. vii. fig. 10) greyish wood-brown
(Ridgway, Nom. Colours, iii. 19), on forewing a thin dark brown line deeply
incurved below cell, excurved in cell and before hindmargin, continued across
hindwing ; at two-thirds a diffuse darkish band at right angles to costal margin
and ending at the oblique line, which is very prominent; outside this line a
shadowy line of the colour of the diffuse band, and beyond this a crenate line,
in the two bays R'—M? of which there is a fairly conspicuous clayish spot each.
On hindwing beyond middle a thin but distinct dentate line ; the space between
this line and the deep brown antemedian line darker than the ground, a median
band being formed which is narrower in costal third, being narrowest below sub-
costal ; in terminal area some dark brown spots, between them and the dentate
line indications of the elliptical patches of O. peregrina, fringe dark brown,
termen washed with dark brown from tail to anal angle.
A specimen from Chiriqui (coll. Joicey) similar to the above, but the elliptical
patches of the hindwing slightly better indicated. A third specimen (Belize,
coll. Joicey) pale burnt umber-brown with a shade of fawn colour, with hardly
any markings, apart from the walnut-brown oblique line, and the small black
discocellular tufts. A fourth (Brit. Honduras, Mus. Tring) clayish ochraceous,
with the dark-brown subterminal spots distinct and the rounded patches in the
terminal area indicated. A fifth specimen, from Chiriqui (Mus. Brit.), larger,
NOVITATES ZoOOLOCICAE XXXI. 1924. 169
forewing 35 mm. long, the forewing and the median band of the hindwing blackish
walnut brown, base and three subterminal spots on forewing and the rest of the
hindwing rufescent hazel (Pl. viii. fig. 1).
Underside varying from wood-brown shaded in terminal area with russet,
to russet hazel shaded proximally with wood-brown ; a black line on both wings
as in O. angulata.
Branches of antenna (as in O. pleitina) longer than in O. peregrina, shorter
than in O. epiphaea, the inner branch of the tenth segment from apex being
nearly as long as four segments of the shaft.
Genitalia (Pl. xvii. figs. 7-9): Apical margin of eighth sternite evenly in-
curved, not triangularly incised in centre, lateral horns as in O. plettina. Tenth
tergite rather broader than in O. plettina. Clasper as in that species. Penis-
sheath different : orifice on the ventral side towards the right, partly closed from
this side by a soft flap F which can be turned away from the orifice, while the
dorsal wall of the orifice is strongly chitinised, hard ; from the dorsal margin
on the right side, at some distance from the extreme tip, there is a triangular
tooth, conical in ventral and dorsal aspects, though it is in reality compressed,
being a widening out of the margin of the orifice; this tooth is homologous to
the left side subapical process of O. plettina, but a twist in the sheath has moved
the orifice from the dorsal to the ventral side and turned the left ventral process
into a right dorsal one ; the size of the tooth variable ; the sheath has its bent
beyond middle.
2. Druce’s figure is misleading ; it is too yellow, and the abdominal margin
is figured as being straight, whereas in the type-specimen (which has been very
kindly sent to me from Berlin) the anal angle is widened inward as a broad rounded
lobe. Upperside of wings wood-brown ; discocellular tufts distinct ; markings
as in O. peregrina-Q, but less heavy, the submarginal bars of forewing less curved ;
the specimen also recalls our Pl. vii. fig. 14, but the discal line is much thinner,
termen of forewing much more convex, outside the median line of hindwing a
crenate line, and at abdominal margin outside the crenate line three brown spots
as in O. peregrina-9. Underside pale dirty yellow, much irrorated with brown,
shading into wood-brown basally, discocellular tufts small, but distinct, dark
brown line broad, simple on forewing, crenate on hindwing. Branches of distal
segments of antenna dilated at apex, a little more than in our Pl. xiii. fig. 16,
but much less than in ©. peregrina-@ (Pl. xiii. figs. 17-19), the ciliate apical surface
oblique. Genitalia similar to Pl. xviii. fig. 6, but the median longitudinal
elevated bar less strongly chitinised (in the unique specimen), and the orifice
with free margins, without the sort of lid found in O. peregrina.
Length of forewing: 3g, 26 to 35mm.; 9 36 mm.
Hab. British Honduras ; Panama.
In Mus. Tring from: Orange Walk, viii.1917 (M. G. Palmer), 1 g; Brit.
Honduras, 1 ¢.
In Mus. Brit. from : Chiriqui, 1 & (Pl. viii. fig. 1).
In Mus. Joicey from: Belize (A. Moloney), 1 g, and Chiriqui (Arcé), 1 3,
both ex coll. Druce.
In Mus. Berlin 1 2 (type) from Chiriqui (ex coll. Staudinger).
170 NOVITATEsS ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
14. Oxytenis angulata Cram. (1775) (Pl. vii. fig. 6. 9,7. 9).
. Phalaena Attacus argulata Cramer, Pap. Exot. i. p. 96. tab. 61. figs. E, F (1775) (Surinam).
. Phalaena Attacus angulata Cramer, l.c., Index, p. 151 (1775).
. Bombyx argulata Cram., Fabricius, Spec. Ins. ii. p. 172. no. 26 (1781); id., Mant. Ins. ii.
p. 110. no. 29 (1787) ; id., Ent. Syst. iii. 1. p. 418. no. 34 (1793).
Teratopteris harpago Hübner, Verz. bek. Schmett. p. 151. no. 1683 (1820).
. Teratopteris angulata Cram., Walker, Lep. Het. B.M. v. p. 1185. no. 2 (1855); Kirby, Cat. Lep-
Het. p. 764. no. 1 (1892) (Surinam).
. Draconipteris angulata Cram., Packard, Monogr. Bomb. Moths, iii. p. 271 (1914) (Amazons).
. Phalaena Attacus zerbina Cramer, l.c. iii. p. 171. tab. 287, fig. E (1780) (Surinam).
. Syssaura zerbina Cram., Hübner, l.c., p. 150, no. 1574 (1820).
. Oxytenis zerdina Cram., Walker, l.c., p. 1182, no. 1 (1855) (partim; “ &” ex err.); Kirby, l.e.
p- 770. no. 1 (1892).
Qy Os Oy
Os Os
40 10 40 Oy
Both sexes very variable in size and colour.
3g. Upperside of body and wings varying from dark sepia brown to clay-
colour ; fringe of distal margin more or less deep brown, bounded by a thin
greyish white marginal line, which is often indistinct. Forewing dentate, tooth
R’ prominent, a grey submarginal spot in front of R*, usually an oblique sub-
marginal line from costal margin near apex to about three-fourths of hindmargin,
dark brown, on disc a dark cloud, at basal third a transverse dark brown line
broken at M and curved from this vein to hindmargin. On hindwing the
proximal line of forewing continued straight to basal fourth of abdominal
margin ; a discal line from three-fourths of costa to three-fifths of abdominal
margin, curved, zigzag, particularly in posterior half, outside this line posteriorly
indications of pale elliptical blotches ; as on forewing all these markings often
hardly traceable.’
Underside much paler than upper, shaded with grey, terminal area washed
with tawny or ochraceous ; dark brown submarginal line of forewing conspicuous,
continued across disc of hindwing, where it is usually less prominent; dark
brown submarginal blotches on both wings, often indistinct on forewing, between
them and discal line on hindwing tawny elliptical markings, vestigial or distinct.
Genitalia (Pl. xvii. figs. 10, 12-15): Eighth sternite truncate-bisinuate,
sides rounded, median lobe usually reduced to a small tooth. Tenth tergite
broad, almost gradually narrower apically, the sides very slightly incurved, apex
divided into two rounded lobes usually about the size of the sinus which separates
them. Upper flap Cl of clasper of nearly even width, ventrally excised at the
apex, the lobe situated proximally of the sinus quite short, the apical lobe longer,
rounded, Cl membranous except its dorsal margin, which is strongly chitinised
like the rest of the clasper ; ventral process P? irregularly flattened, slightly
twisted, apex rounded and a little curved laterad. Penis-sheath with the orifice
terminal, surrounded by a prominent armature consisting of a dentate lobe on
the right side, a short stout ventral hook, and a longer left process directed
obliquely frontad, all somewhat variable.
Q. Pale orange buff; a thin ochraceous or gallstone yellow line from costal
margin of forewing near apex to middle of abdominal margin of hindwing, on
forewing often blackish brown towards apex and on hindwing frequently obsolete ;
outside this line a row of lunules, indistinct on forewing, usually distinct on
hindwing, russet, sometimes widened and diffuse, a submarginal row of russet
bars, more or less luniform with the concave side towards base, particularly the
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 171
posterior ones of hindwing, terminal area of hindwing shaded with russet or dark
brown, the elliptical internervular spaces bounded by the submarginal bars
as pale yellow as the proximal area of the wing and therefore contrasting with
the darker terminal area. Fringe of both wings sepia colour or tawny olive.
Antemedian line indicated or distinct from SM? of forewing to abdominal margin
of hindwing, sometimes absent. In some specimens the greater part of the
upperside clayish russet. Tip of distal branches of antenna without a cluster
of minute cilia.
The lines in outer area of underside olive or drab, broader and bolder than
above, one line on forewing, two on hindwing, the pale yellow elliptical spots
between the lines of hindwing prominent.
Genital cavity of 9 very deep, longer than broad, sharply defined, the sides
perpendicular, the lateral ridge posteriorly forked (Pl. xviii. fig. 2).
Length of forewing: 3, 23 to 32mm.; 9, 24to 34 mm.
Larva resembling bird’s dropping, black, each segment with a row of small
papillae, some of them tawny, the others whitish grey, lobes of metathorax
dirty tawny. On Randia formosa. Bred by A. M. Moss at Para.
Hab. Orinoco, the Guianas, Lower Amazons.
In the Tring Museum a series of both sexes from: Venezuela: Maripa,
Caura R., Orinoco, all months from ix. to i. (S. M. Klages). British Guiana.
——Parä (A. M. Moss) ; Amazons (Bates), ex coll. Felder.
In Mus. Brit. from: British Guiana, 2 &&; French Guiana, 1 9.
2 29.
In Mus. Joicey from: French Guiana.
Para,
15. Oxytenis ferruginea Walk. (1855).
Q. Oxytenis zerbina Cram., Walker (err. determinationis), Lep. Het. B.M., p. 1182, no. 1 (1855)
(partim ; Venezuela).
g. Teratopteris ferruginea Walker, l.c. v. p. 1184. no. 1 (1855) (Venezuela) ; Kirby, Cat. Lep. Het.
p. 764. no. 2 (1892).
32. In colour and shape like O. angulata, and just as variable, differing in
the tail-end of the abdomen.
g. Tenth tergite (Pl. xvii. figs. 11, 16-18) rather deeply incurved at the sides,
subapically rounded-dilated, the apex sinuate, the apical lobes pointed or at
least much less rounded at the sinus than outwardly. Membranous portion
of clasper less distinctly sinuate below apex than in O. angulata, and process P?
much slenderer. Penis-sheath very slender, gradually and slightly curved,
gradually tapering, bearing an armature of two minute teeth.
Q. Genital cavity large (Pl. xviii. fig. 3), almost evenly concave, flanked by
a broad fold, orifice proximal, small, very much smaller than in O. angulata,
behind it often a distinct tubercle.
Larva found by J. Steinbach in S.E. Bolivia ; similar to that of O. angulata,
“almost entirely black, very slightly variegated with tawny, resembling bird’s
dropping, appearing as if damp and being very repulsive.” Pupated on the
ground, spinning a few shreds, imago (3?) emerged 11 days after pupation.
Length of forewing: 4, 21 to 34mm.; 9, 29to 36 mm. (limits of variation
probably wider).
Hab. Panama to Venezuela, southward to Bolivia and Matto Grosso.
172 Novirates ZooLtocicaE XXXI. 1924,
In the Tring Museum from: Panama, 1 9. Venezuela: Palma Sola,
6 dd; Valencia, 1 &; San Esteban, vii.1909 (S. M. Klages), 1 d. Upper
Amazons : Fonteboa, x.1906, and Codajas, iv.1907 (S. M. Klages), 2 gd.
Peru : La Union, Rio Huacamayo, Carabaya, 2,000 ft., xii. 1904 (G. R. Ockenden),
1 3. Bolivia: Prov. Sard, Sta. Cruz dela Sierra, ii—vi. 1904, and Buenavista,
750 m., viii. 1906-iv.1907 (J. Steinbach), 2 3g, 2 22. Matto Gosso : Cuyaba,
1 g, 3 22 (rec. from P. Zobrys).
In Mus. Brit. from : Venezuela, 1 $ (type), 1 9.——Colombia, 1 g.——Peru :
Yahuarmayo, 1 &; Chanchamayo, 1 9.
In Mus. Joicey from: Sta. Cruz de la Sierra (J. Steinbach), and Cuyaba to
Corumba, Matto Grosso, a series of both sexes.
16. Oxytenis gigantea Druce (1890) (Pl. viii. figs. 3, 4. dd).
&. Draconipteris gigantea Druce, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. p. 502. tab. 43. fig. 4 (1890) (Sarayacu,
Ecuador) ; Kirby, Cat. Lep. Het. p. 764. no. 2 (1892) (Ecuador).
d. Termen of forewing denticulate, all the teeth small, the median one
slightly larger than the others. Hindwing strongly bisinuate at apex, the second
bay deeper than the first, and angle enlarged as a rounded lobe. This lobe is
accidentally turned under in type-specimen (cf. Pl. viii. fig. 3), and therefore
not visible in a dorsal view. Colour very variable, upperside ochraceous
ochre yellow to mummy brown (Ridgway, Nomencl. Colours, iii. 10), in the darkest
specimen (Pl. viii. fig. 4) the body almost black ; forewing shaded with greyish
white, a broad bar on discocellulars, a discal band parallel with this bar and
nearly the whole terminal area devoid of white shading. Oblique line across
both wings double, the inner line paler than the outer one, in between them a
white or whitish line.
Underside brighter than upper, in the dark specimen more or less tawny on
wings and body, shading into buff at base of hindwing. The brownish black
line which runs from costal margin of forewing close to apex to abdominal margin
of hindwing, is even on both wings, not crenulate or dentate. Forelegs not
spotted.
Genitalia (Pl. xvii. figs. 20-22, 24): Highth sternite with a median sinus
which is about semicircular, flanked by a short, more or less obtuse process,
laterally the sternite produced into a long, tapering, sharply pointed horn. Tenth
tergite bilobate, the lobes broader than the median sinus, broader than long,
obliquely truncate and usually slightly sinuate, the tergite constricted proximally
to lobes. Harpe ending with.a long, tapering, pointed process, which curves
mesad in a ventral view. Penis-sheath very stout, strongly curved, armed at
apex on the ventral side with a longitudinal dentate ridge and on the dorsal
side with a strong tooth, which varies in size, being smaller in type-specimen
than in our fig. 24 (taken from another specimen, from R. Pastaza, Ecuador).
2 not known.
Length of forewing: 34 to 39 mm.
Hab. Ecuador and Peru.
In Mus. Joicey from Ecuador: Sarayacu (C. Buckler), 1 &; Alpayacu,
R. Pastaza, 3,600 ft. (M. G. Palmer), 1 &; “ Ecuador ” (from Staudinger), 1 dg,
very dark.——Peru : Pozuzo, 2,000-4,000 ft. (J. Egg), 1 3.
os
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI, 1924. Nea
17. Oxytenis spadix spec. nov. (Pl. viii. fig. 2. 3).
d. Allied to O. gigantea. Branches of antenna longer, f.i. the fourth inner
branch from apex longer than two segments of the shaft. Upperside of abdomen
purplish black-brown from middle to near apex.
Upperside of wings ochraceous, with a slight purplish red tint and shaded
with greyish white, an oblique space across apex of cell and another farther distal
without grey scaling; the double line which runs from apex of forewing to
middle of abdominal margin of hindwing much heavier than in O. gigantea, the
proximal one brownish black, more prominent than the outer one, which is
shaded with grey, in between them a greyish white line ; termen black at and
below apex ; outside the double line a very thin and feebly marked crenate line
continued to apex of wing by a thin greyish white line ; three small submarginal
blotches brown, the last of them lunate, convex on outer side ; a greyish white
marginal line very thin; fringe dark brown, no black dots near tornus ; as in
O. gigantea marginal tooth R’ small, the margin being but slightly excised in
front of and behind middle. Hindwing bisinuate at apex, anal angle lobate
as in O. gigantea ; outside the double line the usual markings: a faint, deeply
crenate, line, then follows an ochraceous space as pale as the middle of the
termen, and further a submarginal row of dark brown spots, a thin greyish white
marginal line obsolete in middle.
Underside paler than upper, ochreous yellow towards base, irrorated with
purplish black-brown ; on forewing a submarginal line from apex, brown-black,
single, crossing M? 8 mm. from termen, margin at and below apex brown-black,
the line slightly angulate at Rt. Hindwing without the well-defined line of :
O. gigantea, bearing instead a diffuse narrow blackish band, which extends from
near apex to middle and is continued by some triangular or angle-shaped spots,
the distance (9 mm.) of these spots from the termen being about three times that
of the band at costa, whereas in O. gigantea the line is posteriorly about as near
the termen as anteriorly ; halfway to termen a row of blackish spots, more or
less triangular and diffuse, no spot between M? and abdominal margin, anterior
half of termen tawny ochraceous, its posterior half as far basad as the post-
discal spots shaded with drab-grey.
Genitalia (Pl. xvii. figs. 19, 23) : The two lobes of the tenth tergite triangular,
with the apex rounded. Eighth sternite asymmetrical in the only specimen
known to us, the pointed process of the right side being much shorter than that
of the left side and bearing a tooth; the median sinus, which in O. gigantea is
almost semicircular, is narrow and very deep, being about twice as deep as it
is wide distally. Penis-sheath (not taken out; its exact structure therefore
not known) as far as can be ascertained similar to that of O. gigantea, but the
row of small teeth missing.
Length of forewing: 3, 36 mm.
Hab. Colombia.
In coll. Paul Dognin 1 & from Alto de las Cruces, Western Cordillera,
2,000 m., ii.1909 (A. H. Fassl).
174 NOVITATES ZootogicaE XXXI, 1924.
Key to the species of Oxytenis :
I. Males.
1. Termen of fore- and hindwing even . 5 : 2
Termen of forewing with a antemedian oe: Hasler rounded or at
apex bisinuate . 6 : 3
Termen of ao ih or or teeth in fhe fore case the ante-
median tooth symmetrical, not curved backwards; hindwing with tail before
muddle of termen 5
2, Hindwing below rich eel hale velloge Gontrastine ah the cates half
and Peceaed by a lobate line (the lunules composing it convex on outer side)
O. modestia
Hindwing below almost uniform in colour, with a continuous, broad, black
discal line : : ; : . O. albilunulata
3. Lobes of onan mente teancate : : 3 O. mirabilis
Lobes of eighth sternite rounded- Sets 5 6 : 4
Lobes of eighth sternite drawn out into a long thin mone O. bicornis
4. Apical armature of penis-sheath in the shape of a helmet, of which the
lower margin is dentate (ventral aspect) : : . O. sobrina
Apical process of penis-sheath narrow, arofeotin fer beyond the orifice,
with a large tooth above the orifice and a os lobe on the left side of the orifice ;
hindwing bisinuate at apex . ; , O. naemia
Penis-sheath widened before apex on the none side fhe a large triangular
lobe ; hindwing subtruncate, at apex bisinuate ? ; : ; O. leda
Bananen with a small dentate apical lobe which is bent frontad, at the
right side of the lobe a fairly large tooth, on the back of the sheath from apex
basad a minutely serrate ne which terminates with a tooth ; hindwing as
in O.leda . h ll O. erosa
Penis-sheath andy as in On erosa, a ichont a Horse tooth ; lobes of
eighth sternite short and so twisted that they turn their concave uppersides
towards each other ; hindwing rounded, at apex bisinuate 5 . O. nubila
5. Termen of forewing with a large tooth in middle . 3 . 6 6
Termen of forewing with a very small tooth or without teeth . 10
6. Foretibia conspicuously spotted . 4 3 : : : ; 7
Foretibia not distinctly spotted : ; : é 8
7. Anal tergite gradually narrowed, sides not tar ingurwed O. angulata
Anal tergite very distinctly incurved and then strongly excurved
O. ferruginea
8. Eighth sternite with short obtuse lobes ; terminal area of hindwing clay-
colour, rest dark brown. 3 : : O. peregrina
Eighth sternite with very lene hen, ned oo : e : 9
9. Penis-sheath without long spiniform apical tooth . : O. epiphaea
Penis-sheath with long spiniform apical tooth : 5 O. plettina
10. Sides of anal tergite strongly incurved, apical lobes truncate O. gigantea
Anal tergite almost gradually narrowed, apical lobes triangular with
the apex rounded off . : : : ; : steal
11. Eighth sternite medianly deonly ncieed : : : O. spadix
Eighth sternite medianly not incised : : f O. beprea
NoviraTEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924, 175
II. Females (known of only 9 species).
1. Branches of distal half of antenna without cluster of minute cilia at apex 2
Branches of distal half of antenna with cluster of minute cilia at apex 4
2. Forewing above with 2 or 3 black spots before tornus at outer side of
oblique line ; upperside of both wings almost uniformly tawny brown (variable
in depth of tint), without yellow patches . : 6 6 . O, naemia
Forewing above without black spots before tornus ; in dark terminal area of
hindwing above and below large yellow elliptical patches, often the greater
portion of the upperside yellow like the underside . : : ! 3
3. Genital cavity sharply defined, with perpendicular stiles O. angulata
Genital cavity large, gradually deepening, rather indefinite O. ferruginea
4. Apex of distal branches of antenna hardly at all enlarged, anal angle of
hindwing not lobate . é b P 5
Apex of distal branches of Euakkefare Sonst enlarged, anal angle of
hindwing projecting abdominad . 5 ¢ : 6
5. No black dots on forewing above eter force on tadeede of hindwing
a discal row of separate blackish brown lunules of aig the fourth is more distal
than the two before and the two behind it ; : : Ä O. modestia
With two or three black dots on forewing before tornus at outer side of
oblique line ; : : O. leda and O. bicornis
6. Apex of distal seen of antenna quite abruptly clavate, truncate ;
genital sclerite with a conspicuous longitudinal median strip of chitin O. peregrina
Apex of distal segment more gradually and not so strongly enlarged, the
ciliate end-surface oblique in lateral aspect ; genital sclerite with median strip
of chitin
O. beprea
Apex of heil ce ll enlurpedt a selsstie without longi-
tudinal raised strip of chitin ® 5 : 7
7. Tawny line of upperside of mente, rooohine siniloinell margin in
middle ; discocellular tufts conspicuous above and below 2 O. epiphaea
Tawny line reaching abdominal margin at three-fifths ; discocellular tuft
minute on forewing, absent from hindwing . © : . O. albilunulata
3. Genus : Homoeopteryx gen. nov. (ex Felder 1874 indescr.).
Homoeopteryx Felder, Reise Novara, tab. 94. Erklärung, p. 5 (1874) (no diagn.); Kirby, Cat. Lep,
Het. 804 (1892).
We employ the Felders’ indescript name for our conception of a genus which
differs from Oxytenis in the following essentials :
32. Wings entire, similar in the sexes in contours and markings, but termen
of forewing more rounded in 2. No discocellular tuft of raised scales. Antennae
and branches longer than in Oxytenis, with longer and thicker bristles, the last
two (2) or three (3) segments ventrally with a number of sensory cones which
in ¢ are placed at the margin of a somewhat hand-shaped projection; in 2
(Pl. xiii. figs. 20-23) the previous 12 to 16 segments with the shaft strongly dilated
ventrad and gradually laterad, a segment recalling an anvil, the flat, ventral
surface being nearly square, or transverse, or longer than broad and clothed
with a dense pile of short cilia, the segment previous to these modified ones with
a ventral process ; the apical projections of the distal segments of Oxytenis not
present in Homoeopteryx. Upper cell-angle of forewing (Pl. xiii. fig. 3) acute,
176 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI, 1924,
vein supporting apical lobe of wing deeply deflexed in both sexes, SC! from cell
at some distance from apex, R! from upper cell-angle, sometimes from subcostals
close to cell; in hindwing SC close to © for some distance, gradually diverging,
SC? and R! on a rather long stalk. Penis-sheath (Pl. xix. fig. 7) without the
guiding rod of Oxytenis.
Karly stages not known.
Hab. Panama to Bolivia and British Guiana ; few specimens in collections.
Genotype: malecena Druce (1886).
Five species are known.
We cannot make syssauroides Feld. the genotype of this genus, as the only
known specimen has neither antenna nor als onen and could not serve for drawing
up the above description.
1. Homoeopteryx malecena Druce (1886).
d. Oxytenis malecena Druce, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Lep. Het. i. p. 198. no. 3. tab. 21. fig. 2 (1886)
(Chiriqui).
Oxytenis malacena (!) Druce, Kirby, Cat. Lep. Het. p. 770. no. 9 (1892).
&. Upperside cream-buff; a straight line from apex of forewing crosses
hindmargin of forewing beyond one-third and reaches abdominal margin of hind-
wing before one-third ; about halfway to termen large elliptical patches, usually
not conspicuous, paler than the interspace between them and the oblique line,
bounded on the proximal side by a crenate line and on the terminal side by a less
distinct scalloped line ; on hindwing a submarginal row of blackish dots.
On underside a blackish crenate submarginal line edged with grey, oblique
on forewing, 8 to 10 mm. distant from termen at M? and running up to apex, on
hindwing slightly curved, about twice as far away from termen posteriorly than
at costa ; on the basal side of this line on both wings a diffuse ochraceous band
nearly parallel with the line, touching lower cell-angle on hindwing.
Genitalia (Pl. xviii. figs. 13-17): Eighth sternite truncate-emarginate, the
angles produced into a very long spine. Lobes of tenth tergite widely apart,
with the apex obtuse, flattened above and slightly twisted. Process of harpe
gently curved inwards, widened at apex and truncate ; clasper ending with a
slender, spathulate lobe which reaches beyond the apex of the anal tergite.
Penis-sheath longest on the dorsal side, the opening on the ventral side, dorsal
margin (= extreme tip of sheath) rounded, no teeth or processes. Penis-funnel
with a sharply pointed process at each side.
Q. Similar to g. Forewing a little broader and its distal margin slightly
more rounded. Markings essentially as in g. Colour of upperside in the two
specimens before me yellowish buff and clayish wood-brown, 15 or 16 distal
segments of the antenna have the shaft enlarged ventrally, the surfaces of these
enlarged portions broader than long, a few of them as long as broad (PI. xiii.
figs. 20-23).
Genital sclerite with sharp apical edge, which is rounded laterally ; surface
of sclerite rather flat, concave at the side of the orifice and slightly convex
behind it. In front of the orifice a transverse ridge, concealing the orifice, the
margin of this ridge rather thick, smoot
Length of forewing: d, 35 mm.; 9, 34 mm.
Hab. Panama, Trinidad, and Breen Guiana ; doubtless more widely dis-
tributed.
NoVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924, 177
(a) Homoeopteryx malecena malecena Druce (1886).
Oxytenis malecena Druce, l.c.
6. Oblique line of upperside thin. Lobes of anal tergite of ¢ more or less
strongly curved towards each other at apex,
Hab. Panama.
In Mus. Tring 1 $ from Chiriqui (from Staudinger).
In Mus. Brit. 1 g from Bugaba, Chiriqui, type.
In Mus. Berol. (coll. Staudinger) 1 3, 1 2 from Chiriqui.
(6) Homoeopteryx malecena prona subsp. nov.
6. Oblique line thicker than in the previous subspecies. In ¢ the two
lobes of the anal tergite very slightly converging, also thicker in a vertical sense
(Pl. xviii. figs. 13, 14).
Hab. Trinidad and British Guiana.
In Mus. Tring from Port of Spain, ii. 1897 (Dr. Percy Rendall), 1 3, type, and
British Guiana, 1 9.
In Mus. Joicey from British Guiana, 1 9.
2. Homoeopteryx major spec. nov. (Pl. vii. fig. 15. 3).
6. Like H. malecena, but larger. Upperside wood brown, oblique line almost
gallstone yellow on inside. Fringe of both wings chestnut. Underside strongly
irrorated with blackish brown, submarginal line strongly crenate, edged with
greyish white. Lobes of anal tergite as in H. m. prona, but stouter, basally wider,
apically rather narrower. Penis-funnel (Pl. xviii. fig. 18) with broad obtuse
processes. Eighth sternite (Pl. xviii. fig. 19) essentially as in H. malecena.
9. Dark ochraceous shaded with russet, oblique line blackish brown with
a brighter ochraceous proximal edge, space between this line and the crenate
line darker, being shaded with russet brown, as is also the termen of forewing
posteriorly and costal margin distally ; as in g some small grey markings out-
wardly edged with dark brown are indications of a subbasal, much broken, line.
Underside clayish tawny, as in g much irrorated with blackish brown, crenate
line asin g. Fringe of both wings chestnut.
Antenna with only eleven distal segments ventrally enlarged, and the ventral
surfaces of the enlarged portions much longer than broad. Genital sclerite as in
H. malecena, but the apical margin projecting laterally as a short, broad, rounded
lobe, and the antevaginal transverse ridge (Pl. xviii. fig. 12) more curved, its
obtuse margin being rounded laterally and feebly incurved medianly.
Length of forewing: 3, 40 mm.; 9, 41 mm.
Hab. Peru.
In Mus. Tring 1 9, type, from S. Domingo, Carabaya, 6,000 ft., ii. 1902 (G. R.
Ockenden).
In Mus. Joicey 1 9 from the same place, xi.1904 (G. R. Ockenden).
Possibly a subspecies of H. malecena.
12
178 NOoVITATEs ZOOLOGICAE X XXI, 1924.
3. Homoeopteryx syssauroides Feld. (1874)
2. Homocopteryx syssauroides Felder, Reise Novara, Lep. tab. 94. fig. 6 (1874) (no loc.); Kirby,
Cat. Lep. Het. p. 804 (1892) (hab. ?).
The type and only known specimen is without antennae and abdomen, but
the legs prove it to be a 9. There are three labels on the pin (we have replaced
the pin, as it was corroded): one small, green, bearing the locality “ Bresil” ;
this label was pressed close to the body and probably overlooked by Felder ;
the second label bears the name and the third a short description of the outline
of forewing and the length of the abdomen. The abdomen which is now on the
specimen is that of a Notodont, I think, and certainly does not belong to the
specimen.
The Felders’ figure is coarse, the submarginal blotches being much too pale
and prominent ; the last blotch of the forewing is more uniform in the specimen,
and the second and third from the abdominal margin of the hindwing are larger
than in the figure.
Upperside dark russet brown, the submarginal blotches pale ochraceous
shaded with dark brown. The oblique line walnut brown, with a narrow grey
outer edge, more distal than in the previous forms, reaching hindmargin just
beyond middle on forewing and at middle on hindwing.
Underside russet hazel, the submarginal blotches paler than above, three
on forewing, of which the one at tornus extends to near fringe ; the brownish
black line which bounds the band of blotches thick, on forewing straight, very
faintly lunulate posteriorly, on hindwing distinctly lunulate.
Length of forewing: 36 mm. (probably, the apical lobe broken on both
forewings).
Hab. “ Brazil.”
In Mus. Tring 1 9, type, ex coll. Felder.
4. Homoeopteryx elegans spec. nov. (Pl. vii. fig. 9. 8).
6. Body and upperside of wings cream colour, palpi and forelegs washed
with ochraceous rufous, upperside of palpi dark brown, but tip of last segment
creamy.
Forewing with a subbasal russet line from base of M? obliquely outward to
hindmargin, curved basad at hindmargin, connected with a curved line in cell
which runs from near base of M! obliquely basad to costal margin ; at lower cell-
angle a round deep brown spot, base and costal margin and a series of submarginal
blotches cream-colour, rest of wing shaded with russet, dise more or less diffusely
creamy, this colour accentuated on the veins ; oblique line crossing hindmargin
at three-fifths, clayish tawny, paler on basal side, on its outer side a greyish line
and a dark brown one, both very thin, obsolescent, three large submarginal
blotches cream-colour, slightly shaded with russet ochraceous, the two anterior
ones bearing a black dot outwardly, in front of them two small spots, and between
them and apex a thin creamy line ; fringe walnut brown. Line of hindwing
submedian, reaching abdominal margin 11 mm. from base and 14 from anal
angle, curved basad at costal margin ; between it and base an oblique line from
abdominal margin to cell, inclining basad ; discal crenate line distinct, nearer
to the submedian line than in H. syssauroides, the interspace between these two
NOoVITATEs ZoOLOGICAE XXXI.. 1924. 179
lines russet ochraceous up to R!; submarginal cream-coloured patches large,
outwardly bounded from C to R! by a diffuse brown zigzag line, the last blotch
by a heavier, slightly S-shaped bar, the two largest blotches bearing a black dot
outwardly as on forewing ; fringe walnut brown.
Underside of forewing russet with a distinct chocolate tint, base and hind-
margin buff, submarginal blotches very prominent, pale buff yellow, the oblique
blackish submarginal line which bounds them on the basal side straight.
Hindwing pale buff yellow slightly shaded with chocolate russet along costal
margin ; the elliptical patches united as a large pyriform band, bounded on the
basal side by a black band which touches lower cell-angle, where it is 3 mm.
broad, and becomes thin and crenulate towards costa ; on the terminal side the
pale yellow area is bounded by a row of black dots connected with each other
by a diffuse line, which is zigzag anteriorly, obsolescent between R! and M?, and
replaced by a Z-shaped bar before abdominal margin.
Genitalia (Pl. xix. figs. 1-7): Eighth sternite almost truncate, with a semi-
circular sinus, the angles produced into a short spine. Sinus of anal tergite
much deeper and narrower than in H. malecena, the lobes convergent in middle,
divergent at apex, narrow, but not pointed. Apical lobe of clasper distinctly
widened, rounded ; process of harpe not widened at apex, which is also rounded.
Penis-sheath slightly broadened apically, truncate, the right margin of the
narrow membranous ventral space with two teeth which point towards the left.
The lobes of the penis-funnel very short and broad, each nearly a rectangular
triangle. Manubrium M (PI. xix. fig. 5) of ninth sternite (= saccus) long, some-
what curved upwards at end.
Length of forewing: 39 mm.
Hab. Peru.
In Mus. Tring 1 3 from La Oroya, R. Inambari, 3,100 ft., ix.1904 (G. R.
Ockenden).
I thought at first that this specimen was the ¢ of H. syssauroides ; it bears
some resemblance to that species in the submarginal blotches of both wings being
very prominent, but the differences between the two specimens are much greater
than in the sexes of H. malecena and H. major. Moreover, in the dd of these
species the crenate line of both wings, above, is farther away from the oblique
line than in the 99, whereas in H. elegans- & the interspace between these lines
is narrower than in H. syssauroides-2.
The specimen of H. elegans has the basis of the branches of the left (inner)
side of the right antenna swollen.
5. Homoeopteryx divisa spec. nov. (Pl. viii. fig. 10. 9).
9. Bristles of antenna long, twelve segments with enlarged ventral surfaces
counting from the third segment from apex, these ciliate surfaces a little broader
than long except the proximal two, the segment previous to these with a conical:
ventral process as in the other species.
Upperside of wings russet walnut brown from base to oblique line, this
colour very strongly contrasting with that of the terminal area, which is buff
shaded with cinnamon rufous ; oblique line of forewing cinnamon rufous, rather
brighter than the proximal area, on its outerside a thin grey line upon which
follows a thin and somewhat diffuse dull walnut brown line, the grey line reaches
f
180 NOVITATES ZooLocicar XXXI. 1924.
hindmargin at three-fifths ; the submarginal rounded blotches not prominent,
bounded on the proximal side by lunules which are much nearer the oblique line
than in H. malecena, H. major, H. syssauroides, and even H. elegans; the last
three blotches longer than broad, blotches R!-R? circular, and before them a
small transverse spot, all these blotches bounded on the terminal side by dark
brown bars or dots. Median line of hindwing tripartite as the line of forewing,
touching lower cell-angle and curving basad costally ; submarginal blotches not
quite so far distant from median line as in H. syssauroides, partly buff yellow,
but not much contrasting with the rest of the terminal area, as the yellow colour
is diffuse and extends to the margin except at costal and anal angles ; a row of
blackish dots indicates the outer boundary of the blotches ; fringe dull walnut
brown.
Underside pale dull hazel, pale orange buff from submarginal line to termen,
this line thin, darker than the proximal area, slightly blackish on forewing and
almost straight, at the proximal side of the line some grey shading from middle
to apex, the line on hindwing slightly lunulate, at R' midway between cell and
termen ; on both wings the posterior angle suffused with hazel, some subterminal
bars and spots diffuse, the two dots R’-M? of hindwing more distinct than the
other spots.
Head, thorax, base of abdomen (rest of abdomen missing), and legs the
colour of the proximal wing-area.
Length of forewing : 34 mm.
Hab. Bolivia.
In Mus. Joicey 1 2 from Mapiri (from Staudinger).
Key to the species of Homoeopteryx :
1. Oblique line of upperside of wings crossing hindmargin of forewing before
middle : : 3 : : 2
This line crossing bannen of na at isst : 4 : 3
2. In 3 underside feebly irrorated with dark brown, process of penis-funnel
pointed ; in 9 16 segments of the antenna ventrally enlarged 1. H. malecena
Larger (length of forewing about 40 mm.), underside of both sexes strongly
irrorated with brownish black; in ä processes of penis-funnel obtuse; in 2
about 12 segments of the antenna ventrally enlarged ‘ : 2. H. major
3. Body and nearly the whole upperside of hindwing cream-colour ; forewing
above with dark brown round discocellular spot . : : 4. H. elegans
Body and wings russet brown, the submarginal blotches conspicuous,
ochraceous shaded with brown . 4 { 3. H. syssauroides
Wings russet walnut brown. from hese to oblique line, terminal area buff,
strongly contrasting . \ ; : : : : : 5. H. divisa
The second family of aberrant Saturnioideans referred to on p. 135 comprises
a few genera of the Chilean coast districts and one genus of the Andes, and differs
from all the other Saturnioideans in the possession of an ancestral character in
the neuration. This distinction has been entirely overlooked by all who have
tried to define what constitutes a Saturnian.
NovITAaTEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924, 181
Family : CERCOPHANIDAE fam. nov.
Costal vein of hindwing connected with cell by an oblique bar (Pl. xix. fig. 8);
as is commonly the case in Hupterotidae and Bombycidae.
In the majority of the Saturnioideae the costal vein of the hindwing diverges
from the cell from the base. But besides the Cercophanidae there are other
exceptions ; for instance, among the Agliinae there occur a few species in which
the costalis runs for a short distance parallel with the cell, then touches it (as in
many Lymantriidae), and finally diverges from it very gradually.
The species united in this family fall into two groups, which have little in
common besides the cross-bar.
A. Subfamily : Cercophaninae subf. nov.
A group peculiar in the imagines as well as the early stages.
Proboscis absent, its vestiges under the upper lip more or less scaled. Upper
lip transverse, projecting, rounded in a dorsal aspect, its anterior margin obtuse
or sharp. Third segment of palpus distinct. Frons with long hair, which hangs
over the eye. Antenna bipectinate in both sexes, branches long and dorsal,
but in the 9 of one genus short and lateral, always bearing an apical bristle, ventral
surface different according to species. Epiphysis of foretibia large in J,
reaching to the apex of the foretibia, partly scaled, its inner edge incurved before
middle, in 9 reduced in width or altogether absent. Mid- and hindtibiae with
a pair of short, claw-like, serrate spurs as in the bulk of the Saturnioideans ; tarsi
with some spines on the ventral surface, particularly at the apices of segments
I to IV; claws serrate.
Neuration (Pl. xix. fig. 8): In forewing the cell extending to near middle
of wing, SC! from cell, SC? absent, SC? off SC! near apex of wing, stalk of SC*°
about as long as the cell is broad ; R! from upper cell-angle or from subcostal
stalk close to cell; upper and lower cell-angles acute, about equal in size; R? in
or above centre; apex of SM’ coalescent with SM’. Hindwing : no precostal
vein ; cell longer than half the wing apart from tail, its upper angle very obtuse,
lower angle acute, cross-vein D* being very oblique; R* from before centre ;
SM? absent.
Larva: only the last stage of two species known ; no prominent tubercles,
some fine hairs, each segment with a long lateral hair thickened at the tip ; head
small, thorax gradually increasing in width, the metathorax being the widest and
being dorsally produced forward into a high peak ; preanal segment with a short
peak directed backward ; a raised lateral line from peak of metathorax to tail.
Food-plants: Aristotelia, Tiliaceae; Maytenus, Celastraceae, Cryptocarya ;
Lauraceae ; and Hydrangea, Saxifrageae.
Cocoon very hard, open at one end or at both ends, the edge of the opening
smooth, recalling the larva-case of Perophoridae. Pupa of & C. venusta with
large antenna sheath, no legs showings, labrum almost circular, proboscis-sheath
(in this case really the sheath of the labial palpi) broad, only half as long again
as itis broad at base ; cremaster with or without spines.
Only four species are known, one of them being the smallest Saturnioidean
described.
It is much to be desired that the first stages of the larvae should be studied.
182 “ NovITATEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
As one of the species (venusta) is no great rarity in the neighbourhood of Val-
paraiso, there should be no difficulty in supplying the want.
In the first two genera the dd are tailed and the antennae of the 9? have
long pectinations ; in the third genus the g is not tailed, and the antenna of the
9 has short lateral processes. The cocoon is open at the upper end in the first
genus‘), and at both ends in the second ; unknown of the third genus. Larva
known of the first genus only.
1. Genus : Cercophana Feld. (1862).
d. Cercophana Felder, Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien, p. 496 (1862) (type: frauenfeldi); Kirby, Cat.
Lep. Het. p. 765 (1892) ; Pack., Monogr. Bomb. Moths, iii. p. 26 (1914).
&. Eudelia Philippi, Ent. Zeit. Stettin, xxv. p. 91 (1864) (type: aristoteliae) ; Kirby, l.c. p. 764 (1892).
82. Cercophora (!) Feld., Butler, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. pp. 17, 103 (1882).
62. Proximal segments of antennae not carinate beneath ; branches long
in both sexes, but much longer in ¢ than in 2. Edge of labrum rounded off.
& tailed, in 2 the tail represented by a short, broad, stumpy projection, which is
sometimes almost effaced. Penis-sheath large, without armature; no anal
sternite in 3.
Larva recalling that of the African genus Pselaphelia, but in the latter the
anterior conical horn is placed on the pronotum instead of the metanotum as
in Cercophana, and the posterior horn of Pselaphelia is long and anal instead of
short and preanal. In both species of Cercophana the larva is pale green, the head
whitish green, the raised side-line yellow, or anteriorly blue and white and pos-
teriorly yellow and rose colour. Very sluggish, clinging tightly to the food-plant.
At rest the head almost hidden in the prothorax, pro- and mesothorax contracted
and held downwards (cf. Edmonds, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 1882, p. 103).
Cocoon open at the upper end, according to the specimens in the B.M.,
but said by Izquierdo to be hermetically closed; firmly fastened lengthways
to a twig, on its outer surface a quite irregular network of silk threads glued on
to the cocoon. Pupa moderately glossy, cremaster a small tubercle with hooked
spines (Izquierdo), abdominal segments transversely and somewhat irregularly
plicate in the region of the spiracles, no other prominent surface structure.
Hab. Chile, coast districts.
Two species.
1. Cercophana frauenfeldi Feld. (1862).
Cercophana frauenfeldi Felder, Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien xxv. p. 496 (1862) (3, Valparaiso); iid., Reise
Novara, Lep. tab. 95. fig. 6, Taf.-Erkl. p. 3 (1874); Mab., Miss. Cap Horn, Lép. p. 11. no. 9
(1888) (Orange Bay—cocoon not this species) ; Kirby, Cat. Lep. Het. p. 765 (1892) ; Staud.,
Ham). Magelh. Sammelr., Lep. p. 51 (1899) ; Sonthon., Essai Classif. Lép. iv. p. 76. tab. 24.
fig. 4. 8,5. 9 (1904) ; Cock., in Pack., Monogr. Bom). Moths, iii. p. 498 note (1914).
Cercophora (!) frauenfeldi Feld., Butler, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. p. 17. tab. 1. fig. 5. larva (1882)
(Valparaiso, Feb.-March ; descr. of 9; food-pl. Cryptocarya peumus); Edmonds, ibid.,
pp. 103, 104 (1882) (descr. of larva and cocoon); Bartl.-Calv., An. Univ. Chile, Ixix. p. 15
(separ.) (1886).
Cercophana venusta ab. frauenfeldi Feld., Rothschild, Nov. Zool. ii. p. 47 (1895).
1 Izquierdo, An. Univ. Chile, p. 40 (1895, issued 1896 ?), says that the cocoons are hermetically
closed in Cercophana (and Eudelia). In the two cocoons in the B.M., from which the imagines have
emerged, the upper end is widely open, the edges of the opening are quite smooth and do not at all
look as:if the opening had resulted from the emergence of the image; it is only for this reason that
I describe the cocoon of Cercophana to be open at the upper end; corroboration of Izquierdo’s
statement, as well as observations on the mode of emergence, would be most welcome.
Novirates Zootogicar XXXI. 1924. 183
$2. Clayish ochraceous buff, termen of forewing and anal area of hindwing,
on upperside, washed with dark russet ; lines of wings scalloped ; no pale disco-
cellular spot on forewing. Foretibial epiphysis present in 9 as well as d\, but
much narrower in 9.
Genitalia of & (Pl. xxi. figs. 11, 12, 17): Anal tergite broad, entire at apex,
gradually widening from apex to base, apex slightly curved downwards ; a round
median tubercle, in middle of apical margin of ninth tergite, and close to it at
each side on tenth tergite, a short high ridge similar to a ribbed shell with dentate
margin, the exterior side of these two projections concave. Clasper divided
by a narrow ventral incision into two lobes, ventral lobe (H) elongate-triangular,
with the apex rounded, apical lobe (Cl) very broad. Penis-sheath subcarinate
ventrally ; side-line of larva yellow, mesonotum and the three following segments
with a pinkish median spot. Food-plant : Cryptocarya peumus ; larva found
by Edmonds in November. Cocoon almost elliptical in outline.
Hab. Chile.
In Mus. Tring 1 ¢ (type) from Valparaiso.
In Mus. Brit. a pair and a cocoon from the same locality.
2. Cercophana venusta Walk. (1856).
Lonomia venusta Walker, List Lep. Het. B.M. vii. p. 1756 (1856) (3, Chile).
Bombyx ? aristoteliae Philippi, Linn. Entom. xiv. p. 286 (1860) (2, Valdivia, 1. on Aristotelia maqus).
Eudelia rufescens Philippi, Ent. Zeit, Stettin, xxv. p. 91 (1864) (g, Valparaiso, March) ; Maassen &
Weym., Beitr. Schm. fig. 75. &, 76. 2 (1881) (Valparaiso); Preiss, Abbild. Nachtschm. p. 8.
tab. 11. fig. 1 (1888); Kirby, Cat. Lep. Het. p. 765. no. 2 (1892).
Eudelia vulpes Butler, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. p. 18 (1882) (3, Coral, March) ; Kirby, Cat. Lep. Het.
_ -p. 765. no. 3 (1892); Bartl.-Calv., An. Univ. Chile, lxix. p. 15 (separ.), no. 124 (1886).
Eudelia venusta Walk., Butler, I.c. (Valparaiso, March ; = aristoteliae = rufescens); Edm., ibid.
p. 103 (1882) (descr. of larva and cocoon, on Maytenus chilensis) ; Bartl.-Calv., An. Univ. Chile,
Ixix. p. 15 (separ.), no. 123 (1886); Reed, Act. Soc. Chile, i. p. 68 (1892) (= aristoteliae =
rufescens).
Eudelia aristoteliae Phil., Maassen & Weym.., l.c. fig. 101. g, 102. 2 (1885) (= vulpes) ; Kirby, l.c-
no. 5 (1892).
Eudelia daphnea Maassen & Weym., l.c. fig. 103. 3 (1895) (Chile ?) ; Kirby, l.c. no. 4 (1892).
Cercophana venusta Walk., Rothschild, Nov. Zool. ii. pp. 46, 47 (1895) (partim) ; Sonthon., Essat
Classif. Lép. iv. p. 74. tab. 25. fig. 1. 8,2. 9,3. go, 4. 3, 5. 9 (1904).
Cercophana rufescens Phil., Packard, Monogr. Bomb. Moths, iii. p. 27. tab. 31. fig. 14. larva (1914).
Cercophana frauenfeldi Feld., Watson, in Packard, l.c. p. 498. tab. 111. fig. 7. § (1914) (Valdivia.—
This mistake in identification is due to the error in Nov. Zool. ii. p. 46).
32. Varying from maize yellow to almost chestnut red, the majority of
specimens more or less shaded with pink ; postmedian line even, not scalloped ;
on forewing a conspicuous white discocellular spot margined with a brown line.
Foretibial epiphysis absent in ©. Tail of g longer than in (©. frauenfeldi.
Genitalia of ¢ (Pl. xxi. figs. 13, 16, 18): Anal tergite dorsally swollen, trans-
versely corrugated, apex widened, broadly emarginate, divided into two lobes,
which project oblique laterad and are longer than broad, with the sides almost
parallel and the apex rounded. Clasper divided as in C. frauenfeldi, but the free
lobe (H) of the ventral sclerite broader and shorter, and the apical lobe (Cl)
longer than in that species. Penis-sheath with a conspicuous round swelling
ventrally at the apex (Pl. xxi. fig. 16). 2. Eighth tergite with the edge slightly
more strongly chitinised than the previous segments, its scaling whitish, contrast-
ing with that of the seventh segment ; eighth sternite (= postvaginal sclerite)
184 NoviratEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924,
a transverse, smooth plate with free apical edge, no tubercles, ridges, or other
conspieuous prominences in the cavity between sternites vii. and viii., orifice
central.
Larva larger than in ©. frauenfeldi, the raised side-line pale blue above
and white beneath on metathorax, replaced by three lines (blue, black, orange)
on next segment, and pale yellow above and rose-colour beneath on the other
segments ; no pinkish dorsal spots, but a dorsal line paler green than the rest
of the body (Edmonds). Food-plant : Maytenus chilensis and Aristotelia maqut-
Cocoon larger than in C. frauenfeldi, distinctly pyriform, and more grey
instead of yellowish. The irregular network of its outer surface blackish in the
British Museum specimen, whereas in C. frawenfeldi it is the same colour as the
cocoon.
Length of forewing: 3, 32 to 37mm.; 9, 35 to 40 mm.
Hab. Chile.
In Mus. Tring 10 3g, 7 99 labelled Chile, 1 g Rancagua.
In Mus Brit. two pairs (inclusive of type of vulpes) from Valparaiso and
Coral.
2. Genus : Neocercophana Izquierdo (1896).
39. Neocercophana Izquierdo, An. Univ. Chile, p. 36 (1895, but evidently issued 1896) (type:
philippit).
6. Very close to Cercophana ; shaft of antenna sharply carinate beneath,
the carina ending with a glossy apical cone on the distal segments ; branches
long in both sexes, but more especially in the g. Transverse margin of labrum
sharp. Third segment of palpus longer than in Cercophana. Foretibial epiphysis
long in both sexes, narrow in 2; sole of fifth segment of foretarsus of 2 with few
scales. Underscales in proximal half of wings larger than in Cercophana, most
of them with four teeth, long scales of fringe more deeply slit, nearly all with three
teeth. tailed, in 9 the termen of the hindwing incurved before middle, the tail
being represented as in 2 Cercophana by a broad rounded projection.
Larva not known. Cocoon open at both ends, fusiform, the top end gradually
narrowing into a chord by which it is suspended from a twig of the plant;
below the upper, elongate, opening a circular diaphragm with small central
hole. Pupa with a projecting cremaster which is about twice as long as broad,
widened apically, truncate, with the angles acute and projecting.
Food-plant : Hydrangea scandens Poepp.=Cornidia integerrima Hook. & Arn.
Hab. Chile.
One species.
1. Neocercophana philippii Izquierdo (1896).
Neocercophana philippit Izquierdo, An. Univ. Chile, p. 38. tab. 3. figs. 16. 3, 17. 9, 18. cocoon (1895,
evidently issued in 1896) (Chillan, Araucania).
32. Upperside dark burnt umber-brown, darker in ¢ than in 9, proximal
two-thirds of hindwing russet-hazel, terminal area of both wings and basal area
of forewing more or less shaded with dispersed white scaling, particularly in g ;
on forewing an antemedian line and a discal one, and on hindwing a discal one
even and more or less white, the discal line nearly parallel with termen.
Underside dark tawny in 3, a duller russet tawny in 9.
NOVITATEsS ZOOLOGICAE XXXI, 1924, 185
Genitalia of g (Pl. xxi. figs. 14, 15, 19): Tenth tergite divided to about two-
fifths from apex into two lobes, which are directed distad, very slightly curved
downwards, gradually and slightly narrowed apicad, obtuse, rather smaller than
the sinus which separates them. The ventral portion (H) of the clasper ending
with a narrow obtuse lobe, which is separated from the clasper (Cl) by a much
wider sinus than in Cercophana, clasper longer thanin that genus. Penis-sheath
armed with spicules at the mouth. 9. Postvaginal sternite membranaceous
for the greater part, medianly slightly more chitinised, this portion rounded ;
cavity shallow and rounded; in front of the orifice, and forming the anterior
wall of the cavity, a transverse smooth tubercle.
Early stages see above.
Length of forewing: ¢, 24mm.; 9, 26 to 31 mm.
Hab. Chile (probably from about Chillan southward).
In Mus. Tring 2 9g, 6 22 labelled Chile.
3. Genus : Microdulia gen. nov.
&2. Antenna with long branches in g; in 9 the branches short and lateral
(Pl. xix. fig. 10), the segments broader than long, the distal ones with a broadish
apical ventral process which lies flat on the segment following and bears at the
edge minute sensory cones. Epiphysis of foretibia absent in 9. Hindwing
without tail in both sexes, but termen slightly elbowed in ¢.
Early stages not known.
Hab. Chile.
One species.
1. Microdulia mirabilis Roths. (1895).
Cercophana mirabilis Rothschild, Nov. Zool. ii. p. 46. tab. 10. fig. 6. 3, 7. 2 (1895) (Chile, in coll.
Staudinger); Pack., Monogr. Bomb. Moths, iii. p. 28 (1914) (copy of R.’s descr. ; ‘‘ probably
the type of quite a distinct genus ”).
3. Upperside of forewing dark russet tawny, with a darker discal line and
a white discocellular spot, fringe spotted with yellowish white on both wings.
Hindwing orange, a discal line and a broad terminal band the dark colour of the
forewing.
2. Upperside of forewing buff, a transverse line before basal third, slightly
incurved in cell, at right angles to hindmargin, widest at costal margin, outside
it a less distinct line, posteriorly fading away, a broad line touching lower cell-
angle, slightly curved in S-shape, also widest costally, and a thin scalloped discal
line about parallel with termen russet tawny ochraceous, discocellular spot buff
margined with russet tawny ochraceous, terminal area ochraceous buff ; terminal
margin somewhat undulated, spotted with buffish white on both wings. Hind-
wing buff, without antemedian line, with a diffuse median line and an almost
even discal line.
Genitalia of 2 (Pl. xxi. fig. 20) : Orifice median and distal, the sclerite convex
from orifice frontad, a sort of half cylinder being formed, sides of sclerite deeply
concave.
Length of forewing: g, 20 mm.; 9, 22 mm.
Hab. Chile.
In Mus. Tring 1 2 from Chile.
186 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
2. Subfamily : Janiodinae subf. nov.
Proboscis strong, especially in &. Pilifer with bristles. Spurs of mid- and
hindtibiae scaled to apex, only the extreme tip bare, strongly chitinised, claw-like.
R! of forewing from cell, the cross-vein between it and the subcostal stalk almost
longitudinal, the upper cell-angle therefore very obtuse ; SM? of hindwing present
as in Oxytenidae and many other Saturnioideae.
One genus, the species of which recall the Old World Zupterotidae by the size,
shape, and markings of the wings.
Early stages not known.
4. Genus : Janiodes gen. nov.
39. Head and thorax shaggy. Palpus long, third segment somewhat
porrect. Proboscis strong, rolled in, its papillae small, conical, pointed, restricted
to the apical third of proboscis. Labrum slightly convex ; a deep hole at each
side of it. Shaft of antenna compressed in both sexes, more or less strongly
carinate beneath, at least the distal segments, proximal segments shorter than
high, distal ones much longer than high ; ventral apical angle (with the exception
of the proximal segments) produced, bearing a long glossy sensory cone, the
process projecting considerably on the distal segments previous to the last ; all
the segments (except the scape) bipectinate in Sg, the branches very long and
slender, with one or two long apical bristles, a subapical dorsal one and usually
one or more farther down the dorsal side, the branches subdorsal in origin on the
proximal segments, dorsal on the distal segments, here the two branches of a
segment originating quite close together ; in 2 the antenna simple, shaft nearly
as in 4, in transverse section the distal segments triangular and the proximal
ones ovate, the branches of the § represented in 9 by a slight lateral ridge
which bears one or two long bristles (Pl. xix. fig. 9).
Epiphysis of foretibia non-scaled, reaching to apex of tibia in g, much
reduced in 2; fifth foretarsal segment of 2 with scaling in centre ; soles of tarsi
with spines, particularly in hindtarsus ; mid- and hindtibiae with one pair of
spurs, of which the inner one or both are long (occasionally a small proximal
pair present on hindtibia). Pulvillus larger than in Cercophanidae.
Wings different in outline in the sexes, without tail, in the ¢ broader and
with the termen more rounded than in the 2. Forewing with two or three black
discocellular dots, often replaced by two large spots, of which the posterior one
is the larger.
Neuration: In forewing four subcostals, SC! from cell long before apex
(Pl. xix. fig. 8), SC? absent, SC’ short, from SC! near apex of wing, SC‘ and SC®
on a short stalk ; cross-vein D1 between this subcostal stalk and R! almost longi-
tudinal and fairly long, the upper cell-angle therefore very obtuse ; SM? forming
a basal fork with SM’, its apex not free. In hindwing no precostal tubular vein,
SC? and R! separate or stalked together (position individually variable) ; SM?
vestigial or absent.
Genitalia of §: Clasper large, entire or divided into two lobes, outer surface
evenly chitinised, no distinctly separate ventral sclerite.
Early stages not known.
Hab. Andes, from Colombia to Bolivia.
Novitatrs ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924. 187
Genotype: Janiodes laverna Druce (1890, as Oxytenis).
The species of this genus were mostly described as Oxytenis and Lonomia.
The peculiar Eupterotoid basal neuration of the hindwing removes them at
once from both these genera.
1. Janoides laverna Druce (1890) (Pl. vi. fig. 11. g, 12. 2).
Q. Oxytenis laverna Druce, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. p. 502. tab. 43. fig. 5 (1890) (Ecuador).
3. Oxytenis nigropuncta id., Ann. Mag. N.H. (7). xvii. p. 411 (1906) (Peru).
The largest known species of the genus, individually so variable that Strand
gave six names to the six males which were before him (cf. J. laverna nigropuncta).
The majority of specimens have on the forewing two small black discocellular
spots, while in a minority these spots are more or less strongly enlarged, the lower
spot having sometimes a diameter of 5 to 6 mm.
6. Upperside varying from clayish buff to blackish sepia-brown, shaded
with greyish white scaling, which usually is concentrated on the veins, forming
discal streaks ; for markings of upperside cf. Pl. i. fig. 11; the nearly straight
proximal postmedian line of this figure not always distinct and in the northern
race more undulate.
Underside much shaded with cinnamon-rufous ; across both wings, parallel
with the termen, a more or less diffuse band varying from ferruginous to orange-
buff and even buff, and bearing a darker zigzag line corresponding to a similar
line of the upper surface.
2. Upperside buff or orange-buff, in the specimen figured (Pl. i. fig. 12)
the central third of the forewing, the base and termen, and on hindwing the
basal three-fifths from abdominal margin to cell, russet and russet-tawny ; lines
essentially as in d, but shape of wings different (cf. figure).
Underside orange-bufi, shaded with ferruginous, in outer half two con-
spicuous undulate lines and a subterminal, diffuse, band deeper brown.
Genitalia of & (Pl. xix. figs. 11-17): Anal tergite with a very strongly
compressed apical process which is channelled along its narrow dorsal surface,
the dorsal outline in a lateral aspect being almost semicircular. Clasper with
a broad, rounded, median, ventral lobe, and a large pointed apical lobe which,
in a view from the outer side, appears claw-shaped, but in reality.is broad to near
apex and then gradually narrowed to form a hook; manubrium of ninth sternite
(= saccus) short and broad. Penis-funnel (P.-F.) formed by a prominent sclerite,
concave on upperside (adapted to the penis-sheath, which lies above it) and convex
below, the apex sinuate and denticulate, with the angles projecting distad, and
the base shallowly impressed. Penis-sheath without teeth, the apex produced
ventrad. Above the penis-sheath a transverse ridge which runs frontad at the
sides. 9. The larger distal half of the postvaginal sclerite membranous
(Pl. xxi. fig. 10) ; the cavity proximal, bounded in front by a minutely serrate ridge
concealed under the margin of the external, scaled, seventh sternite ; from the
cavity, on each side, a ridge runs obliquely outward and backward, and a second,
lower, ridge, parallel with the first, is placed a little farther anad ; in and behind
the cavity the surface irregularly wrinkled.
Length of forewing: &, 36 to 48 mm. ; 9, 45 to 48 mm.
Early stages not known.
Hab. Colombia to Bolivia.
Two subspecies.
188 Noviratrs ZooLocicaE XXXI, 1924.
(a) Janiodes laverna laverna Druce (1890).
Q. Oxytenis laverna Druce, l.c. (1890) (Intaj, Ecuador) ; Kirby, Cat. Lep. Het. p. 770. no. 11 (1892)
(Ecuador).
&. Lonomia pulverosa Strand, Arch. Naturg. lxxviii. A. 9. p. 150 (1912) (Macas, Ecuador) ; id., in
Lep. Niepelt. i. p. 18. tab. 4. fig. 12 (1914) (Macas).
32. In both sexes the first discal line of the forewing above undulate.
Three of the four specimens (2 34, 2 99) which we have seen of this subspecies
have large black discocellular spots on the forewing, and the & in coll. Joicey
has in addition a small round black discocellular spot on the hindwing; the
second (in coll. Dognin) has a narrow discocellular bar on the forewing, accen-
tuated at the ends.
Hab. Colombia ; Ecuador.
In Mus. Joicey from San Antonio, West Colombia, 5,800 ft. (G. M. Palmer),
1 3, and Intaj, Ecuador (Buckley), 1 9, type.
In coll. Paul Dognin from Alto de las Cruces, West Cordillera, Colombia,
2,200 m. (A. H. Fassl), 1 &; Aquadila, Bogota, vi.1918 (Fassl), 1 9.
(b) Janiodes laverna nigropuncta Druce (1906) (Pl. vi. figs. 11. g, 12. 9).
3. Oxytenis nigropuncta (!) Druce, l.c. (1906) (Oconeque, S.E. Peru, 7,000 ft.).
3. Lonomia pulverosa abs. pauperata, desquamata, macromacula (!), dwplinota, contrasta Strand,
Arch. Naturg. xxviii. A. 9. p. 150 (1912) (Chanchamayo ; Chaco, Bolivia).
$2. Proximal discal line of upperside of forewing straight, at least from
centre to hindmargin ; this line indistinct in 9, as it is in 9 of the previous sub-
species.
Hab. Peru; Bolivia.
In Mus. Tring from Peru: Huancabamba, N.E. of Cerro de Pasco (E.
Böttger), 6 gg; S. Domingo, Carabaya, 6,000 ft., iii. iv.1902, and La Oroya,
R. Inambari, Carabaya, ix.1904 (G. R. Ockenden), 2 $4, 1 @.
In Mus. Joicey from Peru: R. Tono, Central Peru, 1,200 ft. (Watkins), 1 3;
Oconeque, Carabaya, 7,000 ft. (G. R. Ockenden), 1 3 type.
Also in coll. Paul Dognin from Huancabamba.
2. Janiodes dognini spec. nov. (Pl. viii. fig. 6. ¢.)
6. Body and wings greyish drab. Frons dark reddish brown, palpus dark
ferruginous, tarsi beneath buffish, foretibia blackish brown, shaft of antenna pale
ochraceous buff.
Upperside of forewing for the greater part shaded with dispersed bluish
silvery white scales, which are slightly glossy in sunlight; at upper and lower
cell-angles a minute dark chocolate spot and between them and also on the
proximal side of the posterior spot some dots of the same colour, all these small
markings bordered with white ; a line about $ mm. broad commences at costal
margin nearly 9 mm. from base, slightly angulate at C and then almost straight
to hindmargin, which it reached 6-5 mm. from base ; before apex of cell a second
conspicuous line excurved below costal margin, incurved in cell, angulate just
outside base of M? and further postically slightly incurved ; on the proximal side
of this line at a distance of nearly 2 mm. from it a less prominent line of the
same shape ; outside cell another line, well marked, thinner towards costa than
posteriorly, excurved below costa and then straight to hindmargin, the median
interspace, which bears the discocellular dots, 5 mm. broad at costal margin and
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924, 189
3 mm. at hindmargin ; outside this line at a distance of 1 mm. from it a fainter
line parallel with it and anteriorly slightly undulate ;. then follows at the same
distance a very faint line; and halfway between the prominent discal line and
the termen a thin but very distinct regularly undulate line which is partly outlined
in buff on the outer side ; at termen a diffuse white line and an indication of a
short white submarginal line at apex ; all the other lines Vandyke brown ; fringe
hazel brown. Hindwing similar to forewing ; the median interspace 2-5 mm.
broad at abdominal margin, somewhat silvery up to cell and bounded on the
basal side by the antemedian line, which extends only to the cell, on the proximal
side of this line, at the abdominal margin traces of two other lines ; discal line
somewhat rounded-excurved in middle, touching lower cell-angle and then
slightly incurved; on its outer side, parallel with it, two slightly undulate
vestigial lines, and as on forewing a regularly undulate line in terminal area ;
fringe and diffuse white scaling along it as on forewing.
Underside drab, both wings without line in basal half, with a minute blackish
discocellular dot ; in outer half a Vandyke brown discal line much less distinct
‘than above, faintly undulate, on forewing fading away posteriorly, outside it
a faint trace of a line, and in terminal area a crenate-undulate line, fainter than
the corresponding line of the upper side and bounding a diffuse ferruginous band
which, on the forewing, is distinct only at apex of wing, whereas on the hindwing
it is fairly conspicuous from near costal margin to near abdominal margin.
Neuration as in J. laverna.
Genitalia (Pl. xix. figs. 13-15) : Tenth tergite less strongly compressed than
in J. laverna, its dorsal surface broader, considerably widening proximally and
produced at each side of the median channel into a short broadish lobe which
projects frontad ; in a lateral aspect the apical portion of the sclerite much more
abruptly curved downward than in J. laverna. Clasper with the proximal lobe
narrower than in J. laverna and less rounded, and the distal lobe much less
acuminate than in that species ; on the inside, as a continuation of the posterior
margin of the proximal lobe, a rather high transverse ridge which bears a row of
small spiniform teeth at the side towards the penis-funnel. Penis-sheath large,
without armature. Specimen not dissected ; the above particulars obtained
by relaxing the claspers and bending one of them sideways.
Length of forewing : 32 mm.
Hab. Colombia.
In coll. P. Dognin 1 & from Monte Tolima, Central Cordillera, 3,200 m.
(A. M. Fassl).
3. Janiodes ecuadorensis Dogn. (1890) (Pl. viii. figs. 5. 9, 11. g, 15. &).
. Oxytenis (?) ecuadorensis Dognin, Le Natural. xii. p. 50 (1890, February) (Loja) ; id., Lép. Loja,
p. 54. tab. 5. fig. 7 (1891); Kirby, l.c. p. 770. no. 12 (1892) (Ecuador).
. Nephodia (?) monacharia Maassen, in Stübel, Reis. S. Amer., Lep. p. 47. no. 15. p. 162. no. 161,
tab. 5. fig. 16 (1890, October) (Pichincha, Ecuador).
. Oxytenis monacharia Maass., Kirby, l.c. p. 935 (1892) (Ecuador).
. Lonomia monacharia Maass., Druce, Ann. Mag. N.H. (7). xiii. p. 247 (1904).
. Oxytenis ecuadorensis var. flexuosa Dognin, Het. Nouv. Amer. Sud. ii. p. 51 (1911) (Monte Socorro,
3,400 m., prés Cali).
SQ. Oxytenis ecuadorensis Dognin, ibid. p. 51 (1911) (Colombia, 2 with simple ant.).
6. Upperside blackish sepia-brown shaded with fawn, thorax dull ferru-
ginous chocolate ; before middle of forewing a band of lines curved from costal
OQ, Os Oy Os Oy
190 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
to hindmargin, indented on the veins, a grey line separating the two outer dark.
lines, and the inner line being often bounded on the basal side by ochraceous
clay-colour, this colour sometimes forming a broad antemedian band; on disc
at one-fourth to two-fifths from lower angle of cell a nearly straight, sometimes
curved, sometimes undulate, triplicate line from costa to hindmargin, the proximal
and the discal lines dark brown separated by a grey line; a dark brown sub-
marginal crenate line accentuated by short buff dashes on the veins, usually a
buff spot in the arch M'-M? of the crenate line. The .discal and crenate
submarginal lines continued across hindwing in most specimens, sometimes
the hindwing without markings; russet in basal half and blackish brown
distally.
SC: from cell or stalked with Rt.
Pl. viii. fig. 15 represents the type-specimen from coll. Dognin.
Underside Vandyke brown (Ridgway, Nomencel. Colours, iii. 5), an obsolescent
discal line double, brown and grey, often only the grey line present, and some-
times both missing ; a crenulate submarginal line distinct, or only indicated by
a row of vein-dots, or absent ; veins in terminal area of both wings more or
less cinnamon.
©. Much paler than the g. Head smaller. Wings much narrower and
longer, termen more oblique, abdominal margin of hindwing shorter than costal
margin.
Genitalia of & (Pl. xx. figs. 1-6; xxi. fig. 7): Process of anal tergite much
broader than in J. laverna, the edges considerably raised on the dorsal side,
broadly concave along middle, the process resembling the spout of a jug. Clasper
broad and short, triangular, with the apex rounded; no separate harpe, no
ventral process. Penis-sheath thicker than in J. laverna, the base (= foot)
longer, the apical ventral dilatation shorter, the membrane of the orifice with
a patch of short spines. Penis-funnel (P-F) continued anad at the sides of the
penis-sheath and terminating with a pointed process each side; above each
process a broad lobiform sclerite. 9. The genital cavity bounded in front by
a plicate ridge, the inside of the cavity smooth, but behind it the sclerite convex
and transversely plicate (Pl. xx. fig. 16), this portion of the sclerite appearing
very dark.
Length of forewing: 3, 29-32mm.; 9, 34 mm.
Early stages not known.
Among the $¢ occur specimens (Pl. viii. fig. 11) which are a little larger
(forewing 33 to 34 mm.), and have a broad ochraceous clay subbasal band on the
forewing, the discal line undulate, and the terminal area (of forewing) for the
greater part clay-colour. This is ab. flexuosa Dogn., l.c. I do not see any differ-
ence in structure. We have a specimen of it from San Antonio.
Hab. Colombia ; Ecuador ; Peru.
In Mus. Tring from Colombia: San Antonio, Western Cordillera, 5,800 ft.,
xi. xii. 1907 (G. M. Palmer), 3 $9; Cafion del Tolima, Central Cordillera, 1,700 m.,
iii. 1910 (A. H. Fassl), 1 & (slightly different in anal tergite). Peru: Huanca-
bamba, 6,800 ft. (E. Böttger), 4 dd.
In Mus. Joicey from Colombia: San Antonio (G. M. Palmer), 1 3.
In coll. Paul Dognin from Colombia : San Antonio and Rio Aguaca, 2,000 m.,
Cauca and Monte Tolima (A. H. Fassl), a small series of both sexes ; ab. flexuosa
from Monte Socorro near Cali, Cauca.
Noviratrs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 191
4. Janiodes russea Dogn. (1912) (Pl. vi. fig. 13. 3; viii. fig. 8. &, type).
&. Oxytenis russea Domin, Het. Nouv. Amer. Sud, ii. p. 50 (1912) (Colombia: San Antonio,
2,000 m.; Alto de las Cruces, near Cali, 2,300 m.).
3d. More reddish russet than J. ecuadorensis ; subbasal area of forewing
proximally of and in between antemedian lines more or less russet ferruginous ;
markings as in J. ecuadorensis, but the distal one of the antemedian lines nearer
- apex of cell. Termen of both wings undulate.
Genitalia (Pl. xx. figs. 7-12; xxi. fig. 8): Anal tergite with three apical
processes instead of one, the median process ventral, setiferous, pyramidal,
directed downward, the other two dorsal, flattened, separated by a narrow sinus,
their inner margins parallel, the outer margins rounded. Clasper very broad,
divided by a broad round apical sinus into two rounded lobes, of which the upper
one is slightly the shorter and broader. Penis-sheath hardly at all dilated ventrad
at apex, subapically on the left side with a large tooth and close to it some small
teeth, and on the right side with a patch of minute teeth placed on a swelling.
Penis-funnel (P-F) with a ventral bifid sclerite, broader at the base of the sides
than long, the sides slanting and the ventral surface deeply impressed proximally ;
from this sclerite anad extends on each side a ridge, the two ridges connected at
same distance from the anus by a low transverse sinuate ridge, the upper angles
of the lateral ridges projecting.
Length of forewing : 27 mm.
Q and early stages not known.
Hab. Colombia.
In Mus. Tring from: Monte Tolima, 3,500 m., ii.1910 (A. H. Fassl), 1 ¢.
In Mus. Joicey from: San Antonio, Western Cordillera, 5,800 ft., xii. 1907
(M. G. Palmer), 1 9.
In coll. Paul Dognin from: San Antonio, 2,000 m., xi., and Alto de las
Cruces, near Cali, 2,300 m., iii. (A. H. Fassl), several $d.
5. Janiodes virgata spec. nov. (Pl. viii. fig. 9. 9).
®. Antenna and abdomen missing. Head and thorax above and beneath
raw umber colour with a chestnut tint.
Upperside of forewing drab brown (Ridgway, Nomencl. Colours, iii. 18),
shaded with white, and with mummy-brown transverse bands which are devoid
of scattered bluish white scaling : a trace of such a band 3 mm. from base, three
broad lines separated from each other by two thin white lines form a broad ante-
median band 6 to 7 mm. wide, almost straight from costal to hindmargin, being
costally very slightly curved basad, its inner margin anteriorly 7 mm. from
extreme base and posteriorly 6 mm., its outer margin crossing cell proximally
of point of origin of M'; no black discocellular dots ; median interspace of wing
at costa about 5 mm. wide, at hindmargin 4 mm., bounded by a straight band
about 3 mm. broad and divided lengthwise by two thin white lines which are
close together and of which the outer one is obsolescent (like the inner one of the
antemedian band), the brown band being composed of three brown lines of which
the proximal one is as broad as the two others together ; then follows a thin
crenate line; termen without distinct white scaling ; fringe mummy brown ;
192 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
margin entire, slightly incurved below apex, tornus broadly rounded, without
indication of an angle.——Hindwing triangular, with the apex and tornus rounded
off, costal margin as long as abdominal margin, termen entire, straight in middle ;
pale mars-brown (i.e. fawn-colour with a walnut-brown tint) from base, the
termen shaded with mummy brown, no markings.
Underside of forewing pale drab, nearly fawn-colour, shaded with ferruginous,
veins and costal margin ferruginous, a faint trace of a ferruginous discal line.
Hindwing ferruginous from base to discal line ; this line deeper ferruginous, about
1 mm. broad, parallel with termen, but more evenly curved, 8 mm. from termen,
outside it a faint trace of a scalloped line, terminal area shaded with pale drab,
veins ferruginous ; fringe blackish as above.
Neuration : In forewing R! not from cell, but from stalk of subcostals ; in
hindwing R! from cell, lower cell-angle less than 90°.
Length of forewing : 30 mm.
Hab. Colombia.
In coll. P. Dognin 1 2 from Paramo del Quindiu, Central Cordillera, 3,800 m.
(A. H. Fassl).
6. Janiodes bethulia Druce (1904) (Pl. vi. fig. 13. 3; viii. fig. 7. 3, type).
g. Lonomia bethulia Druce, Ann. Mag. N.H. (7). xiii. p. 247 (1904) (Huancabamba, 6,000-10,000 ft.) *
d. Similar to J. ecuadorensis ; forewing partly with a cinnamon-rufous or
chestnut tone, the antemedian lines less curved, discal triplicate line very straight,
touching lower cell-angle or nearly, three brown discocellular dots, submarginal
undulate line very distinct, a band in between the antemedians and proximally
of them as well as the two-thirds or three-fourths of the termen dirty ochraceous
or yellowish cinnamon. Ground-colour of hindwing as on forewing, variable
in the depth of the brown tint ; discal line close to cell, often crossing lower
cell-angle, much less distinct than on forewing, submarginal undulate line vestigial
or obsolete.
Genitalia (Pl. xxi. figs. 1-6, 9): Anal tergite with a broad flat apical lobe
which is about half as long again as broad and evenly rounded at apex ; it bears
on the upperside from base to near apex an obtuse high median crest which is
highest towards its distal end, being here strongly rounded in a lateral aspect.
Clasper very broad and obtuse, entire. Penis-sheath dorsally on each side with
a subapical, somewhat rounded, minutely denticulate process which is convex
on the outer side and partly concave on the inner side, being curved towards.
the sheath ; apical portion of the sheath beyond these processes longitudinally
plicate. Penis-funnel (P-F) deeply divided into two long horns, the lateral
margins of which are each continuous with a longitudinal ridge, which ends
with a large, apically rounded, somewhat twisted flap, the two flaps contiguous,
well projecting above the concave area which lies between them and the anus.
Length of forewing : 25 to 27 mm.
? and early stages not known.
Hab. Peru.
In Mus. Tring from: Huancabamba, 6,000-10,000 ft. (EK. Bottger), 2 33.
In Mus. Joice from the same place, 2 gg, incl. of type.
Novirates ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 193
Key to the species :
1. Termen of wings entire ; anal tergite of gd not divided . : : 2
Termen of wings undulate ; anal tergite of g divided . . od. russea
2. Proximal discal line costally as strongly curved basad as the distal ante-
median line ; anal tergite of 3 strongly compressed : 5 : : 3
Discal line not distinctly curved basad from upper radial vein to costal
margin ; anal tergite of g not compressed. 6 6 2 4
3. Distal antemedian line of forewing incurved in cell isc line close to
lower angle of cell; anal tergite of § dorsally towards base with a double, heart-
shaped, projection . { . J. dognini
Proximal discal line of oz sam kom lone Bike of cell; anal tergite
of § without a dorsal basal projection . 5 : . J. laverna
4. Discal line of both wings close to lower Peele of ells anal tergite of &
broad, flat, with a high median crest, apex round . \ : . J. bethulia
Discal line of both wings farther away from cell, less prominent and less
straight on forewing, antemedian lines more strongly curved ; anal tergite of g
longitudinally concave above, with the lateral margins turned up, recalling the
spout ofajug . 6 9 h . J. ecuadorensis
Dark antemedian and Eiecall nee broad inl straight (9) . J. virgata
13
194 NoVvITATEs ZoOLOGICAE XXXI, 1924,
THE BIRDS OF NEW HANOVER.
By ERNST HARTERT.
EW HANOVER (Neuhannover), with the exception of the Admiralty
Islands and St. Matthias Island, the northernmost bigger island of the
Bismarck Archipelago, is about 37 miles in length by about 20 miles in breadth,
and consists of a mountainous ridge averaging in height from about 1,000 to
2,000 feet, and is about 1,476 square kilometres in size. It is said to look
very beautiful from the sea, being to a large extent covered with luxurious
forest.
The ornis of New Hanover has hitherto been imperfectly known. A few
specimens were collected by various explorers and sailors, since Dr. Husker
obtained some species there in 1875 (cf. Journ. f. Orn. 1876, pp. 319-330), but the
first collector who made a larger collection of birds on the island was Cayley
Webster, who visited it in February and March 1897. I gave a list of the species
collected by him on pp. 369-375 of his book Through New Guinea and the Cannibal
Countries (sic), London 1898, and an additional one of seven species, pp. 138, 139
of the Ornithol. Monatsberichte 1899, together with Dr. Walter Rothschild (now
Lord Rothschild). Webster discovered some remarkable new forms: Micropsüta
finschii viridifrons, Cacomantis sepulcralis websteri, Alcyone websiert, Hurystomus
orientalis neohanoveranus, Munia nigerrima, and Hypotaenidia philippensis
lesouefi (Mathews) was also described from Webster’s specimens. But Webster
was not a very experienced collector and did not send many small birds. I
therefore expected that, if a collector of the experience of Albert F. Eichhorn
visited New Hanover, he would discover as many new forms again. In February
1923 Mr. Albert S. Meek installed Eichhorn on New Hanover, and he sent a
collection of beautifully prepared skins. He obtained all the species found on
New Hanover before and a number which were hitherto unknown on that island,
but not so very many more Passerine birds, of which only two have here been
separated as new: Rhipidura rufiventris albertorum and Lalage karu albidior.
Dr. Heinroth (Journ. f. Orn. 1903, p. 99, map p. 101) and others have
already called attention to the interesting fact, that some birds from New Ireland
differ strikingly from those of New Britain, though these two islands are on the
narrowest place only 33 km. distant from each other, and the Duke of York
group and other small islands lie in between in the wider part of the straits.
Exactly the same can be said of New Hanover, the distance between the latter
and New Ireland being very much the same, and there are a number of islets
interspersed in between the nearest points. Nevertheless a number of birds are
so far only known to occur on New Hanover, and most of these are represented
by other forms on New Ireland. The greater number of birds are naturally the
same as those on New Ireland, and some are spread over all the larger islands of
the Bismarck Archipelago. The large island of New Ireland is probably not
quite fully explored, but collections have been made on various points. Of
New Britain only the northern part of the northern peninsula, the Gazelle-
Halbinsel, is well known. Of the greater portion, with some high mountains and
Novirates ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924, 195
extensive forest, almost nothing is known, and what Heinroth said in 1903 (Journ.
f. Orn. p. 100) is still perfectly true. After allthe collecting done on the Gazelle
Peninsula by Fergusson, Brown, Hüsker and Studer, Hübner, Richards, Klein-
schmidt, Kubary, Geisler, Parkinson, Dahl, and Heinroth, this part of New
Britain should be well known, yet Mr. C. Wahnes discovered near Massawa
the remarkable pigeon Henicophaps foersteri Rothsch. & Hart. (Bull. B.O.
Club, xix. p. 28, 1906), figured Nov. Zool. 1911, pl.i. This striking large bird was
also collected by Bley and Father Meyer near Toriu and Kambaira, and by
Dr. Hahl between Kambaira and the Baining Mountains (see Nov. Zool. 1911,
p. 168), all places in the Gazelle Peninsula !
For a review of all the birds of the Bismarck Archipelago up to date see
Reichenow, Mitt. Zool. Sammi. Museums Berlin, i. 3, 1899, and Dr. Dahl’s
biological observations, also Heinroth’s articles in Journ. f. Orn. 1902 and 1903.
A list of some birds from the Bismarck Archipelago by the late Mr. Martens is
also given in the Archiv für Naturgeschichte, Ixxxviii, A, Heft 7, 1922, but the
collector of these birds was chiefly occupied with other zoological work, and his
collection does not add much to our knowledge of the ornis of these islands.
1. Megapodius duperreyii eremita Hartl.
Megapodius eremita Hartlaub, Proc. Zool. Soc, London, 1867, p. 830 (Echiquier Islands, north of
New Guinea, north-west of Admiralty Islands—not Bougainville in the Solomon group !)
1 g, 2 2, February and March. “Iris brown. Bill dull grey, blackish at
base. (Bare skin on forehead of male red.) Feet greenish black.”
There seems to be no difference between the birds from Manus (Admiralty
group), Rook Jsland, and Vella Lavella, Isabel, and Rendova in the Tring Museum.
We have, however, no Chess-board (Echiquier) Islands specimen.
The males are generally much larger than the females; the wing of the
former ranges over 220 up to 235, those of the latter 205 (once) and 210 to
nearly 220 mm.
The New Hanover birds have been described as Megapodius hueskeri Cab. &
Rehw. 1876, who were unaware of M. eremita. Again, Sclater in 1877 named
the Admiralty Islands bird M. rubrifrons, saying that it had “ dark legs,” which
appears the only difference from eremita ; as eremita was also described as having
“dark legs,” I suppose he read the wrong description, of M. senex, on the same
page. In 1870 Gray named the form of the Solomon Islands M. brenchleyi!
2. Numenius phaeopus variegatus (Scop.).
SQ, 23.11.1923.
3. Tringa hypoleucos L.
9, 11. iii. 1923.
4, Charadrius dominicus fulvus Gm.
9, 13.1i1.1923.
5. Hypotaenidia philippensis lesouefi (Mathews).
.Eulabeornis philippensis lesouefi Mathews, B. Australia, i. p. 198 (1911— New Hanover).
2 g, 3 9, February and April. “Iris brown, reddish brown, burnt sienna.
Bill brown and reddish brown. Feet greyish brown.” Thisis a very dark and
196 NOVITATES ZooLoGICAE KXXI. 1924.
somewhat short-winged subspecies. The hind-neck is deep chestnut, the upper
back is black, just behind the chestnut portion it is cross-barred with white, on
the back spotted with the same colour; the pectoral band is wide and unin-
terrupted in one specimen, in the others less broad, and more or less interrupted.
The breast-feathers are black with three or two white bars, and the wings measure
135-142 mm. This form is evidently not restricted to New Hanover. Mathews
says that New Britain specimens belong to it, and we have one from the
““Giriuiru ” (?) River in British New Guinea, shot 5.x.1907, and another collected
by Albert F. Eichhorn at Botoli, China Strait (between the south-eastern point
of New Guinea and Samarai and Basilisk Islands), 19.viii.1922, which are
exactly like the New Hanover form; specimens reported from New Ireland
and Duke of York Islands also probably belong to it. Mathews says that
H. p. lesouefi is nearly as dark as his H. p. swindellsi from New Caledonia,
but three New Caledonian specimens now at Tring are very much less dark,
having the back brown and not black, and more white bars on the breast ; their
bills may also be bigger, if this is constant.
6. Ducula (Globicera) rubricera (Bp.).
Globicera rubricera Bonaparte, Compt. Rend. Acad. Paris, xxxix. p. 1073 (1854—New Ireland. Name:
ex Gray MS. in Mus. Brit. This article was communicated to the meeting of the Academy
Dec. 4th ; Mathews says this part of the Proceedings was published ‘‘ about Dec. 11th.” If
that is so, it was remarkably quick work indeed! Though the date on the sheet of the Consp.
Gen. Av. does not prove the date of its publication, there seems to be no absolute certainty
which paper was published earlier, and I quite believe that it was the one in the Compt. Rend..,.
and as author, diagnosis, and locality are the same, it does not matter in the least),
Carpophaga (Globicera) rubricera Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Av., ii. p. 31 (vol. dated 1857, sheet with.
p. 31 dated 8 Nov. 1854—New Ireland).
(There is no reason whatever to suppose that this species has occurred in
Australia: when Cassin described his Carpophaga lepida, which is evidently
D. rubricera, he clearly said that the specimen was purchased “ in Europe ” and.
that its locality was doubtful.)
8 $9, March and April. “ 1Iris dark red. Bill blue and black. Feet dark
plum red.” The frontal knob is red. Males and females are alike.
7. Ducula rhodinolaema (Scl.).
Carpophaga rhodinolaema Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877, p. 555 (Admiralty Islands).
@ ad., New Hanover, 30.iii.1923. “Iris dark red. Bill slate-blue. Feet.
cherry red.”
This specimen is a typical rhodinolaema, exactly agreeing with series from.
Manus and Rook Islands. >
I have formerly recorded two specimens from Egum, east of the Louisiades,.
and one from St. Aignan, Louisiade group, as D. vanwycki, but this was not correct.
Ducula rhodinolaema has the upperside, from the interscapulium backwards,
metallic blue-green, while in D. vanwycki this colour is greyish-green with golden
reflections, as if with a mealy “‘ bloom.’ Dahl stated that D. vanwycki inhabited.
in numbers the Credner Islands and Massawa, which were separated by the.
northern peninsula of New Britain, but was not found on New Britain, being
peculiar to the smaller coral islands with large trees. This is probably correct,,
as far as New Britain is concerned.
The British Museum has several D. vanwycki from Duke of York Island,.
NOVITATEsS ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924, 197
both from the Rev. Brown and C. L. Layard, and one from Kleinschmidt, also
one from the Credner Islands, from Th. Kleinschmidt. The specimen from
Goldie, labelled ‘‘ Port Moresby,’’ enumerated as D. vanwycki in the Cat. B. Brit.
Mus. xxi. p. 197, is not vanwycki, but of this later !
Typical D. rhodinolaema is in the British Museum only from the Admiralty
Islands. We have it from Manus (Admiralty Islands), Rook Island, and one from
New Hanover, also one labelled ‘‘ Massawa, Neupommern, October 1895, C.
Wahnes coll.’ ; this specimen has no original Wahnes label, but one written by
the late Professor Förster, from whom we bought it. It is strange that it should
come from Massawa, where Dahl only found vanwycki. We have also one from
Konstantinhafen (Kubary coll.) ; there are also specimens from there, from
Stephansort and Jombafluss in Berlin.
Then there are the specimens erroneously called D. vanwycki from the south-
eastern Papuan Islands : two from Egum, one from St. Aignan, one Port Moresby
—the latter locality undoubtedly incorrect, all localities of Goldie being doubtful ;
they had no original labels and were mostly said to come from the Owen Stanley
Mountains or Port Moresby, while a number came from the D’Entrecasteaux
Islands—so probably this pigeon came from thereabouts as well.
Now most of these specimens formerly called vanwycki, which, however, from
their colour, are rhodinolaema, are smaller than the typical rhodinolaema from
Manus and Rook Islands.” While the latter have wings of 239 to 250, the
one from St. Aignan and the supposed “ Port Moresby ”’ one have wings of 222
and 224, one from Egum 222, the other, however, has the tip of the wings damaged
and must measure quite 240. It seems therefore that a smaller subspecies of the
colour of rhodinolaema, but with shorter wings, is found on the islands off the
south-eastern part of Papua, but more information—if resident or not, if on
other islands of the Louisiades, Woodlark, D’Entrecasteaux group, etc.—is
required before this form should receive a name.
8. Ptilinopus insolitus (Schl.).
Ptilopus insolitus Schlegel, Nederl. Tijdschr. Dierkunde, i. p. 61, pl. iii. fig. 3. (From a specimen said
to have come from New Caledonia, which is of course an error. I accept New Ireland as the
typical locality, where the species is not rare, and from where the first specimen, collected during
the voyage of the Gazelle, became known—cf. Journ. f. Orn., 1876, p. 326.)
6 $2, February and March 1923. “Iris dull white. Bill pale greenish
yellow, base dark. Frontal knob red. Feet dark plum red.” There is no differ-
ence between males and females, except that the latter are very little smaller.
9. Ptilinopus solomonensis johannis (Scl.).
Piilopus johannis Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877, p. 556 (Admiralty Is.).
3 9, February, March 1923. “Iris pale greenish yellow.”
Only known from Admiralty, Rook, and New Hanover Islands. While in
insolitus the sexes are alike, they differ greatly in this group, as in most species
of Ptilinopus.
1 On page 207, vol. xxi. Nov. Zoot. I mentioned that this island was named the island of
Sir George Rook by Dampier, and that therefore the spelling ‘‘ Rooke Island”’ was incorrect. As,
however, the name of the famous admiral was spelt Rooke, that should have been the name of the
island, even if Dampier spelt his name Rook without an e, As on all English and German maps I
have seen the island is called Rook Island, I am not proposing to alter it, though it is wrong, as
I do not agree to the alteration of geographical names.
198 NOVITATES ZooLocicaE XXXI. 1924,
10. Ptilinopus rivolii rivolii (Prevost & Knip).
Columba Rivolit Prevost & Knip, Pigeons, ii. pl. 57 (1843—No locality. Terra typica: Duke of
York Island, see Nov. Zool., 1914, p. 209).
6 3,2 9, February, March 1923. “ Iris yellowish red. Bill dull greenish
yellow, base dark. Feet plum red.” Only known from Duke of York, New
Ireland, and New Hanover Islands.
11. Ptilinopus superbus superbus (Temm.).
Columba Superba Temminck, 1811, “ O-taiti”’ errore ! substituted original locality Halmahera !)
6 g, 3 2, February and March 1923.
Hitherto we have always quoted P. superbus binomially, but Lord
Rothschild and I fully agree with Stresemann that P. s. temmincki from Celebes
should be looked upon as a subspecies of P. superbus.
12. Gallicolumba beccarii johannae (Scl.).
Pnhlogoenas johannae Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877, p. 112, pl. xvi. (Exact locality doubtful,
possibly New Ireland, but probably Duke of York Island. The latter must be looked upon as
the typical locality, as this bird so far has not been recorded from New Britain !)
& New Hanover, 23.11.1923. ‘‘Iris dark brown. Bill black. Feet bright
red.” This specimen is more purplish reddish on the back and wings than the
type, than our male from Dampier Island (Nov. Zoou. 1915, p. 28), and than the
specimen collected by Webster on New Hanover 4.iii.1897. As this bird is
found on Duke of York and New Hanover, it is bound to occur on New
Ireland, but it is obviously not an inhabitant of New Britain, where no collec-
tor has found it.
(According to Richmond the name Gallicolumba has been genuinely pub-
lished, and as it has priority over Phlegoenas I am afraid we must accept it.)
13. Chalcophaps stephani stephani Reichenb.
(First described from New Guinea. The same all over its wide area, except in the Solomon Islands,
where a larger subspecies is found.)
4 &, 4 2, February, March, and April. “Iris dark brown. Bill Chinese red,
bright yellowish red. Feet plum red, dark plum red, dark purplish red. Wings
& 141-144, 9 132-135 mm.”
14. Macropygia amboinensis carteretia Bp.
3 3, 3 9, February and March 1923.
First described from New Ireland, and inhabiting also New Britain, Duke of
York, and Rook Islands. The head is usually cinnamon-buff on the forehead,
changing into darker rufous on the crown, but in one adult male from Rook
Island the forehead is lavender-white, turning into bluish grey on the crown.
Possibly these are the oldest birds, but probably they do not always attain this
coloration. Similar variation occurs in other forms of the species: see Nov.
ZooL. viii. p. 125, where they are described of M. amboinensis cinereiceps—in this
case the specimens with rufous and greyish heads were once supposed to be two
different species. (Reichenow’s description does not seem to fit well: the middle
of the throat, for example, not being pure white.)
Novitatrs ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924, 199
15. Macropygia nigrirostris Salvad.
Macropygia nigrirostris Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Genova, 1875, p. 972 (Arfak).
2 15.11.1923. “Iris reddish yellow. Bill black. Feet dark plum red.”
16. Reinwardtoena browni (Scl.)
Macropygia browni Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877, p. 110 (Duke of York Island).
2 gad., 28.ii. and 14.iv.1923. “Iris bright yellow, dark yellow. Bill
dark and light horn-brown, base red. Feet plum-red.”’
Both specimens are in beautifully fresh plumage and have ashy-grey edges
and an ash-grey bloom to the slaty-black feathers of the upperside. In our
specimens from Duke of York, New Britain, and Rook Is. this is not visible or
only indicated, but they are all in more or less worn plumage, so this is evidently
due to the condition of the plumage. Wings 228, 236 mm., the same as on
other islands. Not recorded from New Hanover.
17. Nycticorax caledonicus mandibularis Grant.
[Ardea caledonica Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. 2, p. 626 (1789—“ Nova Caledonia,” ex Latham, “ Caledonian
Night Heron ”’)].
Nycticorax mandibularis Grant, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1888, p. 203 (Solomon Is.).
& juv., New Hanover, 10.iv.1923. “ Iris lemon yellow. Bill black and
greenish yellow. Feet black and yellowish green.”
The birds from the Bismarck Archipelago were called by Reichenow simply
N. caledonicus, but Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxvi. p. 161, has correctly united
those from New Britain and Duke of York Islands with mandibularis ; this sub-
species has not got the white line from the bill to the back of the eye, has the chest
more cinnamon-rufous, but leaving the throat white, and one of our specimens,
an adult male collected June 1880 on New Britain by Kleinschmidt (ex Mus.
Godeffroy), has the ornamental tape-like nuchal plumes less long than in Aus-
tralian specimens, and black! This form is also smaller.
The Australian subspecies (which seems to extend its range to the Moluccas,
Celebes, and to Timor, at least at certain times) has of course white ornamental
head-plumes, has a white line from bill to back of eye, less rufous on the chest,
and is a little larger ; as it differs at a glance from the New Caledonian birds
in its lighter and brighter rufous back, it must be called N. caledonicus hilli
Mathews, though it was apparently only named so because it came from Aus-
tralia, and not from New Caledonia. In fact the name was originally given to a
(not adult) ¢ from N.W. Australia, because it was supposed to be lighter than
other Australian birds. In B. Austr. iii. p. 459 this name was used for all
Australian birds, which were there described and an adult figured. Besides the
lighter back these birds differ from typical caledonicus in the pure-white orna-
mental plumes, which in New Caledonia are black at the tips and have black
shafts, and appear to be shorter. This subspecies seems not to be restricted to
New Caledonia, but to extend to several Pacific Islands. Strange to say, some old
specimens from the Pelew Islands are nearest to those from New Caledonia, but
probably differences will be found. One thing must be added: also young
mandibularis differ from young N. c. hills, as they have the throat less spotted and
the jugulum and chest with fewer and narrower dark streaks.
200 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
As I have said above, one of our mandibularis has one black ornamental
plume, in the others these plumes are wanting. In the British Museum is a
specimen from Duke of York Island with one long ornamental plume, which is
white, but at the base mostly blackish and brown ; in another Duke of York
bird the ornamental plumes are black at base and at the tip, but whitish in the
middle. The difference in the colour of these plumes is therefore clearly not a
““ specific ”” one, and we have the Australian subspecies with white plumes, the
one from New Caledonia (ete.) and the Bismarck-Solomon Is. with partially
white, partially blackish, and the Philippine manillensis with entirely black
plumes—a nice and succinct group of subspecies. A black tip to the white
ornamental plumes occurs exceptionally in adult N. caledonicus hilli. This
particularly interesting fact seems never to have been mentioned before, yet
there is such a specimen in the Tring Museum, and another in the British Museum.
18. Baza subcristata bismarckii Sharpe.
Baza bismarckii|Sharpe, Gould’s New Guinea, pt. xxv., text to plate labelled Baza gurneyi. New
Britain and New Ireland. Typical locality clearly New Britain).
3 dQad., 1 Qnot quite adult, February and March. “ Iris chrome, golden,
lemon yellow. Bill black and chalky blue. Feet pale bluish white.”
These specimens fully agree with others from New Hanover, New Britain,
and New Ireland. This form is nearest to B. s. gurney? from the Solomon Islands,
but the bars on the underside in the adults are wider, about as wide as or even
wider than the white, and they are not black but slate-grey, and the white areas
not so pure white, which gives them a less defined appearance. In younger
specimens the cross-bars are blackish, the throat whitish.
19. Accipiter hiogaster dampieri (Gurney).
Urospizias dampieri Gurney, Ibis, 1882, p. 453 (ex Ibis, 1882, pp. 126, 127. New Britain).
9, 9.ii.1923. “ Iris brown. Billblack. Feet yellow.” Not adult: upper-
side brown with a few blue-grey feathers on forehead, back and rump only,
quills brown, but inner primaries growing and blue-grey; tail entirely brown,
juvenile.
20. Haliastur indus girrenera (Vieill.).
See Nov. Zool. xxi. 1914, p. 210!
Q ad,, 29.ii1. 1923.
21. Ninox variegata (Quoy & Gaim.).
Noctua variegata Quoy & Gaimard, Voy. Astrol., Zool. i. p. 166, pl. i. fig. 2 (1833—New Ireland).
2 9 ad., March, April 1923. ‘ Iris lemon yellow, golden yellow. Bill pale
bluish, tip light horn colour. Feet dull yellow.”
New Britain, New Ireland, New Hanover. The supposed occurrence of
N. jacquinoti on New Ireland is open to doubt. N. odiosa seems to be a rather
rare species.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924, 201
22. Domicella hypoinochroa devittata (Hart.).
[Lorius hypoinochrous Gray, List. B. Brit. Mus., Psittaci, p. 49 (1859—“ Louisiade Islands,” Sudest
Island !).]
Lorius hypoenochrous devittatus Hartert, Nov. Zool. 1898, p. 530 (“low country of S.E. New
Guinea, Fergusson, Woodlark, New Britain, New Ireland,” type Fergusson Island).
Eight specimens, March and April 1923. ‘“ Iris of adults brownish yellow,
reddish yellow, dull red, yellow. Bill dark red, bright red, bright yellowish
red. Feet black.” Five adult specimens have no trace of the black on the
underside of the wing, which is characteristic of the typical birds from Sudest
Island ; in one there is one blackish feather on the underside of the left wing
only ; two not quite adult specimens have blackish tips to the primary under
wing-coverts, forming a bar.
(I am sorry to say we shall have to adopt the generic name Domicella, as
Lorius must be used for the big parrots formerly known as Eclectus !).
23. Geoffroyus heteroclitus (Hombr. & Jacq.).
Psittacus Geoffroyi heteroclitus Hombron et Jacquinot, Ann. Sciences Nat. seconde ser. xvi. p. 319
(1841—“ Saint George et Ysabel, Iles Salomon ”).
4 g, 4 9, February, March 1923. “Iris white, whitish, dull white.”
There is a good deal of variation in the intensity and paleness of the nuchal
collar, as well as in the size of the bill, but I cannot limit these variations geo-
graphically—they appear to be quite individual.
24. Trichoglossus haematodus flavicans Cab. & Rchw.
Trichoglossus flavicans Cabanis & Reichenow, Journ. f. Orn. 1876, p. 324 (New Hanover !),
7 82, March and April 1923. The iris is described on the labels as yellowish
red, but once dark red, and once dull greenish yellow ! In these specimens we find
the same variation as in those from Manus (Admiralty Islands). Cf. Nov. Zoot.
1914, p. 290. What we said there can only be repeated here. Two of the New
Hanover specimens are even brighter yellowish than any from Manus, but some
are quite dark green !
[ Besides these flavicans we received a male and a female shot on New Hanover
3rd and 4th of April 1923, which are very much smaller and indistinguishable
from T.h. massena ! The occurrence of this subspecies on New Hanover, the home
of T.h. flavicans, is very peculiar ; as it inhabits New Britain and New Ireland,
a flock might have strayed out of their home over to New Hanover, or they may
have been brought there alive, as these parrots are frequently kept in captivity. ]
25, Charmosynopsis placentis pallidior R. & H.
Charmosynopsis placentis pallidior Rothschild & Hartert, Nov. Zool. 1905, p. 253 (Bougainville, New
Britain, New Ireland, New Hanover, type Bougainville).
5 g, 3 $, February and March 1923. “‘ Iris g reddish yellow, yellowish red,
9 yellow, yellowish, reddish yellow.”
26. Loriculus tener Scl.
Loriculus tener Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877, p. 107 (Duke of York Island).
6 gad., 2 9 March 1923. “Iris J ad. white, in 9 and juv. whitish or pale
greenish white. Bill gad. black,” in a (supposed adult) 2 lower mandible pale
202 NOVITATEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
brown, upper black, in a probably juvenile @ “dull yellowish and black,”
edge of the fore-part of the upper mandible being blackish. ‘* Feet dull greenish
yellow.” Wing dad. 65-5-67-5 mm. The forehead is very little paler green,
but in three specimens there is a yellow tinge, some feathers being dark yellow
at base. The inner webs of the remiges are black, or dusky, but not blue, if seen
from above, but from underneath the inner webs are quite, the outer partially
blue. On the throat is a red patch, more red than orange red, about 10 by 8 to
8 by 8mm. large. The supposed adult female has only an indication of a yellow
spot on the throat and the forehead and cheeks are slightly bluish green, wing
(about) 65 mm. The supposed younger 2 with the pale brown beak (see above)
has the forehead bright green like the rest of the upperside and no spot on the
throat.
It is strange that after Brown, 1875, nobody found this bird again on Duke
of York Island! Over twenty years after it was first rediscovered by Cayley
Webster, who shot two specimens on New Hanover, and now we have received
this fine series from Albert F. Eichhorn. If it occurs on Duke of York and New
Hanover Islands it should also be found in places on New Ireland !
27. Micropsitta finschii viridifrons (Rothsch. & Hart.).
Nasiterne viridifrons Rothschild & Hartert, Orn. Monatsber. 1899, p. 138 (New Hanover, specimen
sent in spirits !).
4 gJad., 1 $ semi-ad., 2 2 February and April 1923. ““ Iris yellowish red.
Bill black and horn, slaty, dark grey (at base of lower mandible). Feet pale or
dull ashy blue.”
This fine series is rather a surprise ; in the type the middle of the abdomen
is orange-red, but in the four adult males it is green, the feathers being light
(slightly yellowish) green with darker green tips. (In the type the underside is
altogether, with the exception of the orange middle abdomen much more yellowish,
evidently due to the action of the spirits.) In one male only, shot 11.iv. 1923, are
a few orange spots on some feathers of the abdomen. So evidently the type was
an unusually bright-coloured example. The sides of the head are blue, the
largely blue crown of a different, more violaceous blue. Wings 63-66 mm.
The females have the crown of a somewhat duller blue, no blue on the sides of the
head, but a dull orange line on the sides of the upper throat. Wings 63 mm.—
I consider this form to be a subspecies of Micropsitta finschit ; the latter has no
blue on the crown, but this cannot be looked upon as more than a subspecific
character, in view of the small development of the blue patch on the crown in
M. f. nanina. I thus adopt the following subspecies of M. finschii :
M. finschii finschii : San Christoval and Ugi Islands, Solomon group. Large,
no blue on crown, but orange red patch on middle of abdomen in adult males.
Tail above black and blue. Wing gover 65 mm.
M. finschii aolae: Guadalcanar Island, Solomon group. Smaller, wings
63-65 mm. Blue patch on crown, no orange on abdomen, tail above quite
blue, like all following subspecies.
M. finschii nanina: Isabel, Bugotu, Choiseul, and Bougainville Islands,
Solomon group. Much like aolae but still smaller, wings about 62 mm., blue
patch on crown more reduced.
M. finschii viridifrons: New Hanover Island, Bismarck group. Usually a
Noviratrs ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924. 203
little larger than aolae, blue on crown more extended, sides of head blue, abdomen
without or with orage patch.
M. finschii tristrami: Rendova, Gizo, Kulambangra, Vella Lavella, and New
Georgia Islands, Solomon group. No blue on crown, no orange patch on
abdomen.
The distribution on the Sclomon Islands bears out the usual distinction of
zoogeographical groups: one form Isabel, Choiseul, and Bougainville, another
on the central group (Rendova, Gizo, Kulambangra, New Georgia, Vella Lavella),
another on Guadalcanar, and still another San Christoval and Ugi. Of Malaita
nothing is known as yet ! But curious is the occurrence of aform of the Solomon
species on New Hanover, while the rather different Papuan M. pusio occurs on
New Britain and New Ireland !
28. Lorius roratus sclomonensis > goodsoni !
Eclectus pectoralis solomonensis Rothschild & Hartert, Nov. Zool. 1901, p. 82 (Solomon Islands, type
from Fauro).
Lorius roratus goodsoni Hartert, anted, p. 123 (Manus, Admiralty Islands).
3 &,5 9, February and March 1923.
It is very interesting to see that these specimens are intermediate between
L. r. solomonensis and L. r. goodsoni from the Admiralty Islands, described anted
p. 123. The males do not have the deep grass-green colour of the head and the
dark back of goodsoni, but agree with the latter in their huge beaks. One female
has the enormous bill of goodsoni, three have the small bills of solomonensis, one
is intermediate.
29. Cacomantis sepulcralis websteri Hart.
Cacomantis websteri Hartert, in Through New Guinea by H. C. Webster, App. p. 370 (1898—New
Hanover) ; Orn. Monatsber. 1899, p. 138 (New Hanover) ; /bis, 1899, p. 278.
Seven adults, all marked 4, February, March, April, 1923. “Iris dark
brown. Bill black. Feet dull yellow and brown.”
These specimens agree with the type. The underside of all is dark grey, but
two have a patch tinged rufous on the chest, and the throat is indistinctly spotted
or striped in these examples, the centres of the feathers being slightly paler, and
in one they have a rufous wash. The wings measure 115-121 mm., tails 125—
126 mm. The under tail-coverts vary: slate-grey with white bars and some of
the shorter ones with cinnamon-rufous tips ; slate-grey with pale rufous tips and
bars ; chiefly cinnamon-rufous with grey bases and a few greyish bars.
The nearest known ally is C. sepulcralis macrocercus Stres., Anz. Orn. Ges.
Bayern, No. 5, p. 37 (Dec. 1921—New Britain), which is paler grey on underside,
has the under tail-coverts uniform rust-rufous, has the back more brownish
and is larger: wing 116-130, tail 121-138 mm. (See also Nov. ZooL., xix.
pp. 334-335 !)
30. Alcedo atthis pelagica Stres.
Alcedo ispida pelagica Stresemann, Nov. Zool., 1913, p. 316 (‘‘ Ostlichstes Neu-Guinea sowie
D’Entrecasteaux- und Louisiade-Archipel”’); cf. Nov. Zool., 1914, p. 292.
This ill-defined form seems also to inhabit the islands of the Bismarck Archi-
pelago. Stresemann unites specimens from New Britain and New Ireland with
204 NOVITATES ZOooLOGICAE XXXI. 1924,
A, a. hispidoides, which inhabits the Moluccas and the Celebes group, but its re-
occurrence on the islands N.E. of New Guinea is hardly credible, nor is this
surmise well justified by Stresemann’s own measurements ; for hispidoides he
gives 68-5-75, for the smaller pelagica (the smaller size being the only difference)
66-72 mm. The New Britain specimens he measured had wings of 69, 71, 71,
the New Ireland ones 72, 72, 73 mm., that is to say they are within the limits
of pelagica with the exception of one which exceeds it by 1mm.! The quotation
of a measure of 74, given by A. B. Meyer, may be left out of consideration, until
it is re-measured. Not many specimens from the Bismarck Archipelago are
available; they do not seem to be common, except in certain localities.
31. Alcyone websteri Hart.
Alcyone websieri Hartert, Webster’s Through New Guinea, Appendix, p. 371 (1898—New Hanover) ;
Ibis, 1899, p. 278, pl. iii; Nov. Zool., 1914, p. 213 (Rook Island).
2 gad., April 1923. ‘“ Iris dark brown. Bill black, utmost tip whitish.
Feet black.” The wing has been erroneously said to be “‘ 62” in the original
description! It is 92, and in the other specimens 91, 90, 89-5, and 87-5, the last
being a female. The species is now known to occur also on New Britain and
Rook Islands, and should be found in New Ireland.
In Archiv f. Naturg. 1xxxviii, A, Heft 7, p. 48 (1922) we find the New Britain
form mentioned under the name “‘ Alcyone Websteri magna Martens,” but without
any attempt to diagnose it, and I cannot find any former description of this
subspecies. Probably G. H. Martens, who died in 1912, believed the New Britain
to be larger, because in the original description the wing-measurement was wrong,
as explained above. Duncker, who published Martens’ list in 1922, probably
found the new name in Martens’ MS., and adopted it in the belief that it
had been published.
32. Alcyone pusilla richardsi Tristr. or aolae Grant.
Alcyone richardsi Tristram, Ibis, 1882, p. 134 (Rendova Island).
o ad., New Hanover, 20.iii.1923. ‘‘Iris dark brown. Bill black. Feet
dull black.”
This specimen has the blue breast-band widely interrupted, but on the
dividing white area are some bluish and dusky edges to the feathers. Mr. Ogilvie
Grant has named two supposed new subspecies ““ Alcyone richardsi aolae’’ and
“* Alcyone richardsi bougainvillei”’ (cf. Ibis, 1915, Jubilee Suppl. pp. 206, 207).
Both Mr. Grant’s new subspecies have the pectoral band interrupted in the
middle, and the under tail-coverts white, tipped with blue; aolae is to be larger,
bougainvillet smaller. I do not think that Mr. Grant’s two new subspecies can
be recognized from the material at present available. Of aolae he had only one
specimen ; it is true that it has a longer wing, but as some of ours measure up
to 57 mm., and its wing is 59, this difference may be accidental. The blue on the
breast is united in both specimens from Rendova (the one in the British Museum
which Mr. Grant saw, and the one in the Tristram collection now in Liverpool
which Dr. Clubb kindly sent me for comparison), but the blue is not quite unin-
terrupted, there being a number of white spots in the middle, especially in the
type-specimen in Liverpool ; both from Bougainville and Vella Lavella we have
specimens with the blue band across the chest only narrowly interrupted or
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 205
widely interrupted, the white space in the middle either uniform or with purplish
blue edges to the feathers, a character claimed by Grant for his “* bougainvillei.”
The under tail-coverts in the type of richardsi are half white and half blue, and
we have one from Kulambangra which is quite similar in this respect, while the
others have smaller blue tips. As therefore all supposed differences are doubtful,
the separation of three forms from the Solomon Islands is at least premature and
doubtful. The distribution too would be against all rules: 1 Rendova, another
Gizo, Kulambangra, Vella Lavella, Bougainville, Choiseul—and I may now add
New Ireland and New Hanover, and a third one on Guadalcanar. The only
objection to uniting all these three forms would be that the two known Rendova
specimens are alike and have a wide blue breast-band, while this is absent or rare
in all others, but I believe this to be accidental, and we must await a series from
Rendova.
I may add that the specimens from New Ireland (one !), New Hanover (one !),
and Solomon Islands (18 examined) are less purplish and have larger bills than
A. p. pusilla, which also has no blue tips to the under tail-coverts.
33. Halcyon tristrami nusae Heinr.
Halcyon nusae Heinroth, Journ. f. Orn. 1902, p. 437, pl. viii. fig. 2. (Islands of Nusa near northern
Cape of New Ireland, Nuungan near Kapoteron between New Ireland and New Hanover, and
Kung or Nakung near north coast of New Hanover.)
Hight specimens, males and females, February to April 1923. “Tris dark
brown, bill black, basal two-thirds of lower white, feet dull blackish slate.’’ Wings,
105-110 mm. These birds are evidently nearer to H. tristrami from New Britain
and New Ireland, but differ as follows: the crown is darker, not dark blue, but
greenish black, the feathers being black with narrow greenish fringes, or some-
times with a bluish wash, and behind the eyes is a longitudinal dark greenish
patch ; on the occiput are some irregular white feathers. Upper back, scapulars,
and upper wing-coverts are darker, less blue, more blackish or dusky greenish.
Rump and upper tail-coverts are generally more greenish. The underside is
white, even in freshly moulted specimens, but in some specimens there is a rusty
buff wash on the sides and under wing-coverts, but not so strong as in éristrami.—
No doubt this is a subspecies of the latter, but éristramz may eventually be looked
upon as a subspecies of chloris. The figure in the Journ. f. Orn. is not good, the
rump being too light and too bright, the green above the eye too extended.
34. Merops ornatus Lath.
Merops ornatus Latham, Index Orn., Suppl. p. xxxv. (1801—* Habitat in Nova Hollandia.’”’ Mathews
quotes ‘“‘ New South Wales ’’).
2 g, 2 2, 10.iv .1923.
Merops ornatus is a winter visitor from Australia. The breeding Bee-eater
of New Britain is Merops philippinus salvadorit.
35. Eurystomus orientalis neohanoveranus Hart.
Eurystomus neohanoveranus (sic !) Hartert, Nov. Zool., 1901, p. 185 (New Hanover ! The ugly hybrid
name was thoughtlessly adopted, having been given to a butterfly, and so become familiar).
2 g, 1 9, March and April 1923. All three in moult. “Iris dark brown.
Bill in two red with black tip, in one of the males entirely red! feet burnt red.”
206 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE KXXI. 1924,
This form differs from E. o. crassirostris (New. Guinea and New Britain) in
the more purplish crown, more bluish back ; the light shaft-lines on the throat
are less conspicuous, and the black tip on the bill is more restricted and (in one)
even absent ; the differences from E. 0. solomonensis are stated in the original
description.
36. Rhyticeros plicatus ruficollis (Vieill.).
Buceros ruficollis Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. d Hist. Nat. iv. p. 600 (Waigiu)
A very adult $ March 2nd, 1923.
37. Hemiprocne mystacea aéroplanes Stres.
Hemiprocne mystacea aéroplanes Stresemann, Anzeiger Orn. Ges. Bayern, No. 5 (1921—Blanche Bay,
New Britain).
4 3, 4 9, March 1923.
These specimens bear out Dr. Stresemann’s diagnosis: they have shorter
wings than HZ. m. mystacea, and the back is paler, while I cannot find that the
breast is constantly paler. The wings measure 4 218-223, 9 218-225 mm.
According to Stresemann found on New Britain and New Ireland, and his surmise
that the Manus 2 belongs to aéroplanes is also correct.
38. Collocalia fuciphaga vanicorensis (Quoy & Gaim.).
Hirundo vanicorensis Quoy et Gaimard, Voy. Astrolabe, Zool. p. 206, pl. xii. fig. 3 (1830—Vanikoro,
one of the Santa Cruz Islands, east of San Cristoval, southern Solomon Islands).
I believe it is correct to unite the specimens from Vanikoro to the islands of
the Bismarck Archipelago. The tarsiare entirely bare of feathers in New Hanover
and New Britain. Cf. Stresemann, Verh. Orn. Ges. Bayern, xii. 1914. Of Strese-
mann’s ©. f. pseudovestita (Archiv f. Naturg. |xxxix. 7 and 8, p. 27 (1923—
Astrolabe Bay, Sattelberg, and Goodenough Islands), 6 out of 7 had the tarsus
feathered.
8 32, second half of March 1923. No moult. Wings “ ¢” 119, 120, 122,
123-7, “ 9” 117, 118, 119, 120,123 mm. The variation in the length of the wings
should caution one to name forms of these Salanganes on average length only !
39. Collocalia esculenta.
3 dg, 1 9, February and March 1923.
2 Sand 1 Q are typical esculenta, without any white on the rump, wings
3 96, 96, ? 98mm. The third male has a wing of 96, the rump strongly mixed
with white, each feather having a white subterminal cross-bar ! This specimen
is therefore quite different from the other forms of C. esculenta described, i.e. C. e.
stresemannt (1914!) from Manus with some rump feathers chiefly white and
others edged with white, C. e. heinrothi (1919) from Nusa with nearly all the
upper tail-coverts and the adjacent rump feathers white throughout, and C. e.
tametamela (1921) from New Britain, like stresemanni, but the middle of the
rump without white. The wings are rather short, but equally short-winged
specimens occur elsewhere (especially on the Louisiades, but also west of New
Guinea). What are all the others ? Are they really three different subspecies,
or they do belong to one variable form from the islands N.E. of New Guinea ?
Against that seems to speak the fact that only one out of three from New Hanover
NOVITATEsS ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 207
shows white on the rump. With regard to the type of heinrothi, it must be said
that it is obviously a form of esculenta, and not of uropygialis, unless the latter is
also taken into the chain of subspecies called esculenta ; this is in fact proposed
by Stresemann, but his conclusion is open to doubt. Without series from all the
above-mentioned localities we shall not understand these forms.
40. Caprimulgus macrurus albolaxatus R. & H.
Caprimulgus macrurus albolaxatus Rothschild & Hartert, Nov. Zool., xxv. p. 323 (1918—Vulcan
Island).
Qad., 12.iv.1923. Cf. Stresemann, Archiv für Naturg. 1xxxix. 7, pp. 30, 31
(1923—New Britain, Dampier, and Vulcan Islands, and north coast of New
Guinea from the Mamberano River to Astrolabe Bay !). It is difficult to say
from one 2 to which subspecies it belongs, but if the distribution accepted by
Stresemann is correct, as it seems to be, the bird belongs to albolaxatus.
41. Pitta macklotii novae-hibernicae Rams.
Pitia novae-hibernicae (sic!) Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales, iii. p. 73 (1878—New
Ireland).
12 SQ ad., February and March 1923. ‘“‘ Iris dark brown. Bill horn-black.
Feet slaty blue.”
As there are no New Ireland specimens in Tring and London I sent one of
these from New Hanover to Dr. Stresemann, who also lent me one of theirs from
New Ireland. They are absolutely the same in colour and size.
In fresh plumage the back is more greenish, in a worn state a little more
bluish. Cf. Nov. ZooL. 1914, p. 214.
42. Monarcha verticalis Scl.
Monarcha verticalis Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877, p. 99, pl. xiv. fig. 1 (Duke of York Island).
6 3, 1 9, March and April 1923. “ Iris dark brown. Bill and feet slaty
blue.” Wings ¢ 87-92,983mm. New for New Hanover.
43. Monarcha chrysomela chrysomela (Less.).
Muscicapa chrysomela Lesson, Voy. Coquille, Zool. i. 1. p. 344 (1828—Name for fig. 2, pl. xviii, shot
by Lesson at Port Praslin, South New Ireland! In part 2, p. 594, 1829, Garnot says it came
from New Zealand ! !)
5 8, 3 9, February and March 1923. ‘‘ Both sexes iris dark brown. Bill
slaty blue with black tips. Feet slaty blue.” The white spot under the eye in
these fine skins obvious in both sexes, but in bad skins sometimes not seen.
See description of 2 Journ. f. Orn. 1902, p. 453. Wings & 70-74, 2 72-73 mm.
Moult in a February male.
44. Rhipidura rufiventris albertorum subsp. nov.
8 SQ, February and March 1923.
Rhipidura rufiventris abdomine albo, pectore cinereo immaculato, pileo
schistacei-cinereo, tergo cinereo, rectricibus externis alboterminatis.
In the white (not buff) abdomen resembling Rh. rufiventris niveiventris from
the Admiralty Islands, but the crown not black, but slaty-grey, back much paler
208 NoVvITATEs ZooLOGICaE XXXI. 1924.
grey, breast-band grey, not slaty. Wings & 88-90-5, 9 80-85 mm. “ Iris
dark brown. Bill and feet black.” Some specimens moulting.
Type: og New Hanover, 23.11.1923. No. 8212 of the Meek collections.
This is a very interesting addition to the list of the birds of New Hanover, as
it is a connecting link between Rhip. rufiventris setosa from New Britain, Duke of
York Island, and New Ireland (with which it agrees very much in the colour of
the upperside) and Rhip. ruf. niveiventris from the Admiralty Islands which has
the same white abdomen. Named in honour of Albert F. Eichhorn, the able
collector, and Albert S. Meek, the organiser of the expedition.
(Talking of the subspecies of Rhipid. rufiventris, I must mention a silly mistake
I made in describing twice the same subspecies, Rh. ruf. perneglecta, Bull. B.O.
Club, xxxviii. p. 59 (1918—Tiandu group) and again under the name RA. ruf.
tiandu, Nov. ZooL. xxvii. p. 497 (1920 —Tiandu group)! I also omitted from the
type list in Nov. ZooL. xxvii. not only Rh.r. perneglecta but also Rh. r. finitima,
Rh. rufifrons granti, and Rh. rufifrons commoda, Bull. B.O. Club, xxxviii. pp. 59,
60 (1918).
45. Monarcha cinerascens subsp.
Q jun., 28.1ii.1923. This specimen appears to be paler than inornata Garnot,
1829, described from a specimen from Dorey, New Guinea.
46. Monarcha alecto chalybeocephalus (Garnot).
[.Drymophila alecto Temminck, Pl. Col. 430 (1827—Typical locality designated Ternate !).]
Muscicapa chalybeocephalus Garnot (not Garnier !), Voy. Coquille, i. 2, p. 589 (1829—New Ireland,
Lesson’s specimen from Port Praslin).
(For dates of the Voyage of the Coquille see Mathews, Austral Avian Record, ii. p. 49. If these
dates are accepted, the name chalybeocephalus is undoubtedly more recent than Temminck’s
name alecto, and this bird must therefore be called as above !)
3 Jad., 3 Qad., February and March. Wings ¢ 89-90, 2 85-88 mm.
47. Monarcha ?
We havealso 2 males, shot 1.and 3.iii.1923, which are purplish, the feathers
of the chest almost black, narrower, more velvety, abdomen brownish black.
Wings 84, 85mm. What are they ? They cannot be immature, as these birds
moult from the juvenile plumage (back rufous, underside white) direct into the
metallic glossy plumage of the adults. I believe these to belong to an unde-
scribed species, hitherto overlooked on account of its similarity to M. alecto
chalybeocephalus. Probably the 2 will differ from those of M. a. chalybeocephalus,
and if so we do not seem to have received specimens of it. There is no reason
why my surmise should not be correct, if we remember that in Europe we have
in the same places such similar species as Acrocephalus scirpaceus and palustris,
Certhia familiaris and brachydactyla, Parus palustris and atricapillus, Galerida
cristata and theklae. It must be left to an ornithologist to pay special attention
to these Monarchae in the field, and to clear up their status.
48. Lalage karu albidior subsp. nov.
Lalage subspeciei L. karu karu dictae simillimus sed subtus albidior, plaga abdominali rufescente.
minore. Subspeciei L. karu pallescens dictae similis sed subcaudalibus multo saturatioribus
differt.
4 g, 4 2, February and March 1923. “ Iris dark brown. Bill and feet
black.”
Novitatrs ZoOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 209
The nearest allyis L. karu karu, which inhabits New Britain, New Ireland,
Rook, and Duke of York Islands. The underside, however, is pure white (without
a buff tinge) and the rufescent patch on the abdomen is much smaller. This is
obvious in both sexes. The bill is also not quite so wide as in L. k. karu. From
L. k. pallescens it differs in the darker rufescent under tail-coverts and abdominal
pateh. Wing males 97-99, females 95-97 mm.
Type: &ad., 21.11.1923. A. F. Eichhorn coll. No. 8203 of the A. S. Meek
collections:
Hiisker collected a & of this species on New Hanover, but apparently it has
not been carefully compared, nor could one separate such closely allied form from
a single specimen. For other subspecies see Bull. B.O. Club, xxxvii. pp. 15-17.
49. Graucalus papuensis sclateri Salvad.
Graucalus sclateri Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Genova, 1878, p. 325 (New Ireland).
5 3g, 4 9, February, March, and April 1923. “ Iris dark brown, bill and feet
black.”
Known from New Britain, Duke of York Island, New Ireland, and Rook
Island. Cf. Nov. Zoou, xxi. p. 215.
50. Edolisoma morio remotum Sharpe.
Edoliisoma remotum Sharpe, Mitt. Zool. Mus. Dresden, i. p. 369 (1878—New Hanover !).
4 gad., 5 2 ad., 1 gjuv., February and March 1923. “Iris brown, bill
and feet black.”
I think there is no doubt that this is a subspecies of E. morio, which has many
subspecies ! Recently Stresemann described EZ. morio heinrothi from New Britain,
with a barred underside! Of the females of remotum four have the underside
unspotted, one has a number of small black spots on the abdomen. The young
male moults from a plumage similar to that of the female, but paler, into that
of the adult male; it was shot 19.11.1923. Wing & 126, 127 (moulting wings
in February), 2 122, 123 mm. (moulting in February).
51. Pachycephala pectoralis finschi Rchw.
Pachycephala finscht Reichenow, Orn. Monatsber. 1899, p. 8 (Ralum in New Britain !).
6 3, 2 9, February and April 1923. ‘Iris dark brown. Bill black. Feet
dull, vandyke, slaty, or greyish brown.”
6 wing 87-95 (!), 2 85-89 mm.
Lord Rothschild and I have written about Pachycephala finschi and dahli
in Noy. Zoor. 1903, pp. 101, 102, and 1914, p.216. P. finschi differs from dahli
(Reichenow, 1897!) in having the outer edges of the quills olive-green, while
in dahli they are ashy-grey, on the innermost secondaries greyish green ; the
upperside is also slightly deeper olive-green in finschi. Iam not sure if the female
of dahliis known ; what Reichenow says is apparently not correct, as our females
of finschi do not have pure-white throats and show faint cross-bars.
The type of finschi was obtained on the Gazelle Peninsula in New Britain,
where this form appears to be common, but from the same place there are speci-
mens in the British Museum which are all dahli! According to Heinroth both
14
210 NOVITATEsS ZooLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
dahli and finschi occur on Nusa, just north of New Ireland! We have received
finschi from Rook Island and New Hanover, but dahli I have only seen from Pipon
and Palakura in the Duke of York group (Liverpool Museum), from the Credner
Islands, and one, collected by Wahnes and Ribbe, from Munia in the Shortland
group, Solomon Islands, 21.viii.1893—the last quite an unexpected locality !
The two forms are so much alike, and belong so obviously to the pectoralis chain
of subspecies, that I prefer to treat them both as subspecies of the latter. There
is of course the possibility that one of them, dahli, has evolved and has been found
in separate areas, perhaps, like Carpophaga van-wycki, on outlying islets, but for
some reason has recently broken its bounds, and is spreading and invading the
strongholds of finschi.
In view of the distribution of these two forms one might suggest that they
were only varieties of one and the same form, but the fact that dahl has a lighter
shade of colour on the upperside speaks against the theory, as we cannot suppose
that the variation in the colour of the edges to the remiges is connected with a
paler upperside. More investigations are required to elucidate these forms.
52. Myzomela cruentata coccinea Rams.
Myzomela coccinea Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. Wales, ii. p. 106 (1878—Duke of York Island.
One specimen, said to be a female, full plumage of adult).
Myzomela erythina (sie !) Ramsay, t.c. p. 107 (1878—New Ireland. Description of a young bird,
one specimen).
Myzomela kleinschmidti Sharpe, Gould’s B. New Guinea, iii. (part 17) (1884—-New Britain. Type
compared).
5 gad., 1 9 juv., 2 2 juv., February and March 1923. “ Iris dark brown.
Bill black. Feet slate-colour, slaty blue.’ The five adults are all marked g.
Taey are scarlet, throat a little darker, crown much darker. Their wings measure.
60 to 63 mm. The young birds have the upperside brownish red, head darkest.
sides of head pink, rest of underside pale dull brown with a faint pink tinge,
the one marked ¢ has a wing of 58, the two females wings of 53 mm. _ I therefore
believe that they are correctly sexed. I believe that the adult 9 is like the adult
d, but much smaller. This is perhaps the case with other forms of Myzomela,
such as wakoloensis, and it is therefore that Stresemann and others only collected
males: the females not being distinguishable at a distance from the males,
they would not be spotted, and young birds were not there when they collected
—this is at least an explanation, and further research must show if it is
correct. *
I am convinced that M. c. coccinea and erythina are the adult and young,
and I do not see that kleinschmidti differs. The name coccinea appeared on page
106, erythina on page 107, and it is an enigma why Sharpe believed (cf. B. New
Guinea, l.c.) that page 107 had appeared a year before page 106! I cannot see
tangible differences between our adults from New Hanover, 1 adult (type of
kleinschmidti) from New Britain, and 1 adult from New Ireland, nor between two
young birds from New Hanover and New Britain, the latter collected by
Th. Kleinschmidt. The types of M. coccinea and erythina are in Australia.
M. cruentata cruentata from the mountains of New Guinea is a much lighter and
smaller bird.
NoviTatrs ZooLogIcAn XXXI, 1924. 211
53. Myzomela nigrita ramsayi Finsch.
Myzomela ramsayi Finsch, Zeitschr. ges. Orn, iii. p. 21 (1886—Is. Kapaterong and Nusa near N. New
Treland). N
1 gad., 16.iv.1923. “ Iris dark brown. Bill and feet black.”
Better series are desirable of the various black Myzomelae. We must, how-
ever, distinguish between the three insular forms :
M. nigrita pammelaena Scl., Admiralty Islands. Only one adult known,
which has a wing of 75 mm.
M. nigrita ramsayi Finsch, small islands of Kapaterong and Nusa, and New
Hanover (probably also New Ireland). 1 g New Hanover and 1 ¢ Nusa have
wingsof 72mm. (The measurement of 64 given by Finsch for his type is doubtless
that of a female, and probably too small.)
M. nigrita tristrami Rams., San Christovaland Ugi. Very little, if constantly,
smaller still: wings 67-70 mm. Plumage not glossy, while there is a distinct
steely gloss in M. n. tristrami. There is no difference in the colour of the inner
edges of the remiges !
In all these forms the @ is like the 3, only smaller. The young of tristrami
is partially dark grey, and the basal part of the billis yellow. Another specimen
in quite black plumage has the greater part of the bill still yellow, but this is
doubtless a juvenile character.
54. Zosterops fuscicapilla hypoxantha Salvad.
Zosterops hypoxantha Salvadori, Atti R. Ac. Sct. Torino, xvi. p. 623 (1881—New Britain).
8 9, February and April 1923. “Iris marked brown six times, reddish
brown once, grey once. Bill black, slaty blue or slate-colour at base. Feet
slaty blue.”
This white-eye occurs on New Britain, New Ireland (Curtis coll.), and New
Hanover. No doubt F. fuscicapilla, admiralitatis, and hypoxantha form one
species. The wings of our hypoxantha measure 57-59, once 61 mm.
55. Dicaeum eximium eximium Scl.
Dicaeum eximium Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877, p. 102, pl. xiv. (New Ireland).
5 gad., 2 Qad., 1 ? juv., February, March, April 1923. “Iris $Q ad.,
dark brown, bill and feet black. Qjuv.: Iris brown. Bill brown and yellowish.
Feet slaty blue.” Wings ¢ ad., 50-52-5 mm.
The young female resembles the adult ones, but the upperside is duller and
greyer, throat and chest greyish.
Dicaeum layardorum is quite different, there is only a red patch on the
jugulum, while in eximium we find a more or less wide band, but sometimes it is
more like a large spot. The upperside in layardorum is deep brownish grey,
while in eximium it has an olivaceous tinge. The crown in layardorum is hardly
darker than the back, and has only on the forehead a rufous-brown tinge, while in
eximium it has a dark red tinge all over.
The females are very much alike, but that of eximium is more olivaceous
on the back, and the flanks are more olive. Nevertheless 1 consider layardorum
only to be a subspecies of eximium. The former inhabits New Britain, the latter
New Ireland and New Hanover,
212 Noviratres ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924.
56. Cinnyris jugularis flavigastra (Gould).
Nectarinia flavigastra Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1843, p. 104 (New Ireland !).
Cinnyris frenata flava Heinroth, Journ. f. Orn., 1903, p. 85 (New Britain).
4 gad., 1 Sferead., 3 9, February and April 1923.
Dr. Heinroth quite correctly separated the form from the islands of the
Bismarck Archipelago (New Britain), but we cannot use his name, as Gould had
long ago named this form flavigasira. Ci. Nov. Zoou., 1914, pp. 297, 298.
57. Cinnyris sericeus corinna (Salvad.).
Hermotimia corinna Salvadori, Atti R. Ac. Sci. Torino, xiii. p. 532 (1878—Duke of York Island).
4 gJad., 2 Jjuv., 2 2, February and March 1923.
The throat of the adult male is described by Salvadori and Reichenow as
steel blue, and that agrees with our New Hanover specimens. From Rook
Island we have one male exactly like the latter, while two others have a distinct
purplish tinge on the throat, and there is also some purple on the throats of
a specimen from Duke of York Island (Th. Kleinschmidt coll.), and on some
New Ireland ones.
58. Cisticola exilis (subsp. ?).
d ad. breeding plumage (uniform crown), 5.iii.1923, “Iris greyish brown.”
6 ad. off plumage (striped crown, longer tail), 8.iii.1923. “‘ Iris grey.”
6 §Q juv. (underside yellow !), 5.iii. to 13.iv.1923.
I have not been able to apply a subspecific name to the New Hanover speci-
‘mens. They are uncommonly like ©. exilis exilis from New South Wales, Victoria,
etc., but there are several subspecies of C. exilis, even in Australia! Mathews
has gone in for their study, but spoilt his work and made it difficult to understand
by distinguishing not less than 10 subspecies in Australia, some very superficially
described ; nevertheless there are several subspecies, the most distinct being
the very light-coloured C. e. normani Math. from “‘ coastal Northern Territory
and Queensland.” Another recognizable form seems to me to be C. e. rustica
Wall., a very rich rufous bird, described from Buru and occurring also on other
Moluccan Islands and the Celebes group.
59. Aplonis metallica nitida (Gray).
Calornis nitida Gray, Proc.tZool. Soc. London, 1858, p. 181 (New Ireland).
8 3Q ad., February to April 1923. “‘ Iris crimson, once brick red.”
The purplish patch on the interscapulary region varies much in extent, and
is sometimes merely indicated, but it has never a blue-green centre. Wings ¢
109-114, @ 104-108 mm.
60. Mino dumontii kreffti (Scl.).
Gracula kreffti Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1869, pp. 120, 124, 126, pl. ix. (Solomon Islands).
8 $9 ad., February and March 1923. “ Iris golden yellow. Bill deep or
reddish yellow. Feet chrome or cadmium yellow.” Wing ¢ 166-175, 2 163-
166 mm. The specimens shot on Rook Island, where this bird is not rare, have
very large bare patches round the eyes, but the size of these patches varies.
NOVITATES ZooOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 213
61. Corvus coronoides insularis Heinroth.
Corvus insularis Heinroth, Journ. f. Orn. 1903, p. 69 (New Britain),
3 gf ad., 7. and 17.iii.1923. “Iris pale bluish. Bill and feet black.”
Wings 309, 312, 320 mm. Cf. Nov. ZooL. 1914, p. 218.
62. Munia nigerrima Rothsch. & Hart.
Munia nigerrima Rothschild & Hartert, Orn. Monatsber. 1899, p. 139 (New Hanover).
6 3g, 2 9, all adult, February, March, April 1923. “Iris dark brown. Bill
black, base slaty. Feet dark slaty blue.”
The description was made, as stated, from an adult male and a young bird,
both from spirits! The fresh series agrees with the diagnosis, but the black is
purer, not brownish, and slightly glossy. The hidden bases of the feathers on
the abdomen are slaty grey, only a few specimens show isabelline bases like the
type, and these must be remains of the juvenile plumage, described /.c. Wings
& 46-50, 9 47-48 mm. Body moult in February and March.
214 Novrratrs ZooLoGIoAE XXXI. 1924.
ÜBER HIERAAETUS AYRESII UND SPIZAETUS AFRICANUS
Von E. STRESEMANN.
EIT der I. Band von Reichenows Vögeln Afrikas erschien (1901), ist die
Kenntnis afrikanischer Adler durch 4 Veröffentlichungen kräftig gefördert
worden. 1904 legte v. Erlanger dar, dass in Abessinien zwei Hieraaétus-Arten
neben einander leben, die sich sehr ähnlich sehen: eine grosse und eine kleine.!
1906 berichtigte ©. Neumann die durch v. Erlanger gewählte Nomenklatur
und zeigte, dass die grosse der echte H. spilogaster sei, die kleine dagegen als
H. lucani geführt werden müsse. Er gab die Kennzeichen der alten Vögel
bekannt und skizzierte die Verbreitung beider Arten, deren Vorkommen für
einen grossen Teil Afrikas nachgewiesen sei.” 1919 wies Finch-Davies nach, dass
auch in Südafrika beide Spezies vorkommen, und dass der älteste Name für die
kleinere unter ihnen H. ayresii (Gurney) sei, wozu H. lucani (Sharpe & Bouvier)
als Synonym gestellt werden müsse.? Im gleichen Jahr gelang es W. L. Sclater,
den letzten Rest der früher in der Literatur herrschenden Konfusion zu beseitigen ;
er stellte nämlich fest, dass in Westafrika neben A. ayresii ein von Reichenow,
Sharpe und Neumann damit verwechselter Adler lebe, der zu einer ganz anderen
Gattung gehört und Spizaétus africanus (Cassin) genannt werden muss.‘
Kein Museum der Erde, selbst das Britische Museum nicht, vereinigt wohl
zur Zeit so viele lehrreiche Exemplare der drei Arten wie das Berliner. Ich gebe
zunächst eine Übersicht über das hiesige Material unter Beifügung einiger Masse.
Die Unterschiede zwischen Hieraaétus spilogaster und H. ayresw sind von
dem ausgezeichneten Raubvogelkenner Finch-Davies, der der Wissenschaft
leider schon durch den Tod entrissen ist, zum Teil klargestellt worden. Da er
aber manche wichtigen Charaktere übersehen hat, sei hier erneut eine Übersicht
über die auffälligsten Kennzeichen gegeben.
Beide Vögel sind grundverschieden. Das äussert sich im ganzen Bau.
H. ayresii ist nicht nur kleiner, sondern auch graziler, ‘“ edler.” Er hat einen
relativ viel kürzeren Schwanz (Index 50-0-53-7 gegen 56-7-61.2). Sein Fuss
ist schlanker, feingliedriger, seine Mittelzehe gegenüber der Hinterzehe relativ
etwas länger als bei dem mächtigen H. spilogaster, was aber nur die relativen
Masse zum Ausdruck bringen. Sein Schnabel ist seitlich etwas stärker
komprimiert. Ferner ist H. ayresü in allen Kleidern mit deutlicher Nackenhaube
versehen, deren Federn selbst im Jugendkleid 53mm an Länge erreichen können ;
dem H. spilogaster fehlt eine so ausgeprägte Haube, wiewohl auch bei ihm die
Federn dieser Region verlängert sind.
Neben den genannten strukturellen Unterschieden (deren Zahl sich bei
Kenntnis der Skelette zweifellos bedeutend vermehren liesse) laufen viele
Färbungsdifferenzen einher. In allen Kleidern sind die Schäfte der Schwung-
federn und Steuerfedern, von oben gesehen, bei H. ayresii schwarz oder dunkel
1 J. f. O. 52, 1904, pp. 184-187. 2 Bull. B.O. Olub, xvi. 1906, p. 112.
® Ibis, 1919, pp. 167-179. 4 Bull. B.O. Club, xxxix. 1919, pp. 87-89, 93-94.
Noviratrs Zoonocicar XXXI. 1924. 215
FL.
Fundort. Sammler, Datum. Flügel. | Schwanz. | Schw.-| Sex. Kleid.
Index.
Spizaétus africanus (Cassin)
1 | Lolodorf (Kamerun) . | Jacob — 320 +x] 215 | 67-2) —|Ju. K.
2 | Lolodorf (Kamerun) . | Jacob — 325 230 |707| — |Ju.K
3 | Vietoria (Kamerun) . | Strunk — 348 220 | 63-2) — |Ju.K.
4 | Kamerun ö a . | G. Zenker — 326 215 | 65-9} — | ad.
5 | Bascho (Nord-Kamerun) . | v. Oertzen 24.1.05 329 220 | 66:8} 2 | ad.
6 | Togo 6 a i . | Richers — 351 240 | 68-4) — |Ju. M.
7 | Kame (Togo) . & . | Baumann 24.11.93 |295-+x) 210 |712) & lad.
Hieraaétus fasciatus spilogaster (Bonaparte)
8 | Dire Danoa (N. Abessinien) | E. Wache ii.09 436 247 | 56-7 | [9] | ad.
9 | Berbera (Somaliland) . | Gindi — 400 235 | 58-7| — | ad.
10 | Hannington-See (Br. O.
Afrika) b i . | A. Berger 30.x.08 431 264 | 61:2) — | ad.
11 | Britisch ©. Afrika ? . | A. Berger 08 428 240 | 57-7) — | ad.
12 | Amami (D. O. Afrika) . | Vosseler — 424 250 |58-9| — |Ju.K.
13 | Amami (D. O. Afrika) . | Vosseler — 418 250 | 59-8} — |I.Ja.K.
14 | Uhehe (D. O. Afrika) . | v.d. Marwitz — 402 237 | 58-9) — |Ju. K.
15 | Usafua.(D. O. Afrika) . | Goetze 6.vii.99 433 250 | 57-7| — | ad.
16 | Sanyi (D. O. Afrika) . | Münzner 16.1x.13 411 250 | 60-8 | — |Ju. M.
17 | Windhuk (S.W. Afrika) . | Lübbert — 398 242 | 60-8) — |Ju.K.
18 | Kanya (Br. Betschuana-
land) . . 3 . | Fritsch viii. 65 415 252 |58-3| — |Ju. K.
Hieraaétus ayresii (Gurney)
19 | Bangwa (Kamerun) . . | Conrad — 388 205 | 52:8, 2 )Ju. K.
20 | Bebai (span. Guinea) . | G. Tessmann | 7.x.08 326 175 | 63:7; g Ju.K.
21 | Misahöhe (Togo) & . | Baumann 1.1v.95 339 175 1516| & ad.
22 | Sigifluss (D. O. Afrika) . | ©. Neumann | ii.93 400 205 | 51:3) [9] |Ju.K.
23 | Mocambique . 6 . | Peters — 378 200 | 62:9} — | ad.
24 | Zondag Rivier (Kapland) . | Mundt & le — 420 210 | 50-0} [2] | Ju. K.
i Maire
haarbraun, bei H. spilogaster dagegen weiss oder gelblich weiss, seltener hellbraun.
In allen Kleidern ist ferner die Aussenfahne der 3.-6. Handschwinge bei H. ayresi
schwarz (zuweilen leicht grau getönt), bei H. spilogaster aschgrau bis silbergrau.
Im Jugendkleid ist H. ayresii auf der Unterseite blasser, nicht so stark rostfarben
überflogen wie sein Doppelgänger ; die Federn der Körperseiten, die Axillaren
und die Unterflügeldecken tragen lanzettförmige Flecke von dunkelbrauner
Farbe, die manchmal nur schmal, in anderen Fällen recht breit sind. Dem
H. spilogaster fehlen diese Flecke im Jugendkleid ; die entsprechenden Federn
sind nur mit dunkelbraunem Schaftstrich versehen. Die Stirn und ein Brauen-
streif sind beim jungen H. ayresii rahmfarben, beim jungen H. spilogaster wie
der übrige Oberkopf schwarzbraun. Die hellen Schwanzbinden dieses Kleides
sind bei H. ayresii viel grauer, bei H. spilogaster viel bräunlicher. Aus dem
Jugendkleid mausert H. spilogaster in ein 1. Jahreskleid, das durch die
rostfarbige Endigung der im übrigen weissen, längs der Mitte schwarz
gezeichneten Brust- und Bauchfedern und das Vorherrschen der Rostfarbe
an Axillaren und Unterflügeldecken gegenüber dem adultus deutlich gekenn-
zeichnet ist. Ob auch H. ayresii ein solches Zwischenkleid anlegt, ist mir
unbekannt. Im Alterskleid erkennt man, wie zuerst O. Neumann ermittelte,
die beiden Arten leicht an der Färbung der Unterflügeldecken, die bei
H. ayresii schwarz mit breitem weissen Saum sind, während bei H. spilogaster
das Schwarz vieler Federn bis an den Saum reicht und so ein grosses zusam-
menhängendes schwarzes Feld zustande kommt. Die dunklen Schwanzbinden
sind bei H. ayresii (bis auf die distale) breiter und von regelmässigerer, nicht
216 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
so unruhig im Zickzack verlaufender Begrenzung, die distale Binde dagegen ist
bei H. ayresiv viel schmäler. Während diese Binde bei H. spilogaster die ganze
Schwanzspitze einnimmt und 50-60 mm breit ist, ist sie bei H. ayresii nur
20-26 mm breit und erreicht hier nicht die Federspitze, sondern wird noch
(wenigstens am mittleren Paar) von einer grauen, weiss gesäumten gefolgt.
Die Verbreitung beider Arten lässt sich bisher nur in groben Zügen angeben.
Man kennt:
H. ayresii von: Abessinien und den Gallaländern (v. Erlanger), Uganda und
Britisch Ost-Afrika (van Someren, Brit. Museum), Deutsch Ost-Afrika (Neumann),
Mozambique (Peters), Osthälfte Südafrikas südlich bis zur Gegend von Port
Elizabeth (Mundt & le Maire) ; ferner Westafrika: Portugiesisch Kongo, Spanisch
Guinea, Kamerun, Togo.
H. spilogaster von: Abessinien und Somaliland sowie Britisch und Deutsch-
Ostafrika. Wie weit die Art in der Osthalfte Afrikas nach Süden geht, ist noch
unbekannt. Aus der Westhälfte Afrikas kenne ich nur zwei sichere Fundgebiete :
Windhuk (Lübbert) und Angola (Anchieta leg. teste Barboza du Bocage).
Ob beide Arten geographisch variieren, weiss man bisher noch nicht. Nach
der Grösse angeordnet messen :
HZ, ayresii 3 Spanisch Guinea 326, Süd-Somaliland 333, Südafrika 338 mm. ; '
Q Süd-Somaliland 360, Kamerun 388, Deutsch-Ostafrika 400, Zondagrivier
420 mm.
HA. spilogasier $ Windhuk 398, Britisch Betschuanaland 415, Nord-Somaliland
428 mm.; 2 Abessinien 436, Nord-Somaliland 449, “ Südafrika ”’ 468 mm.?
Ein gänzlich anderer Vogel als diese beiden Hieraaetus-Arten ist Spizaétus
africanus, und es ist unverständlich, dass er so lange damit verwechselt werden
konnte. In seinem ganzen Bau macht er einen geradezu plumpen Eindruck.
Es ist ein kurzflügliger Vogel, dem Schwingenmass nach nur mit H. ayresii,
nicht mit H. spilogaster zu verwechseln, aber die Flügel sind im Verhältnis zum
Schwanz viel kürzer (Index 63-2-71-2 gegen 50-0-53-:7 !). Der Fuss ist viel
massiger, gedrungener gebaut ; bei geschlossenem Fuss und gestreckten Zehen
berührt der Nagel der Hinterzehe den der Mittelzehe etwa in der Mitte des
letzteren, während bei H. ayresii der Hinterzehennagel auf den Endballen der
Mittelzehe trifft. Die Handschwingen sind nicht schwarz wie bei H. ayresii,
sondern dunkel haarbraun mit einigen weit von einanderstehenden schmalen
schwärzlichen Binden. Iris nicht gelb, sondern braun (v. Oertzen) oder blassgelb
und dunkelbraun (Bates).
Die Färbung des Alterkleides ist von W. L. Sclater kürzlich genau beschrieben
worden. Auch im Jugendkleid ist S. africanus völlig anders gefärbt als die
Hieraaétus-Arten. Er hat dann eine auffällige Ahnlichkeit mit dem jungen
Dryotriorchis spectabilis, doch sind die schwarzbraunen Flecken, welche jede
Feder der Unterseite zeichnen, kleiner und Oberkopf, Kopfseiten und Nacken
hell rostfarben getönt.
Man kennt diese Art nur von Westafrika, wo sie zwischen dem Unterlauf
des Kongo und Togo nicht allzu selten zu sein scheint und ostwärts mindestens
bis zum Uelle-Distrikt (Niapu, J. P. Chapin leg.) verbreitet ist.
1 Layard, The Birds of South Africa (London, 1867), p. 14 [13”].
2 Stark & Sclater, The Birds of South Africa, iii. 1903, p. 300 [18'3”].
NOTICE
Professor Embrik Strand, Director of the Systematic-Zoo-
logical Institute of the University of Riga, Latvia, Kronvalda
bulvars 9, is preparing a Dictionary of Entomologists, con-
taining biographies of Entomologists and Arachnologists of
all times and all countries. He asks every Entomologist and
collector to send him his own biography. The publication of
the work is assured.
N
N
Mee
aN
oy iy
a
BEST be
N
1924
,
XNXI
ZOOLOGICAE. VOL.
VITATES
09
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(ygooasypoubns ¢
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NOVITATES ZOOLOGICE, Vor. XXXL, 1924. Pl. n.
a
yr 2 k
E ae Be 5% re é 3 128% Lee a x
Xauen. Jebel Sugna, 5,900 tt., in distance. Jebel Mago, 6,400 ft. ya distance, J. Kelti (Mt. Anna),
‚300 ft.
> a
re Se =.
g the pinsapos. J. Mago, 6,400 ft. Exceptional pinsapos, with
double and triple leaders.
Jebel Mago, 6,400 ft., amon;
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICA, Vor, XXXI., 1924. Pl. iii.
J. Mago 6,400 ft., with decaying pinsapos. J. Mago at 6,000 ft. Pinsapo forest towards the
North Pena or twin summit, 7,200 ft., in distance North Pena.
— sere the
J. Mago at 6,200 ft. Pinsapo forest. J. Mago, 6,000 ft. One of the few old oaks (Quercus
ballota) in pinsapo forest, in which first nuthatch
was shot.
RE
Fler;
ae Aral
‘yyJo, UO youeIq MO; uO
‘anbsom ‘ynaeze fp
= _-
ae
Ks
om
ysnıqL [ess] JO 4s9u {9a01s paioes ul Yeo Y10) 'NIezeL
Ze
Pe
‘Suljqe}s pue spiens
40} S}U9} OSTe {[[eM 9U0}S SPIsUI asnoy s,tunsıey “yniezey,
er Tr 7 BER = yor
—
Sie, yi
u ey
‘4261 “TXXX IOA ‘WOIDOTOOZ SHLVLIAON
‘ q A jo 3194 sıopjnog ‘jisseul uesseH
: x po ‘snast ea JO YIMO13 MOT YIM PRO 3uo4spues MOTI. no: 1
i eas Keen t 3 Aureos “yf 00z'S “[O9 apıM luag spıemgses ouljAys UG “34 00S‘S ‘maseyng 'f jo umung
ER,
“Ae sı ıeadde 0} utseq ysnl saaeog ‘(erofeq ‚aoue}sIp ul SY¥EO snonpiaap ‘Heo 4.109
sno1enQ)) ares snonpI9ap JO 3S9107 uJ yf OOS‘h “waseyng '[ Apsow sa9ı] yy 000‘F woseyng [aqa[ Fo 459107 1ı9Mo[ 9q} uf
"A Id bz6T “IXXX OA WOIIDOIOOZ STLVLIAON
a
tik
EXPLANATION OF PLATE VI.
Fig. Page
1. Asthenidia lactucina S . } E 5 ! i : : . 148
2 be transversaria salax ¢ 5 ! : 4 I ; Sa
3. a terminalis I . 2 5 \ N f 3 : . 142
4, 55 buckleyi buckleyi © . é A 4 : : ft . 149
5 us celata 2. s } 5 ‘ i ! N 2 . 144
6 a diffissa diffissa 3. i ‘ ; : : N . 145
7 eh spinicauda & : : a; 8 R : : . 147
8 Br podaliriaria & 4 \ i x : SG
9, En geometraria 2. N 3 \ , \ : : 2 aS:
10. i amphira 3. 4 ‘ 2 I : A 7189
11. Janiodes laverna nigropuncta & : 5 ; : 4 3 . 188
TOR % i Q : nutes
13. 5 russea & . : F N : : ; 3 : 3 Ol
14, 35 bethulia & 4 N : : : ; ß ; . 192
l.
B
1924.
2
XXI.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICE, Vor. X
i
EDER:
SANE
Mi
Ay
ey
aa
i
EXPLANATION OF PLATE VII.
Fig. Page
1. Oxytenis mirabilis & i 4 : 5 i 5 : : . 157
2 ue naemia orecta & R : ; 2 5 ; : . 160
3 i bicornis & : ! ; 3 : ! ; 4 . 164
4. au leda 3. : ; : i : ; i 2 5 GH
5. a peregrina J : ; 4 3 i : : N . 165
6 oh angulata 3 ! : i he : i A : . 170
7 i EN OLN ONO aR anemia 8." S170
8. ai modestia & : : : : Y Ä 3 3 721153:
9. Homoeopteryx elegans & . 3 : 5 : $ : : . 178
10. Oxytenis beprea & . ; ! : { : : ; \ . 168
11. = naemia aravaca 2 ; 5 \ : 5 : d . 160
12. X modestia 2 ß \ : ! 4 ; : { . 153
13. x albilunulata 3 . } 3 : i : : 5 „155
a Re OW A REN, : 155
15. Homoeopteryx major 3. : ! $ : F ; : Sy Welz
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICE, Vor. XXXI., 1924. Pl. vii.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE VIII.
Fig. Page
1. Oxytenis beprea g, Chiriqui . : : i \ N 5 . 168
2. us spadix g, type . : \ : : i é : a We
3 Bs gigantea 3, type 5 : ; ; Ä \ \ a Lae
an INN \ : . 172
5. Janiodes ecuadorensis 2 . i y : } h i : . 189
6 aN dognint 3, type. } : ; : ! : : . 188
7 i bethulia 3, type 3 \ : : : : { . 192
8. a russea g, type . : : : : : : : ll
9) ak virgata 2, type . j \ h h \ d : sel
10. Homoeopteryx divisa Q, type . : I : 4 4 { a
11. Janiodes ecuadorensis ab. flexuosa &. : \ ! : : . 189
12. Oxytenis naemia orecta 2, from Bogota . N 5 i 4 . 160
13. Hr leda Q,type . u : ! : : : 3 . 161
14, = bicornis 2. 5 J f Ä i i ! : . 164
15. Janiodes ecuadorensis 3, type 3 i } : : . 189
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICA, Vor. XXXI., 1924 Pl. viii.
A vee
wos
Sy
Br,
Di
EN
RR
elle)
EXPLANATION OF PLATE IX.
Fig. Page
1. Asthenidia podaliriaria 3, genitalia, ventral aspect . : ; 5 UD)
x. t. = anal tergite; x. st. = anal sternite; An = anal cone; P!
and P? = upper and lower processes of clasper ; Pen = penis-
sheath ; viii. st. = eighth sternite.
2. The same ; x. t., dorsal aspect 4 ; : ‘ : 3 ew)
3. As the two lobes of the clasper, inner side . : i . 139
4. Asthenidia amphira 3; genitalia, ventral aspect > : i . 139
5, iv ua anal tergite, lateral aspect . : A 4 18)
6. aa bs penis-sheath with its collar . A 6 LB)
Ue A transversaria salax g, genitalia, ventral aspect, Nennen . 141
8. a x. t., dorsal aspect . 3 ’ SA
9. Br EL AR x. t., lateral aspect . i 4 sale
10. is transv. columbiana 3, x. t., dorsal aspect, Muzo j . 142
11. 4 I x. t., lateral aspect . : \ 2142
12. vet in salaz. & penis-sheath . : ! 2 seh
NEL 3 a transversaria 3g, penis-sheath, Chitend ! 5 ad
14. an x columbiana &, penis-sheath . 2 3 : . 142
15. 8 , salax 3, upper process of clasper, Nicaragua . . 141
16. 25 NE a Er Costa Rica . . 141
17. es » transversaria 3, ,, a 3 : } . 142
18. Br » columbiana gf, ,, a A 5 } . 142
19. 5 terminalis 3, genitalia. 2 : : N i . 142
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICE, Vor. XXXL, 1924. Pipi
Zion HE
1
L
5
N
7
N. | ı Vili.st.
M N |
* He AN j)'
in
N
N
Ait
ANG
an
AR
ft
ee
Sn
Fig.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE X.
1. Asthenidia terminalis &, anal tergite, lateral aspect
10.
GX Go ST Sa Eu fs Oo
29
22
22
clasper, externo-lateral aspect
penis-sheath, ventral aspect
ae a sinistro-lateral aspect
geometraria 3, genitalia, lateral aspect, Para
ventral aspect
be)
>
ie Vill. st.
celata 3, genitalia, ventral aspect
anal tergite, lateral aspect .
As penis-sheath
33 genitalia, dorsal aspect
lactucina 3, genitalia, ventral aspect
ix. t. and x. t., dorsal aspect .
32>
>
Page
142
142
142
142
143
143
143
144
144
144
144
148 .
148
1924.
XXXIL,
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICA, Vor,
SINN
N
=
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XI.
Fig. Page
1. Asthenidia buckleyi 3, genitalia, ventral aspect . : : . 149
24, N u anal segment, ventral aspect . \ H . 149
3 » stricturaria &, genitalia, ventral aspect, Surinam : . 146
4 i: S „ lateral aspect \ : ! . 146
5 Mo anal tergite, dorsal aspect . - : . 146
6. 5 nee, eighth segment, lateral aspect . h : . 147
i Ne geometraria 9, genital sclerite . ; 5 : s ale}
o = aperture.
8. A amphira 9, genital sclerite ; : . . 139
9. A transversaria columbiana 2, genital lese Ä ! 12
10. 3 paulina 9, genital sclerite B : : ? : . 144
11. AN celata 2, genital sclerite . i h ! i : „ala
IE Sol
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICA, Vor. XXXI., 1924. xi
Vit.
_MIN.st.
oon
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XII.
Asthenidia difjissa diffisa 3, genitalia, ventral aspect .
a a “ In lateral aspect
n er a anal tergite and processes of viii. st., dörsal
aspect
. Asthenidia diffissa fortis 5, Process of Vili. ee ong P: ah Claepe leteral
aspect
. Asthenidiadiffissa inca 3, process of viii. St. And P: of degen fete
aspect
. Asthenidia diffissa Inden 3; process oh viii. Lak ind P: lei lan, arena)
aspect
. Asthenidia diffissa ee ©, Pentel le
y lactucina 2, genital sclerite
om buckleyi 2, genital sclerite
an amphira 3, spurs of hindtibia .
” podaliriaria g, antenna, lateral aspect
Page
145
145
145
146
146
146
145
148
149
139
139
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICA, Vor. XXXI., 1924. Pl. xii.
és
III
ZN
\
i
SS
ee
D
seuenkuw-n
Mu
Deo
ge,
om oo
ll el
SOR COS
bo
bo bo
Noe
0)
b
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XIII.
. Asthenidia podaliriaria 3, neuration
Oxytenis modestia 9, neuration
Homoeopteryx elegans 3, neuration
Asthenidia laciucina, larva
Oxytenis modestia, larva .
es naemia, pupa, 2
He tail of larva
involute bristle from guomesio: of pupa
oe AR tubercle with spine of larva
Asthenidia lactucina, pronotum of larva
2? yy)
. Oxytenis naemia, iR EN N
. Asihenidia lactucina, metathoracic leg of ‘eva, font inner side
Oxytenis naemia, ue as Be vy
Asthenidia lactucina, metanotum of larva
. Oxyienis albilunulata 2, branch of antenna, end- ais
» x Fe NS lateral aspect .
> peregrina ®, Bu I end-surface
lateral aspect
ventral aspect .
2? 29 by) 29
29 > 29 be)
. Homoeopteryx malecena 9, distal portion of antenna, ventral aspect
some segments in semilateral aspect
in lateral aspect .
in ventral aspect
22 2?
22 22 22 22
Page
139
153
178
148
153
158
158
158
158
148
158
148
158
148
155
155
165
165
165
176
176
176
176
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICE, Vor. XXXI., 1924 _ Pl. xiii.
Fig.
1. Oxytenis modestia &, eighth sternite and claspers, ventral aspect
2. clasper from inner side, penis-sheath and penis-
9
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XIV.
9
EX)
be)
funnel
penis-sheath from left side
anal tergite
albilunulata 3, eighth sternite and claspers .
clasper from inner side
penis-sheath, from left side .
22
29
sobrina 6,
naemia G,
leda 3,
nubila g,
anal tergite
mirabilis 3, eighth sternite
99
39)
bed
from ventral side
from right side
from dorsal side
Page
153
153
153
153
155
155
155
155
155
155
155
157
158
159
161
163
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICA, Vor. XXXI., 1924. Pl. xiv.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XV.
Fig.
1. Oxytenis mirabilis 3, anal tergite, dorsal aspect
2% 5 naemia d\, Ge ¥ 5
3. = leda &. EN a es
4, se mirabilis 3, clasper from inside .
5. 35 sobrina &, A BR
6. a leda 6, iB In
Us se nubila 3, 53 Be i
8. a an » ventral inside
9. Bes mirabilis &, penis-sheath, from left side ; 4 : !
10. u“ a is „ tight side, another specimen .
11. 5 N N „ left side, another specimen
12. N sobrina 3, A „ ventral side .
13. {3 naemia naemia g, ,, » left side
14, 3 ue ys „ ventral side .
15. A x By „ tight side
16. He s orecta ps ,, ventral side .
17. BS leda 3, on » left side
18. A a Is „ ventral side .
19. BS erosa = „ left side
20. 5h ss i ,, dorsal side
21.
is a „ tight side
Peeve
1924.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICA, Vor. XXXI,
N
\
——
Ys
Va nr) Wve
ane
a
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XVI.
Fig.
1. Oxytenis nubila 3, penis-sheath, from left side .
2A N br Be , dorsal side
3. vs 35 “3 », ventral side
4, 3 bicornis &, a viii. st. and claspers .
5. > 55 clasper, from inside . :
6. Ae Ne penis-sheath, from right side
Te a ye HS ,, dorsal side
8. a peregrina 3, anal tergite, from dorsal side
9. a An claspers, vii. st. and apex of penis-sheath .
10. My is ms from inner side .
11. 5; epiphaea &, clasper, from inner side
12. a peregrina d\, penis-sheath, from left side
118% is i Me „ tight side
14. a epiphaea g, anal tergite, from dorsal side
15. a Rn claspers, vii. st. and apex of penis-sheath
16. i 55 penis-sheath, from dorsal side
17. n 5 „ right side
18. uf en 5 » left side
Page
163
163
163
164
164
164
164
165
165
165
166
165
165
166
166
166
166
166.
Pl. xvi.
S ZOOLOGICH, Vor. XXXI., 1924.
NOVITATE
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XVII.
Fig. Page
1. Oxytenis pletiina 3, anal tergite, from dorsal side A \ 5 1107
2. Pe Be clasper, vili. st. and penis-sheath. : A .. 167
3. cy Bs „ trom inner side 2 ; : ; . 167
4. a EB penis-sheath, from left side. 4 : { . 167
5. an A ie „ dorsalside . d { . 167
6. PY Ba A „ Tight side e } : . 167
Us AN beprea at 5, left side. : : a LER
8. a a 8 „ dorsalside . ! 4 . 168
9. Fi 55 „ right side é \ | . 168
10. nF null 6, anal tergite . . : £ : : . 170
11. © ferruginea &, anal tergite . \ ! y : \ bo Weil
12. ar angulata g, clasper . : a A . 170
13. ie I“ penis-sheath, fon left de 4 ! i . 170
14. I ES Hy » ventral side . \ 3 . 170
15. A ER “A » tightside . 4 N 170
16. Eu ferruginea, clasper : if zu iin Wf
17. a Mi Den -sheath, oa left al, \ N N uaa
18. = u „ Gorsalside . ! a zit
19. cy yeni 6, anal tergite \ ; : : : 4 a Le
20. x gigantea 3, anal tergite . 5 i : : : 272
al, AR a clasper, from inside . 2 3 4 N 2,
22. 5 RR eighth sternite . : 3 ; ‘ 2 20172
23. Es spadix, ee A i : ‘ { A ane dei
24, 4 gigantea, penis-sheath, from left as : é é : ao) ee
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICE, Vor. XXXL., 1924.
Pl. xvii.
Fig.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XVIII.
1. Oxytenis modestia 2, genital sclerite .
CONIA MP wh
—
2
29
Rew Hee ee
AS aR ON =
m.
© ©
39
angulata 2, a ah
ferruginea 2, ;; be
naemia 2, Ms Ny
peregrina 2, ,, a
29 9 9
albilunulata ,, a
epiphaea ?, as a
naemia 2, branch of ende
leda 2, x u
bicornis, genital sclerite
. Homoeopteryx major 2, genital sclerite
malecena prona g, anal tergite, dorsal Boren
Be re 2 5 lateral aspect
» malecena g, clasper, from inner side
ni a penis-sheath ‘
Bs . clasper and penis-funnel,
ventral side
major &, penis-funnel
45 eighth sternite
«
an
Page
153
170
171
158
165
165
155
166
158
161
164
177
177
177
177
177
177
177
177
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICE, Vor. XXXI., 1924. Pl. xviii.
Ar
a Ww IS |
0. SS THD BS
u ze
“Sy IM ER
5 Ali $
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XIX.
Fig.
1. Homoeopieryzx elegans 3, anal tergite, dorsal aspect
2. a 5 EB » lateral aspect
oe oe ‚u eighth sternite a
4. un a4 clasper, anal tergite, and ene runnel
5. a ” manubrium (= saccus) of ninth sternite
6. Pat a clasper
Ue ahs penis-sheath, from ventral side
8. Wamsodes laverna 9, neuration .
9. Janiodes ecuadorensis 2, segments 8 and 9 of pinion, iit Serra
10. Microdulia mirabilis 9, Ry % a ventral ,,
11. Janiodes laverna nigropuncta 3g, clasper, ventral aspect
12. ue an “i anal tergite, ventral aspect
13. ae ay Ws a th dorsal aspect .
14, ny BS 2 > iy lateral aspect
15. 5 Aa re 6; elasper, from outer side
16. genitalia .
17. zp % ue penis-sheath, from left wae
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICA, Vor. XXXI, 1924.
Pl.
XIX
Fig.
1. Janiodes ecuadorensis 3, anal tergite, ventral aspect .
-_
=
a
SEI
GS Gast Ea SED
je
fe
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XX.
a EX Bs dorsal aspect
i ue Ir lateral aspect
a clasper, from outer side
IN a » ventralside . 4 ;
As penis-funnel and manubrium of claspers
russea g, dorsal aspect 3
5 subventral apical aspect
N lateral aspect
N claspers
pennis-funnel
a clasper, from outer side
dognini 3, anal tergite, dorsal aspect .
BE uk an lateral aspect .
5 clasper, ventral aspect
ecuadorensis 2, genital sclerite
Page
189
189
189
189
189
189
191
191
191
191
191
191
188
188
188
189
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICA, Vor. XXXL., 10924. Pl. xx,
j
f
i
|
|
i
|
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXI.
Janiodes bethulia 3, anal tergite, dorsal aspect .
ventral apical aspect
5 sh ax a lateral aspect
claspers, ventral aspect
penis-funnel
N N clasper, from outer side
ecuadorensis &, penis-sheath, from right side
TUSSEA &, ad „ dorsal side
bethulia 3, Be : dorsal side
laverna nigropuncta 2, genital sclerite .
2? 2? „ 29
22 >
22 29
A Oocophune frauenfeldi 3, anal tergite, dorsal aspect .
a6 i clasper, from inside
venusta 3, anal tergite, dorsal aspect
29
. Neocercophana philippiw 3, anal tergite, dorsal aspect
clasper, from inside
29 >
. Cercophana venusta 3, penis-sheath, on left side
frauenfeldi g, clasper and harpe, from ventral lide
32
venusta &, > Be ss
29
. Neocercophana philippi 3, ,, a Me
. Microdulia mirabilis 2, genital sclerite
Page
192
192
192
192
192
192
189
191
192
188
182
182
183
184
184
183
182
183
184
185
Pl. xxi.
1924.
XXXI,
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICA, Vor.
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~
7 |
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URN.
NR
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9. SOME NOTES ON THE | PREGATIDAR (Pranns XXIL,
| XXII
NOVEDATRBS ZOOLOGICAE
Vol. XXXI. OCTOBER 1924. No. 2.
ON THE WEST AFRICAN LYMANTRIID GENUS NYCTEMERA
[= OTROEDA (LEP. HET.)]
By DR. KARL JORDAN.
(With text-figs. 1-18.)
SOME time ago Professor E. Study, of Bonn, asked me for information
about the relationship of the various forms of Nyctemera, which were of
interest to him in his researches on Mimicry. As I could not find any satis-
factory account of the classification of these Lymantriidae, I had to consult the
specimens themselves, and found that in this instance Nature had taken pity
on the systematist by creating species which expose in both sexes very
easily visible structural differences. But it seemed as if Nature had repented
of this kindness, and had counteracted the simplification of systematics by
rendering some species practically identical in colouring and pattern, and others
so very variable that some individuals look as if they represented different
species.
The species of Nyctemera fly by day in bright sunshine, even at the hottest
hours, and when on the wing, have the appearance of butterflies. It is therefore
quite natural that one should think of a mimetic connection with certain Rhopalo-
cera. The flight is very fast, rather high above the ground, and according to
Neave’s observation straight on, which seems to indicate that these moths can
very well hold their own and therefore may be regarded as models rather than
mimics of butterflies. However that may be—without detailed observations
in the field we cannot get beyond arguments—so much is certain that there is
a remarkable similarity between the 2 of Cymothoé beckeri with an orange area
on the hindwing and the white Nyctemerae, and between orange-red 99 of Papilio
dardanus, Nyctemera permagnifica and a new species described below.
The early stages are not known, with the exception of the egg, which is
often found protruding from or fastened to the end of the abdomen. It is
almost regularly globular and very minutely reticulated (Aurivillius); the
lines of the net are very feebly raised, and the meshes mostly rounded-hexagonal.
As regards the name of the genus I agree with Swinhoe (1903) and Auri-
villius (1905) that the Hübnerian diagnosis of Nyctemera applies to the first
three species placed by Hiibner under that name, and not to the other four,
which belong to Deilemera.
15 217
918 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI, 1924,
The gg of Nyctemera are distinguished by the possession of a peculiar
abdominal organ, the function of which remains as yet obscure to me. The
sternite of the third segment (text-figs. 17, 18) is strongly inflated on each side,
and behind this bladder-like swelling, the upper margin of which runs obliquely
backward-ventrad, there is a cavity which deeply penetrates into the abdomen ;
it is large and open outwardly and narrow and slit-like inwardly. The outer
?
\ i ae f
N Y
us vH
wall of the cavity, which is the inner wall of the bladder, bears no scales and
appears to be delicate. There is no tuft of hairs in connection with the cavity,
nor do the legs show any modification which might suggest a function of the
bladder and groove. The structure is apparently the same in all the species,
except that the bladders and cavities are smaller in N. cafra and N. permagnifica.
The structure of the organs of copulation is on the whole very uniform,
but each species has its peculiarities, visible without minute preparation, the
NOoVITATES ZooLoGIcAE XXXI, 1924, 219
organs being well exposed. The eighth abdominal segment of the & has no
pleural suture ; but there is at the base an impression and at the apex a feeble
sinus which indicate the separation of the segment into a tergite and a sternite.
The tergite partly assumes the function which generally has the tenth (= anal)
tergite ; it is distinguished by being very long and incrassate along the middle,
a sharply defined median ridge being formed which extends far beyond the
margin of the segment as a free process projecting backwards and, of course,
being without a joint (text-figs. 1-4, viii. t.). The eighth sternite (viii. st.)
is medianly incised in most species. Beneath the viii. t. and more or less con-
cealed by it there is the anal tergite (x. t., text-fig. 6, dorsal aspect) ; it is always
divided into two processes, and is visible when the specimen (undissected) is
examined from behind under the binocular microscope. ‘There is no anal
sternite ; the anal cone (anus) is long. The clasper (text-figs. 9-12) is large,
broad, with or without ventral tooth or finger ; between the bases of the clasper
there is a round median hump; the manubrium of the ninth sternite, the so-
called saccus, is short, compressed in a dorso-ventral sense, rounded (text-fig.
12a, M). The penis-sheath is without special armature; the margins of the
opening from which it protrudes are raised ventrally and laterally, forming the
penis-funnel (P-F).
The external genital sclerite of 9 likewise exposed (text-figs. 13-16) ; aper-
ture median, the ridges and folds different according to species.
220 NoVvITATEs Zootocioan XXXI. 1924.
Nyctemera Hübn. (1822).
Phalaena Geometra L., Cram., Pap. Exot. iii. p. 175 (1779).
Nyctemera Hübner, Verz. bek. Schmett. p. 178 (1822) (partim); Swinh., Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond.
pp. 53 and 433 (1903); Auriv., Arkiv Zool. ii. 4. pp. 39 and 65 (1905).
Otroeda Walker, Lep. Het. B. M. ii. p. 402 (1854); Kirby, Cat. Lep. Het. p. 428 (1892).
As Aurivillius has published, /.c., a key to the African genera of Lymantriidae,
it is unnecessary to give here a diagnosis. The species which belong to this
genus are all large. In spite of the great variability of some of them the sub-
marginal spots always remain white even if the upper surface of the wings is
otherwise all yellow, orange, or orange-red, i.e. the bright-coloured forms have
a Phaegorista coloration.
The area of distribution of the genus extends from Sierra Leone to Angola
eastward to the east side of Lake Nyasa, that is to say, the genus belongs to the
forest region, the species flying in the open jungle and at the edge of the forest.
1. Nyctemera nerina Drury (1780) (text-figs. 1, 13).
6. Phalaena Bombyx nerina Drury, Illustr. Exot. Ent. iii. p. 6 and Index, tab, 5, fig. 2 (1780)
(Sierra Leone).
6. Callimorpha (?) nerina Drury, Westw., in Drury, l.c. p. 6 (1837).
3. Otroeda nerina Drury, Walk., Lep. Het. B. M. ii. p. 402 (1854).
9. Otroeda occidentis Walk., l.c. p. 403. no. 2 (1854) (Sierra Leone); Butl., /llustr. Typ. Spec.
Lep. Het.'B. M. i. p. 58. tab. 14. fig. 6 (1877); Swinh., l.c. p. 434 (1904) (partim; “ g”’
type ex err.).
d@. Sexually dimorphic.——. Upperside of forewing black, with thin
white longitudinal stripes in the basal area, white median and discal bands
narrow, dusted with black ; hindwing dull yellowish, suffused with black, the
yellowish tint disappearing towards base. Underside of forewing almost as
upper, the white bands purer white and the white streaks in basal area somewhat
broader ; hindwing orange-yellow from terminal band towards base, this colour
proximally gradually disappearing, centrally often extending to near base,
second submarginal spot large, entirely within the terminal band.
Q. Forewing, above, almost as in g, but the white bands not suffused with
black, the white discal band as in ¢ not reaching tornus ; hindwing white, blackish
at base and at costal and abdominal margins, the orange patch small, narrow,
the black terminal band broad, measured at R* broader than its distance
from cell. Underside as upper ; hindwing purer white, its costal margin black,
Genitalia.—— g:: process of viii. t. (text-fig. 1) almost straight, apically
rough with spiniform teeth, somewhat rounded-convex before apex, the apex
split in median line, dorsally convex in lateral aspect, ventrally concave or
straight, median incision extended to below middle of process, but only distinct
if the two halves are bent apart with the help of a flat needle. Prongs of x. t.
(text-fig. 5) rather broad, gradually narrowing, divergent at an acute angle,
dorso-laterally convex, interno-ventrally concave, apex curved down. Clasper
(text-fig. 9, lateral aspect) similar to a boxing-glove ; ventral margin proximally
rounded-dilated, distally of middle with a thumb-like process. ——Q: ventral
genital sclerite (text-fig. 13) rounded at sides, apically strongly narrowed, apical
margin in front of cavity tripartite, consisting of a larger, rounded or emarginate,
median portion and a small, pointed, setiferous, lateral cone; this anterior
wall of the cavity higher than the rounded posterior wall. Lateral sclerite
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. \ 221
separated from the ventral one by a deep oblique groove, the anterior margin
and the middle of the sclerite swollen, these two dorso-ventral swellings and the
posterior margin converging ventrally.
A fairly constant species, occurring in Sierra Leone and at the Gold Coast.
2. Nyctemera planax spec. nov. (text-figs. 2, 14, 17, 18).
Oiroeda hesperia auct. nec Cram. (partim.!)
? Nyctemera hesperia Cram. ab. eremitana Strand, Arch. Naturg. lxxx. A. 1. p. 42 (1914) (Cameroon).
69. Nearest to the previous species in the genitalia, but not sharply separated
in colouring from the two following species.
Very variable in size, colour and markings, occurring in two principal colour-
forms: i
g9—f. albida : like N. hesperia, less constant, the white median band of
forewing a little more distal, and the posterior two black longitudinal streaks
usually abbreviated distally, terminal border of hindwing mostly a little narrower.
g—f. fumosa: only known in ¢; not distinguishable from dark specimens
of N. vesperina jonesi. Transitions exist between the lightest and darkest
specimens. Very dark gg are apparently rarer than white ones at the Gold
Coast and in Nigeria, and commoner in Cameroon and Gaboon; in the dark
specimens the white bands are reduced in width and often in length and more
or less densely suffused with black, the black basal streaks are widened, the
hindwing is shaded with black above and the orange area suppressed on the
upperside ; the white portions shaded with black also beneath. A single white
specimen (¢) from North Nigeria has the hindwing yellow to near base.
Genitalia.—— &: process of viii. t. (text-fig. 2) almost straight, very deeply
cleft, but the two halves appressed to each other, apex dentate above and below,
somewhat pointed in a lateral view. Prongs of x. t. (text-fig. 6) slender, almost
of even thickness from base, apex slightly bent down, not pointed. Immediately
behind the subbasal widened part of the clasper (text-figs. 10, 10a) a large claw-
like tooth, of which the lower (= proximal) margin is convex, and the upper
(= posterior) margin concave, with sharply pointed apex; the sinus between
tooth and apical lobe of clasper broadly rounded (text-fig. 10, lateral aspect).
2: genital armature (text-fig. 14) nearest to that of N. nerina; ventral
sclerite proximally broader, less rounded at sides, the excisions of the apical
margin which separate the setiferous lateral cones from the median lobe deeper,
the hindmargin of the genital cavity higher and so joining the setiferous cones
that the latter are more part of this posterior ridge than of the anterior ridge
of the cavity. Lateral sclerite without dorso-ventral median swelling; the
groove separating this sclerite from the ventral one much less deep than in
N. nerina.
Length of forewing: ¢ 34-31 mm., 2 33-55 mm.
Distributed from the Gold Coast to the Congo and North Loanda.
At the Gold Coast the f. albida is the usual one; in specimens from that
district the black streaks in the basal area of the forewing are abbreviated as
a rule, whereas in specimens of f. albida from the southern districts (Lagos south-
wards) the posterior two streaks reach the black median band; in southern
1 I abstain from quoting all the literature, as it is often quite impossible to know which species
the various authors had before them,
222 Novirares ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924.
examples, moreover, the orange area is usually larger and more intense. The
specimen named by Strand ab. eremitana is before me ; it is a 2 without abdomen
and evidently belongs to this variable species ; but as it is essential to examine
the tail-end in order to place a specimen correctly, my identification remains
doubtful to some extent.
3. Nyctemera hesperia Cram. (1779) (text-figs. 3, 15).
39. Phalaena Geometra hesperia Cram., Pap. Exot. iii. pp. 100 and 175. tab. 251. figs. A.Q, B.g (1779)
(Delmina, Guinea).
Otroeda hesperia Cr., Walk., l.c. p. 402 (1854) (pt.).
Nyctemera hesperia Or., Swinh., l.c. p. 433 (1903) (pt.).
62. The white stripes and bands of the forewing and the white hindwing
are never shaded with black, and the orange patch of the hindwing is always
distinct and usually narrow; the posterior two black streaks of the forewing
reach to the termen, and the terminal border of the hindwing is as a rule broader
than in N. planax.
Genitalia.—— 3: process of viii. t. (text-fig. 3) long, deeply cleft, densely
dentate at apex and curved upwards, usually the two halves divergent at apex.
Prongs of x. t. (text-fig. 7) pointed, directed sidewards and downwards. Clasper
with broad, rounded, proximal dilatation, which is closely applied to the bladder-
like hump of ix. st. (text-figs. 11, lateral aspect, and lla, ventral aspect) ;
behind this wide portion a small tooth which is only visible after the eighth
sternite has been bent back; apical lobe of clasper much longer than in the
allied species, gradually narrowing ——@: hindmargin of genital cavity much
lower than anterior ridge (text-fig. 15), the latter with deep, triangular, median
incision, the sclerite being thus divided into two triangles of which the setiferous
apices are directed anad. Lateral sclerite with large rounded ventral swelling.
Sierra Leone and Gold Coast.——The specimens recorded under the name
of hesperia from more southern localities belong either to N. planax or to
N. vesperina jones.
4. Nyctemera vesperina Walk. (1854) (text-figs. 4, 16).
d. Otroeda vesperina Walk., l.c. p. 408. no. 3 (1854) (Congo).
An extraordinarily variable species, the wings of which may have the ground-
colour white, black or orange. In the northern distriets occur only white and
blackened specimens, in the most southern districts only orange ones.
The orange specimens and the 99 with black dusting on the white ground
of the hindwing can easily be separated from the previous species, but the $¢
with black hindwings are exactly like the f. fumosa of N. planax (apart from
the genitalia), except that some specimens have more orange on the hindwing ;
and the white specimens agree with the f. albida of N. planax, but have mostly
a somewhat broader terminal band on the hindwing. The orange patch is
larger than in N. hesperia, which does not occur in the districts where N. ves-
perina is found.
Genitalia.—— 3: process of viii. t. compressed, the dorsal ridge bounded
at the sides by a longitudinal channel and almost cylindrical, with the exception
of its base ; apex not cleft, or the incision not deep, dorsally sulcate, broad in a
dorso-lateral sense (text-fig. 4) and rounded in a lateral aspect, sometimes
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 228
somewhat swollen at the sides, ventrally denticulate. Median incision of viii. st.
reaching at most to apical third. Prongs of x.t. short, sharp, directed side-
and downwards, sometimes their inner margin widened as asharpridge. Clasper
(text-fig. 12, lateral aspect) with a large tooth, which is almost symmetrical
in a ventral view (text-fig. 12a); the sinus between the tooth and the elliptical
apical lobe of the clasper much smaller than in N. planax (text-fig. 10). Penis-
funnel (text-fig. 12a, P—F) laterally swollen and posteriorly more or less rugate
or denticulate.——: ventral sclerite deeply excised in middle, usually the
excision more rounded than in text-fig. 16 and without the median incision,
rarely the margin in the centre of the excision a little produced, recalling to
a slight extent N. planax-Q; the posterior margin of the cavity much higher
than in N. hesperia, the setiferous projections quite short. The anterior and
posterior margins of the lateral sclerite raised, the median surface concave; the
groove separating the lateral and ventral sclerites deep.
Distributed from Lagos to Loanda and eastwards to the south side of
Lake Tanganyika.
It is not yet possible to decide how many local races there are in this species ;
the survey here presented must be considered as preliminary.
a. N. vesperina jonesi Sharpe (1891).
&. Otroeda jonesi Sharpe, Ann. Mag. N. H. (6). vii. p. 134 (1891) (Ogové R.).
&®. Ground-colour white. In both sexes occur white specimens (f. albida)
and black or blackish ones (f. fwmosa). All examples I have seen from Lagos
and South Nigeria belong to f. albida ; perhaps f. fumosa will yet be discovered
in those districts. f. albida also occurs in Gaboon (and perhaps elsewhere).
The type of jonesi, which is in the Tring Museum, belongs to f. fumosa ; it bears
on the hindwing a short blackish transverse line between upper cell-angle and
terminal band.
In the ¢ of f. fumosa the hindwing is densely shaded with black on the
upperside, below the darkening is less intense. In the f. fumosa-? the hind-
wing, above, is more or less shaded with black, but remains to a great extent
white.
Lagos to Gaboon.
b. N. vesperina vesperina Walk. (1854).
&. Otroeda vesperina Walker, l.c. (1854) (Congo); Butl., Ilustr. Typ. Specim. Lep. Het. i. p. 58.
tab. 14. fig. 7 (1877).
9. Otroeda varunaea Druce. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. p. 780 (1882) (Kakongo).
Nyctemera varunaea Druce, Swinh., l.c. p. 434 (1903) (type “ gd” ex err.).
32. Wings orange, forewing of with black rays in basal area, these stripes
usually indicated in 9; black oblique bands very variable in length and width,
sometimes hardly reaching middle in 9. In 2 the anterior submarginal spots
of forewing more or less enlarged, and the second spot of hindwing not entirely
within the black terminal band.
Congo and Loanda.
In type of varunaea, a small 2 (forewing 35 mm.), the terminal band of
the hindwing is so narrow that none of the submarginal spots are entirely
separated from the orange area. Other specimens of both sexes from the same
234 NoVvITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXT. 1924,
locality (Kakongo) do not share this peculiarity ; a 9 from Kakongo (ex. coll.
Druce) agrees well with Butler’s figure of vesperina.
c. N. vesperina tenuimargo Prout (1918).
Nyctemera varunaea Druce, Hamps. (error determinationis), Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. p. 458 (1910)
(Katanga, Kambove, Lualaba ; diurnal).
3. Otroeda varunaea tenuimargo Prout, Ann. Mag. N. H. (9). i. p. 318 (1918) (Abercorn).
$9. Body and wings orange. Forewing without black streaks from base,
the anterior submarginal spots not much enlarged, the outer orange band broader
at R? than the black terminal border; on hindwing of @ all the submarginal
spots are within the black border.
Lualaba and south end of Lake Tanganyika.
In type-specimen (Mus. Joicey) there are only 3 submarginal spots within
the black border of the forewing, in a second specimen from the same district 4,
and in the ¢¢ from the Lualaba country (A. S. Neave) 4 or 5. The length of
the two oblique black bands of the forewing is very variable.
5. Nyctemera manifesta Swinh. (1903).
&. N. manifesta Swinh., l.c. (Congo).
&. Similar to the f. albida of N. v. jonesi, but creamy white and the row of
submarginal spots of the forewing more regular, first spot somewhat larger than
second and less shifted basad than in the other white species, at base long
black rays; hindwing entirely without orange. Genitalia as in N. vesperina,
apex of viii. t. rather less rounded.c—Perhaps only a white form of N. ves-
perina vesperina ?
““ Congo’ and Landane, Congo; two dd in Mus. Brit.
6. Nyctemera papilionaris spec. nov.
d. In colour similar to N. permagnifica, but much paler orange, more like
N. vesperina tenuimargo. Forewing: costal edge black, widened into a largish
spot at apex of cell, halfway to base a short black line before cell, black terminal
border about as broad as in N. vesperina, measured along R? 14 mm. broad
and 8 mm. distant from cell; a row of white submarginal spots, of which the
second is the largest, 6 mm. long and 3 broad, at ends of veins in posterior half
of margin a minute white dot. Terminal band of hindwing 12 mm. broad at
SC: and 7 mm. at M!, indented on the veins; eight submarginal spots, first
minute, second a little larger than third, measuring 2 x 3 mm., the others
gradually decreasing in size, with the exception of the second all. placed nearer
to the termen than to the inner edge of the border, second 3 mm. distant from
orange area, a white dot at end of each vein (except costa), all small, 1, 2, 4, 5
the largest. Underside as upper, except that the black edge of the costal margin
of forewing is a little broader and that there is at costal margin of hindwing
a longer black line extending from terminal border towards base, which it does
not reach ; hindwing narrower than in the other species, 37 mm. long and 23 mm.
broad.
Body grey, with black dorsal line and orange base, underside black, apices
of segments yellowish grey. Branches of antenna shorter than in N. vesperina,
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 225
but the apical ones comparatively long, not so short as in N. permagnifica and
N. cafra.
Genitalia—— J: process of viii. t. broad, gradually narrowing, the
membranous sides expanding obliquely in roof-shape, the median ridge smooth,
convex, apically widened, not slit, but divided by a small rounded sinus into
two short lobes, the apex curved down in a lateral aspect. Incision of viii. st.
extending to apical third. x. t. with high dorsal hump, which leans somewhat
anad ; the transverse apical margin in between the two horns slightly convex-
rounded, the prongs short, pointed. Clasper with long sharp antemedian process
curved upwards. Penis-funnel on right and left side high, swollen and densely
denticulate.
©. Similar to d, wings shorter.
In Mus. Tring one & from Bopoto, Upper Congo (Kenred Smith) ; in Mus.
Berlin a 2 from the Lualaba-Kassai district.
7. Nyctemera permagnifica Holl. (1893).
2. Otroeda permagnifica Holland, Psyche vi. p. 413. no. 65 (1893) (Ogové R.).
$2. Wings orange red, much more deeply tinted than the orange specimens
of N. vesperina. Forewing without oblique bands, but with the black border
very broad anteriorly, reaching apex of cell; in this border white markings as
follows: nearits proximal margin below costa a short row or band, very variable
(absent in type), a submarginal row of spots of which 2 and 3 are small or 2
absent, 4 being the largest, and an admarginal row of small linear spots placed
in pairs, each pair forming an incomplete angle, as in many butterflies; no
marginal spots. Terminal band of hindwing about as broad as in N. vesperina
vesperina, with a row of white submarginal spots, all well within the black
border, and small white admarginal ones.
On abdomen a broad dorsal stripe and large ventral spots black. SC: and
R! of hindwing from a point or (as in N. cafra) on a short stalk. Distal seg-
ments of antennae with short branches as in N. cafra. Genitalia also similar
to those of N. cafra.
Only a few specimens known.
‘In Mus. Brit. two g¢ ex Mus. Joicey, and a pair in Mus. Joicey, all from
Bitje, Cameroon (Bates). Type specimen from Ogové R.
I am very much indebted to my kind friend Dr. Holland for sending me
a coloured sketch of the type of this beautiful species.
8. Nyctemera cafra Drury (1780).
6. Phalaena Bombyx cafra Drury, Illustr. Exot. Ent. iii. p. 5 and Index, tab. 5. fig. 1 (1780) (Sierra
Leone).
Nyctemera cafra Drury, Hübner, Verz. bek. Schmett. p. 178 (1822).
Callimorpha ? cafra Drury, Westw., in Drury, l.c. iii. p. 6 (1837).
Otroeda cafra Drury, Walk., Lep. Het. B. M. ii. p. 404. no. 4 (1854).
In hindwing SC? and R! on a stalk, which rarely occurs in other species,
and the lower portion of the angulate cross-vein longer and more oblique than
is usual. The bladder-like abdominal organ of 4 smaller. The last segments
of the antennae with shorter branches, particularly in 9.
A nuchal ring and the underside of the foretibia red, sometimes in 9 the
226 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924,
submarginal spots of the underside of hindwing and occasionally the larger
portion of both wings red ; in Nyasaland occur specimens with yellow hindwing.
Genitalia—— &: process of vüi.t. long and slender, first somewhat
curved downwards and then gradually upwards, ending in two short diverging
points, recalling N. hesperia. Viii. st. without median incision. Prongs of
x. t. short, almost cylindrical, directed sidewards. Clasper broad, irregularly
narrowing apicad, the apex itself somewhat widened and more strongly chitinised,
brown, truncate, setiferous and slightly denticulate——?: genital aperture
elongate-ovate, without raised posterior margin, its anterior edge concealed by
the seventh sternite, the lateral margins simple. Right and left lateral sclerites
much wrinkled, contiguous in middle line, only separated from each other by a
narrow groove running from the genital aperture anad.
Sierra Leone to east side of Lake Nyasa.
9. Nyctemera catenata spec. nov.
@. General colouring of the hesperia type, but hindwing with a discal line
of black spots.——Forewing: distal margin distinctly incurved below apex,
which projects a little; at base a white costal dot sharply outlined with black,
between this black ring and the black antemedian band the costal margin white,
only the extreme edge and the costal vein black ; the two black oblique bands
widening costally, sharply defined throughout, posteriorly united in a curve,
the last partition of the discal band projecting inward as a tooth, basal area with
two black streaks in cell and three between cell and hind margin, all thin, the
third and fourth extending to antemedian band ; five submarginal white spots,
the three anterior ones round, the other two truncate on proximal side.——Hind-
wing: white, a curved discal band black, narrow, curved, interrupted at veins
R: to M?, ending near anal angle, crossing R’ 6 mm. from cell, commencing at
costal margin 21 mm. from base and 11 from apex of costal vein; a row
of submarginal spots, round, posterior ones small, bounded with black, which
forms a chain and on the proximal side is convex between the veins and on the
outer side is produced to the margin, these projections separating white semi-
circular marginal spots from each other ; between the black chain and the discal
line the scaling orange from anal angle, this colour fading away about middle.
——Scales of both wings above and below, inclusive of fringe and orange area,
narrower than in the other species of the genus, nearly all bidentate. Tegulae
with sharply defined white margins.
Genital sclerite quite exposed, with the opening in centre of the ventral
surface, not bounded by an elevate ridge, triangular, narrowing anteriorly ;
the posterior edge of the sclerite free, bidentate, thrice slightly incurved, lateral
angles rounded ; sides of sclerite setiferous.
Length of forewing: 49 mm.
Hab. Kakongo, North Loanda (Hudson Moore) ; one 2 in Mus. J. J. Joicey.
The wings are glossy, semivitreous, partly on account of the narrowness of the
scales, partly because the specimen is a good deal worn.
NovITATEs ZooLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 227
ANTHRIBIDAE FROM THE ISLAND OF RODRIGUEZ
By DR. KARL JORDAN.
HE Anthribidae of which I give here a list were collected on Rodriguez
by Mr. H. P. Thomasset and Mr. H. J. Snell between August and November
1918.1 The collection contains ten species, of which no fewer than four are new,
one of them representing a new genus. The Anthribidae are similar to those
from the Seychelles, the majority of them being of very small size. The types
of the new species are in the British Museum. I am much obliged to Dr. Hugh
Scott for a set of specimens presented to our collection.
The only Anthribidae recorded from Rodriguez are the two species described
by Waterhouse in Ann. Mag. N.H. (4) xviii. p. 118-120 (1876), both of which
are contained in the present collection.
1. Phloeobius gigas cervinus Klug (1833).
Three 34, four 92.
2. Hormiscops thomasseti spec. nov.
$¢. Rufo-brunneus, pube luteo-grisea variegatus, fronte dimidio rostri
aequilata, oculo sinuato, carina prothoracicali lateribus gradatim antrorsum
flexa.
Long. (cap. excl.) 1-3-2-7 mm.
A series.
Body rufescent brown, pubescent luteous grey, underside and pygidium
unicolorous, upperside variegated with brown, usually the greater portion of
the disc of the pronotum and a variable median patch on each elytrum brown,
legs and base of antenna pale rufous, middle of femora and the tarsi brown.
Sinus of eye very distinct; head reticulate-rugate, the lines not much raised ;
pronotum coriaceous, somewhat rugate, apex almost smooth, carina gradually
curved forward at sides, without forming a distinct angle. Elytra half as long
again as broad, cylindrical, with no impressed lines besides the sutural line, but
in basal half with lines of punctures, no punctures in apical half. Pygidium
smooth in 4, rugate in 9, white.
3. Balanodes tomentosus Waterh. (1876).
A series.
4. Araecerus suturalis Boh. (1839).
A large series. The species is common in India. The & is easily recognised
by the long pygidium.
Dinephrius gen. nov.
d. A genere Caranistes dicto differt oculis magnis sinuatis.
Genotype: D. annulatus Waterh. (1876, as Caranistes).
The antennae bear long bristles on the shaft and club. The eyes are longer
\ Cf, Ann. Mag. N. H. (9) xii. p. 330 (1923).
228 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924,
than broad and have a narrow but rather deep sinus above the antennal groove ;
they are as widely apart as the antennal grooves or nearer together (the frons
probably being broader in the 29). Pygidium large, rounded at apex, with the
apical margin incurved.
5. Dinephrius annulatus Waterh. (1876).
Only one g. Eyes as far apart as the antennal grooves.
I take the opportunity of describing a closely allied species from Mauritius
(Ile de France) :
Dinephrius mauritius spec. nov.
g. Frons capitis multo angustior ; tibiae apice pallidae ; tarsorum segmenti
primi dimidium basale brunneum.
Long. 4-5-5 mm.
In D. annulatus the apices of the tibiae and the apical half of the first tarsal
segment are dark brown, in D. mauritius the brown postmedian ring of the
tibiae is narrow and does not extend to the apex, and the basal half of the first
tarsal segment is pale testaceous, while the apical half is brown. The eyes are
much closer together in D.'mauritius, the frons being less than half as broad as
the space between the antennal grooves. Moreover, the pygidium of D. mauritius
is a little longer.
Talpella gen. nov.
Q. Scirtetino Jord. (1914) affinis, pubescentia sparsissima vestita, carina
prothoracicali lateribus gradatim antrorsum flexa, unguiculis edentatis.
The tooth of the mandible is a little farther away from the apex than in
Scirtetinus. The species on which I base this genus is similar in shape to
Sc. dimidiatus Jord. (1914), recalling by the proportions of its body the Brazilian
Hypocephalus armatus Desm. (1832) and the Mole Cricket.
6. Talpella atra spec. nov.
9. Atra vel piceo-atra, antennarum basi atque tarsis pallide luteis ; capite
reticulato ; pronoto transversim densissime seriatim punctato ; elytris fortissime
striato-punctatis ; pygidio punctis grossis notato apice glabro.
Long. 1-5 mm.
Three 99.
One of the specimens is glossy black with a very slight pitchy tint, the
mouth-parts, base of antenna and the tarsi pale luteous; in a second the
mesosternum and part of the tibiae, and in the third example the meso-
metasterna, abdomen inclusive of pygidium and the legs, are luteous. Proportions
of antennal segments as in Scirtetinus. Head and rostrum covered with a net
of hexagonal meshes, each bearing a minute central puncture, about 5 meshes
between antennal grooves. Prothorax rather larger than the rest of the body,
with long punctures beneath, but above densely covered with short transverse
rows of confluent punctures, many of the rows joined together, which gives the
pronotum the appearance of being transversely rugate-plicate ; carina antebasal,
gradually curved forward at sides, without indication of an angle. Elytra rather
narrower than pronotum, coarsely punctate-striate, interspaces convex, the basal
half of the suture and the posterior half of the third interspace distinctly elevate.
NoviTAates Zootogicar XXXI. 1924. 229
Pygidium broader than long, triangular, with the apex rounded off. Sterna
and abdomen coarsely punctate.
Pubescence very sparse, silky, distinct under a high power, each puncture
evidently bearing a hair, the hairs lying flat on the derm.
7. Homoeodera snelli spec. nov.
3. Atra, nitida, supra squamis elongatis albis dispersis vestita, antennarum
basi, tibiis tarsisque pallide rufis, pronoto densiter punctato, elytris punctis
magnis seriatim dispositis, plus triente apicali impunctato.
Long. 1:2 mm. ;
Two 3d.
Head minutely coriaceous, with shallow pits. Segments 9 and 10 of antenna
truncate, the apical margin somewhat incurved, one side of the segments much
more widened than the other, 9 about as long as broad, longer than 10, which
is much broader than long, 11 rounded, nearly circular, with the tip very slightly
acuminate. Pronotum as long as broad, as wide at base as at apex, with the
sides evenly rounded ; minutely coriaceous, densely pitted with large punctures,
which are not confluent, apical marginal area without punctures. Elytra cylin-
drical, one-fourth longer than broad, the sides slightly, the apex in dorsal view
very strongly rounded, no impressed stripes, except the sutural one in apical
third, basal margin slightly incurved from shoulder to shoulder with the edge
raised, shoulder angle well marked in dorsal view, no subbasal callosity, shoulders
not elevate, no transverse antemedian depression, from base to beyond middle
rows of very large punctures, rather more than the apical third without punctures.
Pygidium vertical, slightly inclining cephalad, smooth, nearly semicircular,
Prosternum coarsely punctate ; proximal abdominal segments with a few large
punctures at the base.
In perfect specimens evidently each puncture bears a white scale-hair, which
narrows towards base and gradually tapers to a point apically, recalling a short
blade of grass. These white scales very conspicuous under a lens.
8. Achoragus pumilio spec. nov.
@. Nigro-piceus, griseo pubescens, antennis pedibusque luteis, elytris etiam
pallidis brunneo variis. Oculi grosse granulati. Pronotum minute coriaceum,
leviter punctatum, lateribus punctis grossis instructum, angulo carinae obtuso,
carina dorsali medio concava. Elytra punctato-striata. Pygidium semi-
circulare, nitidium, impunctatum.
Long. 1-5-1-3 mm.
Five 99.
Eye much more coarsely granulated than in A. tener Jord. (1914), from the
Seychelles, and minutely but distinctly sinuate. Pubescence grey, as coarse
as in A. tener. Head and prothorax brownish black, coriaceous, with large but
rather widely separated punctures, which are shallow except at the sides of the
pronotum. Carina applied to the basal margins of the elytra, concave medianly,
gradually slightly convex towards sides, angle a little more than 90°, not rounded
except its extreme tip; no reticulation on head and pronotum. Elytra convex
from base to apex and from side to side, nearly half as long again as broad, pale
rufous clay, the suture and margins and some variable and ill-defined spaces,
230 NoVITATES ZooLoGIcAR XXXI. 1924.
particularly a lateral antemedian patch, darker brown; punctate-striate, the
punctures deep, becoming more shallow towards apex. Pygidium semicircular,
glossy, with dispersed grey pubescence and without distinct punctures,
Underside sparingly pubescent, glossy; prosternum coarsely punctured ;
at base and apex of metasternum, laterally, a row of punctures and also at the
bases of segments 1 to 4 of abdomen. Legs and antennae very pale, femora
more or less pitchy brown.
9. Achoragus tantillus spec. nov.
9. Caput et pronotum reticulata, rostro basi fovea mediana instructo,
elytris fortiter punctato-striatis.
Long. 2 mm.
One 9.
Larger than the preceding species; colouring similar, pubescence rather
denser. Distinguished by the longer antenna, of which segments 9 and 10 are
elongate-pyriform, 9 being very little longer than 10; by the rostrum bearing a
basal median groove and being like head and pronotum covered by a net of meshes,
which are very feeble on the disc of the pronotum ; by the angle of the pronotal
carina being a little sharper, 90°; and by the stripes of the elytra being more
impressed except apically. Differs from A. tener in the longer antenna, the
presence of the groove on the rostrum, the much less distinctly reticulate pro-
notum, the much more coarsely punctate-striate elytra, and the smaller
pygidium.
10. Corynecia scotti Jord. (1914).
One 3.
The eyes of this specimen are somewhat elongate and oblique, the frons
therefore narrowing somewhat towards the rostrum, Possibly a species distinct
from C. scotti.
NOVITATES ZooLOGICAE XXXI. 1924, 231
NEW ANTHRIBIDAE
By DR. KARL JORDAN.
1. Acorynus labidus spec. nov.
39. Similar to A. passerinus Pasc. (1860). Rostrum with five carinae
extending to antenna. Eyes of ¢ almost contiguous, frons of 9 not quite so
broad as the club of the antenna. Segments 1, 8 (often also 7), base of 9 and tip
of 11 very pale, 3 nearly half as long again as 4, 8 much shorter than 9, this
triangular, about twice as long as broad, 10 as long as broad, in & 3 to 8 flattened
and much wider than in 9 (and also than ¢ of A. passerinus).
Pronotum laterally with dispersed but distinct punctures, disc transversely
impressed, markings luteous or grey as on elytra, a median stripe dilated behind
apical margin into a rhombiform spot, constricted in the groove and again a
short distance in front of the carina and finally, in front of the scutellum, dilated
into a square or rounded spot, in the depression on each side a spot which is
joined to the median stripe, sides of disc anteriorly with a double spot (anguli-
form) and in the curve of the carina two spots, which are usually united along
the carina.
Elytra strongly punctate-striate, with the interstices rather strongly convex,
markings practically as in A. passerinus: on the subbasal swelling a brown
half-ring joined to a largish sutural patch, nearer the shoulder a brown anguliform
spot laterally joined to the brown limbal area, behind the subbasal swellings
a large transverse grey patch indented anteriorly and posteriorly, behind middle
on each elytrum a smaller indented grey patch, and at apex two or three patches
more or less confluent, but often broken up, besides these grey markings a variable
number of grey lines, short and long. Pygidium with brown median stripe,
which is broader in the 2 than in the 4.
Legs pale rufous, pubescent grey, a spot near apex of femora, base and apex
of tibiae and of first tarsal segment and the entire second and third tarsal seg-
ments dark brown ; foretibia of ¢ unarmed.
Length (head excl.) 3-5 mm.
Hab. Ceylon: Nalanda and Weligama (Dr. W. Horn) ; a small series.
2. Acorynus cruralis spec. nov.
$9. A. pallipedi simillimus, sed tibiis quatuor posticis apice nigro-brunneis.
Long. 5-6-5 mm.
Hab. Mindanao; a series.
The black dorsal stripes of the pronotum broader than the greyish luteous
median stripe, with straight sides, the luteous spot in the centre of the black
stripe small. Black spots of elytra larger, more rounded and better defined than
in A. pallipes, distributed as follows: a postmedian transverse irregular band
as in A. pallipes, between it and base at side three spots at even distances, the
anterior one at shoulder-angle, a largish spot, usually widest behind, is situated
1 All species measured in a straight line from anterior margin of pronotum to apex of pygidium.
232 NOoVITATEsS ZooLoGICAE XXXI. 1924,
a little before middle halfway between suture and outer margin, before this spot
in interspaces 2 and 6 a small spot each, on subbasal swelling a rounded one and
another round one behind middle of suture, before apex a small spot, and at
basal third of suture usually a small line. Pygidium with black median stripe.
Apical half or two-fifths of hindtibia black-brown, of midtibia usually somewhat
paler brown; in A. pallipes and A. analis Jord. (1895) the apices of the tibiae
remain pale testaceous, the postmedian black patch not reaching apex.
3. Litocerus plagiatus vagulus subsp. nov.
32. Greyish ochraceous median stripe of pronotum as broad as in A. p.
plagiatus Jord. (1895), from Luzon, often with a pair of black dots between
carina and impressed line. On the yellowish basal area of the elytra several
short blackish brown lines; the large black lateral area extends in middle, and
usually also at apical third, dorsad to first line of punctures, a rounded yellowish
spot, thus being almost separated from the basal area, between this spot and the
suture a brownish longitudinal streak, usually distinct.
Hab. Philippines: Mindanao (type), Leyte, Masbete; a series.
4. Litocerus confatalis spec. nov.
$2. Colore praecedentis, sed angulo carinae prothoracicalis rotundato.
Long. 4-6 mm.
Hab. Philippines: Iloros Norte, Rangui and Los Banos, on Luzon; a
series.
Antenna of ¢ flattened from segment 5. Rufescent brown, base of antennae,
legs and light-coloured portions of upper surface testaceous, more or less pale ;
occiput and pronotum brownish black centrally ; on pronotum a large central
cross luteous, sides also pubescent luteous, with a black stripe reaching neither
apical margin nor carina, variable in size, anteriorly curved down, connected in
middle with the black disc, and sometimes interrupted. Elytra pubescent
luteous: before middle a transverse, irregular, brown-black band which widens
laterally, encloses an antemedian, irregular, lateral, luteous spot, and is con-
stricted in second line of punctures; basal area with irregular, small, brown
lines and spots; on apical declivity a large brown-black patch, irregular, anteriorly
tridentate, enclosing two or three, separate or confluent, luteous spots, of which
the one at the suture is the largest. Pygidium with brown-black median vitta,
which widens apically.
Underside grey. A large subapical patch on femora and a large subapical
ring on tibiae (complete or beneath open) brown-black, first tarsal segment brown,
except extreme base and tip.
All the markings variable.
5. Litocerus stichus spec. nov.
So. L. anatini Jord. (1901) vicinus, carina dorsali prothoracis medio haud
subangulata, angulo laterali distincto, linea grisea suturali completa ante apicem
versus limbumcurvata, caeteris lineis ante et post medium interruptis; antennarum
segmento 9° ultimo parum longiore, 3'°-8° maris tenuibus, non-dilatatis.
Hab. Cameroons: Johann-Albrechtshéhe (L. Conradt); a small series,
A little smaller than Z. anatinus, which also was collected by Conradt at the
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 233
same place; on the pronotum three grey vittae, besides the grey sides which
look like a stripe in dorsal aspect, the median vitta posteriorly dilated, between
it and the next stripe a round discal dot or a stripe. The angle of the carina
much less rounded than in L. anatinus. The grey sutural line touches the suture
behind the scutellum and again before the middle, the brown sutural line slightly
widened at basal fifth and in middle; in L. anatinus the third grey line curves
round at apex to join the ninth line, in Z. stichus it is the first grey line which
curves towards the side, where, however, it does not meet a grey line.
6. Tropideres bolinus spec. nov.
3g. Very pale rufous, occiput, sides of pronotum and a large lateral area of
the elytra, extending from shoulder to beyond middle and dorsally to second
line of punctures, brownish black.
Rostrum flat, in basal half with vestiges of carinae, only the lateral carina
being fairly distinct. Frons twice as wide in 9 as in 4, in the latter one-fourth
as wide as the rostrum measured between the antennae; groove below eye
distinct. Antennae rufous, paler at the base, segment 10 shorter than 9.
Pronotum coarsely punctured, with a deep transverse groove; the pale
central area occupies rather less than one-third of the surface, is posteriorly
strongly narrowed and bears before the groove two brown spots, convergent
anteriorly, and two behind the groove, convergent posteriorly ; dorsal carina
convex, with a small median angle pointing backwards, lateral angle of carina
rounded, almost semicircular.
Elytra strongly punctate-striate, with the alternate interstices somewhat
raised ; subbasal swelling distinct, brown or blackish, this spot separate from
the black-brown lateral area or merged together with it ; in this area a few pale
dots; the pale sutural area, which posteriorly extends to the lateral margin,
bears a number of brown dots. Pygidium with brown median stripe.
Sides of sterna coarsely punctured. Abdomen brown at the sides, with
pale spots. Femora with a small spot in middle and a large one at or near apex,
tibiae with the apex and a large antemedian spot brown, first tarsal segment
also brown near the base and at the apex.
Length 2-8-3-4 mm.
Hab. Thano Range and Nagsidh Forest, Dehra Dun, ix.x.1920 (C. F. C.
Beeson) and x.1921 (N. C. Chatterjee), ex Shorea robusta, one 3, two 92.
7. Hucus proles balius subsp. nov.
$9. Distinguished by the markings of the elytra: basal sutural spot anguli-
form, being divided on the suture from behind ; in third interspace two spots,
sometimes united as a line, one behind the feeble subbasal swelling, the other in
middle, the anterior one sometimes joined to the postscutellar spot (type),
obliquely backwards in fifth and seventh interspaces, or in fifth only, a spot or
short line, additional spots in third and seventh interspaces before apex, a basal
line in third, united sometimes with the antemedian spot of this interspace,
above shoulder a basal patch,-more or less diffuse, and at sides and suture indica-
tions of some small spots.
Hab. Philippines: S. Theodoro, Mindoro; a small series,
16
234 NoviratEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
8. Phaeochrotes anisus spec. nov.
6@. Segmento octavo antennarum multo minus quam in caeteris speciebus
dilata diversus.
Long. 2-5-3-5 mm.
Hab. Philippines: Manila; a series.
Nearest to Ph. phorcas Jord. (1904), but rostrum broader, in ¢ segment 3 of
antenna much shorter, in 9 4 and 8 shorter, and in 2 8 much narrower, the
club being triarticulate as in Plintheria.
Black-brown, uniformly grey beneath, the tibiae more or less rufescent ;
upperside of rostrum and head sparsely grey, pronotum with a central row of
three markings and at each side of middle another spot (isolated or joined to
lateral area) grey, sides likewise grey, bearing a large brown ring enclosing a grey
dot. Elytra with numerous grey spots and short lines, all very variable, often
confluent, usually the brown ground rather more extended than the grey markings,
but sometimes the grey pubescence prevalent. Pygidium grey.
Frons and base of rostrum reticulate, the former two-thirds the width of
the apex of the rostrum, rostrum as long as apically broad, flat, slightly im-
pressed in middle, finely wrinkled longitudinally at apex. Eye almost circular.
Antennae: segments 3 and 4 together as long as the frons is wide, in ¢ 3 =5,
a very little shorter than 4, in 9 3 longer than 4; 9 triangular, a little longer
than broad, 10 broader than long, not closely applied to 9, triangular, with the
sides somewhat rounded, 11 a little longer than broad, 8 of ¢ flattened, slightly
wider than 7, elongate-triangular, twice as long as broad, in 2 8 much shorter
than 7 and but faintly broader. Pronotum densely granulate-rugate, carina
centrally more distinctly curved backwards than in Ph. porcellus, lateral angle of
carina 90°, with the tip rounded off, lateral carina horizontal, nearly reaching
to middle. Elytra punctate-striate.
9. Plintheria dufouri Montr. (1860).
Stenocerus dufouri Montrouzier, Ann. Soc. Fr. 1860, p. 867 (Lifu).
In coll. Fleutiaux there are two species of Plintheria from New Caledonia,
of which one may be dufouri. The description given by Montrouzier does not
contain anything which is decisive, except that the size is superior to any of the
species before me. I select the more coarsely sculptured species as being dufouri,
because Montrouzier says of the antenna that the first two segments are nearly
equal and do not differ in length from those which follow ; this description agrees
better with the coarsely sculptured species than with the other. On the other
hand, the eyes of dufour are said to be nearly contiguous, which points to the
second species rather than the first. Asthe dark spaces on the elytra are described
as being shiny black, nearly green, which is not the case in either species before
me, it is quite possible that true dufouri is not known to me.
What I here identify provisionally and with doubt as dufouri has the head
strongly reticulate, the frons longitudinally plicate, the rostrum longitudinally
rugate-punctate and the pronotum very densely rugate-punctate, the punctures
being more or less umbilicate. The frons is half as broad as the rostrum at its
narrowest point, and the lateral carina is absent or faintly indicated and then
quite short. In g segment 3 of the antenna a little longer than 2, 3 to 7 nearly
equal in lengths, 8 slightly shorter, but distinctly broader, as long as 9, but
Noviratrs ZooLoGIcAE XXXI 1924, 235
narrower, 9 about twice as long as broad, 10 a little longer than broad, 11 ovate ;
in 2 3 slightly longer than 2 and 4, 5 to 7 slightly decreasing in lengths, 8 dis-
tinctly broader than 3 to 7, club a little shorter than in 4, 10 being about as
long as broad. Sides of metasternum with large deep punctures.
Length 1-8—2-2 (head excl.), width 0-8-1-1 mm. Montrouzier gives as length
3:5 mm. and width 1-8 mm.
10. Plintheria subtilis spec. nov.
6. A little larger and slenderer than the previous; rostrum longer; frons
one-third the width of the rostrum at its narrowest point. Occiput and disc
of pronotum minutely punctate, very slightly rugose, sides of pronotum more
distinctly punctate, but not nearly as coarsely sculptured as in P. dufouri;
lateral carina distinct, fading away at a slight smooth median dorso-lateral
swelling. Elytra longer than in the previous, punctures smaller. Antenna (3)
longer, reaching almost to middle of elytra, segment 3 longer than 1 and 2 to-
together, 3 to 8 decreasing in length, 8 a little longer than 9, not broader than 7,
9 as long as 3, elongate triangular, 10 likewise triangular, about twice as long as
broad, 11 elongate-ovate, the club longer than in the previous species.
Length (head excl.) 2-3 mm., width 0-9 mm.
Three specimens: Nouméa to Bourail, and Coulée Boulari, Mont Doré ;
type in coll. Fleutiaux.
Antioxenus gen. nov.
69. Rostrum latissimum, plus duplo latius quam longius, latius quam
caput cum oculis, margine laterali supra-antennali explanato ad oculos con-
tinuato. Oculi obliqui ut in Nessiara. Mandibulae magnae bisinuatae, An-
tennae breves, prothoracis basin non attingentes, clava laxa. Pronotum trans-
versum, lateribus bituberculatis, carina dorsali medio concava, angulo laterali
obtuso rotundato. Elytra oblonga, dorso concava, singulo ante apicem declivem
tuberculo alto instructo. Processus mesosternalis truncatus, medio convexus,
lateribus obtuse angulatus.
Near Nessiara.
11. Antioxenus bennigseni spec. nov.
62. Niger. Rostrum griseum, inaequale, ante oculos macula parva nigra
notatum.
Frons capitis medio carinata, gutta ochracea signata; caput pone et sub
oculos ochraceum. Antennae rufescentes, clava lata, segmentis 9° et 10° triangu-
laribus latitudine paulo longioribus, 11° elliptico. Pronotum utrinque ante
carinam depressum, lateribus ochraceo et griseo notatis, duabus guttis ante-
scutellaribus, una ante, altera post carinam sita, luteo-griseis. Elytra macula
magna suturali nigro-velutina et guttis ochraceis ornata, margine basali fortiter
rotundato-producto, Pygidium ochraceum, longitudine vix latius, apice aequa-
biliter rotundatum. Subtus albo-griseus, lateribus nigro maculatis, pedibus
nigro-annulatis.
Long. 10-12, lat. 5-6 mm.
Hab. New Guinea: Kani Mts. (v. Bennigsen) ; two 29, one g; type (Q) in
D. Ent. Mus. ; antennae of g broken. The velvety sutural patch of the elytra
is partly shaded with tawny and is surrounded by greyish and ochraceous pubes-
236 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
cence, partly diffuse, partly concentrated in dots, a row of raised ochraceous
dots in interspace 7, and similarly coloured dots before apex in 9. The tibiae
are black, with the base, centre and apex grey. The abdomen bears on each side
one or two rows of small diffuse blackish spots and a row of sharply defined
lateral ones, the greyish white pubescence in between these spots appearing
concentrated in patches.
12. Apatenia fastigata spec. nov.
Q. A. viduatae Pasc. (1859) similis; rostro breviore latioreque, cum fronte
capitis obsolete carinato, fronte latiore quam illa A. viduatae, multiplicata ;
antennis parum brevioribus, 8° latitudine vix longiore; pronoto longiore,
carina dorsali fortiter convexa, angulo laterali acuto; elytris diffuse griseo et
nigro tessellatis, macula nigra mediana obsolescente.
Long. 7-7-5 mm.
Hab. Formosa: Kosempo (type) and Fuhosho; two 29; type in D. Ent.
Mus.
13. Commista baccula spec. nov.
$9. Nigra, omnino griseo-ochraceo irrorata. Rostrum crassum, subverticale,
longius quam latius, medio late depressum, sulcatum. Caput carina brevi
mediana instructum, Antenna (dä) corpore longiores, tenues, segmento 9°
octavo multo breviore, 10° fere quadrato, 11° nono breviore conico acuminato.
Pronotum dorso depressum, utrinque arcuatim elevatum, tuberculo cariniformi
mediano notatum, carina medio interrupta, fortiter concava, versus latera
convexu, subangulata, deinde arcuatim antrorsum flexa, trans medium continuata.
Elytra oblonga, lateribus subparallelis, latitudine dimidio longiora, confertissime
minutissime granulosa, lateribus punctato-striata, dorso irregulariter subseriatim
punctata, decem tuberculis notata, quorum septem magna, Pygidium longitu-
dine latius, late rotundatum, feminae utrinque subconvexum. Tibiae et tarsi
hispidi.
Long. 9-13, lat. 45-6 mm.
Hab. New South Wales, type, and Queensland; three gg, one 2. The
antennae of the @ are broken; in D. Ent. Mus. a 9 from Mt. Tambourine, also
with the antennae broken.
As in C. latifrons Jord. (1895) the antennal scrobes are small and open. In
the present species the frons and rostrum form with the occiput almost a right
angle; and the round eyes are subdorsal, the frons being much narrower than in
©. latifrons. The velvety spot which the & of C. latifrons bears on the first
abdominal segment is absent from C. baccula. The tibiae and tarsi of C. baccula
are very rough with stiff bristly hair.
14. Commista grisea. spec. nov.
69. Nigra, griseo pubescens, nonnihil luteo suffusa, latitudine plus duplo
longior. Rostrum porrectum latius quam longius, apice excepto late rotundatim
impressum, impressione utrinque carina arcuata abbreviata contenta. Oculi
laterales, fronte capitis latissima. Antennae rufae, breves, prothoracis basin
paulo superantes, illis C. latifrontis parum crassiores, segmentis 3'° & secundo
parum, @ vix longiore, 8° ¢ latitudine plus duplo, 2 minus duplo longiore, 9°
duobus ultimis simul sumptis atque tertio longiore. Pronotum caput versus fere
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI, 1924. 237
gradatim angustatum, lateribus tuberculo parvo postmediano instructum, dense
ruguloso-granulatum, longitudinaliter biimpressum, carina dorsali undulata,
angulo laterali valde obtusa, carina laterali obliqua medium fere attingente.
Scutellum griseo-album. Elytra parallela, latitudine plus duplo longiora, striato-
punctata, interspatiis alternis parum convexis, maxime tertio, ante medium
depressa, gibbositate subbasali conspicua tubereuliformi, margine basali nonnihil
antrorsum producta, sutura nigro-tessellata, interspatiis alternis plus minus
nigro guttatis. Pedes haud hirsuti, rufescentes.
Long. 4-6 mm.
Hab. Queensland: Townsville (F. P. Dodd); a series.
The pronotum is rounded-convex at the sides of the two longitudinal depres-
sions, and there is no depression laterally of this convex portion. The dorsal
carina is concave in centre, convex close to middle, and again convex at two-
thirds from middle to sides, the angle distinct though obtuse and rounded off,
the lateral carina nearly straight. Abdomen of ¢ flattened in middle, without
a velvety spot.
15. Idiopus brevis spec. nov.
9. I. penicillato Jord. (1898) similis, rostro antennisque multo brevioribus,
capite non-penicillato, elytris tuberculo secundo interspatii tertii mediano, pygidio
latitudine longiore.
Long. 6-7, lat. 3-4 mm.
Hab. Ex-German New Guinea (v. Bennigsen) ; two 99; type in D. Ent. Mus.
Pronotum spotted with black, the dorsal carina nearly straight except
that it is slightly angulate in centre, at the sides the carina curves gradually
forward, being more evenly curved than in J. penicillatus. Rostrum only as long
as apically broad, the dorso-lateral carinae obsolete and the median one vestigial.
The median hump of the pronotum high. Elytra short, first and second tubercle
of third interspace high, the second median, placed halfway between first and
third, interspace 5 with three tubercles placed obliquely in front of those of
interspace 3 and about as large as the last of 3, shoulder strongly tuberculiform,
interspace 7 elevate ; alternate interspaces spotted with black. Pubescence of
upper surface green in fresh specimen.
16. Gulamentus taeniatus spec. nov.
dQ. Niger, brevis, caput cum rostro, quinque vittis prothoracis, nonnul-
lisque vittis elytrorum griseo-flavis, infra luteo-griseus, antennis pedibusque rufis.
Long. 4-6-6-5, lat. 2-5-3-5 mm.
Hab. Kamerun, one pair; type (3) in D. Ent. Mus.
Middle of head brown. Pronotum densely reticulate; the yellow stripes
of equal width, about half as broad as the dorsal brown-black stripes. Scutellum
greyish yellow. On elytra the following greyish yellow stripes: a first beginning
as a narrow line at the base at some distance from the scutellum, forming with the
line of the other elytrum from before middle a sutural stripe which fades away
on the apical declivity, a stripe as broad as those of the pronotum runs from
base above shoulder to apex of suture where it joins a lateral stripe, which runs
forward to apical two-fifths, reaching margin above second abdominal sternite,
from basal third of lateral margin a short stripe obliquely up- and backwards,
238 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
a short dash below shoulder-angle, and indications of two thin lines in black
dorsal stripe. Pygidium in g with large brown spot, in @ with two small ones.
Foretarsal segments 1 and 2 of & quite short and broad, 3 very broad, 4 only
one-fourth shorter than tibia. Claws asymmetrical, particularly in 3, outer claw
large, inner claw very much narrower and shorter, bifid. Abdomen slightly
flattened in middle, last segment somewhat emarginate.
17. Gibber frenatus spec. nov.
3. Close to G. tuberculatus Jord. (1895), somewhat narrower, the eye less
elevate. Head and rostrum with a grey median line from which branches off
an oblique grey line, running from the middle of the rostrum to its lateral apical
angle; on occiput there are likewise two oblique lines, one on each side, these
lines form a more acute angle than the oblique lines of the rostrum. Eye bounded
with grey, similar in shape to the eye of Apatenia, not being so strongly raised
posteriorly as in @. tuberculatus. Pronotum less convex, distinctly flattened
above, with a black median tubercle, sides more strongly and evenly slanting
forward, the apex of the prothorax being narrower than in @. tuberculatus (in
conformity with the smaller width of the head) ; a thin grey median line inter-
rupted by the tubercle, anteriorly an oblique dorso-lateral line likewise grey,
broader, running from the apical margin not quite halfway to the carina, between
its posterior end and the grey infra-lateral surface a grey spot, along the oblique
line, on the dorsal side of it, a blackish, elongate patch or double band, which is
somewhat accentuated at the apical margin, where it is contiguous with the
grey median line, laterally between the carina and the oblique grey line some
blackish patches, around the median tubercle and in front of and behind the
carina luteous or ochraceous pubescence variegated with grey and interrupted by
blackish, ill-defined spots, in type-specimen a faint blackish line extends from
the tubercle sideways.
Elytra blackish, much variegated with pale luteous and grey, suture and
alternate interspaces more or less distinctly spotted and tufted with black and
grey, subbasal tubercle as high as, but shorter than, in G. tuberculatus ; behind
small median tubercle a grey line and below shoulder a grey patch. Pygidium
with brown-black patch from base to beyond middle, the patch bearing a grey
median line, or consisting of two ill-defined blackish stripes.
Base of femora, a large postmedian patch on tibiae, and base of first and second
tarsal segments black, base and tip of tibiae and tip of claw-segment brown ; claw-
segment of foretarsus much longer (S).than segments 1 to 3 together (in @.
tuberculatus this claw-segment is much shorter than 1 to 3 together).
Hab. U. Dihing Res., Lakhimpur, Assam, x.1921 (C. F. C. Beeson) ; two
3d.
18. Gibber callistus spec. nov.
3. In size and general appearance like @. tuberculatus. Head and rostrum,
shoulders, flanks of underside and the greater part of the legs luteous, paler than
the rest of the body. Pubescence of head and rostrum greyish luteous, with a
golden sheen in parts, median line grey, distinct, thin, oblique lines absent or
vestigal, middle of occiput brown ; eye not so high as in G. tuberculatus, and the
club of the antenna broader,
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 239
Prothorax as strongly truncate-conical as in @. frenatus spec. nov., but a
little more convex, central area blackish, densely variegated with luteous grey-
green, a rather ill-defined median line grey, interrupted by a blackish central
tubercle, sides greyish green, carina dorsally more concave and towards the side
in consequence more convex than in both @. tuberculatus and G. frenatus. Elytra
grey-green, with raised dark green or blackish dots and tufts, humeral area with
luteous pubescence, a basal patch in front of subbasal tubercle, an elongate,
narrow, cuneate mark in middle of suture, and a transverse sutural spot or
patch before apical declivity black, shoulder angle blackish, the median tubercle
in third interspace smaller than in the two other described species. Pygidium
with a velvety-black basal median spot.
A longitudinal lateral mark on metasternum extending on to first abdominal
segment, a large patch in middle of femora (on outside), another beyond middle
of tibiae and the larger portion of the first tarsal segment black, a small sub-
basal spot on tibiae and their extreme tip brown. First segment of foretarsus
longer than claw-segment.
Length 4 mm.
Hab. Dihing Res., Lakhimpur, Assam, vii.viii.1921 (C. F. C. Beeson) ;
two pairs,
19. Ormiscus micula spec. nov.
$9. Pallide testaceus, griseo pubescens, brunneo variegatus, tibiis macula
media brunnea. Antennarum clava compacta ovata; pronotum depressum,
longitudinaliter multicarinulatum, postice reticulatum, margine laterali fere
eariniformi. Sterna lateribus grosse punctata.
Long. 2-2-6 mm.
Hab. Grenada and St. Vincent (H. H. Smith) ; a long series in Mus. Brit.
Elytra usually with the anterior half of the sutural area and a sutural spot
before apex brown, there being also some brown shadowy spots towards the
sides and a larger one on centre before apical declivity, all these markings variable,
the grey pubescence as a rule concentrated in the alternate interspaces as short
lines or spots.
Frons in ¢ half, in 9 two-thirds the width of the rostrum. Club of antenna
barely half as long again as broad, 9 being about as long as 10 and 11 together,
the three segments closely applied to each other. Prothorax broader than
elytra, rotundate-angustate from base to apex, dorsally rather flat, regularly
convex from side to side, with the exception of apex densely covered with longi-
tudinal ridges, which are prominent and more or less connected with one another,
forming a more regular network before carina ; the sides so compressed in a vertical
sense that almost an edge is formed, which runs from the carina straight forward
to or beyond middle, but is not raised as a carina. Dorsal carina regularly con-
cave, curved on to the underside at the lateral angles and not forward. Elytra
with parallel sides, dorsally feebly depressed, punctate-striate, subbasal callosities
and depression behind them rather indistinct. Sides of prosternum densely
and very coarsely punctate, only a small space at posterior upper angle being
without large punctures. In & at apex of midtibia a small black ridge on
inner side.
240 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
20. Ormiscus conis spec. nov.
3. Similis O. miculae, pronoto leviter rugato-reticulato, prosterno area
magna impunctata laterali.
Long. 1-8-2 mm.
Hab. Guadeloupe, a small series in coll. Fleutiaux and Mus. Tring, type (9)
at Tring ; Martinique, one 9 at Tring.
In colour similar to the previous; usually the sutural area from base to
middle brown, here divided and extending obliquely backwards towards the sides,
but often reduced to an antemedian sutural patch; two sutural spots before
apex, the anterior one small and the posterior large, and the sides of elytra brown
in most specimens. Sides of pronotum less compressed, less cariniform than in
O. micula, the surface sculpture finer, consisting of an irregular network, not of
longitudinal raised lines. On the underside the large punctures of the prosternum
restricted to the anterior half, the posterior half bearing only a few punctures
near the posterior margin.
21. Xenocerus dacrytus spec. nov.
32. Speciei X. lachrymans Thoms, (1857) dictae similis, albo maculatus :
capite cum rostro quadrimaculato, pronoto macula vittiformi abbreviata laterali,
elytris simul sumptis octomaculatis, infra maculis lateralibus.
Hab. Philippines: Aroroy, Masbate; a series.
Segments 2 and 5 of g-antenna simple, 3 short. Upper- and underside
blue-black, with sharply defined white markings. Pronotum without median
vitta. Scutellum black. No shoulder-spot. First spot of suture near base,
not reaching scutellum, second spot postmedian, smaller, somewhat transverse,
at sides a spot above metasternum about as large as the first sutural one, a small
spot above second abdominal segment well separated from margin, and another,
round, on each elytrum before apex. Pygidium with a lateral spot, which usually
is elongate. On underside two lateral spots on prosternum, one each on procoxa
and meso- and metasternum ; abdominal segments 1 and 2, and on segments 3 and
4 two apical spots, which on 4 are more or less completely united. Bases of mid-
and hindfemora (incl. of trochanter and edge of coxa) and tarsal segments 1, 2, 4
or only of 1 also white. In small $& the antennae compressed.
22. Xenocerus scalaris confertus subsp. nov.
69. Caput albo-griseum gutta mediana geminata nigra notatum. Elytrorum
macula nigra dorsalis antemediana insulata, maculae ante apicem sitae albo-
griseae diffusae. 7
Hab. Philippines: Aroroy, Masbate; a series.
The two black dots on the occiput usually small. Lateral whitish grey stripe
of the pronotum dorsally a little dilated at a short distance in front of the carina.
Antemedian black spot of elytrum between lines of punctures 1 and 4 nearly
or completely isolated, at most connected by a thin black line with the spot
placed obliquely behind it, this latter spot broadly joined to the limbal spot,
which is connected by a thin line with the posthumeral spot ; the grey markings
of apical area diffuse in X. s. confertus, sharply defined in X. s. scalaris, the
lateral one of them larger than in X. s. scalaris, usually sending forward several
indistinct lines, subsutural spot absent or vestigial.
NovITATEs ZooLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 241
23. Xenocerus ancyra spec. nov.
32. X. buruano Jord. (1898) similis, colore nigro intensiore, pronoto parum
breviore et fortius punctato, fascia alba elytrorum transversa haud obliqua.
Hab. Philippines: Aroroy, Masbete; a series.
Antennal segment 3 of ¢ as long as in X. buruanus, X. whiteheadi, in large
36 apical half of 10 and a subapical spot on 9, in small gg apical half of 8,
entire 9, base of 10 white. Pronotum with three complete vittae, strongly
punctate. Scutellum white, postmedian transverse band connected with scu-
tellum by a sutural vitta, which is rarely interrupted at the band, oblique spot
above shoulder narrow, connected (or nearly) with sutural vitta along basal
margin, sometimes there is in fifth line of punctures a short subbasal line, isolated
or connected with humeral spot. Pygidium with white lateral stripe, which is
often reduced to two dots. Underside white, mesosternum and anal sternite
more or less black medianly, metepisternum without black stripe. Legs white,
apex of tibiae and of tarsal segments 1, 2 and 4 and the entire segment 3 black.
Autotropis gen. nov.
62. Vicina generis Hnedreytes Schoenh. 1839 dieti. Oculi majores et magis
prominuli; antennae breviores; carinula basali laterali prothoracis dorsum
versus arcuata; elytrorum margo basalis productus; scutellum antrorsum
angustatum.
Genotypus: A. modesta spec. nov.
Head and rostrum recalling Basitropis, but eye separated from the antennal
groove, less oblique, truncate or truncate-sinuate towards antennal groove,
which is triangular ; dorsal margin of this groove much less explanate than in
Basitropis ; rostrum apically more dilated than in that genus, with a small apical
median sinus. Segments 1 and 2 of antenna thicker than 3, 5 to 8 shorter, in &
gradually increasing in thickness or at least 8 incrassate, club subcylindrical,
10 shorter than 9 and 11, broader than long. Carina of pronotum antebasal,
evenly curved forward at sides without an angle being formed, not extending to
middle of sides ; basal carinula transverse, arched, joining the dorsal carina or
remaining separate, no longitudinal carinula. Forecoxae widely apart. Hind
femur not reaching apex of abdomen.
24. Autotropis modesta modesta subsp. nov.
6. Subcylindrica, supra luteo-griseo, infra albo-griseo pubescens, elytris
area laterali nigra ab humero trans medium continuata, ubi versus suturam
extensa. Pronotum convexum, confertim minute ruguloso-granulatum. Ely-
trorum margo basalis fortiter rotundato-ampliatus,
Long. 2-7-3-3 mm.
Hab. Basilan (type) and Kolambugan, Mindanao; a small series.
Antennae and legs rufous, light-pubescent portions of upperside rufescent.
Rostrum with median carina, like the head rugate-reticulate ; in middle of frons
a diffuse white spot. Eyes strongly elevate laterally. Space between eye and
antennal groove as broad as segment 1 of antenna. Antenna reaching a little
beyond base of pronotum in 4, shorter in 9, in g segment 8 thicker than 7.
Pronotum one-fifth broader than long, anteriorly two-thirds as wide as posteriorly,
242 NovitatEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
at sides somewhat rounded in posterior half, almost evenly convex, but somewhat
depressed along dorsal carina, the latter almost straight, surface structure coarser
at sides and behind than in centre, apical margin smooth, more than the posterior
half more or less blackish brown, at apex two convergent spots of the same dark
colour close together, at sides an antemedian grey spot, in middle a thin grey
line or an indication of it ; the basal carinula joins the dorsal carina. Scutellum
greyish white. Elytra cylindrical, almost evenly convex, a little over half as
long again as broad, punctate-striate, the interspaces flat, basal margin strongly
rounded, somewhat upturned, but not marginate, a /-shaped mark on suture
at basal fourth, and the sides from shoulder to a little beyond middle black, the
streak posteriorly widened dorsad as a transverse band, which is either con-
tinuous (type) or interrupted at the suture. Pygidium semicircular. Mesosternal
process truncate. Tarsal segment 1 at least half as long again as 2+ 3, 2 in
median line a little longer than the tibia is broad.
25. Autotropis modesta rugulosa subsp. nov.
62. Praecedenti simillima, pronoto sat fortiter reticulato-rugulosum.
Hab. Luzon: Mt. Banahao (type), and Mindoro: Calapan; a small series.
The lateral black stripe of the elytra is more or less suppressed, while the
postmedian transverse patch or band remains.
26. Autotropis modesta limbata subsp. nov.
9. Macula brunnea postscutellaris diffusa obsolescens, area elytrorum
brunnea lateralis bene terminata supra ad lineam punctorum secundam aut
tertiam extensa, limbo ipso plus minus griseo. Pronotum ut illud A. m. rugulosae
reticulato-rugulosum.
Hab. Sumatra: Medan, i. and ii. (J. B. Corporaal) ; three 99.
27. Autotropis fraterna spec. nov.
Q. A. modesta similis, rostro parum longiore, elytrorum margine basali
multo minus producto, atque aliter maculata.
Hab. Perak (W. Doherty) ; two 99.
Pronotum minutely granulate, somewhat rugulose at sides and behind,
luteous grey, in middle a brown ovate patch divided behind, at each side of it
(most distinct when viewed from front) a somewhat irregularly curved line,
narrow anteriorly, wider posteriorly, the lines converging anteriorly. An ante-
median sutural patch blackish, a smaller patch on each elytrum before apex and
a stripe along apical margin rufous brown, the grey pubescence here and there
less dense, the rufous brown derm showing through ; basal margin but slightly
rounded-produced, punctures smaller and stripes less impressed than in the
previous forms. Basal carinula of pronotum not joining dorsal carina.
28. Autotropis downingi spec. nov.
69. Antennae parum longiores quam in speciebus praecedentibus. Pro-
notum dorso leviter ruguloso-granulatum. Elytra brunnea, ante medium
transverse depressum, gibbositate subbasali conspicua, macula magna suturali
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 243
mediana brunnea in sutura scutellum versus producta, lateribus vel ex maxima
parte brunneis vel brunneo-marmorata.
Long. 3-3-5 mm.
Hab. South India: Nilgiri Hills(H. L. Andrewes and A. K. Weld Downing) ;
one pair, type in coll. H. E. Andrewes.
29. Basitropis papuensis spec. nov.
@. Clava antennarum triarticulata; abdomen immaculatum ; tibiae uni-
colores basi brunneae, posternum punctatum, metepisternum serie punctorum
parvorum instructum, metasternum lateribus sparsim sat grosse punctatum. d:
tibia antica nonnihil arcuata, apice dente obtuso armata, postica apice inermis ;
abdomen medio depressum, segmento anali rotundato.
Long. 6-9 mm.
Hab. New Guinea, type from ““ German N.G.”
Colouring of upperside as in B. nitidicutis, B. affinis, ete. , variable. Frons
as broad as the rostrum is long in front of the eye, anteriorly in middle a shallow
broadish groove which extends on to the rostrum. Club two and one-half times
as long as broad, not villose beneath in g. Pronotum rounded at sides, with dis-
persed large punctures except at apex, which is impunctate. The prosternum
distinctly punctate anteriorly, with a few smaller punctures in posterior half.
Tooth at apex of foretibia of ¢ short and blunt.
30. Basitropis epipona spec. nov.
6. Praecedenti simillima, differt antennarum clava parum angustiore,
tibia maris antica apice incisa bidentata, postica calcare apicali coniformi armata.
Hab. Queensland (type) and Southern New Guinea.
The larger of the two apical teeth of the foretibia is sharply pointed, the
other is short, a mere ridge, the incision or groove separating them quite distinct
under a fairly high power. The spur of the hindtibia, inner side, stands nearly
at right angles to the tibia. I have as yet not found any reliable difference in
the 99; on the whole the club of the antenna is narrower in the 9 of B. epipona.
31. Basitropis dolosa spec. nov.
62. B. peregrino Pasc. (1859) similis, frons antice parum angustiore, pronoto
minus confertim punctato.
Hab. New Guinea, type from Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen.
As in B. peregrina the abdomen has a row of black lateral spots, the club of
the antenna of the ¢ consists of five segments and is very hairy beneath and the
tibiae of the ¢ are unarmed.
32. Caccorhinus lateralis spec. nov.
6@. Similar in structure to ©. oculatus Sharp (1891), of which it probably
is a geographical race, but elytra with a very large brown lateral area.
Varying from pale rufous to blackish brown ; densely covered with a luteous
grey pubescence, indistinctly variegated with whitish grey. Pronotum densely
rugate-reticulate, almost smooth centrally at apex, sides darker brown, bearing
blackish hairs, this brown area widest basally, where it approaches to near middle
of carina, and narrowest at apex; it bears some ill-defined luteous-grey spots.
244 NOVITATEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI, 1924.
Elytra as distinctly punctate as in C. oculatus, alternate interspaces inconspicu-
ously tessellated with whitish grey and brown, some brown dots more distinct ;
a large dark brown area from shoulder to middle, narrowest anteriorly, its posterior
half extended to about third line of punctures. Legs as in C. o. formosanus
Jord. (1912), tibiae and tarsi blackish brown, usually nearly black, with a very
broad median ring on the tibiae and nearly the entire first segment of the
mid- and hindtarsi luteous grey.
Length 7-10 mm.
Hab. Kanara, v.1907, in fungus (T. R. Bell) ; a series.
33. Caccorhinus murinus spec. nov.
Q. Similar to C. ebscurus Jord. (1904), but much more elongate.
Black-brown, with a rather dispersed luteous pubescence, elytra indis-
tinctly tessellated. Rostrum less than twice as broad as long (in C. obscurus
rather more than twice as broad as long). Antenna dark rufous, club as long as
shaft, being much longer than in C. obscurus, segment 3 longer than 2 and than 4,
11 nearly three times as long as broad.
Prothorax not quite one-half broader than long, densely punctate-reticulate,
depressed dorsally before the carina, angle of carina a very little smaller than
90°. Elytra nearly twice as long as broad, regularly punctate-striate, depressed
at the base, with the subbasal swelling distinct, but not high.
Underside pubescent greyish luteous, extreme bases and tips of tibiae and the
tarsal segments 2 to 4, in foretarsus also the greater part of 1, black-brown.
Length 9 mm.
Hab. Wetter; one 9, received from Professor G. Hauser.
34. Caccorhinus didymus spec. nov.
&®. Whereas in C. lateripictus Jord. (1895) the upper surface is uniformly
covered by a very dense luteous grey pubescence (apart from the black lateral
patch of the elytra), in the present species the pubescence of the head and thorax
is ochraceous, the pronotum moreover showing numerous spots and patches
of the dark brown ground. The pubescence of the elytra paler than on the
pronotum, and interrupted by a number of dark brown spots, which are usually
more numerous before the apical declivity ; the lateral, dark brown, patch much
larger than in ©. lateripictus, extending upwards to the third line of punctures,
and often bearing some grey dots. The luteous grey median ring of the tibiae
larger than in (©. lateripictus, occupying half the tibia or more.
Head and pronotum densely rugate-reticulate, only the central apical
portion of the pronotum being nearly smooth. Sides of pronotum distinctly
incurved in front of the basal angles, which, therefore, are more acute than in
©. lateripictus.
Length 7-9 mm.
Hab. New South Wales, five specimens received from Messrs. Standinger.
and Bang-Haas.
35. Euparius annulipes spec. nov.
39. E. lunato F. (1801) subsimilis, latior, Supra omnino luteo-brunneo
pubescens. Pronotum nigro marmoratum, convexum, ad carinam dorsalem
Novitatrs ZooLoGICcAE X XXI. 1924, 245
depressum, utrinque pone apicem macula alba notatum, lateribus ante carinae
angulum acutum sinuatis. Elytra interstitiis alternis albo et nigro tessellata,
macula alba antemediana in spatiis 3'°-5° sita, gibbositate subbasali sat alta,
Infra minutissime punctatus, parte antica laterali prosterni excepta. Processus
mesosternalis latus, apice rotundatus, planatus. Tibiae basi medio apiceque
brunneae.
Long. 6-9 mm.
Hab. Asuncion, Paraguay; a small series, type (4) collected by Dr. J.
Bohls.
On the pronotum there is an indication of a white median line at apex and
behind middle, the line extending on to the occiput, and halfway to the lateral
carina a small white postmedian dot in front of a black spot; the centre of the
pronotum somewhat depressed. Elytra more coarsely punctate-striate and the
underside much more minutely punctate than in Z. lunatus.
36. Apolectella corporaali spec. nov.
9. A. minori Jord. (1895) colore et statura simillima ; oculis multo majoribus,
antice nonnihil emarginatis; pronoto fortissime granulato-reticulato, carina
dorsali recta ; elytrorum interspatis tertio pone basin et pone medium paulo
elevato haud tuberculato, diversa.
Hab. Sumatra: Boechs-Bander, iv. (type) and Bah-Soemboo, i. (J. B.
Corporaal) ; two 92.
A. minor also occurs on Sumatra: Soengei Merah, ix (J. B. Corporaal),
one 9.
37. Araeocorynus corismus spec. nov.
9. A. subplanato Jord. (1895) simillimus, pronoto et elytris minus deplanatis,
angulo carinae prothoracicalis recto apice rotundato.
Long. 6-5-8 mm.
Hab. Fergusson I. (type, A. S. Meek) and Sattelberg, ex-German New
Guinea (coll. v. Bennigsen) ; three 99.
Elytra with a black tuft on subbasal callosity accompanied in fifth inter-
space by a small tuft. Foretibia without apical hook, and first foretarsal
segment about twice as long as broad. In all this the new species agrees with
A. subplanatus, described as a Doticus. In the latter species, however, the
angle of the prothorax and that of the carina are acute, and both pronotum
and elytra are more strongly depressed than in A. corismus.
38. Araeocorynus brachyurus spec. nov.
d. Ab A. planato Jord. (1905) pronoto lateribus fortius rotundato, pygidio
longitudine latiore distinguendus.
Long. 7 mm.
Hab. British New Guinea: Mailu, vii.1896 (Anthony); one 4.
Third interspace of elytra carinate posteriorly as in A. planatus, the carina
ending in a tubercle. Foretibia with a short apical hook. Angle of carina a
little over 90°, lateral carina strongly curved.
246 NoVvITATEs Zoonoaicar XXX]. 1924.
39. Araecerus arafurus spec. nov.
$9. A. vieillardi Montr. (1860) similis, minor ; abdomen grossius punctatum,
segmento anali basi punctis grossis instructo ; clava antennarum non symmetros ;
tibia antica maris ut in A. vieillardi mucrone longo armata. Speciminibus
parvis A. fasciculati magis ovatus, pygidio maris tam longo quam lato, apice
rotundato, feminae longitudine latiore, triangulari. Caput absque carinula
mediana ; coxa intermedia inermis.
Long. 2-2-8 mm.
Hab. Tenimber (W. Doherty) ; a series.
Midcoxa of ¢ without tooth.
40. Araecerus omphalus spec. nov.
$9. A. vieillardi vicinus; pronotum medio evidentius depressum, sub-
bicallosum ; caput sine carinula mediana.
Hab. Northern Moluccas: Halmaheira (type) and Ternate (W. Doherty) ;
a small series.
In & the foretibia with apical mucro and the midcoxa with tooth, as in
A. vieillardi.
41. Araecerus greenwoodi spec. nov.
g. Parvus, elongato-ovatus, rufus, luteo-griseo-pubescens, elytris parum
brunneo variegatis. Oculi non-sinuati, levissime truncati. Caput sine carinula
mediana. Antennarum segmentum 3" quarto paulo longius, clava symmetros,
9° pyriformi decimo longiore. Pronotum conicum, medio nonnihil deplanatum,
ex maxima parte subleve, lateribus brunnescentibus, punctatis, angulo basali
a supero viso extus producto, angulo carinae acuto. Elytra punctato-striata,
levissime granulata. Pygidium semicirculare. Processus intercoxalis meso-
sternalis truncatus, apicem versus paulo angustata. Metepisternum una serie
punctorum grossorum notatum. Segmenta 1-4" abdominis fere levia,
duabus seriebus punctorum, una basali, altera apicali, instructa, hac in seg-
mento 4° fere obsoleta, segmentum 5%" minute granulosum. Tibiae immacu-
latae, antica maris inermis.
Long. 2:8 mm.
Hab. Fiji: Lautoka, 22.viii.1920 (W. Greenwood), one 3.
The acute angle of the pronotal carina, the almost smooth dorsal surface of
the pronotum and the non-sinuate eye are the main distinguishing features of
this species.
42. Araecerus silex spec. nov.
39. A. greenwoodi similis. Oculi sinuati. Antennarum segmentum 3m
quarto aequale ( 3) aut brevius (9), clava angusta, non symmetros, 9° longitudine
octavi. Pronotum fortiter reticulatum, asperum, angulo carinae subacuto,
Elytra fortiter granulata, punctato-striata, Pygidium fere semicirculare. Pro-
cessus mesosternalis truncato-sinuatus, apicem versus paululo angustior.
Metepisternum et segmentum 4” abdominis una serie punctorum grossorum,
segmenta 1-3 duabus seriebus instructa, segmento 3° feminae tertia
NOoVvITATEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 247
serie abbreviata intermedia, 5% fere leve, minutissime granulatum. Tibiae
immaculatae, antica maris infra denticulata, dente apicali caeteris vix evidentiore.
Long. 2-4-2-8 mm.
Hab. New Guinea: Humboldt Bay (W. Doherty) ; one pair.
43. Araecerus pumilus spec. nov.
gQ. Praecedenti simillimus. Antennarum segmentum 3'™ quarto longius
(S$) aut aequale (9); clava quam illa praecedentis parum latior, non
symmetros, 9° et octavo et decimo longiore. Caput sine carinula mediana.
Pronotum confertim reticulatum, angulis postieis prominulis, rufo-brunneum, in
octo maculas magnas approximatas vel plus minus confluas divisum, 4 antice,
4 ante carinam ; angulus carinae subacutus. Elytra fortiter granulosa, grosse
striato-punctata, macula subbasali rotundata, fascia transversa irregulari ante-
mediana communi atque maculis male expressis in dimidio apicali sitis rufo-
brunneis plus minus diffusis. Pygidium longitudine latius, maris fere semi-
circulare, feminae triangulare, acuminatum. Processus mesosternalis apicem
versus angustatus, truncato-rotundatus, Metepisternum antice biseriatim
punctatum. Abdominis segmenta 1°%°-4™ lateribus duabus seriebus punctorum,
3° et 4° tertia serie incompleta. Tibiae immaculatae;; antica maris inermis.
Long. 2-2:3 mm.
Hab. Ceylon: Weligama (Dr. W. Horn); one (, three 99.
44. Araecerus bradytus spec. nov.
69. Latus, valde convexus, colore variabilis, nigro-brunneus, subtus
albescens, supra luteo vel griseo pubescens, elytris sutura et lateribus nigris,
aut plus minus nigris griseo guttatis, aut fere totis griseis. Rostrum inter
antennas nonnihil convexum. Oculi sinuati. Caput carinula mediana in-
structum. Antennarum segmentum 3%” quarto vix longius, clava fere sym-
metros. Pronotum transversum, antrorsum fortissime angustatum, confertim
reticulatum, lateribus ante angulos sinuatis, angulo carinae acuto apice rotundato.
Elytra pone basim multo magis quam pronotum convexa, maxima altitudine
pone basim, gradatim declivia, humeris nonnihil elevatis, minute granulata,
leviter striato-punctata, punctis parvis, striarum interspatiis planis. Pygidium
latitudine brevius, maris apice rotundatum, feminae triangulare. Processus
mesosternalis latus, rotundatus. Tibiae immaculatae, antica maris infra
multidentata, sine dente apicali majore.
Long. 3-8-4-4 mm., lat. 2-3-2-6 mm.
Hab. South India: Nilgiris(A. K. Weld Downing); a series in coll. Andrewes.
When viewed from side almost evenly convex from head to pygidium.
The elytra strongly convex behind the base, but there are no well-defined sub-
basal callosities, whereas the shoulders are separated by a depression, The
puncturation of the abdomen somewhat variable; as a rule segment 1, at the
sides, with a basal row and an apical one, segments 2 and 3 with a double basal
row, a single apical row and a third incomplete row in middle, 4 with punctures
at base, rest of sides of this segment granulate, like 5. The elytra, on superficial
inspection, look almost smooth.
248 Noviratrs ZooLoGICAE XXXI. 1924,
45. Araecerus levipennis spec. nov.
82. A. simulato Gylh. (1833) similis, elytrorum striis punctatis dorsalibus
obsoletis.
Hab. Philippines: Manila (type); Cochinchina; a series.
Perhaps only an extreme form of A. simulatus ; colour of pubescence of
upperside variable, sometimes (as also in simulatus) each elytrum with a broad
luteous grey stripe. Much narrower and much less convex than A. bradytus.
46. Araecerus notandus spec. nov.
2. Rufo-brunneus, griseo pubescens, elytris sparsim brunneo variegatis,
elongatus, latitudine duplo longior. Oculi sinuati. Antennarum segmentum
3'™ quarto dimidio longius, 4"°-8"" longitudine subaequalia, 7°" et sum parum
latiora, clava symmetros, 9% pyriforme, multo longius quam octavum, 10™ etiam
pyriforme, brevius quam nonum. Pronotum fortiter reticulatum, sat planum,
angulo carinae subacuto, _Elytra pronoto plus duplo longiora, basi convexa,
ante medium et pone scutellum haud depressa, confertim granulata, haud
striata. Pygidium triangulare, acuminatum, longitudine parum latius. Pro-
cessus mesosternalis latus, apice truncato-rotundatus. Metepisternum antice
irregulariter quadriseriatim punctatum. Abdomen granulosum, segmento 1°
serie basali punctorum, caeteris segmentis impunctatis. Tibiae immaculatae.
Long. 3-2, lat. 1-6 mm.
Hab. Timor; three 99.
Though the elytra are convex behind basal margin, there is no definite sub-
basal callosity ; the shoulders are slightly separated by a depression.
47. Araecerus suavis spec. nov.
39. Oblongus, brunneo-rufus, supra griseo vel luteo, infra griseo pubescens,
elytris plus minus brunneo variegatis, antennis pedibusque rufis, tibiis immacu-
latis. Caput carinula mediana instructum. Oculi sinuati. Antennarum seg-
menta 3iw_gw oradatim breviora, clava symmetros, 9% et octavo et decimo
nonnihil longius. Pronotum grosse rugato-reticulatum, medio haud depressum,
lateribus magis quam dorso convexum, angulo carinae recto apice rotundato.
Elytra antice sat fortiter convexa, gradatim declivia, apicem versus leviter
angustata, absque callositate subbasali, levissime striata, fereimpunctata. Pygi-
dium maris fere semicirculare, convexum, feminae paululo longius quam latius,
triangulare, apice non acuminate. Processus mesosternalis latus, lateribus
paulo emarginatus, apice truncato-rotundatus. Metepisternum multipunctatum.
Abdomen granulosum, impunctatum, segmento primo serie basali punctorum
excepto. Tibia antica maris imermis. Tarsorum anticorum segmentum secun-
dum maris longius quam latius, feminae latius quam longius.
Long. 4-4-6, lat. 2-1-2-3 mm.
Hab. Amboina: Leitimor, Exped. Martin, xii. 1891; two pairs, ex coll.
van de Poll.
Very slightly narrowing from shoulders backwards. Scutellum white. On
pronotum an indication of a thin light-coloured median line. Angle of carina a
very little larger than 90°.
NoVvITATEs ZOo0oLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 249
48. Araecerus rotundatus spec. nov.
&2. Oblongus, latitudine haud duplo longior, rufo-brunneus, antennis
(clava excepta) et pedibus pallide rufis, infra albo-griseo, supra luteo et griseo
pubescens, elytris dorso plus minus brunneis griseo maculatis, Caput carinula
media instructum. Oculi sinuati. Antennarum segmentum 3'™ quarto longius,
gum_gum fere gradatim descrescentia, 9°" octavo multo, decimo nonnihil longius,
ut 10 fere symmetros. Pronotum cum capite dorso subtiliter ruguloso-
reticulatum, fere leve, lateralibus evidentius reticulatum, angulo carinae obtuso,
apice rotundato. Elytra antice sat fortiter sed aequaliter convexa, granulosa,
striato-punctata, interspatiis vix convexis, sutura a medio versus apicem
deplanata. Pyeidium maris fere semicirculare, apice nonnihil convexum,
feminae triangulare, acuminatum. Processus mesosternalis apice angustatus,
truncato-rotundatus. Metepisternum punctis grossis antice biseriatis instruc-
tum. Abdomen impunctatum, segmenti primi serie basali punctorum excepta.
Tibiae posticae leviter bimaculatae. Mas: tibia antica infra denticulata, dente
apicali parum majore; coxa intermedia tuberculo sat acuto armata.
Long. 2-6-3-8 mm.
Hab. Keilslands (H. Kühn) ; a long series, variable in colour and size.
49. Araecerus cyrtus spec. nov.
9. Elongato-ovatus, nigro-brunneus, supra diffuse ochraceo pubescens,
elytris guttulatis, antennis pedibusque brunneo-rufis. Oculi haud sinuati.
Caput sine carinula longa mediana, fortiter rugato-reticulatum. Antennarum
segmentum 3" quarto aequale, secundo longius, nono brevius, clava angusta,
symmetros, 9% decimo multo longius, 10™ ultimo parum longius, Prono-
tum fortiter reticulatum, medio non depressum, angulo carinae nonnihil obtuso
apice extremo rotundato. Elytra fere aequaliter et sat fortiter convexa, grosse
punctato-striata et granulosa, sutura antice haud depressa, humeris paulo
prominulis, sine callositate subbasali separata. Processus mesosternalis latus,
apice rotundatus. Metepisternum uniseriatim punctatum. Abdomen impunc-
tatum, segmenti primi serie punctorum basali excepta. Tibiae maculatae ;
tarsorum anticorum segmentum secundum latitudine longius, Drau tenue.
Long. 3-3-6, lat. 1-7-2 mm.
Hab. Dutch New Guinea: Takar and Andai; two 99.
Similar to A. convexus Jord. (1905), but easily recognised by the non-sinuate
eye and the coarsely punctate-striate elytra.
50. Araecerus corporaali spec. nov.
32. Oblongo-ellipticus, nigro-brunneus, antennis pedibusque rufis, supra
pube lutea guttatus. Caput carinula mediana instructum. Oculi sinuati.
Antennarum segmentum 3"™" quarto aequilongum (3) vel longius (9), clava
fere symmetros, 9"™ octavo multo longius, tertio multo brevius, 10" et nono
et undecimo paulo brevius. Pronotum fortiter reticulatum, medio levissime
deplanatum, angulo carinae obtuso. Elytra fortiter striato-punctata, granulata,
convexa, suturae basi vix depressa, interspatiis alternis guttatis, paulo convexis,
Pygidium latitudine baseos paululo longius, aut tam longum quam latum, maris
apicem versus paulo angustatum, apice truncato-rotundatum, feminae triangulare.
acuminatum. Processus mesosternalis latus, truncato-rotundatus, Metepi-
17
350 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
sternum antice multipunctatum. Segmenta 1% et 2" abdominis lateribus
basi apiceque punctata, 3" multipunctatum, 4" punctatum et granulatum ;
mas: abdomen medio late depressum, segmentum anale concavum, apice
truncatum, angulis tumidis. Tibiae immaculatae, antica maris denticulata,
apice dente sat longo armata.
Long. 3-3-8, lat. 1-6-1-9 mm.
Hab. Sumatra: Siantar (type), and Java: Preanger (J. B. Corporaal) ;
a series of both sexes.
The & is easy to recognise by the strong depression on the abdomen and the
truncate anal sternite; the long pygidium the & shares with A. suturalis Boh.
(1839). In both sexes the light pubescent portions of the upperside have the
derm rufescent ; the apex of the pronotum, a patch behind the scutellum and
another above shoulder, as well as the head, are of the same colour as the dots of
the elytra. The puncturation of the abdomen varies to some extent, segments
1 and 2 often bearing several punctures in middle of side.
51. Araecerus mordellinus spec. nov.
9. Longus, latitudine plus duplo longior, rufus, griseo pubescens, fere
unicolor, Caput carinula mediana instructum. Oculi sinuati. Antennarum
segmentum 3"" quarta longius, 4°°-8" descrescentia, clava fere symmetros,
gem atque 10%™ longitudine tertii. Pronotum supra paulo convexum, medio
haud depressum, sat fortiter reticulatum, angulo carinae acuto, Elytra
pronoto plus duplo longiora, modice convexa, granulata, punctato-striata, inter-
spatiis planis, Pygidium triangulare, latitudine parum longius. Processus
mesosternalis latus, apicem versus angustatus, truncato-rotundatus. Mete-
pisternum multipunctatum. Abdomen lateribus punctatum: segmenta 1"—
3™™ basi apiceque, 3° etiam in medio, 4™ basi. Tibiae immaculatae ; tarsi
antici segmentum secundum latitudine apicali non longius.
Long. 3-1, lat. 1-5 mm.
Hab. Java: Mt. Arjoeno, 7-9,000 ft., 1.1896 (W. Doherty); one 2.
Besides the basal and apical punctures there are on the second abdominal
segment also a few punctures in the middle at some distance from the lateral
margin, on the third segment these intermediate punctures are fairly numerous.
52. Araecerus nitidus spec. nov.
g. Longus, parvus, subcylindricus, rufo- brunneus, griseo- pubescens.
Caput sine carinula mediana. Oculi non sinuati, Antennarum sat longarum
segmentum 3% quarto parum, nono multo longius, clava symmetros, seg-
mentis fere aequilongis, 9° et 10° pyriformibus octavo vix longioribus. Pronotum
confertim reticulatum, area media magna brunnea postice plus minus quadrifida,
angulo carinae acuto, carina laterali brevi. Scutellum griseo-album. Elytra
ad apicem usque fortiter striato-punctata, granulata, brunneo irregulariter
marmorata. Pygidium latitudine longius, lateribus rectis, apicem versus
parum angustatum, rotundato-truncatum, angulis rotundatis, fere glabrum,
basi medio impressa. Processus mesosternalis angustus, rotundato-truncatus.
Metepisternum irregulariter biseriatim punctatum. Segmenta abdominalia
1m zium basi apiceque, 4" et 5™ basi serie punctorum instructa, 4™ et 5 non
evidenter granulata, 1“—5"" medio depresso-planata, segmento anali truncato,
NovITATEs ZooLogIcAm XXXI. 1924. 251
Pedes pallide rufi, genibus et tibiarum fere dimidio apicali nigro-brunneis; tibia
antica inermis; segmentum 2" tarsi antici latitudine apicali longius.
Long. 2:2, lat. 1-2 mm.
Hab. Fiji: Nansori, v. 1921 (type) and Labasa, xii. 1921 (R. Veitch) ;
two dd.
The abdomen almost being polished, the punctures are very conspicuous ;
on segments 1 to 3 the rows, or at least the basal one, extend from side to side.
53. Deropygus didymus spec. nov.
62. D. haemorrhoidali Jord. (1895) simillimus, angulo carinae prothoracicalis
minus obtuso, carina laterali magis biflexuosa. 4 pygidio apice inciso utrinque
fossa parva elongata instructo; 9 antennarum clava breviore, pygidio longiore
angustioreque, tuberculo magis elevato.
Hab. Perak (type), also from Sumatra, Java, the Philippines and Formosa.
The pygidium of the ¢ bears in D. haemorrhoidalis a number of raised lines
in apical third, which are absent from the new species. The small elongate
subapical lateral groove on the pygidium of D. didymus has its dorsal margin
raised ; the median carina is distinct at apex ; the median groove of the propygi-
dium is not distinctly continued on to the pygidium (SQ) and not defined at
the base of the latter by raised margins.
54. Deropygus truncatus spec. nov.
3g. Parvus, rufus, paululo brunneo variegatus, supra griseo-albo maculatus ;
pygidio ( 3) apice truncato bisinuato, (2) brevi, carina subapicali transversa recta
flabello lato instructa.
Long. 2:4 mm.
Hab. Borneo; one pair.
Similar to D. maculatus Jord, (1895), but midfemur without tooth, and pygi-
dium quite different. Head, apex and sides of pronotum and three spots before
the carina, numerous short lines on the elytra, a small round antemedian sutural
spot and a large postmedian one (concave in front, round behind) and the greater
part of the declivous apex greyish white. Eyes almost touching each other in
4, in 9 the frons a little narrower than the fourth segment of the antenna is long.
Angle of carina of pronotum obtuse, lateral carina reaching to middle.
Anal segment: in & the pygidium not quite twice as long as broad, convex
along middle, but not carinate, slightly narrowing from base to apex, the latter
truncate, with the margin rounded in middle and somewhat incurved at sides ;
abdomen constricted, segment 3 medianly below the level of the previous ones,
anal sternite vertical, with the angles slightly incrassate and without stiff tawny
bristles. In 9 the pygidium broader than long, the basal area bounded by the
subapical transverse carina is a transverse oblong, but somewhat broader at base
and the sides slightly rounded, the subapical flap broader than long, emarginate
in middle.
55. Deropygus simplex spec. nov.
$9. D. anali Jord. (1895) similis, minor, carina laterali prothoracis longiore,
segmento anali ventrali ( 3) multo breviore, haud barbato, pygidio (2) triangulari,
latitudine longiore, medio paululo convexo, carina transversa subapicali lacinia
tenuissima instructa.
252 NOVITATES ZoOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
Long. 2:5 mm.
Hab. Perak, one 4, type; Borneo, one 9.
Pygidium of ¢ as in D. analis, but shorter, slightly swollen in middle from
near base to beyond centre, here the swelling expanding sidewards, at apex again
a slight median swelling; sternites 1 to 4 on a level, 5 simple, neither truncate
nor sinuate, medianly not longer than 2 to 4 together, vertical, without stiff tawny
brush, but with indication of a median carina ; lateral flap of genital organs not
widened, quite narrow, linear. In @ the pygidium triangular, distinctly longer
than broad, with a median swelling near base, before apex a transverse carina,
short, complete, faintly angulate in middle, bearing a very narrow linear flap.
Midfemur as in D. analis without tooth.
56. Deropygus elegans spec. nov.
&. Niger, albo-griseo variegatus, pedibus ex parte rufis, elytris fascia post-
mediana irregulari transversa versus latera abbreviata ornatis ; pygidio lateribus
fere parallelis, apice truncato-emarginato, segmento anali ventrali lato, emar-
ginato-truncato, barbato.
Long. 3-4, lat 1-4 mm.
Hab. Luzon: Mt. Data; one ¢.
Frons about as broad as the third segment of antenna is long. Club broader
than usually, the three segments equal in length, each longer than segment 4.
Pronotum distinctly depressed in front of carina at each side ; dorsal carina very
slightly concave medianly, almost straight, angle obtuse, only its extreme tip
rounded, indications of a few white spots and of a thin median stripe. Elytra
long, nearly twice as long as broad, transversely depressed before middle, with
distinct subbasal callosity, interspaces more or less convex, suture from before
middle to apex higher than the other interspaces; postmedian white band
trisinuate behind, less deeply sinuate in front, narrowing laterally, almost reach-
ing a diffuse median lateral spot, at beginning of apical declivity some small spots
placed in a transverse row, at apex and at base other small spots and diffuse white
pubescence. Pygidium only half as long again as broad, hardly at all narrower at
apex than at base, very feebly convex in middle, flattened at apex, apical margin
incurved, angles rounded and somewhat upturned. Abdominal sternites 1 to 4
practically on a level, 5 slanting, the ventral outline of the abdomen in a lateral
aspect being gently and almost evenly curved, 5 broad, emarginate-truncate,
somewhat flattened in middle, with a row of stiff tawny bristles each side. Fore-
and midlegs pale testaceous, first foretarsal segment as long as 2 and 3 together ;
hindleg brown-black, middle of tibia rufescent, apex of tarsus pale testaceous.
Colour and markings probably variable.
57. Deropygus gracilis spec. nov.
&. Cylindricus, brunneo-niger, capite, pronoti apice, pedibus quatuor
anticis atque genibus posticorum rufis, albo variegatus. Oculi prominuli, valde
transversi. Caput cum rostro album. Pronotum apice et lateribus et tribus
guttis dorsalibus albis, angulo carinae rotundato, carina laterali arcuata trans
medium continuata. Elytra cylindrica, dispersim albo lineolata. Pygidium
parallelum, medio carinatum, paululo caput versus inclinans.
Long. 2-7 mm.
Hab. Philippines: Basilan; one ¢.
NOVITATES Zo0LOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 253
Head and rostrum, apex and sides of pronotum as well as three dorsal spots,
a line along dorsal carina and dispersed linear spots on the elytra white, the
white apical border of the pronotum posteriorly quadrisinuate, no spot across
suture, the most distinct markings of the elytra are: at base two patches, before
middle a spot close to suture and several between stripe 5 and side-margin, at
beginning of apical declivity a confluent double spot between interspaces 2 and
5 and another composed of three lines between 6 and 9, lateral margin, except
basal fourth, and apex bordered with white.
Eye transverse, half as long again as broad, rather strongly convex laterally.
Frons as broad as segments 3 + 4 of antenna are long. Segment 4 of antenna
= 5 =—6, longer than 3, 7 = 8 = 3, club nearly symmetrical, fairly broad, not
quite so long as 5 to 8 together, 9 — 10 —11 — 11 elliptical, twice as long as
broad. Pygidium vertical, half as long again as broad, sides straight, elevate,
apex truncate, with the angles rounded, medianly somewhat depressed, median
carina rather sharp, fading away at extreme base. Ventral outline of abdomen
gently curved (side-view), 1 to 4 almost on a level, 5 slanting, truncate, medianly
somewhat flattened, apical margin incrassate, with an uninterrupted close-set
row of short stout tawny bristles resembling a comb and directed downwards.
58. Deropygus spilosus spec. nov.
$9. Rufus, albo maculatus, pygidio maris longo, gradatim angustato, apice
rotundato, parum antrorsum inclinante, feminae triangulari, tuberculo alto
mediano cristiformi instructo, segmento anali ventrali maris angusto barbato,
femore intermedio inermi.
Long. 3 mm.
Hab. Perak (W. Doherty) ; one &, two 9%.
On pronotum three separate brown patches in 4, confluent in 9, in between
them two white patches connected with the white border of the dorsal carina,
sides and apical margin white. Spots of elytra well-defined, besides a ring around
subbasal swelling and a spot behind shoulder each elytrum with eight spots :
before middle an elongate spot at suture, in middle a spot between interspaces
3 and 5 and another at side, behind middle a square one at suture and a little
further forward a small one between interspaces 5 and 7, at apical declivity one
between 2 and 4 and another at side, and a spot at apex, at side a line connecting
the marginal spots.
Eyes as close together as in D. maculatus, from which the present species is
easily distinguished by the unarmed midfemora. Club of antenna long, narrow,
asymmetrical. Dorsal carina of pronotum incurved in centre, lateral angle
obtuse, lateral carina curved, reaching a little beyond middle. Pygidium and
anal sternite bent forward, but not much, the sternite forming an angle of about
80° with segments 1 to 4, which are on a level, whereas in D. maculatus-3 the
anal sternite is almost horizontal, 2 to 4 in that species being centrally reduced
to very narrow strips; pygidium of D. spilosus-g long, with rounded apex,
centre somewhat swollen, but there is no distinct carina. Pygidium of 2 with
a rough tubercle from base to middle, where it terminates abruptly, the groove
of the propygidium extends on to this cariniform tubercle; beyond middle
an uninterrupted transverse ridge forming an angle, the apex of which is directed
backwards. Sides of prosternum with a large dark brown patch, in ¢ also the
abdomen dark brown,
254 NOVITATES ZoOoLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
59. Deropygus arcus spec. nov.
d. D. spiloso colore simillimus, minor, abdomine fortissime constricto-
excavato valde diversus.
Long. 2 mm.
Hab. Luzon: Imugan; one g.
On the upperside the specimen almost looks as if it were a small specimen of
D. spilosus, but the postmedian spots of the elytra are connected with one another,
a transverse band being formed which is bent back at the suture and forward
on each elytrum at stripes 4, 5. Pygidium vertical, narrow, twice as long as
basally broad, gradually narrowed, apex rounded, centre slightly convex. Abdo-
men very deeply constricted-excavate, in a lateral view looking like an arch with
vertical sides, the frontal side being formed by sternites 1 and 2, the top of the
arch by 3, and the posterior side by 4 and 5, 5 rather thick in lateral aspect,
the ventral surface apically slanting anad, apex with stiff tawny bristles.
60. Deropygus acutus spec. nov.
3. D. haemorrhoidali colore et statura simillimus, angulo carinae pro-
thoracicalis acuto, processu intercoxali mesosternali triangulari acuto, pygidio
latiore, segmento anali ventrali breviore, segmento primo tarsi antici longiore.
Long. 3-8 mm.
Hab. Aru (Wallace); one 4.
Head and thorax rufo-testaceous spotted with black-brown. Disc of pro-
notum black-brown, apex and sides spotted with greyish white; lateral carina
evenly rounded, fading away beyond middle, dorsal carina laterally more strongly
convex than usually, the angle being smaller than 90°. Elytra cylindrical,
longer and somewhat flatter than in D. haemorrhoidalis, the lines of punctures
greyish white, behind middle a cluster of small spots in first three stripes, and
apical declivity also greyish white, the declivity rufescent, abrupt, short and
steep, with the third interspace cariniform. Pygidium a little inclining forward,
about half as long again as broad (8 : 5), somewhat convex in centre, flat at apex,
which is truncate, sides gradually converging apicad, slightly rounded in middle.
Anal sternite less modified than usually, short, slanting anad, forming a very
obtuse angle with 1 to 4, which are on a level with each other. Intercoxal process
of mesosternum not tuberculiform, but flat, triangular, slanting. Foretarsal
segment 1 as long as 2 and 3 together. Rostrum, a large oblique lateral spot on
prosternum and nearly the whole meso-metasterna and abdomen blackish.
61. Deropygus hercules spec. nov.
6. D. acuti vicinus, major, pygidio truncato-sinuato angulis productis, coxis
intermediis crista brevi bituberculata armatis, metasterno medio subconcavo
postice linea media elevata instructo, segmento anali truncato apice fimbriato.
Long. 5, lat. 2-2 mm.
The largest known species. Colouring more or less as in D. haemorrhoidalis.
On pronotum from carina forward a black median patch which is anteriorly
excised ; carina as in D. acutus, angle acute. Elytra somewhat depressed trans-
versely before middle, black, the stripes of punctures grey, apex rufescent, with a
grey pubescence, a minute grey spot each at suture before middle and at the
beginning of the apical declivity, in second stripe behind middle, and in third in
NOVITATES Zo0LOGICAE X XXI. 1924. 255
middle, also a few dots at the sides. Pygidium rather strongly inclining forward,
more than twice as long as basally broad (20:9), with median carina, apex-truncate
emarginate, the angles projecting somewhat sidewards, from tip to tip two-thirds
as wide as at base. Mesosternal process narrow, slanting, triangular, acute.
Middle of metasternum broadly flattened as usual, the sides of this area elevated
posteriorly into a broad tubereuliform swelling, median line with a small tubercle
behind middle. Anal sternite quite short (i.e. its median portion), its base slant-
ing backwards, the apical margin, which is sinuate in centre, bent forward and
bearing an uninterrupted comb of flat, tawny bristles. Foretarsal segment 1
short. As in D. acutus femora and tibiae more or less black at base and apex.
61. Deropygus giton spec. nov.
6. A D. haemorrhoidali pygidio et segmento anali ventrali brevioribus dis-
tinguendus.
Hab. Perak; two dd.
Pygidium less than twice as long as basally broad (9: 5), and without raised
lines in apical area. Anal sternite short, shorter in middle than 2 to 4 together,
slightly slanting backwards, convex along middle, with soft long hair at apex,
but without stiff tawny bristles, apical margin slightly angulate each side, rounded
centrally.
62. Melanopscacus funebris spec. nov.
$9. M. atrato Jord. (1924) statura similis, parum latior, prosterno area
impunctata nitida basali laterali, segmentis 1° et 2° abdominalibus minutissime
punctatis duabus vel tribus seriebus punctorum grossorum instructis ; segmento
ventrali anali feminae sinuato.
Hab. Luzon: Limai; a series.
The first abdominal segment has at the side two rows of large punctures,
one basal, the other subapical, on the second segment there is an additional,
variable, intermediate row which does not reach the lateral margin. In this
sparse puncturation the new species differs from M. atratus, M. subglaber,
M. gravatus, etc. ; from M. atratus also by the presence of a smooth basal lateral
space on the prosternum. Above the forecoxa a smooth vertical line, between
this line and the basal margin five or six rows of large punctures close together.
Angle of pronotal carina 90°. Base of prothorax and elytra a little broader than
in M. atratus, sides of prothorax more oblique. The small round apical sinus
of the anal sternite the 9 shares with several other species, but differs therein
from MW. gravatus.
256 Noviratrs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
ON SOME GENERA OF ANTHRIBIDAE ALLIED TO
EXILLIS PASC.(1860)
By DR. KARL JORDAN.
MONG the Anthribidae which Mons. E. Fleutiaux has very kindly sub-
- mitted to me for study there was a most interesting set of specimens from
New Caledonia. Some of the undescribed species had labels with names given
to them in manuscript by Fauvel; the same unpublished names were also in
our collection, and I have here adopted them as far as possible.
’ I. Dinema Fairm. (1849).
&®. Rostrum and frons vertical, forming an angle with occiput ; the rostrum
somewhat inclining backward, much longer than broad, subcylindrical at base,
widest at apex, apical margin very feebly incurved in middle. Antenna long in
both sexes, inserted in sinus of eye, the scrobe covered by a tuberculiform lobe
on the inner (frontal) side, segment 1 long, claviform, 2 short, 3 to 8 thin, long,
9 slightly but distinctly widened apically, 10 and 11 each shorter and broader
than 9. Eye reniform, deeply incurved, the upper lobes approaching each other,
the interspace being about one-fourth the width of the rostrum (the latter
measured at its narrowest point). Prothorax very much broader than long ;
carina antebasal, extending forward to apex, angle rounded.
One species: D. filicornis Fairm. (1849), from Tahiti. In Mus. Tring one
bad 2.
II. Proscopus gen. nov.
69. Rostrum vertical, much shorter than in Dinema, flatter, not sub-
cylindrical at base, with a sharp carina running from marginal (frontal) tubercle
of antennal groove down to apex of rostrum. Upper lobe of eye strongly reduced,
the sinus vestigial, the eye being placed entirely behind the antennal scrobe,
not curving round it dorsally. Antenna and pronotum essentially as in Dinema.
The head recalls that of Thrips or some long-faced Lamiine Longicorn,
One species :
1. Proscopus veitchi spec. nov.
39. Rufo-brunneus vel pallide testaceus, hic et inde nigrescens, antenna-
rum basi pedibusque pallidis, pronoto paulo convexo, subtrivittato, lateribus
rotundatis, elytris fortiter punctato-striatis.
Long. (cap. exc.) 2-2-8 mm.
Hab. Fiji::Labasa, xii. 21, 1 g, type, and Cuva, xi. 21, 1 9 (A. Veitch);
Lautoka, vii. 21, 1 2 (W. Greenwood).
In centre of pronotum the grey pubescence very scattered, an oblong area
from apex to base appearing brown, divided by a more or less conspicuous grey
median line ; at each side of this area the grey pubescence concentrated, forming
an oblique longitudinal stripe which curves towards the anterior lateral angle,
but ends above it. Suture and sides of elytra more or less blackish or brown.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE X XXI. 1924. 257
Frons and rostrum in a lateral view concave. Side of rostrum slanting from
dorso-lateral carina, the sides somewhat expanding; carinae diverging, the
rostrum gradually widening apically, being at the widest point (in g) three-fifths
or (in 2) fully as broad as rostrum and frons together are long (mandibles excl.),
apical margin convex, slightly depressed in middle, not emarginate. Antennae
longer than body, much longer in ¢ than in ©; segment 1 subeylindrical, apart
from narrow base, not claviform, about one-third shorter than its distance from
base of mandible, 2 half 1, 3 about 1 + 2, in 43 to 6 nearly alike, 7 a little
shorter, 7 to 9 perceptibly decreasing in length, in both sexes 9 about as long as
1 and a little longer than 11, which is slightly longer than 10.
Pronotum one-fourth broader than long, a little wider at apex than at base,
with the sides rounded, disc transversely depressed before middle and along
dorsal carina; basal area and sides punctate, but the punctures very shallow,
more like depressions of the surface; carina curved forward to apex, without
distinct subbasal angle.
Elytra not quite twice as long as broad, with the sides parallel as far as
apical declivity, which is evenly convex ; stripes and punctures deep ; alternate
interspaces with brown or blackish dots, which are more or less confluent with
the sutural and lateral blackish areasin 4. Pygidium broader than long, strongly
rounded at apex.
Underside as in Dinema with shallow depressions which look like large
punctures, but are hardly at all sunk into the derm.
III. Proscoporhinus Montr. (1860).
39. Rostrum vertical, quinque-carinate, median carina feeble, sinus of
apical margin very sharply defined, apical width of rostrum about equalling its
length measured from lateral apical angle to the tubercle which covers the
antennal 'groove. Segment 1 of antenna long, claviform, 2 short. Upper lobe
of eye broader than lower. Lateral carina of pronotum reaching to about middle,
not to apex. dd with transverse crest of hairs between eyes.
Genotype: P. amyoti Montr. (1860).
1. Proscoporhinus apicatus spec. nov.
6. Rufo-brunneus, albo-griseo et luteo pubescens, brunneo variegatus,
elytris subtessellatis, Occiput( 3) duobus penicillis nigris instructum. Pronotum
ante carinam biimpressum. Elytra tuberculata.
Long. 3 mm.
Three $4, one 9 from Forét de Mont Dore, N. Caledonie, in coll. Fleutiaux,
one of the 34 kindly presented to the Tring Museum.
Pubescence much more uniform in colour and purer white beneath than
above, where a great portion of it has a yellowish tone; apex of antenna, the
tubercles and elevated dots of the elytra, some sutural spots, particularly a sub-
apical one, brown. Head very much less widened than in P. amyoti Montr.
(1860): Rostrum longer than broad, slightly widened at apex, the side being
nearly parallel, its upper surface impressed in middle. Frons in ¢ rather more
than one-third and in @ one-half the width of the rostrum; in ¢ the occiput
bears between the eyes a transverse crest of blackish hair, the crest divided in
middle. Pronotum nearly twice as broad as long, punctate-rugate, disc flattened,
258 NoviratEs ZooLoGIcaE XXXI. 1924.
with two rather large but shallow depressions before the carina, one at each
side of middle, sides brownish ; dorsal carina obtusely angulate in middle, some-
what convex towards sides.
Scutellum grey, a little longer than broad. Elytra coarsely punctate-
striate, sides parallel, subbasal callosity and an anteapical elevation between
third and sixth stripes tuberculiform, rather large; behind subbasal callosity a
depression, which does not affect the suture; behind it in interspace 3 a small
tubercle and another farther back, similar small tubercles in 5 and 7; in middle
of interspace 9 of & a small tuft of pale pubescence surrounded by a naked
ellipse as in Anthribisomus tessellatus-g; sutural area in between the posterior
tubercles depressed, flattened.
Underside with large punctures. Anal segment of ¢ with median groove.
Antenna of ¢ longer than the body, segment 1 more than twice as broad in apical
half than in basal half, 2 claviform, half as long again as broad, 3 a little longer than
4, 4 to 6 nearly equal, 7 to 9 decreasing slightly ; in 9 antenna not reaching apex
of elytra, segment 1 less broad than in 4, 3 more distinctly longer than 4 ; in both
sexes 9 about as long as 8, apically as wide as 10, 10 as long as broad in 4, slightly
broader in 9, 11 ovate-acuminate, a little longer than broad.
IV. Anthribisomus Perroud (1866).
39. Rostrum much broader than long and like the frons flattened, often
with broad shallow depression, always more or less vertical or at least not in a
plane with occiput, no median sulcus. Antenna long, segment 1 thick, cylin-
drical (apart from extreme base) or subglobular, 2 claviform, 3 to 8 thin long.
Carina of prothorax extending forward to middle of side.
Genotype: A. tessellatus Perroud (1866).
Besides the type and the three species described below, all from New Cale-
donia, we place here also the species from New Zealand with the eyes sinuate,
lateral, the rostrum more or less directed downward, without median sulcus, and
the antennae long, with a thick first segment, etc. The above definition of
Anthribisomus is wide enough to cover a variety of forms.
1. Anthribisomus tessellatus Perroud (1864).
Frons and rostrum vertical, grey, the latter strongly angulate at the sides
in dg, less angulate in 9. Elytra usually with a brown median patch across
suture, the patch more or less continued backward in centre of each elytrum,
most specimens with ill-defined brown markings in apical half. In & a con-
spicuous spot of grey pubescence in“middle of side of elytrum, encircled by an
elevated naked ring ; this sex-mark not present in the other species of the genus.
A long series of both sexes from Nouméa (Delauney).
2. Anthribisomus maculatus spec. nov.
62. Rostro breviore lateribus haud angulato, prothorace magis rotundato
dorso ante medium multo magis convexo, elytris ( S) absque gutta grisea laterali.
Long. (cap. excl.) 1-9-2-3 mm.
Rostrum shorter than in A. tessellatus, its base impressed, the sides not
widened out below the antennal grooves, Pronotum much more strongly
punctate, strongly convex transversely before middle, the sides rounded, the
NOVITATES ZooLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 259
prothorax being widest before middle, not at angle of carina. Elytra very
coarsely punctate-striate, cylindrical, with distinct subbasal swelling.
Rufous, pubescent grey, usually variegated with brown on the elytra, rarely
unicolorous: in type (and several other specimens) the subbasal callosity, the
greater part of the suture, several lateral, spots merged together into a large
patch, and on each elytrum a patch before apex brown ; in other specimens only
a large median lateral patch, the patches sometimes joined across suture,
A series from Nouméa (Delauney) ; type in coll. Fleutiaux.
3. Anthribisomus corticeus spec. nov.
39. A. maculato similis, prothorace antrorsum angustato, dorso multo minus
convexo, elytris postice parum dilatatis distinguendus.
Sculpture of derm of prothorax and elytra as coarse as in A. maculatus.
Prothorax slightly rounded at the sides, being widest before base at the angles
of the carina ; pronotum slightly convex before middle, much less elevate than in
A. maculatus. Elytra less cylindrical, being slightly widened and dorsally
swollen from middle, the basal fourth appearing depressed.
Colouring as in A. maculatus ; on pronotum the grey pubescence somewhat
concentrated along centre and sparser at each side of this diffuse stripe. On
elytra usually a spot on subbasal callosities, a transverse median band across
suture curved forward at sides, and on each elytrum a transverse subapical patch,
brown, all variable, often part of the suture also brown; in front of the brown
median band the third and fifth interspaces with an almost white line.
A series from Nouméa (Delauney).
4. Anthribisomus xylophagus spec. nov.
$2. Squamosus; segmento 3io antennarum quarto longiore; prothorace
antrorsum ampliato, carina ad lateris medium extensa ; elytris cristatis.
Long. 1-7-2-7 mm.
Differs from all the other species in being clothed with elongate scales which,
on the elytra, are directed obliquely backwards and upwards towards the centres
of the interspaces of the stripes of punctures, this scaling cream colour variegated
with brown, forming on pronotum a median stripe before carina and a lateral
spot at apex. Rostrum transversely impressed close to apex, sides angulate
immediately before antennal grooves, but the angle not projecting much.
Antennal groove a little farther away from eye than in the previous species,
both ends of the eye being above the groove, the posterior end not extending
down below to the level of the upper margin of the groove as is the case in the other
species. Segment 1 of antenna quite short, thick, almost globular (apart from
extreme base and anterior excision), 2 about one and a half times or twice as
long as apically broad, claviform, 3 longer than 4. Pronotum strongly impressed
before carina in middle, the sides widening apicad, the apical margin rather
strongly projecting over the occiput, puncturation coarse, lateral carina longer
than in the three preceding species, reaching to middle. Elytra very coarsely
punctate-striate, the interspaces raised, the alternate ones cariniform, especially
3 and 5, striped or spotted with white, in middle of 3 and at beginning of apical
declivity in 3 and 5 a brown crest, from middle of 3 obliquely forward to side
brown markings or a large brown patch. Tibiae with brown postmedian spot.
A long series from Nouméa (Delauney).
260 NovITATEs ZoOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
V. Euciodes Pasc. (1866).
&®. Long, cylindrical. Eye forming nearly two-thirds of a ring, almost
even in width from end to end, the sinus very deep. Antennal segments 3 to 8
not thinner than 2. Lateral carina of prothorax quite short, a mere hook to the
dorsal carina. Base of elytra evenly incurved from shoulder to shoulder.
One species: E. suturalis Pasc., from S. Australia.
VI. Arecopais Brown (1893).
62. Similar to Anthribisomus, rostrum with medium sulcus between the
antennae, upper lobe of eyes narrow, much smaller than lower lobe.
Genotype: A. spectabilis Brown (1880).
The median furrow of the rostrum is the result of the surface being raised
between the antennae (in one species as a couple of tubercles) except in the
middle line.
VII. Exillis Pasc. (1860).
$9. Rostrum short, with a short deep median groove. First foretarsal
segment longer than in all the previous genera, being longer than half the foretibia.
Genotype: E. longicornis Pasc. (1860).
Novitatres ZooLoGIcAE XXXI, 1924, 261
THE BIRDS OF ST. MATTHIAS ISLAND
By ERNST HARTERT.
ORTH and a little to the west of New Hanover lies, between 1° 17’ and
1° 32’ southern latitude, and between 149° 30’ and 149° 46’ eastern longi-
tude, the island of St. Matthias or Mussau, also called Prince-William-Henry
Island. The island consists of a plateau, partly covered with thick forest, here
and there grassland with bushes and Pandanus, and elevated coralline formation,
surrounded by a sandy beach with coconut palms and native villages; the
whole is encircled by a double ring of narrow coral-reefs. The natives are among
the worst of these islands.
Only once an ornithologist landed on the island: Dr. 0. Heinroth, then a
member of the “ German South Sea Expedition by Br. Mencke,” landed there
March 29th, and two days after the camp was treacherously attacked, Mr. Mencke
and his friend Caro were killed, Dr. Heinroth was wounded and lost some skins
and note-books. In spite of this disaster, which brought the explorations to an
untimely end, Dr. Heinroth succeeded in discovering and bringing home the
most striking, peculiar birds of St. Matthias Island, viz. Halcyon matthiae, Monarcha
menckei, and Rhipidura matthiae. These birds were described and figured in
Journ. f. Orn. 1902. Since then no collector of birds has visited St. Matthias,
except Dr. Duncker during his researches on marine zoology, who shot an Ortho-
rhamphus (rectius Hsacus) magnirostris.
It was therefore Lord Rothschild’s desire to have a good collection from
the island, and at last A. F. Eichhorn sent a fine collection of 38 species, all
beautifully prepared skins. Unfortunately the blackbird and several others
were only obtained in single specimens, but we are very thankful for what we
have received from this out-of-the-way island, where collecting is perhaps even
now a risky undertaking.
Through Eichhorn’s collecting we know now 39 species of birds to inhabit
St. Matthias. It is peculiar that no Zosterops was found, and I am inclined to
think that it must exist, and might have been overlooked. It is also peculiar
that no Owls, no Corvus, no Cisticola were found ; on the other hand the discovery
of such unexpected species as Phylloscopus and two kinds of Turdus is of the
greatest interest. Even if a land-bird or two have been overlooked, the number
of resident species will probably not be greatly enlarged, while doubtless a number
of other shore-birds, migrants from the north, will occur on the shores during
the winter months, but they will not alter the zoogeographical aspect of the
island.
Zoogeographically St. Matthias is obviously nearest to New Hanover (antea,
pp. 194-213), but there is a very interesting affinity in certain cases to the
Admiralty Islands or Manus: Micropsitta meeki proxima is very close to M.
meeki meeki from Manus, the still doubtful form of Hdolisoma morio (No. 31) is
very much like E. morio admiralitatis, and the Pachycephala (No. 35) is, it seems
to me, nearest to goodsoni from Manus. The number of peculiar forms is great:
3 were discovered by Heinroth, 7 were described by Lord Rothschild and myself
262 Novirates ZooLoGICAE XXXI. 1924.
in Bull. B.O. Club, xliv. pp. 50-53 (1924), and in the following pages I have
named again 7 new forms, so that 17 forms are now known only to occur on
St. Matthias, and at least two others could so far not finally be determined, for
want of series.
The literature on St. Matthias Island is thus small :
1902: ©. Heinroth, “ Ornithol. Ergebnisse der I. Deutschen Südsee-Ex-
pedition von Br. Mencke,” in Journ. f. Orn. 1902.
1922: G. H. Martens, “ Vög. der Südsee-Expedition der Hamburger Wissen-
schaftl. Stiftung 1908-1909,” in Archiv. f. Naturg. 1922 A, Heft 6 (edited by
Duncker, after Martens’ death).
1924: Rothschild and Hartert, description of 7new birds from St. Matthias
Island, in Bull. B.O. Club, xliv. pp. 50-53.
1. Tringa hypoleucos L.
18. 20. 27.vii.1923. Also Squally Island.
2. Charadrius dominicus fulvus Gm.
9. 14.vii.1923.
3. Esacus magnivostris (Vieill.). 3
A specimen was shot on the shore of St. Matthias Island 10.ix.1908 by
Dr. Duncker (Archiv. f. Naturg. 1922, Heft 7, p. 52).
(I see no reason for separating ‘‘Orthorhamphus”’ from Esacus, the more
upturned bill of the latter being a good specific character, but it is needless to
separate the two genera.)
4. Eulabeornis tricolor tricolor (?).
Rallina tricolor Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1858, p. 52 (Aru Islands, specimen collected by
Wallace ?).
d. 7.vii. 1923. “Iris deep red. Bill dullish yellow-green. Feet dull
greenish yellow.”
This specimen has the neck a little lighter than in our New Guinea examples,
and it is smaller, bill shorter, wings only 132 mm. (wings in New Guinea 145-157,
1 Oedienemus magnivostris Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat. xxiii. p. 231 (1819—No locality !
Mathews, Nov. Zool. xviii. p. 226, substituted ‘‘ Binongka, Celebes’ as typical locality. Such
arbitrary fixing of type localities cannot be accepted. If a type locality is fixed, it must be the
one from which the bird most likely came, that was described, or might have come. But Binongka
is one of the Tukang Besi Islands, not on Celebes at all, but about 200 km. south-east of Celebes,
and—unless Mathews discovered a reason that it was so, of which he left us uninformed—it is
certain that Vieillot received no bird from these islands which were first explored, so far as the
avifauna is concerned, by Heinrich Kühn: cf. Nov. Zool. 1908).
2 This specimen, the type of Rallina tricolor, is not in the British Museum. Salvadori, in 1882,
said he had examined the type, but I think this must be an error. The Tring Museum, however,
bought a specimen from the late H. Whitely marked ‘“‘ Aru Islands,” and this seems to be the type
of R. tricolor. It is a typical ‘“‘ Wallace’s skin,” the neck, position of feet, etc., being ‘“ Wallacean.”’
Probably the specimen was erroneously not kept by the British Museum and sent with other
“ duplicates” to Whitely for sale. This specimen has a rather dark throat and neck, but is probably
not different from the New Guinea examples. This was accepted by Salvadori, though he said
that his Aru specimen (collected by Beccari 1875) had the back more olivaceous than the three
New Guinea ones. Our supposed type, however, is on the back exactly like Papuan specimens.
—E. H.
NovITATEs ZooLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 263
but in a $ from the Sattelberg only 135, 2 from Dampier Island—cf. Nov. Zoot.
1915, p. 26—138, two unsexed from New Hanover 128, 132 mm.). It might
therefore be the case that there is a smaller subspecies on the islands of the
Bismarck Archipelago, but I think more material is required to be sure
about this !
Only three forms may so far be looked upon as certainly distinguishable :
A. E. tricolor tricolor (Gray): Apparently Aru Islands, New Guinea, and
neighbouring islands.
(Mathews, B. Australia i. p. 205, 1911, proposed for the ‘“ New Guinea
subspecies ” the name £. tricolor grayi, saying that the type was No. 187 in his
collection. Apart from the detail that the type is labelled by the author himself
197, and not 187, that name is virtually a nomen nudum. No distinguishing
characters are given, and the new name was evidently given under the impres-
sion that Sharpe had separated the New Guinea form from the Aru one. Sharpe,
however, did not compare the New Guinea birds with Aru Islands birds, but he
only talks of a specimen from Port Moresby as having white bars on the
abdomen (!), while he says that a Dorey specimen is like the Australian birds !
The type of “ Hulabeornis tricolor grayi” is a New Guinea skin in native prepara-
tion, presumably from Dutch Papua, which has not white, but buff abdominal
bars, and only a few of them !)
B. E. tricolor robinsoni Math. Australia (N. Queensland, chiefly Cape York
Peninsula). Upperside more brownish.
C. E. tricolor victa (Hart.) Tenimber, Koer, and Dammar Islands, very much
smaller.
(Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xiii. p. 79, says that he described a & “‘ type of
species,” but the type was a 2 from Aru !)
5. Porzana cinerea meeki subsp. nov.
A very dark form, throat and longitudinal patch along middle of abdomen
only white, jugulum and breast ashy grey, flanks dark brown, under tail-coverts
in two specimens dark brown, in the third (? female, though marked male) more
russet, as in other subspecies. Upperside dark, head brownish grey-black, not
as clear blackish as in leucophrys. Wing 97, 91, 91 mm., middle toe without
claw 42, 42, 40, tarsus 46°5, 47, 47:5 mm. “Iris dark red. Bill yellowish
brown and black. Feet greenish slate-colour, yellowish green, dull bluish green ”
(A. F. Eichhorn). Type &ad., St. Matthias Island, 30.vi.1923, No. 8619.
Named after Albert S. Meek, the organiser of Mr. Eichhorn’s collecting
expeditions, since he himself is unfortunately now unable to undertake such
travels.
Three specimens were collected by Mr. Eichhorn, in June, all marked as
males, but I suspect two being females.
This form is apparently very distinct from all the other named subspecies.
The latter were discussed by Ingram in Bull. B.O. Club xxix. pp. 21-22, and the
most recent short review is that of Mathews and Iredale in Manual B. Australia
p. 202 (1921). Neither of them is, however, explicit enough. Ingram makes
no mention of the distribution of the “ typical,” i.e. first-named form, and Mathews
and Iredale, who designated Java as the most likely typical locality, do not
mention any other place for it, while the Javan form is undoubtedly spread
264 Noviratrs ZooLOGICAE XXXI, 1924,
not only over Java, but also Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, and I think the Lesser
Sunda Islands and Moluccas, as well as Celebes. From New Guinea I have
not examined specimens, except one said to be from Port Moresby, from Goldie ;
this bird is not like our St. Matthias Island ones, but seems to me to be indis-
tinguishable from Australian specimens, and so is in my opinion the one from
Timor in the British Museum.
It is difficult to believe that a specialised form of such a widespread bird
as Porzana cinerea should be restricted to the little island of St. Matthias, but
a male collected by Cayley Webster on New Hanover is underneath as white
as most others, not grey like mecki! Unfortunately Eichhorn failed to come
across the species on New Hanover, and we have no specimens from other islands
of the Bismarck Archipelago.
P. cinerea parryi Mathews, from N.W. Australia, is not separable from P. c.
leucophrys, as far as I can see.
So far, therefore, only the following forms appear to be recognisable :
Porzana cinerea cinerea (Vieill.): Java, Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Lesser
Sunda Islands, and apparently Celebes and satellites.
[Celebes birds have very large bills, but also P. c. cinerea has as a rule large
bills. Celebes birds can only be united with cinerea, but are not leucophrys !
If not cinerea they are a separate Celebes form !]
Porzana cinerea ocularis Ingram: Philippine Islands.—Very similar to
P. c. cinerea, but head generally a little darker, sides of breast often more grey,
flanks and under tail-coverts darker. Tarsus averages longer, but is not con-
stantly longer! Perhaps also Guam and Ruk !
[Ruk and Guam birds are not like cinerea, but I can at present—with a
series, but all bad skins (!) available—not say how they differ, if at all, from
ocularis. |
Porzana cinerea brevipes Ingram: Iwotimo and Dionisio, Vulcano Islands,
south of Japan.—Tarsus shorter, flanks and under tail-coverts more rufescent,
bill deeper.
Porzana cinerea leucophrys Gould: Northern parts of Australia: N.W.
Australia, Northern Territory, North Queensland (Cape York Peninsula).—
Bill small. Head in adults black, underneath generally darker. To this form
seem to belong the specimens (one adult !) from New Guinea (“ Port Moresby ”)
and one from Timor. Moluccan birds seem somewhat intermediate.
[P. c. parryi Mathews is not separable from leucophrys. Specimens from
Buru and Batjan are somewhat intermediate between leucophrys and cinerea,
The bills are not as large as in the Celebes birds, but generally a little bigger
than in the average Australian ones. Colour on underside (under tail-coverts
and flanks) as in Australian birds, i.e. a little duller and darker than in P. c.
cinerea. |
Porzana cinerea tannensis (Forst.): From Fiji and Samoa.—Head and neck
without or with very little slaty grey, very little, if at all, different from the
back, on which the blackish centres are not so well developed. In the similarity
of head and back these birds remind one of P. c. meeki, but the latter has the
upperside much darker, a bluish grey (not white) chest, and much darker flanks,
and under tail-coverts, which are rather light and bright in tannensis.
Porzana cinerea meeki: See above.
Porzana cinerea ingrami Brasil: New Caledonia.—I have only seen one
NovITATEs ZooLOGICAE XXXI, 1924, 265
specimen with a damaged bill in the British Museum, which does not seem to
have the bill as small as described by Brasil.
The undecided characteristics of some of these forms illustrate again what
becomes more and more evident the more we get series from all sorts of localities :
That there are very distinct and constant local forms, but also others which do not
show well-recognisable characters, partly forming connecting links between outstanding
subspecies, partly not, some series of specimens not being always absolutely like
series from other localities, but having no good characters to recognise them by,
and therefore they are better not given special names, the object of a name
being a failure if such specimens cannot be generally recognised. The study
of this little group also shows how important it is to have well-prepared and
equally shaped skins in series, bad specimens sometimes not showing what good
ones can show.
6. Ducula rhodinolaema (Scl.).
See antea, p. 196.
8 SQ ad., June and July 1923, 1 2 immat. 27.vi. The young bird is at
once recognisable by its more pointed and slightly brown-tipped outer rectrices,
some narrow whitish fringes on some of the wing-coverts, paler throat, and the
colour of the upperside being more like that of a D. van-wycki.
7. Ptilinopus solomonensis johannis (Scl.).
Antea, p. 197.
2 Jad., 1 & juv., 3 Qad., June and July.
“Iris pale greenish yellow. Bill pea-green, on other labels slaty blue,
probably this meaning slaty blue with pea-green distal end. Feet dark purplish
meCea
Wings g ad., 123-126 mm. Also Squally or Storm Island !
The distribution of this bird is peculiar. It was discovered and only known
from the Admiralty Islands (Manus). Webster discovered it on New Hanover,
Heinroth on Nusa, Eichhorn got it on Rook, St. Matthias, and Squally Islands,
as well as on Manus and New Hanover. P. s. solomonensis from the Solomon
Islands is closely allied, but the lilac frontal patch is much darker, the wing
averages (but is not always) shorter.
8. Ptilinopus insolitus inferior subsp. nov.
Formae Ptilinopus insolitus insolitus dictae persimilis, sed paullo minor,
rostro minore, colore russato flexuram alae cingente distincto, tubere frontali
minore.
Hab.: St. Matthias Island, type ¢ ad., 28.vii.1923. A. F. Eichhorn coll.
No. 8688.
A series of nine adults and one jun., June and July.
““ Iris creamy white. Bill pale greenish yellow. Feet plum red.”
The wings measure 118-125 (females being smaller), in nine New Hanover
specimens 122-130, in twelve from Duke of York, New Hanover and New
Britain 125-138, once even 140 mm. ‘The bill is clearly smaller in the St.
Matthias series, and there is, surrounding the bend of the wing, a russet-brownish
wash, which is only indicated, if at all visible in the birds from the other islands.
18
366 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
The orange patch on the abdomen seems to be generally a little deeper in colour,
but this is a doubtful distinction, as it varies a good deal. The red frontal knob
is not so elevated as in the skins from other islands. The measurements of the
wings would seem to indicate that the New Hanover specimens were inter-
mediate between P. 7. insolitus (cf. antea, p. 197), substituted locality New
Ireland, and P. 7. inferior, but a larger series is necessary to prove this !
9. Gallicolumba beccarii eichhorni subsp. nov.
Gallicolumba subspeciei G. beccarii johannae dictae persimilis, sed alis
brevioribus, collo antico pectoreque albidioribus distinguenda.
g ad.: Very similar to G. beccarii johannae (antea, p. 198) but wings shorter
(in six males 104-108 mm., as against 109, 110, 111, 112, 113 in johannae), and
the whitish breast-shield more white: breast white for about 2 cm., crop and
foreneck paler grey. Type: 4 7.vii.1923. A. F. Eichhorn coll. No. 8644.
“Iris dark brown. Bill black. Feet bright purplish red, plum red, or
cerise.”’
Eichhorn sent six males, five from Matthias, one from Storm Island, shot
in June and July. Also a young bird, marked female, not quite full grown.
The upperside is brown with a greenish tinge and glossy, but some feathers have
rust-brown edges, on the head and sides of the neck some blue-grey feathers are
putting in their appearance. Wing-coverts and secondaries rusty-brown with
much lighter tips. Underside brownish salmon-buff, jugulum darker, throat
almost whitish, flanks brown.
10. Macropygia rufa goodsoni subsp. nov.
Subspeciei Macropygia rufa krakarı simillima, sed maculis nigrescentibus
rectricum exteriorum infra saturatioribus, fere nigris, necnon rostro paullum
minore distinguenda.
Agrees in colour best with Macr. rufa krakari,' the underside being generally
slightly lighter than in M. rufa rufocastanea from the Solomon Islands, and wings
of the same length (3 144-150, 9 143-147 mm.), but the slate-coloured or blackish
spots on the lateral rectrices of a deeper colour, almost black, and the bill in
the series slightly smaller.
Type: dg ad., 5.vii.1923. A. F. Eichhorn coll. No. 8636.
Hab. : St. Matthias and Squally or Storm Islands.
‘Tris pinkish red, red, or reddish yellow. Bill black. Feet red, cherry
red, dark burnt red.’ 2
Eichhorn collected six males, two females on St. Matthias and one male on
Squally Island.
11. Chalcophaps stephani stephani Rchb.
Antea, p. 198.
6 3, 2 9, St. Matthias Island, June and July 1923. ¢@ Storm or Squally
Island, 11.12. viii. 1923.
These specimens agree with those of other localities, though not a single
male has the wing longer than 147 mm., one 145, most only 142 mm. The
length of wing, however, varies very much individually in other localities, only
1 Rothschild and Hartert, Nov. Zool. 1915, p. 28, from Dampier or Krakari Island.
Novitatrs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI, 1924, 267
in mortoni from the Solomon Islands it is constantly greater, i.e. over 150, generally
about 153-156 mm.
There is, however, another very distinct subspecies of C. stephani, the one
from Celebes, which has the tail and upper tail-coverts much brighter reddish
rufous, an obvious difference, apparently overlooked by nearly all ornitholo-
gists, myself included. This form must be called: Chalcophaps stephani wallacei
Brüggem. 1876.
12. Caloenas nicobarica nicobarica (L.).
Columba nicobarica Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., Ed. x. p. 164 (1758—Ex Albin, Nicobar Islands).
4 SQ ad, June 1923. The iris is described on the labels as “ dull brownish
yellow, brown, and dark grey,” the feet as dark purplish red, bill black.
13. Demigretta sacra (Gm.).
A dea sacra Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. 2. p. 640 (1789—Tahiti ! Ex Latham). Nov. Zoor. 1914, p. 285.
g 12.vii.1923, in the slate-coloured plumage, with two white spots on the
throat.
Also on Squally Island.
14. Accipiter hiogaster dampieri (Gurney).
Antea, p. 200.
6 ad., 27. vii. 1923.
Q juv. 7. vii. 1923.
g ad. wing 199 mm. “Iris dark brown. Bill black. Feet deep yellow.”
15. Micropsitta meeki proxima R. & H.
Micropsitia meeki proxima Rothschild and Hartert, Bull. B.O. Club, xliv. p. 50 (1924—“ St. Matthias
and Squally Islands.” Type from St. Matthias).
10 gQad., St. Matthias, May and June 1923. ‘“ Iris dark brown, bill light
horn-colour, feet light horn-colour or pale ashy blue.”
2 32 Squally or Storm Island, 18.viii.1923. “Iris brownish yellow, bill
slate-blue, feet dull horn-colour.”’
This most interesting little Parrot is very closely allied to Mm. meeki meeki
from Manus (Admiralty I.), but the sides of the head are lighter, not so blackish
grey-brown, more yellowish grey, the yellow superciliary lines are distinct and
wider, and more or less clearly connected across the forehead by a yellowish
band. Wings longer, in ten males 65-67, in one @ 65, in another 63 mm., while
the wings in our meeki measure 59-61°5 (not 5-961°5 !) mm.
(See description of M. meeki meeki Nov. ZooL. 1914, p. 289.)
The—for the size of the bird—enormous feet are of course connected with
the habit of these tiny Parrots of running up and round the stems of the trees
like Nuthatches and Tree Creepers.
16, Trichoglossus haematodus flavicans Cab. & Rchw.
Antea, p. 201.
32 29, 30. vii. 1923,
Also common on Squally or Storm Island.
Neither of the two specimens from St. Matthias deserves very much the
268 Noviratrs ZooLoGICAE KXXI, 1924,
name “ flavicans,” though the male is purer grass-green, the female having a
yellow tinge. Among the Storm Island skins two are quite yellowish, the other
four grass-green. Cf. antea, p. 201, and Nov. ZooL. 1914, p. 290.
17. Haleyon matthiae Heinr.
Halcyon matthiae Heinroth, Journ. f. Orn. 1902, p. 438. Pl. VIII. fig. 1 (St. Matthias Island).
5 &,5 Qend of May and June. “Iris dark brown. Upper bill black, lower
white, cutting edge and distal third black. Feet dull slaty, dull slaty blue,
dull black.” Wings & 108-110, once 113, 2 107-113 mm.
The plumage is well described by Heinroth, who brought home a single
specimen, shot in March on St. Matthias Island. Rump and upper tail-coverts
are greenish blue, almost of the same colour as the tail, not light sky-blue, as in
the figure in the Journal für Ornithologie. The crown, in fresh plumage, is
rusty buff, as a rule darkest on the nape, but this colour fades, so that the crown
is nearly white in worn plumage. The eyelids and spot behind the eyes, as well
as the ring around the crown are black. The whole underside is pure white,
without any black edges to any feathers. The amount of black on the crown
varies from one small spot near the occiput to one large spot in the middle and
a number of smaller ones all over the crown.
Halcyon albicilla saurophaga occurs also on Squally Island, where H. matthiae
too is found. Though it is not known that both forms breed there, we must
not treat H. matthiae as a subspecies of A. albicilla and saurophaga, and I cannot
see that it can be united into the same chain of forms with any other known
Kingfisher. See for further remarks in the list of birds from Squally Island.
This fine Kingfisher is common on St. Matthias Island.
18. Haleyon sancta sancta Vig. & Horsf.
Halcyon sanctus Vigors and Horsfield, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, xv. p. 206 (1827—“‘ Australia ” ;
evidently N.S. Wales; cf. Mathews, List B. Australia, p. 149).
2 9 6., 23. vi. 1923.
19. Alcedo atthis pelagica Stres.
Antea, p. 203.
3 dad., 2 Qad., 3 SQ juv., June and July 1923.
Wings 67-71'5 mm.—In the list of the birds of New Hanover I omitted
to say that Eichhorn sent us 1 3, shot 23.vii.1923, wing, 71 mm.
1 g was shot on Squally Island.
20. Merops ornatus Lath.
Antea, p. 205.
One female, 20.vii.1923. Middle tail feathers worn, some quills moulting,
also some moult on body plumage.
21. Eurystomus orientalis neohanoveranus (?).
Antea, p. 205.
@ juv., 11. vii. 1923.
There is hardly any doubt that this is a specimen of E. 0. neohanoveranus,
but without adult birds this is not absolutely certain. Nearly the whole culmen
is blackish, the feathers of the back are mixed brown, greenish and purplish-blue.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924, 269
22. Hemiprocne mystacea aéroplanes Stres.
Antea, p. 206.
Q 4.vii.1923. Wing 220°5 mm.
Though separable on an average, some New Guinea examples cannot be
separated, having the wings not longer and the back equally pale.
23. Collocalia fuciphaga vanicorensis (Quoy et Gaim.).
See Nov. ZooL. 1924, p. 206 (antea).
An adult male was shot 18.vii.1923. Like the specimens from New ©
Hanover it seems to me to belong to vanicorensis. The tarsus is bare of feathers,
the wing measures 120 mm.
24. Collocalia francica eichhorni subsp. nov.
Collocalia francica fascia uropygiali albida lata, plane distincta a formis
omnibus orientalibus distinguenda.
The specimens from St. Matthias Island (and New Ireland) differ from the
other orientalforms (spodiopygia, assimilis, townsendi, terraereginae, and reichenow?)
by the more pronounced, fairly wide, brownish white band across the rump,
and somewhat short wings.
Stresemann (Nov. Zoot. 1912, p. 350) described Collocalia francica reichenowi
as inhabiting the Solomon Islands, New Ireland, and New Britain, but: as his
type was from Guadalcanar (Solomon Islands), I restrict the habitat to the
latter, as far as we know at present. Only two specimens from the Solomon
Islands are known, both from Guadalcanar, one in the British Museum, one at
Tring ; both have the rump band narrower, and the underside more brownish.
I therefore name the birds from St. Matthias Island C. francica eichhorni. Type:
6 ad., St. Matthias 10.vi.1923. No. 8532 of the Meek collections, collected
by Albert F. Eichhorn. Wing 3 100, 103, 103°5, 2 102, 102, 1022 mm. Eichhorn
sent nine specimens, but three are moulting their primaries, so that their wings
cannot be measured satisfactorily. The moulting birds were shot in June.
Three skins from New Ireland, collected January 1924, are perfectly similar
to the St. Matthias ones, but the wings measure 102 (“ &”) and 107 (“2”)!
The wing of the third is damaged. No doubt they must belong to C. f. eichhorni,
and so must the one from New Britain with a wing said to measure 100 mm.,
but Reichenow’s measures are as a rule very short.
25. Monarcha menckei Heinr.
Monarcha menckei Heinroth, Journ. f. Orn. 1902, p. 451. Pl. IX. fig. 1 (St. Matthias Island).
4 gad. 1 Q ad., 5 immature, St. Matthias Island, end of May and June.
“Iris dark brown. Bill slaty blue, chalky blue. Feet slaty blue.”
This most peculiar species is, as already stated by Dr. Heinroth, not rare
on St. Matthias Island, but only one skin was saved, the others being lost during
the attack. The forehead, the eyes, ring round eyes, and a spot on the ear-
coverts are black, the whole rest of the upperside from the crown to and including
the upper tail-coverts is snow-white. The wings are black, the three innermost
secondaries, tips of wing-coverts, with the exception of the median series, and
edges of primary-coverts white. Tail-feathers black, tips white for about
270 “ Novirates ZooLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
17-20 mm. on the outermost pair, the white tips decreasing in extent towards
the middle, the central pair being entirely black, the next one also, with or
without a narrow white border. Throat black, sometimes with a few white
feathers, rest of underside, including under wing and under tail-coverts white.
The tail is strongly rounded. Wing adult males 71'5-74, adult female 68 mm.,
tail 63°5-65°5 mm. The sexes are alike in colour.
The young bird, however, is quite different, the whole upperside from the
bill to the tail is black, some of the feathers with ash-grey edges, these latter
being apparently remains from the very first nesting plumage, in which also
the wing-coverts seem to have grey-brownish fringes instead of white tips, and
the quills greyish-brown edges. Four of the juvenile birds have the upperside
white and black. The youngest bird with entirely black upperside has the
basal half of the under mandible “ brownish yellow.” This young bird has
some resemblance with the adult of Monarcha pileatus buruensis, which, however,
differs widely in having elongated throat-feathers, in being more black on the
throat, having a white ear-patch, and a totally different white wing-patch. The
adult bird stands quite by itself.
26. Monarcha cinerascens perpallidus Neum.
Monarcha cinerascens perpallidus Neumann, Orn. Monatsber. 1924, p. 39 (‘‘ Nördl. Neu-Mecklenburg,
Neu-Hannover, Portland-Inseln westlich von Neu-Hannover”’).
7 & 19, June and July 1923. “ Iris dark brown. Bill and feet slaty blue.”
Also Storm or Squally Island and New Hanover. Cf. antea, p. 208.
This is a very distinct form with rather pale upperside, throat and chest,
and much paler abdomen, of a light ochraceous-buff colour. Wings, 3 84-85,
2 80-81 mm. The young female mentioned, p. 208, from New Hanover, belongs
also to this form. Neumann has explained that the name fulviventris Hartl.
cannot be used for this pale-bellied subspecies.
27. Monarcha hebetior spec. nov.
6 ad., differs from M. chalybeocephalus in its various races by being less
glossy ; the feathers of the crown are shorter, so that the distinct cap is not
obvious, ear-coverts and sides of head are more blackish and practically devoid
of gloss; the feathers of the throat and chest are shorter and looser, and they
are of almost the same colour throughout, while in M. chalybeocephalus the
distal portion is glossy steel-blue, the base glossless slaty black. Bill smaller,
wings and tail shorter. Wings 73-78, tails 60-62 mm. “Iris dark brown,
bill slaty with black tip, feet slaty black.” 9. ad. crown deep steel-blue,
darker blue than in chalybeocephalus, back rufous, quills black-brown, secondaries
with wider, primaries with narrower rufous outer edges; tail blackish brown,
outer pair of rectrices with outer web rufous, the rest only with rufous outer
edges. Wing 70, 72 mm. 32 juv. Resembles the adult female, but the
crown is dark umber brown, not steel-blue, the bill is yellowish at base, and there
is a rufous-buff wash across the chest.
Type of M. hebetior 3 ad. 30.v.1923. A. F. Eichhorn coll. No. 8479.
We received 6 jad., 2 Qad., 2 juv. of this most interesting new bird, shot
in June and July 1923.
Antea, p. 208, I mentioned two males of a Monarcha, shot on New Hanover,
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 271
together with Monarcha alecto chalybeocephalus. Since the new M. hebetior
was discovered I have come to the conclusion—and Lord Rothschild agrees
with me—that this New Hanover bird is a subspecies of M. hebetior hebetior.
It agrees with the latter in the structure of the body plumage, but is much larger
(wings 84 and 85), and slightly more purplish, chest even more glossless, and
abdomen brownish black. I name this bird
Monarcha hebetior eichhorni subsp. nov.
Hab.: New Hanover. Type: gad. 3.iii.1923. A. F. Eichhorn coll. No.
8256.
The form from St. Matthias Island must therefore be called Monarcha hebetior
hebetior.
28. Rhipidura rufiventris mussaui subsp. nov.
Subspeciei Rhipidura rufiventris gularis dictae simillima, sed notaeo pec-
toreque paullo saturatioribus, rostro multo latiore distinguenda.
Type: & St. Matthias Island 11.vi.1923. Albert F. Eichhorn leg. No. 8540.
This form differs widely from Rhipidura rufiventris albertorum (Nov. Zoou.
1924, p. 207) of New Hanover and Rh. ruf. niveiventris (Nov. Zoot. 1914, p. 295),
in having the middle of the abdomen buff, not white! The nearest form is Rh.
ruf. gularis, but the bill is much wider, measuring at base about 10 mm., while
in gularis it does not surpass 8 mm. The breast-band and back are slightly
darker, more slate-colour. Wings 87-90°5 mm., the 87 ones labelled 2, the 90°5
ones g. The abdomen in five fairly fresh-plumaged birds is buff, but in two
in partially worn old plumage, moulting, upper wing-coverts and rump with
some rufous-buff edges, indicating youth, it is white; these have wings of 82
(“2”) and 87 (“ &”) mm. “Iris dark brown. Bill and feet black.”
All specimens from St. Matthias Island, not sent from Squally Island.
From Rh. ruf. setosa of New Britain and Duke of York Islands this form
and the near allies differ in the much narrower white edges to the inner secondaries,
29. Rhipidura matthiae Heinr.
Rhipidura matihiae Heinroth, Journ. f. Orn. 1902, p. 457. Pl. IX. fig. 2 (St. Matthias Island).
Eichhorn sent six adults, all labelled g, and a juvenile specimen, collected
in May, June, and July. The wings measure 72'5-74'5 mm. “Iris dark brown,
bill black, feet slaty blue, dull slate, dark slate-colour.” These birds agree
well with the original description. The figure is also good, except that the
back and tail are chestnut, not so red as in the figure, and the black merges
gradually into the brown of the flanks. "The not fully adult male, “ ¢”
7. vii.1923, No. 8643, has the base of the lower mandible yellowish (in skin),
the dark colour of occiput and chest is not pure black, but dark brown, and
the abdomen is suffused with chestnut-red.
This Rh. matthiae has no very near ally, and one cannot conscientiously
say that it is a subspecies of any known species. Rh. dahli appears to be quite
different, though not known to me.
272 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
30. Lalage conjuncta Rothsch. & Hart.
Lalage conjuncia Rothschild and Hartert, Bull. B.O. Club, xliv. p. 51 (1924—St. Matthias Island).
One male 30.vii.1923. No. 8691.
No other specimen met with. Upperside black with greenish steely gloss,
lower rump white, upper tail-coverts partially wanting, those present with very
narrow white edges. Quills black, greater upper wing-coverts white, the longest
series with black inner webs ; inner edges to primaries and outer edges to secon-
daries white. Tail black, outer rectrices with white tips. Lores black, sides
of head from under the eyes white, abdomen and under tail-coverts light chestnut.
Thishs black and white. Under wing-coverts white, spotted with black near
outer edge. Left wing 93, tail 77 mm. “Iris dark brown. Bill black. Feet
dark slate.”
This species seems to stand by itself. By the colour of the underside it
connects Lalage aurea with its chestnut under-surface, with the L. karu group
with white underside but barred breast ; with the atrovirens group it agrees in
the pure white breast and absence of a white superciliary line. Unfortunately
no female was obtained, which would have been of particular interest.
31. Edolisoma morio subsp. nov. (2).
We have received one adult male from St. Matthias, one adult male and
one young bird, marked “ 3,” but must be a female, from Squally or Storm
Island. These birds, that is to say the males, are like the males of remotum,
from New Hanover, and only a shade lighter than our only male from Rook
Island! The young bird, however, has three new feathers on the lower throat,
which are buff and barred as in the female of rooki, and a few feathers on the
rump, which are more like feathers of the rump of rooki than like those of 2
remotum, which has the underside unbarred rufous. Having only one male of
rooki, and no adult female from Squally or St. Matthias Islands, and not being
acquainted with the New Britain form (Hdol. morio heinrothi Stres.), it would
be hazardous to give a name to the birds from St. Matthias and Squally Islands ;
it must be added that they are also very much like admiralitatis from the Ad-
miralty Islands, but very much larger, namely as large as rooki and remotum.
32. Phylloscopus trivirgatus matthiae Rothsch. & Hart.
Phylloscopus trivirgatus matthiae Rothschild and Hartert, Bull. B.O. Club, xliv. p. 52 (1924—St.
Matthias Island).
Two specimens 15.vii. and 21.vii.1923, both marked as males.
Subspeciei Phyll. trivirgatus giulianettii dictae similis, sed capitis lateribus
striisque superciliaribus grisescentibus, nec flavescentibus, striis ocularibus
griseis, nec nigrescentibus, pileo grisescentiore, tergo flavescentiore, rostro
longiore primo visu distinguendus.
The iris is described as dark brown, bill blackish brown, base of lower
mandible dull yellowish brown-colour, feet pale slaty-blue. Wings 51°5 and
53 mm.
The occurrence of a Phylloscopus on St. Matthias Island is of great interest,
and we may suspect that other, hitherto unknown, forms may be discovered on
NovITATEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 218
other of the Papuan and neighbouring islands. As giulianetti is connected with
the Moluccan forms, they must be treated as subspecies.
33. Turdus dauma eichhorni Rothsch. & Hart.
Turdus dauma eichhorni Rothschild and Hartert, Bull. B.O. Club, xliv. p. 52 (1924—St. Matthias
Island).
Turdus subspeciei T. dauma papuensis appellatae similis, sed alis multo
brevioribus, uropygio tergoque fere similibus, plumarum marginibus subtus
angustioribus, primo visu distinguendus.
Of this very distinct form Eichhorn sent us eleven specimens, shot on St.
Matthias Island in May, June, and July 1924. The wings of the males measure
109-112, females 107-1075 mm. “Iris dark brown. Upper bill blackish,
lower light brown or horn-colour. Feet very light horn-colour.
In 1904 we received from Choiseul, Solomon Islands, a female with body
plumage in partial moult, which we duly registered in Nov. Zoou. 1905, p. 265,
as “Geocichla papuensis subsp. nov. (?).” Since then we have seen more speci-
mens of G. papuensis papuensis from New Guinea, and can say without hesita-
tion, that the Choiseul bird is adult, though moulting, and differs from Turdus
papuensis papuensis in the much narrower dark tips to the feathers of the under-
side; thus it resembles 7. p. eichhorni, but the rump is much more rufescent,
and the wing measuring 115 mm. is much longer. I name this form
Turdus dauma choiseuli subsp. nov.
Type: 92 Choiseul Island, 13.1.1904. A. S. Meek coll. No. A1148.
The presence of the Turdus dauma eichhorni on St. Matthias, and of the
choiseuli on Choiseul suggests the probability of other undiscovered Thrushes
on other islands of the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon group.
Two eggs of 7. d. papuensis were found on the Sattelberg in Kaiser-
Wilhelms-Land in August 1911 and sent to us by the late Professor Forster.
They are dull pale bluish with reddish brown spots, resembling certain eggs of
Blackbirds and Redwings. As the eggs are broken to pieces measurements
cannot be given.
34. Turdus melanarius heinrothi Rothsch. & Hart.
Turdus melanarius heinrothi Rothschild and Hartert, Bull. B.O. Club, xliv. p. 53 (1924—St. Matthias
Island).
Turdus subspeciei T’urdus melanarius melanarius dictae persimilis, sed pileo
brunnescentiore, alis brevioribus.
Wings 111 to 112 mm. “Iris dark brown. Bill cadmium yellow. Feet
yellow and brownish.”
The browner head distinguishes this form from 7’. m. melanarius, as well
as the shorter wing. The whole upperside and wings are browner, less blackish,
but the specimen’s plumage being partially worn, this difference requires con-
firmation by more specimens.
The presence of this Blackbird suggests that it or similar forms occur on
other islands of the Bismarck Archipelago.
Named after Dr. Heinroth, the first ornithological collector who visited St.
Matthias Island in 1901.
274 NovITATEs ZooLocicar XXXI. 1924,
35. Pachycephala pectoralis sexuvaria Rothsch. & Hart.
Pachycephala pectoralis sevuvaria Rothschild and Hartert, Bull. B.O. Club, xliv. p. 50 (1924—St.
Matthias Island). -
d ad. mari subspeciarum Pachycephala pectoralis finschi et goodsoni appella-
tarum similis, sed @ multo differt: tergo pileoque olivascenti-rufis, abdomine
luteolo.
4 Sad., 1 Jin change from juvenile to adult plumage, 3 Qad., St. Matthias
Island, May to July.
The adult males are very similar to those of P. p. finschi and pectoralis, the
yellow of the abdomen somewhat between the two, not so orange as in P. p.
goodsoni. Bill smaller than in goodsoni, same size as in finschi. The females
have head like the back, olivaceous-rufous, the back not green, though the
rump is slightly tinged with yellowish-green. Abdomen rich buff, in one tinged
with yellowish brown, but not yellow. Smaller: wing dä 89-90, 2 87-88 mm.
The young male was shot 29.v.1923. “Bill g@ black, iris dark brown, feet
slaty-blue.”’
36. Myzomela nigrita ramsayi Finsch. (?).
Myzomela ramsayt Finsch., Zeitschr. ges. Orn. iii. p. 21 (1886—Islands of Kapaterong and Nusa, near
New Ireland).
Mr. Eichhorn sent us 4 gad., 1 & juv., in moult, 1 Qad., 2 Q juv., from
St. Matthias Island. The adults are glossy black, wings & 66-67, 9 63 mm.
They would thus appear to have shorter wings than ramsayi, of which, how-
ever, we have only one adult male from New Hanover—see Nov. ZooL. 1924
(antea), p. 211, but I can now only make the wing 70 mm. long, not 72. If
all specimens from the typical localities (and New Hanover ?) are larger, the
St. Matthias form would be separable, but this cannot be said, until a series
from Kapaterong and Nusa is to hand.
“Tris dark brown. Bill black. Feet slaty-blue to dark slate.”
37. Cinnyris jugularis flavigastra (Gould).
Nectarinia flavigastra Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1843, p. 104 (New Ireland).
4 3, 4 2 from St. Matthias, 1 &, 1 2 from Squally or Storm Island. The
wings of the males measure 54 to 55 mm. A series from New Ireland must be
examined to show if the latter have longer wings.
38. Erythrura trichroa eichhorni subsp. nov.
Erythrura subspeciei E. t. goodfellowi dictae simillimus, sed colore caeruleo
frontis magis extenso.
Type: dad., St. Matthias Island 5.vii.1923. No. 8635.
This new subspecies is nearest to #. t. goodfellowi from the hills of S.E.
New Guinea (north to the mountains of the upper reaches of the Sepik River
—and perhaps farther), Vulcan, Dampier, and Sudest Islands, but differs in the
blue of the forehead farther ; in £. t. goodfellowi it reaches in the middle as far
as the eyes, while in eichhorni it extends, at least in the males, far beyond, over
the vertex ; the blue is also in the series a little lighter ; in the females this is
not quite so developed. Wings 57°5-60, in goodfellowi 60-63 mm.
E. t. eichhorni differs from E. t. papuana, from Arfak, in its smaller bill
NOVITATES ZooLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 275
and shorter wings and tail. E. t. woodfordi from Guadalcanar is also larger
than #. ¢. eichhorni.
E. t. cyaneifrons (New Hebrides) has the bill thicker and much shorter
than in E. ti. eichhorni.
Mr. Eichhorn sent six adults and two young from St. Matthias, and two
from Squally or Storm Island. The iris he marked as dark brown; bill, adult,
black, juv. under mandible, tip and cutting edge of upper dull yellow, rest of
upper black ; feet of adult smoky horn-colour to dull blackish, young light
smoky horn-colour.
39. Aplonis metallica nitida (Gray).
Antea, p. 212.
Common on St. Matthias and also found on Squally Island.
276 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE X XXI. 1924,
THE BIRDS OF SQUALLY OR STORM ISLAND
By ERNST HARTERT.
NQUALLY or Storm Island, Sturminsel, Kerué or Hunter Island, lies between
St. Matthias and New Hanover, but much nearer to the former, under
150° eastern long. and 1° 40’ southern lat. It used to be depicted as extending
from north to south, but according to Parkinson and Vahsel it extends from
west to east, and is about 14 km. long (Meyer, das Deutsche Kolonialreich II,
p. 454). It is an elevated coral reef, surrounded by more recent coral reefs,
and is partially wooded, while the coasts are covered with coconut palms and
inhabited by 500 to 700 natives. On this island Dr. Duncker had collected
4 species of birds, and Mr. Eichhorn was marooned on it for some time in 1923.
During this time he collected 21 species, as the following list shows.
The birds of Squally Island are throughout the same as those from St.
Matthias Island. There is hardly any literature, only:
1922: Martens (& Duncker), ‘‘ Vög. der Südsee- Expedition der Hamburger
Wissenschaft]. Stiftung, 1908-1909,” in Archiv. f. Naturg. 1922 A, Heft 6. (Four
species mentioned.)
1924: Rothschild & Hartert, Bull. B.O. Club, xliv. p. 50 (Micropsitta meeki
proxima mentioned as also occurring on Squally Island).
1. Megapodius duperreyii eremita Hartl.
6 ad., Squally Island, 14. viii. 1923.
2. Tringa hypoleucos L.
39, Squally Island, 15.viii.1923.
3. Ptilinopus solomonensis johannis (Scl.).
2 gad., Squally Island, 3.5. viii. 1923.
Duncker collected a specimen 30.ix.1908.
4. Gallicolumba beccarii eichhorni Hart.
1 g ad., Squally Island, 12. viii.1923.
See antea, p. 266. &
5. Macropygia rufa goodsoni Hart.
1 gad., Squally Island, 11. viii. 1923.
See antea, p. 266.
6. Chalcophaps stephani stephani Rchb.
d® 11. viii.1923. Collected by Duncker on Squally Island, 1.x.1908.
See antea, pp. 198, 266.
7. Caloenas nicobarica nicobarica (L.).
Duncker collected a specimen on Squally Island, 30.ix.1908.
a
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924, 277
8. Demigretta sacra (Gm.).
&, Storm or Squally Island, 14.viii.1923, in white plumage.
See antea, p. 267.
9. Haliastur indus girrenera (Vieill.).
& ad., Storm or Squally Island, 8. viii. 1923.
See antea, p. 200, and Nov. Zoor., 1914, p. 210.
10. Micropsitta meeki proxima Rothsch. & Hart.
$2, Squally or Storm Island, 18. viii. 1923.
See antea, p. 267.
11. Trichoglossus haematodus flavicans Cab. & Rchw.
4 g, 29, Squally or Storm Island, 7 and 10. xiii. 1923.
Two are yellowish, four grass-green. See antea, p. 267.
12. Halcyon albicilla saurophaga Gould.
Halcyon saurophaga Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1843, p. 103 (New Guinea).
g ad., Storm or Squally Island, 9.viii.1923. “‘Iris dark brown. Bill
black, base of under mandible whitish. Feet blackish slate colour.”’
There can be no doubt that H. albicilla albicilla, godeffroyi, owstoni,
admiralitatis and saurophaga are subspecies of one and the same species, but
it was hazardous of Stresemann to draw also H. matthiae into this chain; the
contrast of the colours of the upperside, the upper back and scapulars being
black-green, in contrast to the greenish blue (not sky-blue as in the figure in the
Journ. f. Orn.) rump and upper tail-coverts, the black line encircling the crown,
black (not blue) patch behind the eyes, etc., being striking characters. More-
over, H. matthiae and saurophaga have now both been found on Storm or Squally
Island. H. a. saurophaga was collected by Hüsker long ago on New Hanover,
but Eichhorn did not come across it.
13. Haleyon matthiae Heinr.
2 g, Storm Island, 3.11. viii. 1923.
See antea, p. 268.
14. Alcedo atthis pelagica Stres.
& ad., Squally Island, 3.viii.1923.
See antea, pp. 203, 268.
15. Merops ornatus Lath.
6 39, Squally Island, August 1923. —
See antea, pp. 205, 268.
g ad. 9.viii. in most wonderful fresh full plumage. Specimens from
6th to 14th August still more or less in moult.
16. Hemiprocne mystacea aéroplanes Stres.
Antea, pp. 206, 269.
1 3g, 3 9, August 1923, Squally Island. Wings 215-222 mm,
278 NOVITATES ZooLoaicar XXXI. 1924.
17. Monarcha cinerascens perpallidus Neum.
2 3g, Storm or Squally Island, 16. viii. 1923,
See antea, p. 270.
Also mentioned by Martens and Duncker as Monarcha inornatus.
18. Edolisoma morio subsp. nov. (?).
&P juv., Storm or Squally Island, 13.viii.1923. See remarks in list of St.
Matthias birds, ante& !
19. Cinnyris jugularis flavigastra (Gould).
SQ ad., Storm Island, 17.viii.1923. See list of St. Matthias birds.
20. Erythrura trichroa eichhorni Hart.
Antea, p. 274.
SP, from Storm or Squally Island.
21. Aplonis metallica nitida (Gray).
Antea, pp. 212, 275.
6 ad., from Squally Island.
Novitatrs ZooLogIcaAn XXX1. 1924. 279
ON HYPOCYSTA AND SOME ALLIED GENERA OF SATYRINAE
(LEP. RHOP.) FROM NEW GUINEA AND THE SOLOMON
ISLANDS
By DR. KARL JORDAN.
N Seitz, Macrolep. ix. p. 295 ff. (1911), Fruhstorfer gave a survey of the forms
of Hypocysta, Argyronympha and some other genera which was based
to a great extent on specimens lent to him by the Tring Museum. When in-
corporating these named and returned specimens and comparing the original
descriptions with the account given in Seitz, it soon became evident to me that,
probably owing to insufficiency of material and lack of literature, the account
suffered from errors in identification, omissions and other misleading inaccuracies,
which it would be of some interest to correct. In attempting to revise Fruhstorfer’s
survey I am well aware of the difficulties involved, particularly in the genus
Hypocysta, most species of which do not present any differences in structure
and therefore often leave us in doubt about their true standing in classification.
Since 1911 quite a number of new forms have been discovered, and future dis-
coveries will no doubt further modify the views as to the relationship of the -
forms in each genus.
The genera here dealt with have three veins of the forewings swollen, and
their ¢¢ lack those scent-organs which are so strongly developed on the wings
of Mycalesis and allies. They form an Australian-Papuan group which does
not extend westward beyond Aru, Misol and Weigeu, and which is closely related
to some Australian genera, such as Oreiwenica and Argynnina.
I. Hypocysta Westw. (1851).
Eyes naked, with distinct traces of hairs only under high magnification,
Tibiae and tarsi without spines on the upperside. In forewing the cell-apex
deeply angulate, a vein extending far into the cell from this angle, upper cell-
angle acute, projecting ; hindwing shorter in anterior half than in posterior,
precostal evenly curved outwards, upper cross-vein short, second long, upper
cell-angle larger than lower, R* as long as R’, much shorter than the cell.
Genitalia of gg very uniform: anal tergite lanceolate, with the tip obtuse
or acuminate ; below it, but lateral in position, a long spiniform process (anal
sternite) which reaches about to the middle of the tergite ; clasper long, broad
in basal third, apical two-thirds narrow, apex curved inward and spiniform,
sharp. Two sharply defined groups of species:
A. Hindwing above at least with a clay-coloured patch in outer half;
subanal ocellus simple, with a single white pupil. Five Australian species,
which are all described and well figured in Waterhouse & Lyell, Butterfl.
Australia, p. 33, figs. 79-81, 86-89, 142-147 (1914). In that work adiante and
antirius, which figure as separate species in Seitz, are treated as eastern and
western subspecies of one species.
B. Hindwing with white median area or almost uniformly yellowish brown ;
posterior ocellus with two or three white pupils.
280 NOVITATEsS ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924,
6. Hypocysta haemonia Hew. (1863).
Posterior ocellus of hindwing tripartite, with three white pupils.
Aru and New Guinea.
a. H. haemonia haemonia Hew. (1863).
Hh. fenesirell« Fruhst. in Seitz, Macrolep. ix. p. 297 (1911) (Sekar).
Upperside without white median area, but slightly paler than the base.
Aru (terra typica) ; Onin Peninsula, Dutch S.W. New Guinea; Aroa R. and
Brown R. in British New Guinea.
I do not find any difference between our specimens from Aru and New
Guinea.
b. H. haemonia plusiota Fruhst. (1911).
H, haemonia Hew., Grose-Smith, Nov. Zool. i. p. 364. no. 162 (1894) (Humboldt Bay).
Upperside in $2 with a pale median area, which is white at least on the
hindwing though somewhat impure. Length of forewing 20 mm., in H. h.
haemona 18 to 19 mm.
Humboldt Bay, north coast of Dutch New Guinea near the frontier of
mandated German New Guinea.
7. Hypocysta aroa Beth.-Bak. (1908).
Forewing above in ¢@ hairy in the cell as well as beyond it from M? to
R! or to costal margin. White area of hindwing pure white, with sharply
projecting angle before middle, on upperside the yellow ring of the double ocellus
indistinct. On underside the costal vein and margin of forewing without yellow
hairs at base; on hindwing the black space between the two metallic rings
broader than a metallic line, at termen without distinct brownish yellow line ;
the white area at its widest point before middle broader than at abdominal
margin.
New Guinea.
a. H. aroa aspis subsp. nov.
H. osyris Boisd., Oberth., Ann. Mus. Civ. Genova xy. p. 518 (1880) (partim ; Andai).
H. osyris var., Butler, Cat. Satyridae p. 167. sub no. 4 (1868) (Dorey).
H. aroa serapis Fruhst. (nec Grose-Smith 1894), in Seitz, l.c. (1911) (Dorey).
On upperside the white band of the forewing almost suppressed in J, vestigial,
the white area of the hindwing extending to lower angle of cell or very little
beyond. Below, the white band of forewing entering cell neither in & nor 9,
or a very little.
North side of Dutch New Guinea: type of aspis in Mus. J. J. Joicey from
coast near Manokvari, January-February 1914 (Pratt), paratype in Mus. Tring,
another specimen (3) from Amberbaki in Mus. Paris (Raffray & Maindron).
Further material may prove this form really to belong to H. osyris.
b. H. aroa aroa Beth.-Bak. (1908).
Forewing above in $9 with white band that is traversed in ¢ by partly
black veins and anteriorly shaded with black, entering the cell in both sexes ;
on the hindwing, above, the white area extends distad beyond lower cell-angle.
British New Guinea: Aroa R., in the mountains at 4,000-5,000 ft.
Noviratzs ZooLoGIcaE XXXI. 1924. 281
8. Hypocysta angustata Waterh. & Lyell (1914).
H. aroa angustata Waterhouse & Lyell, Butterfl. Austral. p. 34. no. 29a. figs. 148, 149. g (1914)
(Claudie R.; Coen; Id, 2).
¢. Forewing, above, without hairs on disc behind cell, veins not blackish,
the white band (¢) more or less shining through from beneath ; white area of
hindwing shaped as in H. aroa, extending to lower cell-angle; ocellus as in
H. aroa. On the underside base of costal margin and vein of forewing with
yellowish hairs, white band sharply defined ; on the hindwing the white area
extended basad close to base of cell, a little wider behind than in HZ. aroa ;
metallic rings as far separate as in H. aroa, at termen a yellowish line. Fore-
leg of ¢ black mixed with white (entirely black in H. aroa). 2 not known
to me.
New Guinea ; North Australia.
a. H. angustata pellucida Joic. & Talb. (1922).
H. osyris Boisd. pellucida Joicey & Talb., Bull. Hill Mus. i. p. 328 (1922) (south side of Geelvink
Bay).
Hindwing above yellowish instead of white.
At low altitudes south of Geelvink Bay, Dutch New Guinea,
b. H. angustata angustata Waterh. & Lyell (1914).
The white area of the hindwing above and below and of the forewing below
without yellow tint. Australian specimens not known to me. Our only example
from British New Guinea bears on the forewing beneath at the termen traces
of a double line, of which the inner one is metallic, the outer one yellowish.
British New Guinea: Aroa R., 2,000 ft., May 1905 (A. S. Meek), one 3.
North Australia: Claudie R. and Coen, Cape York Peninsula.
9. Hypocysta osyris Boisd. (1832).
Q. Satyrus osyris Boisduval, Voy. Astrol., Entom. p. 154. no. 17 (1832) (Offak).
Satyrus ? osyris Boisd. Doubl. & Westw., Gen. Diurn. Lep. i. p. 392. no. 48 (1851) (Offak).
Hypocysta osyris Boisd., Butler, Cat. Satyridae p. 167. no. 4 (1868) (partim); Kirby, Cat. Diurn.
Lep. p. 101. no. 4 (1871) (partim; “ Aru,” ‘“ New Guinea” ex errore); Fruhst., in Seitz,
Macrolep. ix. p. 296 (1911).
All the remaining forms with a white median area I consider to belong to
one species. The forms replace one another geographically as far as they are
known ; but there are still great gaps in our knowledge of their distribution,
no forms being as yet known from the Arfak Peninsula and the large coast
tracts between the mouth of the Fly R. and the Snow Mts. of Dutch New Guinea.
Upperside of forewing hairy on the disc; yellow ring of double ocellus
of hindwing distinct above. White band of forewing above in § more or less sup-
pressed or diffuse. On underside the metallic rings of hindwing closer together
than in H. aroa and H. angusiata, at termen of hindwing a yellowish line. The
brownish black terminal band of the hindwing, above, extends to or usually
into the cell. In those SS in which the abdominal margin of the hindwing
is not shaded with blackish brown the hindmargin of the forewing beneath
19
282 Noyiratrs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
and the costal margin of the hindwing above are blackish, with a few exceptions.
Three groups of forms :
A. Costal margin and vein of forewing beneath without yellow hairs at base.
a. H. osyris osyris Boisd. (1832).
Q. H. osyris Boisd., l.c. (Offak).
SQ. H. osyris waigeuensis Joicey & Talb., Ann. Mag. N. H. (8). xx. p. 218 (1917) (Waigeu).
Both sexes resemble H. angustata, but have a large yellow ring on the upper-
side of the hindwing. Forewing above in 4 with a diffuse yellowish band in
which the veins are not blackened; the white area of hindwing in SQ as in
H. angustata extending to the costal margin and exteriorly strongly angulate.
On underside the white band of forewing in $@ reaching hindmargin; the
metallic rings of hindwing touch each other in 3%.
Waigeu.
The type, which my colleague, Monsieur F. Le Cerf, has had the great
kindness to submit to me for inspection, is a 2 without abdomen.
b. H. osyris serapis Grose-Smith (1894).
H. serapis Staud., Grose-Smith, Nov. Zool. i. p. 364. sub no. 161 (1894) (Dutch N. Guinea); id., Ann.
Mag. N. H. (6). xx. p. 516 (1897).
H. isis isias Fruhst., l.c. (Kapaur).
HA. isis busiris Fruhst., l.c. (Misol).
Fruhstorfer does not say in what the specimens from Kapaur and Misol
differ from one another; he compares busiris (from Misol) only with forms
from which it is easily distinguished and avoids a comparison with isias from
Kapaur. I donot find any reliable differences, and therefore place both Fruhstor-
ferian names as synonyms under the older name serapis, which Grose-Smith
was the first to publish. This author says, under H. osyris, l.c.: “ Dr. Staudinger
has named the specimens from German New Guinea H. isis, and a slightly
different form, rather larger and blacker, from Dutch New Guinea, he calls Z.
serapis.” The few words by which H. serapis is here described as a larger and
blacker form characterise at the same time “ H. isis” as a smaller and paler race.
Though it would have been preferable if Grose-Smith had taken no notice of
the names under which Standinger had sold these insects, the names are published
with a sort of diagnosis and must therefore be accepted as dating from 1894.
The diagnosis, short as it is, characterises the forms in question at least as well
as do the Fruhstorferian descriptions. The specimens mentioned by Grose-
Smith as being in the Tring Museum are from Ati-Ati-Onin (= serapis) and
Constantinhafen (= isis).
g. Forewing above without white band; white area of hindwing almost
as in H. angustata, ocellus with yellowish ring. On underside the white band
of the forewing much broader than in H. angustata, entering far into cell, the
lower cell-angle being placed in the white band, hindmargin of forewing brown-
black.
2. The white band of the forewing, above and below, extends forward at
least to the lower cell-angle and penetrates deeper into the cell than even in
H, aroa; the anterior ocellus often indicated above,
Novıtates ZooLoGIcAaE XXXI. 1924, 283
Misol ; Kapaur and Ati-Ati on the Onin Peninsula, and in the coast districts
south of Geelvink Bay.
c. H. osyris lepida subsp. nov.
Hypocista (!) isis Fruhst., Rothsch., Lepid. Brit. Ornith. Exp. Snow Mts. p. 14. no. 56 (1915)
(Oetakwa R.).
White band of forewing and white area of hindwing narrower than in the
previous forms of H. osyris, the projecting angle of the area of the hindwing
more obtuse, the ocellus of the upperside smaller, not so close to the white area.
6. Forewing above with three diffuse white patches from lower cell-angle
to (SM?); median area of hindwing pure white, narrow, 5 mm. wide at the
hindmargin of the cell, much narrower than the brownish black terminal area
measured across the middle of the ocellus ; the yellowish ring somewhat darkened,
separated from the white area by a line which is more than 1 mm. broad. On
underside the white area of forewing enters the cell (the lower cell-angle within
the white area), becomes narrower posteriorly and terminates far from the
hindmargin, usually at the submedian fold.
9. As in H. o. serapis, but the white band of the forewing posteriorly some-
what narrower ; the white area of the hindwing likewise narrower, much more
obtusely angulate, the ocellus (as in g) smaller and more widely separated from
the white area.
Setekwa R. and Oetakwa R., Dutch S.W. New Guinea, from sea-level to
about 800 m., a series (Meek, Wollaston).
B. Underside of forewing with yellowish hairs at the base of the costal
margin or costal vein; the white area of the hindwing above not shaded with
black at the abdominal margin.
d. H. osyris pelagia Fruhst. (1911).
H. osyris Boisd., Grose-Smith, l.c. (Humboldt Bay).
In 32 the projecting angle of the white area of the hindwing vestigial.
6. Forewing above with a diffuse white band behind cell as in 7. o. lepida ;
white area of hindwing narrower from hindmargin of cell to costal margin than
in any other subspecies in which the area remains white at the abdominal margin,
2-5 to 3:5 mm. broad at hindmargin of cell, strongly widened towards abdominal
margin ; ocellus (as also in 9) as far away from the white area as in H. o. lepida.
On underside the white band of the forewing narrowing anteriorly and reaching
posteriorly only to SM?.
Q. White area of forewing triangular, narrowing costad, barely reaching the
lower cell-angle, penetrating slightly into the cell or not at all, being much narrower
between M'! and M: than the black-brown terminal border ; on the hindwing
the white area 5 mm. broad at the hindmargin of the cell. On underside the
white band of the forewing enters the cell very slightly, being 3 mm. broad at
the lower cell-angle and widening posteriorly.
North coast of Dutch New Guinea east of Geelvink Bay: Humboldt Bay
(W. Doherty).
234 NovITATEs ZoOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
e. H. osyris isis Grose-Smith (1894).
H. isis Staud., Grose-Smith, J.c. (1894) (German N. G.); id., Ann. Mag. N. H. (6). xx. p. 576 (1897);
Hagen, Jahrb. Nass. Ver. Naturk. L. p. 76. no. 90 (1897) (Stefansort and Simbang); Fruhst.,
l.c. (1911) (German N. G.).
H. isis senona Fruhst., l.c. (1911) (German N.G.).
I cannot distinguish senona from isis; Fruhstorfer avoids to mention a
difference. Very similar to HZ. o. pelagia, the white area of hindwing broader,
above and below with a more distinctly projecting angle, above at hindmargin
of cell 5 mm, broad in d, 5-6 mm. in 9.
Astrolabe Bay and Huon Gulf.
C. Forewing beneath with yellow hairs at the base of the costal margin ;
the white area of hindwing more or less suffused with blackish brown from
abdominal margin forward (on Aru occur specimens with the area not suffused
with brown) ; yellowish ring of ocellus, on upperside, as in H. o. osyris broadly
separated from the white area. These are the forms which Fruhstorfer deals
with under the specific names of H. osyris and H. hathor.
f. H. osyris hathor Fruhst. (1911).
d. White band of forewing shines through from below as a yellowish grey
vestigial band; white area of hindwing reaching backwards a little below the
cell, the projecting angle sharply marked. On underside the band of the fore-
wing narrowing anteriorly, continued costad a little beyond the lower cell-angle,
penetrating very slightly into the cell and reaching the hindmargin of the wing.
9. White band of forewing enters the cell slightly, extends forward to
Mand is as broad at M: as the black terminal band ; on the hindwing the white
area reaches backwards to the submedian fold.
N.E. British New Guinea: Kumusi R., type in Mus. Tring ; Hydrographer
Range ; and between Holnicote Bay and Owen Stanley Range (Meek, Eichhorn).
g. H. osyris calypso Grose-Smith (1897).
Hypocista (!) calypso Grose-Smith, Ann. Mag. N. H. (6). xx. p. 516 (1897) (Samarai and Tupulamu,
Brit. N. G.).
H. osyris nephthys Fruhst., l.c. (1911) (Milne Bay; Aroa R.).
H. osyris frenus Fruhst., l.c. (1911) (Aroa R., above 2,000 m.).
d. White area of hindwing above with a yellowish sufiusion and usually
somewhat smaller than in A. o. hathor; as a rule the blackish brown marginal
band penetrates into the apex of the cell, the boundary of the whitish area is
more diffuse on the distal side than in hathor and the projecting angle less sharp.
9. Hardly distinguishable from hathor with certainty; the white area of
the hindwing above not quite reaching to the submedian fold.
South-East New Guinea: Samarai, Milne Bay, Aroa R., Brown R., from
sea-level up to about 2,000 m.
h. H. osyris aruana subsp. nov.
H. osyris Boisd., Felder, Wien. Ent. Monats. iv. p. 242. no. 88. tab. 3. fig. 5 3 (1860) (Aru; fig,
mala); Ribbe, Iris i. p. 82 (1886) (Aru); Staud., Zxot. Tagf. p. 231. tab. 83 g (1887) (Aru).
H. osyris osyris Boisd., Fruhst., l.c. p. 296 (1911) (Aru).
d. In the dd of A. o. calypso and H. o. hathor the veins of the hindwing
above appear as dark lines; this is not the case in H. 0. aruana. Forewing
Novirates ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 285
on upperside with diffuse indication of a white band in which the veins appear
as sharp black lines ; the white area of the hindwing extends to the costal
margin and either is small, rounded, suffused with brown, and reaches to the
hindmargin of cell (type), or is purer white and broader and extends to the
abdominal margin (with intergradations). On underside the median area suffused
with brown on both wings of the dark form, sometimes the white colour almost
suppressed ; in the light-coloured form purer white, on the forewing hardly at
all narrowed from M? forward.
9. In the 2 corresponding with the dark 3 the white area of the forewing
above distinct up to R’, not entering the cell ; on the hindwing this area suffused
with brown from the hindmargin of the cell to the abdominal margin, some-
times also in the cell. On underside the median area suffused with brown either
on both wings or only on the forewing. In the light-coloured 2 (of which we
have one specimen only) the dark suffusion is hardly indicated, this 2 agreeing
almost exactly with the 99 from N.E. New Guinea (H. o. pelagia), but the
projecting angle of the median area of the hindwing is less sharp.
Aru Islands.
II. Hyalodia gen. nov.
Eyes almost as long-hairy as in Platypthima. In hindwing the lower cell-
angle very obtuse, R: shorter (!) than R*, upper discocellular longer than in
Hypocysta, not being much shorter than second.
Differs in markings from all other species dealt with in this paper: in the
hindwing bearing a large subapical ocellus which has two white pupils side by
side, not one behind the other. The forewing is vitreous.
1. Hyalodia tenuisquamosa Joic. & Talb. (1922).
IR. Hypocysta tenuisquamosa Joicey & Talb., Bull. Hill Mus. i. p. 329. no. 5 (1922) (Weyland
Mts., 300-1,100 m.).
4. Forewing vitreous, with the exception of the margins, the scales small
and most of them replaced by hairs. Hindwing much shorter in costal half
than behind, the termen straight and oblique from apex to M!, obtusely rounded-
angulate at M!; from abdominal margin to near subcostal a large white area.
On underside the posterior ocellus of hindwing smaller than the anterior one,
with one white pupil, not two; the white area penetrates in between the ocelli
towards the termen.
Dutch New Guinea: Weyland Mts., south of Geelvink Bay.
III. Erycinidia R. & J. (1905).
Eyes with very short hairs, appearing naked under a weak lens. Head
long-hairy ; end-segment of palpus porrect. Venation nearly as in Hypocysta :
R? of forewing from below the angle of the cross-veins ; R* of hindwing some-
what shorter than the cell. Hindwing triangular, with a lobiform tail at M’.
3. Genitalia nearly as in Hypocysta, but the process of the anal tergite almost
of even width to the tip, neither pointed nor dilated, simple, almost cylindrical.
slightly compressed.
286 NovitatEs ZoonocicaE XXXI. 1924.
1. Erycinidia gracilis R. & J. (1905).
Upperside without white area. Only dd are known.
In the mountains of Southern and South-Eastern New Guinea : St. Joseph
R. on the south side of the Owen Stanley Range, Mambare R. on the north-
east side, and Rawlinson Mts., inland of the Huon Gulf.
2. Erycinidia maudei Joic. & Talb. (1916).
bo. E. maudet Joicey & Talb., Ann. Mag. N. H. (8). xvii. p. 74. no. 11. tab. 7. fig. 3 & (1916)
(Wandammen).
On upperside a large anteriorly rounded area on forewing and almost the
whole hindwing white. Below only the forewing with a white area.
Dutch New Guinea: Wandammen, south of Geelvink Bay, about 1,800 m.
IV. Pieridopsis R. & J. (1905).
Very similar to the preceding genus: cell of hindwing only as long as R*,
i.e. somewhat shorter than in Hrycinidia ; tail shorter. The discovery of
E. maudei renders it probable that the slight difference between the two genera
will be entirely wiped out by further new forms.
1. Pieridopsis virgo R. & J. (1905).
3. A very variable species. Upperside for the greater part white, apex
and distal margin of forewing, or more than half the wing, black ; a white costal
spot at apical fourth. On underside, the white area of forewing connected with
costa by means of two bands ; on hindwing an anteriorly forked, white, partly
yellow-tinged, oblique band from costal margin towards the tail, which it does
not reach, an abbreviated submarginal band also white. These markings often
partly or almost totally suppressed; cf. Joicey & Talbot, Bull. Hill Mus.
i. p. 330. no. 7 (1922), who divide the species up into the following individual
forms :
f. virgo R. & J. (1905), markings present.
f. obscurata Joic. & Talb. (1922), underside almost wholly black.
f. opaca iid. (1922), posterior half of the forked band of the hindwing
below suppressed, the two branches not being connected.
f. infuscata iid. (1922), on upperside the white of the forewing not
entering cell, beneath restricted to the hindmargin and separated from
the two costal bands.
Dutch and British New Guinea: Weyland Mts., Snow Mts., St. Joseph
R., Mambaré R.
V. Platypthima R. & J. (1905).
369. Sexes similar. Eyes densely long-hairy. End-segment of palpus
erect. Venation as in Hypocysta : SC: of forewing beyond cell, in some species
from cell; hindwing rounded, without tail, abdominal margin incurved near
analangle. ¢ genitalia different according to species, of similar build as in
Hypocysta, but the lateral process (x. st.) of the anal segment usually short
and broad, sometimes absent, rarely spiniform as in Hypocysta, clasper different
in nearly all the species.
NovITAatEs ZooLoGIcaE XXXI. 1924, 287
Only known from the mountains of New Guinea, one species extending to
Goodenough Island.
We arrange the species in three groups :
A. Upperside white or yellowish white, at least on hindwing.
1. Platypthima ornata R. & J. (1905).
82. P. ornata R. & J., Nov. Zool. xii. p. 458. no. 5 (1905) (Angabunga R.); Fruhst., in Seitz,
l.c. p. 299. tab. 99 c. (1911).
&?. Upperside of hindwing with the exception of the termen bluish white,
this colour extending on forewing to the base of M! and not reaching the costal
margin. On underside the forewing without markings ; hindwing with a sub-
marginal row of ocelli bounded on the outer and inner sides by a metallic line,
ocelli 4 and 5 black; at the basal side of the proximal metallic line from the
abdominal margin to the middle of the wing or beyond a pale reddish brown
band which becomes narrower anteriorly and is accompanied on the proximal
side by a red-brown, posteriorly diffuse, band.
Only known from the south side of the Owen Stanley Range.
2. Platypthima simplex R. & J. (1905).
6. Upperside almost exactly as in P. ornata. Beneath, the hindwing
without the red-brown and yellowish white double band and the fifth ocellus
black and larger than the others.
Only two ¢¢ known, collected by A. S. Meek at the same locality as the
preceding species: Angabunga R., tributary of St. Joseph R.
3. Platypthima placiva spec. nov.
d¢. Upper angle of cell of forewing more strongly produced than in the
two previous species. Upperside dirty yellowish white, lighter in 9 than in
6; on forewing this area as large as in the preceding species, on the hindwing
not reaching so far distad, posteriorly extended to the termen as a yellowish
white powdering. Underside blackish brown, darker in g than in 9; on fore-
wing at apex a rather indistinct terminal red-brown band, at the proximal side
of which there is a trace of a band faintly paler than the ground and bounded
each side by traces of a yellowish grey line; on the hindwing six small ocelli,
the row starting at costa, the fifth black and larger than the others, in some
dd also the third and fourth with a black iris ; on inner and outer sides of the
ocelli a bluish metallic line; at outer side of outer line a yellowish grey line
at anal angle, sometimes still distinct further forward ; then follow outward
a dark line and yellowish grey one, both very thin, the termen towards costa
narrowly red-brown, particularly in 9. Anal tergite of 3 gradually narrowing,
dorsally carinate, spathulate; lateral process (x. st.) absent. Clasper broad
at base, strongly narrowed in middle, apex strongly widened and on inside
concave, apical margin with large teeth.
Length of forewing: 21-23 mm.
A number of ¢¢ and one 2 (without abdomen) from the Hydrographer Mts.
North-East British New Guinea, 700-800 m., i.-iv. 1908 (Eichhorn).
288 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924,
4. Piatypthima leucomelas Rothsch. (1903).
&. Hypocysta leucomelas Rothschild, Nov. Zool. x.p. 309. no. 1 (1903) (Aroa R.); Fruhst., 2.c. p. 297
(1911).
Platypthima leucomelas Roths., Roths. and Jord., l.c. xii. p. 459. no. 7 (1905).
d. Originally described from a single & collected by Weiske. Mr. Talbot
informs us that there is a specimen in coll, Fruhstorfer marked “ Typus.”
This specimen was sent by us to Fruhstorfer and came from a series received
by us after 1903. It is therefore neither the type nor a paratype.
Forewing dark, unicolorous. Hindwing above and beneath with a white
area which is narrower costally. On hindwing beneath a row of ocelli, of which
ocellus M!-M: is very large, with deep black iris and a white dot as pupil; the
metallic lines which bound the row of ocelli broad. Papillae of tongue long
and numerous (almost as in Harsiésis). Median process of anal tergite narrow,
lanceolate from middle; lateral process short, with parallel sides minutely
dentate at the margin, the apical margin somewhat incurved, its upper angle
produced as a tooth; clasper narrow, gradually widened towards base, with
the apex spiniform, pointed.
British New Guinea, only ¢¢ known.
B. Upperside uniformly olivaceous brown and without ocelli on the hind-
wing. Underside with five or six ocelli on hindwing, forewing without ocelli.
Upper cell-angle of forewing little further distal than lower angle.
5. Platypthima homochroa R. & J. (1907).
32. P. homochroa Rothsch. & Jord., D. Ent. Zeitschr. p. 190. no. 1 (1907) (British New Guinea) ;
iid., Nov. Zool. xv. p. 253. tab. 11. fig. 6 Q (1908).
Not mentioned in Seitz. Upperside uniformly sepia brown. Underside
little paler, on forewing a feeble trace of a pale submarginal band, 2 mm. broad,
extending from costal margin to hindmargin and posteriorly approaching the
termen ; on hindwing a row of five small ocelli with black iris, 2 to 5 almost
equal in size, 1 smaller, at costal margin a white dot and at anal angle a minute
ocellus, at inner and outer sides of ocelli a metallic line, shghtly purple. Process
of anal tergite of & long, thin, spiniform ; lateral process (x. st.) broad, short,
directed downward, divided into two spiniform prongs; clasper gradually but
strongly narrowing from base to apex, which is smooth, very sharp, curved
inward.
Three subspecies :
a. P. homochroa homochroa R. & J. (1907).
62. Hindwing beneath on the basal side of the proximal metallic line
rusty red in 3g, pale cinnamon in 9; the diameter of the iris of the ocelli less
than 1 mm.
North-Eastern British New Guinea: Biagi R. and Mambaré R., 1,500 m.,
iv. 1906 (A. S. Meek) ; one pair.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 289
b. P. homochroa satisbona subsp. nov.
&®. Underside of hindwing much less bright-coloured on the basal side
of the proximal metallic line; ocelli half as large again; x. st. and clasper
somewhat narrower.
Island of Goodenough, between 700 and 1,200 m., iv. 1913 (A. S. Meek) ;
one pair.
e. P. homochroa euptychioides Joic. & Talb. (1916).
P. euptychioides Joicey & Talb., Ann. Mag. N. H. (8). xvii. p. 75. no. 12. tab. 8. fig. 1 3 (1916)
(Wandammen, 6,000 ft.).
dg. Underside of forewing with a narrow, distinct, reddish brown terminal
band from apex to M1, divided by a blackish subterminal line ; proximal metallic
line more regular, without lighter colouring at its proximal side ; ocelli almost
as in satisbona. Anal tergite broader; x.st. longer and narrower ; clasper
broader, more abruptly narrowing.
Dutch New Guinea: Wandammen Mts., south of Geelvink Bay, xi.—xii.
1920, about 1,800 m. (Pratt).
6. Platypthima dispar Joic. & Talb. (1922).
P. dispar Joicey & Talb., Bull. Hill Mus. i. p. 329. no. 6 (1922) (Weyland Mts.).
3. Upperside as in P. homochroa. Underside darker ; hindwing with five
ocelli, of which 1, 2 and 3 are very small, 4 is large and 5 at most half as large
as 4. Anal tergite of & lanceolate, apex not pointed; x. st. short, broad,
denticulate at apex ; clasper narrow from middle to apex, much narrower than
in P. homochroa.
Two subspecies :
a. P. dispar dispar Joic. & Talb. (1922).
32. A large form, length of forewing 21 mm. Outer margin of anal sternite
(x. st.) of & convex, inner margin concave, apex denticulate.
Dutch New Guinea: Weyland Mts., south of Geelvink Bay (Pratt).
b. P. dispar huonis subsp. nov.
69. Length of forewing 19 mm. Underside slightly paler than in P. d.
dispar, especially in 9. Anal sternite (x.st.) on the outer side with a short,
variable, denticulate projection or hump.
Eastern New Guinea: Rawlinson Mts., Huon Gulf (Keysser) ; five gd,
one 9.
C. Above without white area, hindwing above with two ocelli, which are
sometimes rather indistinct in those species which have a white or yellowish
band on the underside. Upper cell-angle of forewing much more produced
than lower angle, SC* usually from cell or from angle, lower cell-angle very obtuse.
290 NovitaTEs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
7. Platypthima klossi Rothsch. (1915).
69. P. klossi Rothschild, Lepid Brit. Ornith. Exp. Snow Mts. p. 14. no. 56a (1915) (Carstensz Peak).
3@. SM? of forewing from beyond cell or from angle. In 3? both ocelli
of upperside of hindwing very distinct. Underside without white band, fore-
wing without distinct ocelli, a brownish black discal band on outer side sharply
bounded by a dull cinnamon band and scarcely extended to submedian fold,
termen likewise brownish black, the dark discal band indicated on upperside.
Hindwing beneath with five ocelli; from costal margin across apex of cell a
brownish black band which narrows behind, costally at the outer side of this
band a pale line, which is white in 2. Clasper with a subapical, dorsal, short
tooth.
Dutch South-West New Guinea: Carstensz Peak, between 1,500 and 3,000 m.,
ii.-ii. 1913 (Wollaston) ; two 3, one 2.
8. Platypthima decolor R. & J. (1905).
6. Forewing beneath with a narrow discal band suffused with yellow,
and at apex some small ocelli. Hindwing, on underside, with a narrow, white
median band which is forked from middle ; four ocelli almost of equal size, with
black iris, between first and second a vestige of another ocellus. Median process
of anal tergite almost uniform in width, slightly spathulate, with the tip sharp ;
x. st. a long thin spiniform process ; clasper narrow from middle to apex, before
apex with long, dorsal, sharply pointed, triangular tooth.
British New Guinea, south side of Owen Stanley Range: Angabunga R.,
tributary of St. Joseph R., about 1,800 m. (Meek); one 3.
9. Platypthima pandora Joic. & Talb. (1916).
39. P. pandora Joicey & Talb., Ann. Mag. N. H. (8). xvii. p. 75. no. 13. tab. 6. fig. 6 & (1916)
(Wandammen).
Underside of forewing with a whitish band suffused with yellow, widening
behind ; hindwing with a narrow, simple, irregular, white band; both bands
shining through above. Four ocelli as in P. decolor. Genitalia of & nearly as
in P. decolor, but the dorsal tooth of the clasper is apical, not subapical, the
apex of the clasper projecting a little beyond the base of the tooth.
Dutch New Guinea ; two subspecies :
a. P. pandora pandora Joic. & Talb. (1916).
In $2 the white median band of the hindwing, on underside, 1°55 mm.
broad from costal margin to cell and 2 mm. in the cell. SM? from cell-angle.
Weyland Mts. and Wandammen.
b. P. pandora goliathina subsp. nov.
9. Slightly larger, length of forewing 29 mm. The white band on underside
of hindwing 1 mm. broad from costa to hindmargin of cell, quite thin below
cell ; ocelli larger, diameter of iris of first and of last ocellus 25 mm. SM? from
cell.
Mt. Goliath (about 130° L.), in Southern Dutch New Guinea ; 1 9 (Meek).
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 291
10. Platypthima pedaloidina Joic., Noak. & Talb. (1916).
62. P. pedaloidina Joicey, Noak. & Talb. Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 1915. p. 366. no. 13. tab. 57.
fig. 2 8, 3 2 (1916, June) (Arfak).
69. As in P. pandora the light portions of the underside shining through
above. Forewing beneath with a whitish band suffused with yellow as in
P. pandora, but a broad branch runs from the band into or across the cell; on
the hindwing five ocelli, not four, at the proximal side of them from costal
margin to cell a white band which consists of narrow half-moons, this band
continued backwards by red spots. d—genitalia essentially as in P. pandora.
Arfak Mts. (Pratt).
VI. Harsiésis Fruhst. (1911).
369. Similar to Platypthima. Eyes long-hairy. Venation as in P. decolor
and allies, SC’ of forewing usually from cell, rarely from beyond cell. Outline
of wings as in Platypthima, but abdominal margin of hindwing less distinctly
incurved ; precostal curved outward, anguliform. Differs from all the genera
dealt with in this article in the mid- and hindtibiae and -tarsi being spinose on
the upperside. Papillae of tongue large and numerous. Anal tergite of &
long, thin, spiniform, curved downwards in an arch; lateral process of x. st.
represented by an apically rounded hump; clasper gradually but: strongly
narrowed towards apex, with spiniform apex which is gradually curved inward.
Fruhstorfer’s statement that the gf of Harsiésis differs from those of the allied
genera in bearing three tufts of hairs on the hindwing is due to an error of
observation. I cannot find these tufts.
New Guinea and Aru.
1. Harsiésis hygea Hew. (1863).
69. Upperside without white band. On underside of hindwing below
middle a large ocellus, the other ocelli very small.
Five subspecies :
a. H. hygea tenebrica subsp. nov.
Hypocysia hygea Hew., Butler, Cat. Satyridae p. 167. no. 1 (1868) (Aru); Ribbe, Iris i. p. 82. no. 49
(1886) (Aru).
Harsiésis hygea hygea Hew., Fruhst. (error determinationis), l.c. p. 299 (1911) (Aru).
3. Upperside almost without a trace of the bluish grey tint found in all
the forms from the western districts of New Guinea ; on forewing a pale distal
suffusion, quite rudimentary, extending to upper angle of cell; on underside
this band likewise indicated, but is anteriorly narrower than above ; the brown
band of the hindwing, bearing the ocellus and bounded by the metallic lines,
reaches to M?, the third ocelliform dot (between R? and R°, in front of the large
ocellus and in or at the brownish yellow ring) absent.
9. Larger and paler than 4) likewise without evident bluish grey tint.
Aru Islands.
292 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
b. H. hygea hygea Hew. (1863).
Hypocista (!) hygea Hewitson, Exot. Butt. ii. Hypoc. figs. 2. 3 & (1863) (New Guinea).
Hypocysta hygea Hew., Kirby, Cat. Duirn. Lep. p. 101 (1871) (“ Aru” !); Oberth., Ann. Mus. Civ.
Genova xv. p. 518 (1880) (Andai).
Harsiésis hygea subsp. ?, Fruhst., l.c. p. 299 (1911) (Andai).
Harsiésis hygea chalybe Joicey, Noak. and Talb., T'rans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 1915, p. 367. no. 14 (1916)
(Geelvink Bay).
32. Upperside blue grey, the 3 rather darker than the 9. On underside
the forewing with a feeble pale band in 9, without it in d; the brown band
bearing the ocellus on hindwing reaches to M’as in the preceding form, the third
ocelliform dot placed in front of the ocellus distinct.
Dutch New Guinea: Dorey, Andai, Geelvink Bay, Onin Peninsula.
c. H. hygea jobina Fruhst. (1911).
Hypocista (!) hygea Hew., Kirsch, Mitth. Mus. Dresden i. p. 119 (1877) (Ansus, Jobi).
Hypocysta hygea Hew., Staud., Exot. Tagf. p. 231 (1887) (Jobi) ; Grose-Smith, Nov. Zool. i. p. 364
(1894) (Jobi).
Harsiesis hygea jobina Fruhst., l.c. p. 299 (1911) (Jobi).
3. Upperside with the blue-grey tint stronger than in H. h. hygea, especially
in 9. Underside of forewing from hindmargin forward with a diffuse pale band,
which is abbreviated in ¢.-
Island of Jobi.
d. H. hygea noctula Fruhst. (1911).
Hypocysta hygea Hew., Hagen, Jahrb. Nass. Ver. Nat. L. p. 76. no. 91 (1897) (pt., Stefansort) ; Grose-
Smith, Nov. Zool. i. p. 364 (1894) (Humboldt Bay).
39. Harsiésis hygea noctula Fruhst., l.c. (1911) (German N. Guinea).
According to information received from Mr. Talbot the type in coll. Fruh-
storfer came from Friedrich Wilhelmshafen, Astrolabe Bay.
Similar to H. h. hygea, but the brown band which bears the ocellus extends
below M? to SM:, as already pointed out by Messrs. Joicey & Talbot in their
description of H. h. chalybe (cf. H. h. hygea, synonymy).
North coast of New Guinea: Humboldt Bay, Astrolabe Bay.
e. H. hygea nigrita subsp. nov.
Hypocysta hygea Hew., Hagen, l.c. (pt., Simbang).
39. A small form, similar to Aru specimens. Much darker than noctula,
the $d almost entirely without a blue-grey tint on the upperside, 99 with a
trace of it; forewing as in H. h. tenebrica with a diffuse pale band, which is
narrower than in tenebrica ; termen of hindwing narrowly pale brown, with a
darker line, which is especially distinct in 9. On underside, the forewing with
a narrow diffuse band on disc, which is feeble in J, and rather prominent in 9,
and much narrower than in all the preceding forms ; the band which bears the
ocellus reaches to SM? as in noctula.
Eastern New Guinea: Rawlinson Mts. (type) and Simbang, a series ; also
one d from Brown R., south side of Owen Stanley Range.
NovıTares Zo0LOGICAE XXXI, 1924, 293
2. Harsiésis yolanthe Fruhst. (1911).
Harsiésis hygea yolanthe Fruhst., Iris xxvii. p. 137 (1913) (Eilanden R.).
Harsiesis pallidifascia Rothsch., Lepid. Brit. Ornith. Exp. Snow Mts. p. 15.no. 57 (1915) (UtakwaR.).
32. Above, the & brownish black, the 2 pale brown, both sexes without
blue-grey tint; forewing above and beneath with white discal band. The
band of hindwing bearing the ocellus extends to M? as in the western forms of
H. h. hygea. $—genitalia as in H. hygea.——Perhaps Fruhstorfer was right
in treating this insect as a form of H. hygea ; it occurs just in that district of
Dutch South-West New Guinea whence no form of H. hygea is known.
Dutch South-West New Guinea: Oetakwa, Setekwa and Eilanden R., and
Mt. Goliath, from sea-level to about 1,500 m.
3. Harsiésis hecaerge Hew. (1863).
Hypocista (!) hecaerge Hewitson, l.c. fig. 4. 5 9 (1863) (New Guinea).
Harsiésis hecaerge Hew., Fruhst., l.c.
2. Only a few 92 are known. Forewing above and below with a diffuse
pale band, which is more prominent than in H. hygea, without blue-grey tint.
In front of and below the large ocellus a smaller ocellus with black iris, the ocelli
variable in size; the brown band in which they are placed reaches to M?.
Dutch New Guinea: In Mus. Brit. one 9, probably from Dorey; in Mus.
Tring one 2 from Kapaur, another from Etna Bay.
VII. Argyronympha Math. (1886).
Argyronympha Mathew, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. p. 346 (1886) ; Fruhst., l.c. p. 297 (1911).
I cannot understand why Fruhstorfer felt justified in stating that no scientific
diagnosis of the genus had been published. The description given by Mathew
is detailed and far from bad, and has the great advantage over Fruhstorfer’s
description in Seitz that it contains no misleading statements.
The genus is easily recognised by the venation, the markings and the
6 -genitalia. Eyes with short hairs. Tibiae and tarsi without spines on upper-
side ; apex of foretarsus of @ dilated, right and left with more than one tuft
of sensory hairs. In forewing the upper cell-angle obtuse, not produced (as it
is in all the previous genera), upper discocellular longer than in the preceding
genera, second with a shallow curve, third oblique, no deep angle at or near the
point of origin of R*, SC? from cell; hindwing somewhat longer in anterior half
than in posterior (in Hypocysta the inverse is the case), therefore the cell only
a little over half the length of the wing, cross-vein 2 much shorter than 3 (in
Hypocysta cross-vein 2 much longer than 3), 3 about as long as 1 and 2 together,
oblique, lower cell-angle less than 90°, abdominal margin not incurved.
&-genitalia: segment 8 very long, ventrally with a thick truncate tuft of
long and narrow scales. Anal tergite compressed, its apex dilated in a vertical
sense, the vertical margin with an upper and a lower projection (often reduced)
and a median hook ; at each side of it, but further ventral, two very long, narrow
sclerites, which widen towards base and are much longer than the anal tergite,
projecting straight backwards ; the upper sclerite corresponds to the spiniform
x. st. of Hypocysta ; it is naked, without bristles, apically widened and asym-
metrically forked, the upper prong being quite short and the lower one long
994 NOoVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
and pointed. The second, lower, lateral sclerite is the clasper, it is feebly chitin-
ised, green (as are also the palpi in most forms), almost straight, narrowed apically,
longitudinally impressed on the outerside, with a longitudinal ridge on innerside,
ventrally with numerous bristles, on outerside with thin marginal bristles,
which are partly very long in the first two species. Penis-sheath apically
on inside and at the margin densely studded with small sharp teeth, the mem-
branous portion minutely spinose.
Mathew described two species ; I select A. ugiensis as genotype.
The genus is confined to the Solomon Islands.
1. Argyronympha pulchra Math. (1886).
39. A. pulchra Mathew, l.c. p. 347. tab. 34. fig. 4 9 (1886) (Treasury); Ribbe, Iris xi. p. 107 (1898) ;
Fruhst., 2.c. p. 298 (1911) (partim).
A very variable species. According to Ribbe, l.c., a dark form occurs
together with a brighter coloured one, which statement is borne out by our
material, at least as regards some of the islands.
Foretarsus of ¢ strongly inflated, without spiniform tip. Forewing above
with or without red-brown or orange area; hindwing basally scarcely paler
than terminally. Underside of both wings whitish grey from base to the brown
discal band. Anal tergite of g at the vertical apical margin with an upper and
a lower short tooth and between them a more strongly projecting hook.
On the main chain of islands, not yet known from Maleyta.
a. A. pulchra laeta subsp. nov.
A. pulchra Math., Ribbe, l.c. (partim).
62. Basal half of forewing, above, brighter orange than in the brightest
specimens of the following subspecies, this area extends to the lower cell-angle,
but the apex of the cell remains black, the orange area appearing incurved below
the costal margin, the outer margin of the area usually crosses M® beyond its
middle. Underside of forewing with a light orange tint along the brown discal
band.
Bougainville. Meek stayed on the island twice for some time and found
only this bright-coloured form, which he obtained in numbers, and no black-
brown specimens. Fruhstorfer apparently had not seen specimens from
Bougainville.
b. A. pulchra pulchra Math. (1886).
. pulchra Math., l.c. (Treasury).
. ulava Grose-Smith, Ribbe (error determinationis), l.c. (1898) (= pulchra).
. pulchra adustata Fruhst., l.c. (Choiseul).
. pulchra argentaria Fruhst., l.c. (Ysabel).
. pulchra denya Fruhst., l.c. (Shortland).
hf h& PR
69. Dimorphic. Forewing, above, with or without orange-tawny area.
In all the specimens I have seen the orange-tawny patch is smaller than in
A. p. laeta, more rounded and darker, frequently almost entirely suppressed. I
have tried to find reliable differences between the specimens from the various
islands, but have failed to discover any. The bright-coloured specimens from
Ysabel, for instance, are not distinguishable from bright-coloured ones from
Noviratrs ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924, 295
Shortland, and dark specimens from Shortland cannot be separated from simi-
larly coloured examples from other islands. If one wishes to distinguish between
dark and bright individuals, f. adustata should be employed for the former and
f. pulchra for the latter. Meek has nowhere found both forms at the same time.
Are the differences, at least to some extent, seasonal ?
2. Argyronympha gracilipes spec. nov.
6. Foretarsus and -tibia of 3 not swollen, thin, hardly thicker than the
forefemur, tarsus without spiniform tip. Forewing, above, in SQ from the
base to M! dark tawny ochraceous, darker than the brightest specimens of
A. p. pulchra ; basal half of hindwing with distinct though feeble traces of an
ochraceous tint. On underside the dark brown discal band of the forewing
broader than in A. pulchra, much less sharply defined, the whole basal half of
the forewing with a clayish ochraceous tint, not whitish grey as in A. pulchra,
slightly greyer on hindwing than on forewing; as in A. pulchra the anterior
black macula of the hindwing bears a yellowish white double spot. 3 - genitalia
as in A. pulchra.
Guadalcanar (Meek, Woodford) ; a series.
3. Argyronympha rubianensis Grose-Smith (1889).
62. Foretibia and -tarsus of ¢ slightly swollen, tarsus acuminate, with
brownish spiniform tip. Forewing, on upperside, orange-ochraceous, with black
terminal band, the orange area at least extended to lower cell-angle, this colour
also distinct on hindwing from base to middle, but distally diffuse and fading
away. On underside the forewing brighter or duller ochraceous tawny, the
reddish brown discal colouring diffuse, posteriorly sometimes more band-like,
but this band narrow ; on the hindwing the basal area grey or dark tawny, in
the anterior macula a quadrangular transverse yellowish white spot, below
which there is at most a trace of asecond spot. The upper tooth, but especially
the lower one, of the apical margin of the anal tergite of g much larger than
in A. pulchra and A. gracilipes, and the marginal bristles of the clasper much
thinner and shorter.
Western group of islands of the Solomons, in several subspecies.
a. A. rubianensis rubianensis Grose-Smith (1889).
A. rubianenis Grose-Smith, Ent. Mo. Mag. xxv. p. 299 (1889) (Rubiana); id. & Kirby, Rhop,
Exot. ii., Satyr. Argyr. p. 4. figs. 4, 5 3 (1895); Ribbe, l.c. (partim); Fruhst., l.c.
69. Foretarsus of ¢ distinctly swollen. The orange-ochraceous area of
forewing, above, as bright as in A. p. laeta, but much larger, the black terminal
band widened basad at hindmargin (reaching to middle in @), also vein M? in
outer portion of orange area more or less black. On underside the reddish
brown colouring at the proximal side of the yellowish white submarginal line
narrow from hindmargin to about R', band-like, thence extended to apex of cell.
Rubiana (= New Georgia) and Kulambangra.
396 Novirates ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924,
b. A. rubianensis rendova Fruhst. (1911).
62. Foretarsus of J not at all swollen. Upperside of wings somewhat
paler orange than in the previous form, the black terminal band posteriorly
less widened, and therefore the outer margin of the orange area less oblique.
Rendova.
c. A. rubianensis guizona Fruhst. (1911).
62. Foretarsus of § as in A. r. rendova. The orange area of forewing
occupies the whole of the cell and extends a little beyond, the cross-veins being
black bars within the orange area, outer margin of this area straight, not indented
at the veins, the black terminal band almost of even breadth from R* backwards,
not dilated at hindmargin. On underside the brown discal colouring of the
forewing rather more extended than in the two previous races.
Guizo.
d. A. rubianensis vella Fruhst. (1911).
A. rubianensis Grose-Smith, Ribbe, l.c. (Renonga ;—this subspec. ?).
69. The orange area of the forewing, above, deeper tawny and also some-
what smaller. On underside the reddish brown colouring of the dise of fore-
wing much more extended ; the hindwing likewise darker and its brown discal
stripe broad.
Vella Lavella, the most northern of the larger islands of the New Georgia
group; and Renonga ?
4. Argyronympha ulava Grose-Smith (1889).
$9. A. ulava Grose-Smith, Ent. Mo. Mag. xxv. p. 299 (1889) (Ulava); id. & Kirby, Rhop. Exot.
ii., Satyr. Argyr. p. 4. figs. 6. 7 Q (1895); Ribbe, Iris xi. p. 107 (1898) (= pulchra, errore).
A. pulchra uleva (!) Grose-Smith, Fruhst., l.c. (1911).
$¢. Larger than the other species, forewing narrower, 24 to 26 mm. long.
Forewing, above, in g with a dull tawny area from near base to well beyond
lower cell-angle, in 2 this area faintly indicated. Underside of both wings a
greyish clay-colour, the ground of the distal area less contrasting with the
proximal area than in A. pulchra ; brown discal band of forewing much narrower
than in A. pulchra and a much duller brown; on hindwing the anterior black
macula different, divided by a dull white band into a proximal spot which is
almost square and sharply defined, and a distal band of four contiguous spots ;
black portion of posterior macula also smaller than in A. pulchra. Apex of anal
tergite of $ strongly produced downward, the hook close to lowest point, dorsal
portion of apical margin rounded, not projecting as a distinct tooth, almost
exactly as in A. ugiensis, to which A. ulava comes nearest in spite of the
difference in the colouring of the uppersides. Foretibia and -tarsus not swollen,
tarsus slightly brown at tip, but not spiniform.
Ulava Island, near Maleyta. This species, no doubt, occurs also on
Maleyta.
NovITatzs ZooLOGICAE XXXI, 1994, 297
5. Argyronympha ugiensis Math. (1886).
62. A. ugiensis Mathew, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. p. 347. tab. 34. fig. 3 d (1886) (Ugi).
A. ugiensis yanuta Fruhst., l.c. (1911) (S. Christoval ;—type at Tring).
6. Foretibia and -tarsus of & strongly swollen, tarsus truncate, without
terminal spine. In both sexes the orange ochraceous area of the upperside
even larger than in A. rubianensis, almost the whole hindwing being of this
colour. On underside, the short proximal metallic stripe is absent on the fore-
wing and the yellowish white submarginal line is at most vestigial; on the
hindwing the posterior macula is without black, the anterior macula reduced
and divided up by a yellowish white cross and a streak emanating from the
cross between R’ and R’. Apex of anal tergite of g less high than in A. pulchra
and A. rubianensis, the upper tooth absent, the ventral one indicated only as
a short round hump immediately below the strongly projecting hook ; marginal
bristles of clasper short and thin.
Southern Solomons: Ugi and San Christoval.
20
298 Noviratres ZooLoGIcAE XXXI, 1924,
TWO NEW SUBSPECIES OF SPHINGIDAE
By DR. KARL JORDAN.
1. Megacorma obliqua remota subsp. nov.
d9. Upperside of forewing more olivaceous on the light-coloured parts ;
below the black stripe which runs from costal margin across apex of cell to distal
margin there is a black elongate patch between M1 and M?, more or less distinctly
joined to the stripe at or near lower cell-angle ; the black patch in middle of
termen joins the stripe in all five specimens before me, this being also the case
in two Ceram 99, but not in any of our six specimens from New Guinea and
thirteen from Sumatra, India and Ceylon.
Genitalia as in Malayan specimens, except that the teeth which the harpe
bears on the inner surface below the uppermost marginal tooth are rather larger.
Hab. Solomon and Bismarck Islands.
In Mus. Tring 4 3¢ from: Arawa, Bougainville, December 1907, type;
Vella Lavella, February—March 1908; Guizo, 1904; New Hanover, March
1923; all obtained on A. S. Meek’s expeditions.
In coll. B. Preston Clark a 9 from Bougainville.
The specimen from New Britain recorded by Pagenstecher (cf. R. & J.,
Revision of Sphingidae, p. 16) probably also belongs here.
2. Sesia clavipes eumelas subsp. nov.
@. Deep black, head and thorax above greenish, on underside the palpi
white, the breast cream-colour, sharply contrasting with abdomen, which is not
grey at base and has no grey median line, but is much shaded with ochraceous.
Tail all black, with very little brown in it. Hindtarsus brownish black; base
of hindwing beneath like breast. Fringes of both wings brownish black. Fore-
wing, above, with a faint green tint on a very deep black ground, pale median
band purplish, on disc a row of four white spots, 1, 3 and 4 minute, transverse,
2 larger, very little longer than broad. Foretarsus clavate.
Length of forewing: 31 mm., breadth 12-5 mm.
A large form, from Malvern, Jamaica, one 9.
In the Revision S. clavipes was described as a supspecies of S. tantalus.
We have since come to the conclusion that the specimens with clavate foretarsus
represent a distinct species.
NovITATEs ZooLogIcaE XXXI. 1924, 299
SOME NOTES ON THE FREGATIDAE
By DR. PERCY R. LOWE.
(Plates XXII and XXIII.)
RECENT attempt to determine two species of Frigate-bird which had
been taken on Scott’s last journey to the South Pole and a subsequent
perusal of the literature of the group convinced me that in spite of the splendid
work done by Mathews and Rothschild, there was still room for a few remarks
upon the family by way, if possible, of rendering clearer the points which
differentiate the various species one from another or of attempting to seize upon
the true facts in a controversy in which these two authorities were at variance,
For although the progress made by them singe Volume X XVI of the Catalogue
of Birds of the British Musewm was written in 1898 bears ample testimony to the
thoroughness of present-day systematists, it would appear on that very account
to call for some notice and grateful recognition.
In Volume XXVI of the publication just referred to, Ogilvie-Grant recog-
nised two species only of the Fregatidae, viz. Fregata aquila (Linné) and Fregata
ariel (Gould), and this roughly represented at that period the conception most
naturalists had formed, both at home and in the field, in regard to the composition
of what was in reality by no means so homogeneous or simple a group. It
must be noted, however, that a year before Grant’s contribution in Volume X XVI
appeared, Ridgway, in an account of the Birds of the Galapagos Archipelago,:
had described both F. aqula aquila and F. aquwila minor as occurring on
those islands, and incidentally he pointed out that Gould’s Attagen ariel had
nothing whatever to do with Gmelin’s Pelecanus minor. Here, then, was a con-
fession of faith in at least three forms ; and it might have been expected that
such a hint would have been followed up; but it was not until Mathews mono-
graphed the genus Fregata in the fourth volume of his Birds of Australia in 1915
that any attempt was made to do this or any impartial unbiased expression
of opinion on the species and subspecies of the genus written.
Mr, Mathews’ remarks occupy fifty-four pages of his book, and as usual
his researches into the literature of the subject are exhaustive. The final
result of his work, after revision subsequent to Lord Rothschild’s criticism, to
be presently referred to, was to convince him of the existence of five species
as follows:
Fregata aquila (Linné), Ascension Island.
magnificens Mathews, Galapagos Islands.
. andrewsi Mathews, Christmas Island, Indian Ocean.
minor minor (Gmelin), West Indies,
m. nicolli Mathews, South Atlantic Ocean.
m. aldabrensis Mathews, Western Indian Ocean.
m. listerı Mathews, Eastern Indian Ocean and North Australia.
m. palmerstoni (Gmelin), South Pacific Ocean.
m. ridgwayt Mathews, Galapagos Islands.
. ariel and subspecies,
1 Cf. Birds of Australia, vol. iv, and Nov. Zoot. vol. xxii.
2 Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. vol. xix. 1897, pp. 590-592,
300 NovITATEs ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924,
Fine as this piece of work was, an unfortunate error of judgment was made,
in our opinion, in fixing upon Jamaica as the type locality of Gmelin’s Pelecanus
minor ; for this to a large extent affected the conclusions he arrived at and
vitiated the results of a splendid piece of research.
Lord Rothschild,! in some criticisms of Mathews’ conclusions, was quick to
see and to point out that not only was he not justified in arbitrarily fixing Jamaica
as the type locality but that the bird found in Jamaica and the Caribbean basin,
to say nothing of the Atlantic and Mexican Gulf, was not Gmelin’s P. minor
at all, but belonged to an entirely different species. Previous to this criticism,
Mathews had regarded his newly described F. magnificens from the Galapagos
as a subspecies of F. minor.: In his paper (loc. cit.) Rothschild points out that
the F. magnificens of the Galapagos and the West Indian and Mexican Gulf
Frigate-birds are specifically identical.
As a result of a careful revision of the genus founded upon the birds con-
tained in the British Museum collection and the splendid series at Tring, which
Lord Rothschild kindly allowed me to examine, including Mr. Mathews’ collec-
tion, I have arrived at the conclusion that there can be little doubt that in
the two points made in his paper (loc. cit.) Lord Rothschild was right and that
Mr. Mathews was at fault.
Gmelin’s name, Pelecanus minor, was given to Brisson’s description of a
bird which was based upon Edwards’ Gleanings of Natural History Pt. ii. 1760,
p. 209, but, as was pointed out by Rothschild (loc. cit.), the bird in Edwards’
plate, an obvious female, has the throat and foreneck white, whereas in all West
Indian birds the female has the throat and foreneck black. In the fine series
of female Frigate-birds which I have examined from the Caribbean and Mexican
Gulf basins this black throat is not only constant but it is very conspicuous,
and in sharp contrast to the throat of F. minor. In the adult female the black
of the throat comes well down the neck and ends in a blunt point (ef. fig. ).
In the species F. minor it is not strictly correct to speak of the white throat.
The shafts of each feather are dusky, and the vanes of the feathers are also
somewhat “ smutty ’” so that the throat has a mottled or smoky appearance (cf.
pl. xxii).
No West Indian adult female of F. magnificens could by any possibility be
mistaken for an adult female of F. minor ; nor do I think it likely that immature
examples of these two distinct species could be confused; for nestling and
immature birds from the Indian and Pacific Oceans invariably (as far as I have
been able to ascertain) exhibit a tinge of rusty in greater or less proportion
on some portion of the head, neck or breast.
I have visited various Frigate-bird “ rookeries ’’ during the breeding season
in the Caribbean basin (Caymans, Swan Island, Testigos, Hermanos), and I have
never seen an immature specimen nor a nestling which exhibited this rusty
““ stain,” nor is there one in our series of skins in the British Museum. A rusty
““ stain’ is diagnostic of the Indian or Pacific Ocean, with the one exception
that it is found in immature Frigate-birds taken on South Trinidad (F. minor
nicolli) ; but this exception only accentuates the truth of the statement just made,
for this South Trinidad colony is an obvious extension into the South Atlantic
from the Indian Ocean and as obviously belongs to the minor group.
1 Nov. Zoor. xxii. 1915, pp. 145-146.
2 Austr. Av. Rec. vol. ii. 1914, p. 120,
NoviTatrs ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924. 301
I have made a point of this because the head or neck of the bird depicted
in Edwards’ drawing exhibits a rusty tone, and to my mind this might possibly
be an indication that the bird was derived from the East and not the West.
Lord Rothschild, in his paper, expresses the opinion that ‘ there is con-
siderable internal evidence in the text (Edwards’), besides the fact of the white
throat, which proves that the bird received by Edwards came from the Eastern
half of the Indian Ocean, so I must fix as the typical Fregata minor of Gmelin
the birds of that area.”
The only internal evidence which I can find in Edwards’ text of the bird
having come from the Indian Ocean is contained in the last sentence, which
reads: “I suppose this (the bird figured) may be the female bird; for since I
drew it I have been told by a gentleman who has made several voyages to the Hast
Indies (italics mine) that the feathers of the males of this species are wholly
black.”
This evidence, which of course is only suggestive, is, however, when taken
in conjunction with the evidence of the “‘ white” throat and the rusty head,
strongly indicative to my mind that the bird in question hailed from the East.
Another point which strongly induces me to believe that Edwards’ bird
came from the East is the mere fact that it was called minor, for male examples
from Christmas Island and that immediate quarter of the Indian Ocean are
obviously smaller than male examples of the Frigate-bird from the western
hemisphere (cf. measurements below, under F. minor minor and F. magnificens
rothschildi), or even from examples of the F. minor group from other quarters
of the Indian or Pacific Ocean.
So small would the male of F. minor, from the amended typical region, appear
to be that when I first attempted the task of reducing our series to order I found
it by no means easy to differentiate between young males of minor and young
males of ariel. This diminutive size of typical minor may, I think, be the true
explanation as to why this species had for so long remained unrecognised as
an entity distinct from F. aquila and F. ariel; for, strange to say, neither the
barring on the wing in the adult male minor nor the very conspicuous difference
in the throat of the female had been recognised in the past.
As regards the second important error made by Mathews, but corrected by
him (cf. list given above) after it had been pointed out by Rothschild (l.c.), viz.
that of making his F. magnificens a subspecies of F. minor, I have convinced
myself beyond any question of doubt that however difficult it may have been
to extract or define F. minor from F. ariel or the true F. aquila, or other
shadowy forms, there can be no doubt whatever that F. magnificens is a perfectly
distinct species, characterised by quite conspicuous characters and occupying
a definite geographical area.
It is all the more surprising that although Mathews had the perspicuity
to resurrect 7. minor from the tomb to which it had been consigned by unob-
servant workers, yet he obviously seems to have missed noting the complete
distinction which exists between F. magnificens and the F. minor group. Thus,
although at first sight a comparison of Mathews’ final list of species with that
of Rothschild’s (given in NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE) does not reveal any very
obvious differences, yet in reality there was a fundamental difference in the two
conceptions of the group.
My object in making these remarks is, in point of fact, to endeayour to
302 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924,
make it more clear that Rothschild’s conception was the right one. I believe,
moreover, these notes are all the more justified and called for from the fact
that Mr. W. L. Sclater, in a fine work (Systema Avium Ethiopicarum) which
purports to be an international attempt to lay down an authoritative exposition
on the systematic status of the birds of the entire world, has, in that part devoted
to the Ethiopian Region, very unfortunately and without reserve entirely accepted
Mathews’ conception of the group.
ANNOTATED LIST OF THE SPECIES OF THE GENUS “ FREGATA ”
1. Fregata aquila.
Pelecanus aquilus Linn., Syst. Nat. 10th ed. p. 133, 1758. Ascension Island, Atlantic.
Pelecanus leucocephalus Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. pt. ii. p. 572.
We are indebted to Mathews for having, preliminary to any other work,
satisfactorily pinned down the type species of the genus to Ascension Island.
As far as is known at present F. aquila breeds on no other island, but it would
be interesting to know what form occupies Fernando Noronha.
It seems likely, however, that this type species is really an abnormal variety
confined to Ascension, possibly a melanistic phase that has established itself
on the island to the exclusion of the normally coloured form ; but it is not so
clear what the real affinities of this dark phase may be. I am strongly inclined
to think that F. aquila, as now restricted, belongs properly to the ariel group ;
my reasons for thinking so being that in the female, beneath the dark pigment,
can still be seen the light nuchal collar and the light breast of the female F. ariel.
Moreover, the “‘ white thumb marks,” regarded as diagnostic, on the flanks of
F. ariel are either adumbrated or repeated in the white under-down seen in
the same situation in F. aquila. An additional reason may be quoted in the
small bill, the absence of a bar on the wing and the small size of the bird in
general.
Nevertheless, I would not take the logical course which such a view would
indicate, viz. to regard F. ariel as a subspecies of F. aquila, because in F. aquila
both male and female are characterised by no bar on the wing, and in this are
unique among Frigate-birds, while in addition the female has the lanceolate
irridescent mantle feathers characteristic of the male instead of the dull hastate
feathers normally characteristic of the female throughout the genus. Thus
F. aquila, in spite of its apparent affinity with the ariel group, is sufficiently
distinct, in a specific sense, to save the situation. Finally, I might add that
although stated to be a melanic variation, it is to be noted that the nestlings
in down and immature show no indication of melanism whatever. It is also
to be noted that the gloss of the green mantle feathers in F. aquila differs in
colour and technique from that in F. ariel.
Specimens examined :
6 ad., Ascension Island, December 1877 (Dr. F. Penrose, B. M. Coll.).
Bill, 113 mm.
6 ad., Ascension Island, no date (I. Noble, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 113 mm.
6 ad., Ascension Island, no date (I. Noble, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 113 mm.
d ad., “ Malacca ” (fide A.O.H., B.M. Coll.). Bill, 113 mm.
Q ad., Ascension Island, Challenger Expedition, B. M. Coll... Bill, 124 mm.
Immature. Ascension Island, Challenger Expedition, B. M. Coll.
NoVvITATEs ZooLoOGICAE XXXII. 1924, 303
Immature, Ascension Island, Challenger Expedition, B. M. Coll.
Juv. (fledgling), Ascension Island (Dr. F. Penrose, B. M. Coll.).
It is to be noted that nestlings and immature examples in the white-headed
phase exhibit no trace of the “rusty” feathers so characteristic in the young
of F. minor or F. ariel.
2. Fregata magnificens magnificens.
Fregata minor magnificens Mathews, Austr. Avian Rec., vol. ii. 1914. p. 120. Barrington Island,
Galapagos Archipelago.
Fregata magnificens Rothschild, Nov. Zool., vol. xxii. 1915. p. 146.
Fregata magnificens Math., Birds of Australia, vol. iv. p. 280. Galapagos Islands.
As I have already stated, F. magnificens is a perfectly good species, easily
recognised and sharply defined from either F. aquila or F. minor.
The adult male has no bar on the wing (in which it is like F. aquila or
F. ariel) ; it is “ all black” above and below, with greenish-purple head feathers
and iridescent purple mantle and scapular feathers.
The purple back and absence of wing-bar are diagnostic.
The adult female has a conspicuous wing-bar extending the whole length of
the cubit, while the throat, foreneck and a pointed gorget are black (cf. PL. X XII) ;
the breast is white; the abdomen, crissum, and under tail-coverts are black ;
the top of the head purplish; mantle and scapulars purplish-brown (feathers
not lanceolate) ; rump purplish-brown or greenish. There is a distinct whitish
collar on the back of the neck: in a mounted specimen of F. m. rothschildi
from Florida in the British Museum this is nearly as distinct as in females of
fF, ariel, and is well indicated in all our specimens from the West Indian area.
Immature have the head, neck and throat white with no trace of rusty.
Whether F. m. magnificens is entirely confined to the Galapagos remains to
be seen when much more material is available. Two birds from Jalisco (Mexico)
in the Tring Collection and one from California in the British Museum appear
to be indistinguishable from typical examples from the Tring Collection.
Specimens examined :
Fregata magnificens magnificens.
g ad., Albemarle Island, Galapagos, 8.ix.1900, Tring Coll.
g ad., Barrington Island, Galapagos, 8.vii.1891, Tring Coll. Bill, 127 mm.
g ad., Indefatigable Island, Galapagos, viii.1891, Tring Coll.
& ad., Jalisco, Mexico, 30.iv.1892, Tring Coll. Bill, 129 mm.
g ad., Santa Clara, S. Francisco (Capt. Kellet), B. M. Coll. Bill, 124 mm.
9 ad., Wenman Island, 8.iv.1897, Tring Coll.
© ad., Jalisco, Mexico, 31 .iv.1892, Tring Coll.
(Bills measured from angle of gape to tip.)
F. magnificens rothschildi.
F. minor rothschildi Math., Birds of Australia, vol. iv. 1915. p. 280. Aruba, Dutch West Indies.
F. minor minor Math., Birds of Australia, vol. iv. 1915. pp. 265 and 280. West Indian Seas.
F. magnificens Rothschild, Nov. Zool. vol. xxii. 1915. p. 145. Coasts and Islands of America.
In spite of Rothschild’s critical paper (see above), Mathews, in his monograph
on the Frigate-birds, persistently clung to his original opinion that the bird
304 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924.
met with in the Caribbean basin and adjacent countries is Gmelin’s #. minor.
I have given my reasons above for thinking this is not the case, but whatever
the bird may be it is absolutely certain that it is specifically identical with the bird
which Ridgway described as F. aquila in his account of the Birds of the Galapagos
(Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 1897, vol. xix. p. 590), which Mathews subsequently
named #. minor magnificens (l.c.), and which Lord Rothschild and the writer
recognise as a distinct species, F. magnificens.
I have examined a fine series of adult and immature Frigate-birds (see
below) from the Bahamas, Florida, West Indian Islands (including Jamaica),
Dutch West Indies, Yucatan, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Trinidad,
Brazil and Peru. All these have either the barless wing and brilliant purple
backs of the male #. magnificens or the black throat of the female (except when
immature). From the point of view of distribution or the study of genetics
they are, for me, F. magnificens, but I should be quite prepared to believe
that if large series were carefully measured and compared with typical examples
from the Galapagos, differences might be found and subspecies established.
It goes without saying that an isolated colony in say the Bahamas will not breed
true to the same index figure as one in the Dutch West Indies or another in
the Galapagos. At present our series, while representative of a widespread
Neotropical and Atlantic area, are not nearly large enough as regards any given
locality.
This reference to the Atlantic area brings me to another point.
In his monograph in the Birds of Australia, vol. iv, Mathews, having rightly
restricted F. aguila to Ascension Island, goes on to remark of Gmelin’s F. minor :
“This is the name to be used for the world-wide bird commonly known as
Fregata aquila.” Neither F. minor nor F. magnificens are world-wide in distri-
bution, but when Mathews wrote the above he was under the impression that
he had one species to deal with, whereas there were still two distinct species left
after setting on one side F. aquila, ariel and andrewsi. Moreover, my impression
is that it was F. magnificens far more than the real F. minor that used to be
confounded with F. aquila. The true F. minor has only just emerged, if indeed
it actually has, from the shadowy land of vagueness where it consorted formerly
with F. ariel, but, with the exception of South Trinidad we can now, with absolute
precision, restrict its distribution to the Indian Ocean and to the Pacific. It
sends a feeler into the South Atlantic in the case of South Trinidad and reaches
its farthest eastern limit in the Galapagos, where it breeds side by side with F.
magnificens. This latter species, on the other hand, may be described as having
a distribution which is restricted to the coasts and seas of tropical America
with an extension eastwards to the Cape Verde Island group and Gambia. One
may hazard a surmise that its original home of evolution was the Caribbean
basin and Mexican Gulf.
Merely judging from the scanty material available, it is interesting to note
that the birds which occupy the most eastern extension of the area of distribution
of F. magnificens are strikingly larger than West Indian examples; thus, the
bills of a female from Gambia in the B. M. Collection measures 151 mm., that
of a male from the Cape Verde Islands 142 mm. Possibly this is due to the
much larger proportion of surface food round and between the islands than
is met with round West Indian islands,
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 305
Specimens examined :
Fregata magnificens rothschildi.
6 ad., Abaco, Bahamas, 30.ii.1902 (Bonhote, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 128 mm.
¢ ad., Abaco, Bahamas, 30.ii.1902 (Bonhote, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 123 mm.
6 ad., Abaco, Bahamas, 30.ii.1902 (Bonhote, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 132 mm.
6 ad., Punta Rassa, Florida, 19.v.1886 (Scott, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 123 mm.
6 ad., Little Cayman Island, 20.iv.1886 (Maynard, B. M. Coll... Bill,
121 mm,
& ad., British Guiana (McConnell, B. M. Coll... Bill, 129 mm.
& ad., Kingston, Jamaica, April 1905 (Wray, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 125 mm,
& ad., Belize, Honduras, May 1862 (Salvin, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 135 mm,
6 ad., Trinidad, March 1903 (P. R. Lowe, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 118 mm.
g ad., Cape Sable, Florida, Jan. 1914 (Tring Coil.). Bill, 120 mm.
¢ ad., Everglades, Florida, 1.x.1914 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 116 mm.
g ad., Pointe Guarde, Trinidad, 6.1.1903 (Tring Coll.).
& ad., Aruba, D.W.I., 3.vii.1892 (E. Hartert, Tring Coll.). Bill, 128 mm.
(Type of rothschildi.)
& ad., Antigua, W.I., 20.x.1903 (Tring Coll... Bill, 122 mm.
g ad., Barbuda, W.I., 13.x.1903 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 123 mm.
¢ ad., Rio Janeiro, Brazil, 2.1.1818 (Natterer) (Tring Coll.). Bill, 125 mm.
"S ad., Rio Janeiro, Brazil (Capt. Milner), B. M. Coll. (mounted). Bill,
128 mm.
20 ad., Florida (Salvin & Godman), mounted, B. M. Coll. Bill, 142 mm.
Qad., Tarpon Springs, Florida, 27.vii.1886 (Scott, B. M. Coll.). Bill,
138 mm.
Qad., Punta Rassa, Florida, 18.v.1886 (Scott, B. M. Coll.). Bill,
134 mm.
9 ad., Bahia, Brazil (Salvin & Godman, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 147 mm.
© ad., Champerico, Guatemala (Salvin, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 137 mm.
9 ad., Turneff Lagoon, B. Honduras (Salvin, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 143 mm.
Q@ ad., Little Cayman Island, 14.iii.1904 (Nicoll, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 143 mm.
© ad., St. Vincent, W.L., 15.v.1890 (Smith, B. M. Coll.), Bill, 141 mm.
Q ad., Panama (Capt. Kellet & Lt. Wood, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 137 mm.
9 ad., North America (H.R.H. Duke of Sussex, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 134 mm.
Q ad., Aruba, Dutch W.I., 3.vii.1892 (E. Hartert, Tring Coll.).
@ ad., Aruba, Dutch W.I., 3.vi.1892 (E. Hartert, Tring Coll.).
&imm., Payta, Peru, Jan. 1882 (Salvin & Godman, B. M. Coll.).
No sex, imm., Payta, Peru, Jan. 1882 (Salvin & Godman, B. M. Coll.).
- Nosex, imm., Alcabuco, S. Bahia, Brazil, 18. vi. 1904 (MeBarnet, B. M. Coll.).
No sex, imm., Rio Janeiro, Brazil (Capt. Milner, B. M. Coll.).
No sex, imm., Cozumel, Yucatan, Jan. 1886 (Gaumer, B. M. Coll.).
No sex, imm., Belize, British Honduras, 2.v.1862 (Salvin, B. M. Coll.).
No sex, imm., Tamaulipas, Mexico, 1888 (Richardson, B. M. Coll.).
1 This specimen agrees with other S. American examples in having the mantle typical of
F. magnificens.
2 This specimen has the feathers of the back brownish with very faint purplish reflections—
feathers not lanceolate. There is a conspicuous white nuchal collar almost as in ariel, which is
also quite obvious in all our females from the Caribbean,
306 NOVITATEs ZooLoGICAE XXXI. 1924.
3. Fregata andrewsi.
Fregata andrewsi Math., Austr. Av. Rec., vol. ii. 1914. p. 120. Christmas Island, Indian Ocean.
This species occupies as isolated a position as F. aquila, having so far been
found breeding nowhere else than in its topotypical home. The adult male is
unique in having a white abdomen. The female has the whole of the underparts
white, with the exception of the throat and foreneck, which are black. In the
male the foreneck and entire pectoral region are also black with purplish reflec-
tions. In both sexes the wings are conspicuously barred.
It may be worth noting that the colour-pattern arrangement in the adult
male as regards the abdominal and pectoral regions is juvenal or reminiscent
of that to be noted in the immature of F. minor, ariel and magnificens.
Specimens examined :
gad. (Type), Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island (Andrews), Tring Coll.
Bill, 127 mm.
gad., Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island (Andrews), B. M. Coll. Bill,
130 mm.
g ad., Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island (Andrews), B. M. Coll. Bill,
128 mm.
Q@ad., Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island (Andrews), B. M. Coll. Bill,
144 mm.
Q ad. (Type), Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island (Andrews), Tring Coll.
Bill, 155 mm.
3 (? 2) imm., Cocos Keeling (Wood Jones), Tring Coll. Bill, 137 mm.
© juv., Christmas Island, Indian Ocean, B. M. Coll. Bill, 124 mm.
2 imm, (white head), Celebes, C. Hose, B. M. Coll. Bill, 144 mm.
The female type has somewhat lanceolate dorsal plumes which are irrides-
cent green with bluish or purple edges. It is larger in its bill measurement than
any bird I have examined, not excluding the very large female from Gambia
in the British Museum.
Fregata minor minor.
Pelecanus minor Gmelin, Syst. Nat. p. 572. 1789. Eastern half of the Indian Ocean (by Desig.—
cf. Rothschild, Nov. Zool. vol. xxii. 1915. p. 145).
Fregata minor listeri Math., Austr. Av. Rec. vol. ii. 1914. p. 119.
I have already given my reasons above for thinking that Rothschild was
right in fixing the type locality of Gmelin’s bird in the East instead of in the
West Indies (Jamaica) as had been done by Mathews. The eastern half of
_ the Indian Ocean embracing a wide area, I would suggest Christmas Island,
Indian Ocean, where the bird breeds, as the terra typica.
In the light of the fine work done by Iredale, Mathews and Rothschild on
this genus, it is easy enough to express surprise that the older systematists were
so very undiscriminating, and that more species than F. aquila and ariel were
not recognised ; for what could be in sharper contrast than the almost black
throat with V-shaped gorget seen in the female F. magnificens and the pale,
smoky, faintly mottled throat of the female F. minor, with its truncated hinder
border not at all continued backwards on to the upper breast as in the V-shaped
manner of F. magnificens, ariel or andrewsi. I have pointed this out to Lord
Rothschild, and he has kindly supplied cuts to illustrate the point.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 307
There is only one certain adult male of F. m. minor from Christmas Island
in the B. M. Coll. : its bill (measured from the closed gape) measures 113°5 mm.,
as compared with 130 mm. in the male of F. andrewsi, also found breeding
on the island, or 113 mm. in four male examples of F. aquila, or 126 mm. in
eight males of F, magnificens taken at random. Two males of the latter species
measured as much as 135 mm. (one of them was not included in the above
average), A young male from the island of Diego-Garcia (Indian Ocean) which
I have determined as F. minor has a bill measurement of 108 mm. This is
the exact size of the bill in a single specimen from Huaheiné (Pacific). If birds
from this latter locality are eventually found to differ from true F. minor, then
they must bear the name of F. m. palmerstoni.
Similarly, birds from Laysan, of which Lord Rothschild has a fine series
at Tring, will be known as F. m. strumosa Hartert; while those from the
Mascarenes as F. m. aldabrensis Math. In the British Museum we have a
very fine series of the minor group from South Trinidad, on which the name
of F. m. nicolli has been bestowed by Mathews, and finally in the Galapagos
we meet with F. m. ridgwayi Math. This latter subspecies breeds side by side
with F. magnificens in the Galapagos Archipelago. In his newly published
book on this group of islands Beebe describes and figures F. m. ridgwayi under
the name F. aquila. I mention it because the fact that one can easily appreciate
his mistake goes to prove how, even in a popular description, it is, in the light
of recent work, easy to discriminate F. m. ridgwayi from F. magnificens, and
both, of course, from F. aquila.
In the minor group both adult male and female have ‘ barred”’ wings
and the male has the mantle feathers some shade of iridescent green as opposed
to iridescent purple in F. magnificens. The differences in the throat coloration
have already been mentioned.
Immature in the white-headed stage have the head, neck and breast tinged
with rusty feathers, which serves to distinguish them from F. magnificens or
F. aquila.
Fregata minor aldabrensis.
There is in the British Museum Collection a female Frigate-bird from Ceylon
with the typical mottled grey throat of the minor group and a bill measure-
ment of 136 mm. (wings and tail deficient). This measurement is about the
average of females from South Trinidad. No other examples have been recorded
from Ceylon as far as I am aware. Possibly this bird straggled from the
Mascarenes. At any rate I have referred it for the present to the form which
occurs in that group.
Birds of the Fregata minor group examined are as follows :
Fregata minor minor.
6 ad., Christmas Island, Indian Ocean, August 1897 (Andrews). Bill,
113°5 mm.
g imm., Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island (Andrews, B. M. Coll.), Nov.
1897. Bill, 114 mm.
g imm., Diego-Garcia, Sept. 29, 1885 (Penrose, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 107 mm.
gad., Type of F. m. listeri, Tring Coll. Bill, 108 mm.
308 NovITATEs ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924,
& ad., Huaheiné (Pacific), B: M. Coll. Bill, 132 mm.
2 ad., Type of F. m. listeri, Tring Coll.
9 ad., Luang Island (S.W. Islands), H. Kühn, Tring Coll. Bill, 130 mm.
Q ad., Manggoer (S.E. Islands), H. Kühn, Tring Coll. Bill, 132 mm.
Fregata minor aldabrensis.
d ad., Aldabra, Nov. 1906 (B. M. Coll.). Bill, 129 mm.
dg ad., Seychelles (Shelley Coll., B.M. Coll... Bill, 116 mm.
& ad., Glorioso, March 1906 (M. J. Nicoll, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 122 mm.
g ad., Aldabra, 23.vii.1906 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 120 mm.
d ad. (type), Aldabra, 23. vii.1906 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 122 mm.
dg ad., En plein mer (Seychelles), 20.xii.1904 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 117 mm.
& ad., En plein mer (Seychelles), 20. xii. 1904 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 129 mm.
g ad., En plein mer (Seychelles), 20. xii. 1904 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 130 mm.
g ad., En plein mer (Seychelles), 20. xii. 1904 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 121 mm.
dg ad., En plein mer (Seychelles), 20. xii. 1904 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 121 mm.
10 ad., Ile Aride, Seychelles, 15. xii. 1904 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 135 mm.
10 ad., Ile Aride, Seychelles, 15. xii. 1904 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 142 mm.
@ ad., Ile Aride, Seychelles, 17. xii. 1904 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 131 mm.
@ ad., Ile Aride, Seychelles, 18. xii. 1904 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 130 mm.
@ ad., Ile Aride, Seychelles, 29. viii. 1905 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 140 mm.
G@ ad., Aldabra, 25. viii. 1906 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 150 mm.
Q imm., Aldabra. Bill, 142 mm.
9 ad., Aldabra, Nov. 1906 (B. M. Coll.). Bill, 141 mm.
Q imm., Seychelles (Shelley Coll., B. M. Coll.). Bill, 130 mm.
Fregata minor strumosa.
6 ad., Laysan, 29. vii.1896 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 125 mm.
6 ad., Laysan (Palmer), (Tring Coll.). Bill, 125 mm.
d imm., Laysan, 7. viii. 1896 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 125 mm.
d imm., Laysan, 7.vili. 1896 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 123 mm.
Q ad., Laysan (Palmer) (Tring Coll.). Bill, 137 mm.
Q ad., Laysan (Sch.), 21. vii. 1896 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 137 mm.
@ ad., Laysan (Sch.), 29. vii. 1896 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 139 mm.
© ad., Laysan (Palmer) (Tring Coll.). Bill, 130 mm.
@ ad., Laysan (Sch.), 29. vii. 1896 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 139 mm.
—Imm., Samoa, 78.1.19.108 (Whitmee, B. M. Coll.).
Fregata minor ridgwayt.
& ad., Wenman (Tring Coll.). Bill, 111 mm.
dg ad., Wenman, 2.xi.1901 (R. N. B.) (Tring Coll.). Bill, 108 mm.
d ad., Culpepper, July 1897 (Harris) (Tring Coll.). Bill, 110 mm.
d ad., Culpepper, 27. vii. 1897 (Harris) (Tring Coll.). Bill, 106 mm.
2 ad., Culpepper, 29. vii. 1897 (Harris) (Tring Coll.). Bill, 128 mm.
The dorsal plumes of these males are of a brilliant coppery green.
1 Evidently very old females, as the mantle feathers had developed quite a conspicuous purplish-
green gloss.
Novrrates ZOoOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 309
Fregata minor nicolli.
& ad. (not fully), South Trinidad, 29.x.1913 (Stammwitz, B.M.Coll.). Bill,
116 mm.
g ad., South Trinidad, 29.x.1913 (Stammwitz, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 112 mm.
© ad., South Trinidad, 29.x.1913 (Stammwitz, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 137 mm.
Q ad. (brown head), South Trinidad, 29.x.1913 (Stammwitz, B. M. Coll.).
Bill, 127 mm.
Q ad. (brown head), South Trinidad, 4.1.1906 (Nicoll, B. M. Coll.). Bill,
145 mm.
9 ad., South Trinidad, 4.1.1906 (Nicoll, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 135 mm.
Qad., South Trinidad, 4.1. 1906 (Nicoll, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 144 mm.
Qimm. (white head), South Trinidad, 4.1.1906 (Nicoll, B. M. Coll.).
Bill, 137 mm.
2 imm., South Trinidad, 4.1.1906 (Nicoll, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 137 mm.
9 imm., South Trinidad, 4.1.1906 (Nicoll, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 136 mm.
dg imm., South Trinidad, 4.1.1906 (Nicoll, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 114 mm.
& imm., South Trinidad, 4.1.1906 (Nicoll, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 122 mm.
dg imm., South Trinidad, 4.1.1906 (Nicoll, B. M. Coll... Bill, 123 mm.
d& imm., South Trinidad, 4.1.1906 (Nicoll, B. M. Coll.). Bill, 128 mm,
gimm. (white head), South 'Trinidad, 29.x.1913 (B. M.. Coll). Bill
* 128 mm.
If the sexing is correct, it is difficult to reconcile some of the measurements
of the immature males.
?
F. minor mathewsi subsp. nov.
Mathews, in his Birds of Australia, has, I think, given rather scant justice
to the Australian material he examined. There are in the British Museum
Collection two adult males, one adult female, two immature birds, and one quite
young bird, still showing down, from Queensland or Torres Straits. Lord
Rothschild and I have compared these with the male specimen from Christmas
Island, and we find that throughout the series (young and old, and in both
sexes) the wing barring is not continued so far back as in F. m. minor and occupies
a rather different position.
It is evident, therefore, that the Queensland Frigate-bird can be distinguished
from the typical form, and I propose to call it #. m. mathewsi, in honour of Mr.
G. M. Mathews.
Type ad. 2, Gould Collection, Raine Island, in B. M. Coll., 81.5.1.6150.
I append the following bill measurements:
(1) ad. g, Queensland (Salvin & Godman Coll., B. M. Coll.), 81.11.7.163.
Bill, 116 mm.
(2) ad. g, Queensland (Salvin & Godman Coll., B. M. Coll.), 81.11.7.165.
Bill, 119 mm.
(3) ad. 2 (type), Raine Island (Gould, B. M. Coll.), 81.5.1.6150. Bill,
138 mm.
(4) imm. d, Oomaga, Torres Straits (Macgillivray, B. M. Coll.) Bill, 115 mm.
(5) imm. (showing down), Raine Island (Challenger, B. M. Coll.). Bill,
112 mm.
(6) g, (?) Queensland (Salvin & Godman Coll., B. M. Coll.). Bill, 112 mm,
310 Novirates ZooLOGICAE XXXI, 1924.
Fregata ariel.
Gray, Genera Birds, vol. iii. p. 669. pl. 183. 1845. Raine Island, North Australia.
The material in the British Museum is so scanty that it precludes the idea
of reviewing this species and its subspecies with any useful result. There are,
however, three specimens from South Trinidad (two of which have been referred
to already by Mathews, l.c., p. 286) which are remarkable enough to be worth
specially noting.
All three are labelled as males, and even the most adult is not fully adult.
This latter was a bird taken on Lord Crapfford’s visit by Nicoll, which still has
conspicuously barred wings and the breast and abdomen white, mottled with
black (adult black feathers coming through). Otherwise this bird is an obviously
adult male with greenish-purple lanceolate vertex feathers and purplish-green,
not nearly so lanceolate, mantle feathers.
The other two specimens were taken on Antarctic expeditions and were
both labelled males by E. A. Wilson. Both have brown heads and both have
the white of the flanks running well back into the axilla, One bird taken in
July 1910 has a smoky brown throat and foreneck and worn light brown mantle
feathers. Through these latter new purplish feathers are appearing, but they
are not lanceolate. The wings and tail have been freshly moulted, except the
coverts forming the light wing bar, which are worn. The other bird taken in
Sept. 1901 (Discovery) has a throat which is somewhat smoky, as in a female
F. minor ; foreneck and breast white, and some black feathers coming in over
the lower end of the breast as in the normal adult female ariel. The mantle
feathers are very suggestive of an adult female ariel.
I am inclined to think the first bird is a young male, but that the other
may be a young female, but, whatever they are, the brown head phase is either
peculiar to the South Trinidad ariel or it so happens that this phase has never
been noted or collected before throughout the whole range of the species. It
is remarkable that throughout all the species of the genus I have not come
across another brown-headed bird except in a fine female example of F. minor -
nicolli taken on South Trinidad on Jan. 4th, 1907, by Mr. Nicoll. This bird
and the ? female example of ariel just described are very much alike, except
that the bill of the former measures 146 mm. and the other 97 mm, (All three
birds under discussion have the same bill measurement.)
Moreover, if it is possible to judge from a specimen in the white-headed
phase taken from Christmas Island, other races of F. ariel moult straight from
the white-headed state into the glossy purple. This Christmas Island specimen
also seems to indicate that the white-headed phase with rusty streaking lasts
more than one year at least, for new rusty feathers are “‘ coming in” in quill
amidst old faded ones, I am inclined to think that it takes several years for a
Frigate-bird to assume fully adult plumage, for in the case of F. magnificens
rothschildi I found, in the Caribbean basin, many white-headed birds actually
nesting and have photographs of them on the nest. However, whatever the
sequences may ultimately prove to be, there is some justification for thinking that
a brown phase may be peculiar to South Trinidad, and I am proposing to mark
the fact by calling this island race
NoVITATEsS ZooLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. sıl
Fregata ariel wilsoni subsp. nov.
Type in Brit. Mus., $ Juv., 28.vii.1910, S. Trinidad Island. E. A. W.,
Brit. Ant. Exp. 1910.
Since the above was written Lord Rothschild has kindly allowed me to
examine his splendid series not only of F. ariel, but of the whole genus.
‘There is, in addition to the above three interesting birds, in the B. M. Coll.
an example of a young rusty-headed male F. ariel from Somaliland (ex coll.
S. R. Clarke), and I have seen another from the same country (off Zeyla) in the
collection of Sir Geoffrey Archer. I have provisionally referred these birds to
the race from the Mascarene Islands, named by Mathews F. ariel iredalei, but
I think it is unlikely, as has been suggested, that these birds had wandered
from the Mascarenes, but rather that there is some Arabian colony of which
they were members, for in my actual experience Frigate-birds are as much tied
to the islands or rocks of their breeding haunts as Petrels and are quite local
in their distribution. They may make journeys of sixty, a hundred or two
hundred miles or more from their breeding place, but I think it will be found
that they always return to it, and that journeys or wanderings of nine hundred
or a thousand miles are not undertaken.
Specimens examined :
Fregata ariel ariel.
& ad., Bedout Island (Tunny), 24.v.1901 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 102 mm.
g ad., Bedout Island (Tunny), 20.v.1901 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 105 mm.
& ad., Bedout Island (Tunny), 20.v.1901 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 107 mm.
d ad., Little Key Islands (Kühn), 10.1.1898 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 107 mm.
& ad., Little Key Islands (Kühn), 11.vii.1898 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 98 mm.
& ad., Batchian (Platen), 7.xii.1892 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 97 mm.
& ad., Batchian (Platen), 24.iii.1893 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 97 mm.
& ad., Halmahera (Platen), Dec. 1902 (Tring. Coll.). Bill, 97 mm.
g ad., Small Island, N. Australia, August 1893 (Tring. Coll.). Bill, 106 mm.
& ad., West Beach, Lord Howe Island, 11.ii1.1915 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 105 mm.
g ad., Kangean Island, Java (Prillwitz), September — (Tring Coll.). Bill,
106 mm. N
& ad., Kangean Island, Java (Prillwitz) (Tring. Coll.). Bill, 105 mm.
6 ad., Poa Ceram (Stresemann), 23.ix.1911 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 105 mm.
g imm., Jamdena Island, Tenimber (Kühn), 8.i1.1907 (Tring. Coll.). Bill,
105 mm.
& ad., Palawan (white head), 30. viii.1887 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 106 mm.
g ad., Ceram (A. R. Wallace), 1859 (Brit. Mus. Coll.). Bill, 106 mm.
g ad., Fiji Islands (Woodford) (Brit. Mus. Coll.). Bill, 105 mm.
& ad., Raine Island (Challenger) (Brit. Mus. Coll.) Bill, 102 mm.
& ad., Admiralty Island (Challenger) (Brit. Mus. Coll.). Bill, 104 mm.
g ad., N.W. coast, Australia (Capt. Chambers) (Brit. Mus. Coll.). Bill,
104 mm.
& ad., Bampton Shoals (Richards) (Brit. Mus. Coll.). Bill, 103 mm.
g ad., Cape York, N. Australia (Gould Coll.), mounted (Brit. Mus. Coll.).
Bill, 95 mm.
Q ad., Bedout Island (Tunny), 20.v.1901 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 108 mm,
319 Noviratrs ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924,
Q ad., Bedout Island (Tunny), 19.v.1901 (Tring Coll... Bill, 108 mm.
@ ad., Bedout Island (Tunny), 20.v.1901 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 107 mm.
Q ad., Bedout Island, type of F. a. tunneyi (Tring Coll.). Bill, 107 mm,
Q ad., Raine Island, 12.vii.1911 (Brit. Mus. Coll.). Bill, 106 mm.
9 ad., Small Island, August 1893 (Brit. Mus. Coll.). Bill, 108 mm.
@imm., Labuan (white head), July 1893 (Ussher, Brit. Mus. Coll.). Bill,
106 mm.
Q ad., Raine Island (Challenger) (Brit. Mus. Coll.) Bill, 103 mm,
Q ad., Pt. Moresby (Goldie) (Brit. Mus. Coll.). Bill, 103 mim.
Qad., Woodie Wallis Island, Australia (Lord Derby) (Brit. Mus. Coll.).
Bill, 103 mm.
@ad., Farquhar Islands (Saunders, B. M. Coll.), August 1895 (Brit. Mus.
Coll.). Bill, 98 mm.
Q ad., Raine Island (Challenger), mounted (Brit. Mus. Coll.). Bill, 110 mm.
The last female in the above list is very dark above and has distinct purplish
reflexions on the mantle feathers—which are not lanceolate. The male from
Cape York has a purplish-blue back. It is noteworthy that females in the
ariel group do not seem to be so large in relation to the male as in other groups.
Fregata ariel iredalei.
& ad., Aldabra (Mortimer), 1903 (Tring. Coll.). Bill, 90 mm.
g ad. (sexed 9), Seychelles, 21.xii.1904 (Tring. Coll.). Bill, 96 mm.
d ad., Ile Aride, Seychelles, 29. viii.1905 (Tring. Coll.). Bill, 99 mm.
d& ad., Comoro, 23.11.1905 (Tring. Coll.). Bill, 97 mm.
& ad., Madagascar, 10.1.1891 (Tring. Coll.), Bill, 93 mm.
Q ad., Aldabra (Thibault), 23.vii.1906 (Tring. Coll... Bill, 102 mm.
9 ad., Mauritius (Shelley Coll.) (Brit. Mus. Coll... Bill, 100 mm,
Fregata ariel subsp.
& ad., Cocos Keeling, 22.v.1906 (Tring Coll... Bill, 97 mm.
9 ad., Cocos Keeling, 12.vii.1905 (Tring Coll.). Bill, 105 mm.
In the above account I have felt it to be unnecessary to describe the salient
characters which distinguish F. ariel, and I have not attempted, even in spite of
the material examined above, to dwell on the differences which characterise
subspecies. Probably this will be done in the future when even more material
is available.
Finally, I should like to proffer my sincere thanks to Lord Rothschild for
his generous and unstinted assistance in preparing this paper.
(In addition to the specimens mentioned by Dr. Lowe in his list of material
examined, there are at Tring the following specimens :
Fregata aquila Linn.
1 2 ad., Boatswain Island, Ascension Island, Jan. 4th, 1878 (David Gill,
F.R.S.A., Coll.) ex coll. Rev. H. H. Slater,
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXI. 1924. 313
Fregata magnificens rothschildi Math.
1 gad., Antigua, W. Indies, 20.x.1903 (Selwyn Branch coll.) ; 2 dd ad.,
Barbuda, W. Indies, 13.x.1903 (Selwyn Branch coll.).
Jan.
1 gad.,1 d juv., Key West, Florida, Nov. 1897 (J. M. Southurd coll.).
1 2 imm., Gasparillo, Trinidad, 18.1.1903 (E. Andre Coll.).
1 gad., Brazil, ex. coll. Mathews exchanged with British Museum.
1 gad., Rio de Janeiro, Jan. 2, 1815, ex coll. Mathews.
1 gad., Everglade, Florida, 10.1.1914; 1 g ad., Cape Sable, Florida,
1914 (coll. L. Chastam) ; 1 gad., San Marco, 30. vi. 1885 (E. C. G.), Florida.
1 d juv., Key West, Florida, Oct. 1906 (Batty Coll.).
Fregata minor subsp. (?)
2 22 juv., received frozen from New Zealand.
1 d juv., at sea off New Zealand, April 1913.
Fregata minor aldabrensis Math.
7 Imm., Aldabra and Seychelles (Thibault Coll.).
Fregata minor strumosa Hart.
4 Imm., 5 pull. various sizes, Laysan Island (Schauinsland Coll.).
Fregata minor ridgwayi Math.
1 imm., Galapagos, Culpepper Island, July 1897 (Harris Coll.).
Although Dr. Lowe has purposely abstained from giving the diagnoses and
differences of the various subspecies, I think the paper would be incomplete
without my stating that the differences given by Mathews between West Indian
Fregata magnificens rothschildi (which he persistently asserts is either true minor
or a subspecies of it, whereas he finally admits his minor magnificens from the
Galapagos Islands to specific rank) and the Galapagos magnificens magnificens
are solely in the length of the tail; those of the West Indian birds and the
few
we have from the east coast of South America consistently show much
shorter tails than the Galapagos birds.—RoTHSCHILD.)
21
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICA. Vor. XXXI1., 1924. Pr. XXII
2
cr
natural size.
A. Fregata minor ridgwayi. (Female ad.) B. Fregata magnificens magnificens. /Female ad.)
Culpepper I.. Galapagos Is, Jalisco, Mexico.
PL. XXIII.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICH, Vor XXXI, 1924.
1 natural size.
(Male ad.) B. Fregata minor ridgwayi. (Male ud.)
.. Fregata magnificens magnificens.
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| NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAR
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EDITED BY
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Dr. ERNST HARTERT, ann Dr. K. JORDAN.
a TR
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Vor. XXXI.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAL
EDITED BY —
LORD ROTHSCHILD, ERNST HARTERT, and KARL JORDAN. 5
CONTENTS OF NO. II.
PAGES
A CORRECTION AND AN ADDITION TO “AN ORNITHOLOGICAL
VISIT TO N.W. MAROCCO” BY HUBERT LYNES, NOV. ZOOL.,
XXXI, P. 49 : : : ; ; : 3 : b . 315—316
INDEX TO VOLUME XXXI . : : i : : ‘ - d17T—328
TITLE PAGE, CONTENTS, LIST OF PLATES TO VOLUME XXXI.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXII. 1924. 315
A CORRECTION AND AN ADDITION TO “AN ORNITHOLOGICAL
VISIT TO N.W. MAROCCO” BY HUBERT LYNES, NOV.
ZOOL., XXXI, P. 49.
I. Re p. 59.—Further expert examination of our specimens of the Jebel
Mago fir shows that the tree is not quite the true Abies pinsapo of Andalusia,
but the very nearly allied Abies maroccana Trabut, described in Bull. Soc. Bot.,
No. 53, 1906, as having leaves which differ in the position of their resin-bearing
glands, and somewhat also in shape, from those of A. pinsapo.
It appears that in 1905 (at which date, of course, no part of the Rif was
accessible to Europeans) M. Joly, finding in Tetuan some recently cut branches
of a fir-tree, said by the native who brought them in to have come from the
mountains above Chechauen (Xauen), sent a specimen to M. Trabut, who
described it as above, pointing out that this new Abies stood just intermediate
between A. pinsapo and the closely allied A. numidica de Lannoy, 1866, peculiar
to the Babor Mountains (1,800 m. to 2,000 m.) of North Algeria.
M. Joly’s specimen had no cones, nor, I regret to say, had the next specimens
to come to Europe, viz. ours; for in April we could find nothing but fallen
cones gnawed by apes or otherwise spoilt by insects and rot.
But I now think it quite likely that the different growth of the Rif trees,
to which I drew attention, need not necessarily be ascribed to the Andalusian
trees having been lopped for charcoal in early life, and that A. maroccana may
be found to have this additional character of growth to distinguish it from
A. pinsapo ; and one, it may be said, more readily perceptible than those revealed
by a microscopic study of the leaves. Needless to add, it is very desirable that
some cones of the Rif tree should be collected and submitted to expert botanical
examination. Autumn would probably be the best season to collect them.
II. Re pp. 97-98.—I have recently myself travelled through this territory
of Es Sahel; true, only by automobile, but that has been enough to strengthen
the provisional conclusions, based on the latest evidence about woodlands
there. There are certainly no “forests” in any of this western part of Yebala.
Coming up from the south by the auto road, on crossing the Ouad Luccus at
Alcazarquebir, Spanish (Yebala) territory begins in wide open plains and marsh
land, then come small dry hills and hillocks, probably of no ornithological note,
except that they enclose patches of swamp with thick flag and sedge growth,
not unlikely ground for Crakes, Savi’s Warbler, Motacilla flava, etc. Elsewhere,
in summer, it is all very dry, only scrub, no trees (save the cultivated kinds in
occasional gardens), until a few miles south of Larache, where there is a nice
little open wood, or a park-like belt of cork-trees. These are old-looking trees
about 30 ft. average height, few I should say over 35 ft., and are being barked
for cork. I believe the extent of this woodment is about 200 acres.
Continuing northwards through Larache, after crossing the river there by
a bridge of boats, the road rises some 400 ft. on to the top of a maritime ridge
22
316 Novirates ZooLoGIcAE XXXI. 1924.
of what looks like red and ochraceous coloured sandstone with outerops of
metamorphic rock, and runs along it all throuhg the Khabila de Es Sahel alias
in parte “le forét de Boucharen.”’
For nearly the whole way along this road there is a fine open view to the
eastward, right across to the Sumata hills and beyond them the top of the Jebel
Alam-Buhasem-Sogna range ; while to the westward it is only a few kilometres
to the sea; consequently we must have had a fairly comprehensive view of the
whole of the Es Sahel country. There was nothing visible but ‘“ monte”
(brushwood), and in the way of tree-growth, occasional small groves of big, old
olive-trees, probably those recorded in ““ Yebala y el bajo Lucus,” but not a single
cork-tree.
Heath and bracken, with small sapling corks, form the chief substance of
the vegetation clothing the sandstone, just as in Beni Aros; and on the dark
soil derived from the metamorphic rocks, which in places outcrop in about
equal proportion with the sandstone ; Palmetto scrub, Lentisk, Cytisus albidus ;
Arbutus in the dips, and again sapling corks. Even this brushwood peters out
not far to the eastward, leaving miles of sterile undulations between it and the
mountain ranges of Sumata and Beni-Aros.
All this seems to confirm the conclusion provisionally stated, viz. that there
are no forests at all in Western Yebala, and that to search Es Sahel or Bucharen
for Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, and such like woodland resident birds would
almost certainly be a “* wild goose chase.”’
If any of these species or large birds of prey are to be found breeding in
the Western Yebala of to-day, I believe the cork-wood south of Larache to be
the most likely place; and then only if, as suggested, it really represents the
remnant of a once greater woodland area; otherwise it is probably too small
and isolated. But facts should not be difficult to obtain from these parts which
have a regular automobile service passing through them: an up-to-date ornitho-
logical record from Western Yebala is much needed.
Abdimia, 13.
abdimii (Abdimia), 13.
abyssinica (Chalcopelia), 10.
abyssinicus (Falco), 15.
— (Irrisor), 114.
— (Turtur), 10.
Accipiter, 15, 88, 108, 109, 200, 267.
accipitrinus (Deroptyus), 128.
Achoragus, 229, 230.
Acorynus, 231.
Acrocephalus, 76.
acuta (Anas), 12.
— (Oxytenis), 164.
acutus (Deropygus), 254.
adolfi-friderici (Scoptelus), 114.
aegra (Nectarinia), 34.
— (Oenanthe), 30.
aéroplanes (Hemiprocne), 206, 269.
aeruginosus (Circus), 88.
aethiopica (Hirundo), 28.
aethiopicus (Eurystomus), 115.
aethiops (Myrmecocichla), 31.
afer (Eurystomus), 22, 115.
— (Nilaus), 37.
affinis (Apus), 27.
— (Tyto), 16.
afra (Coracias), 22.
africana (Carduelis), 67.
— (Chizaerhis), 20.
— (Emberiza), 68.
africanus (Bubo), 16.
Agapornis, 127.
Agrobates, 32, 78.
aguirrei (Galerida), 70.
Aidemosyne, 46.
airensis (Cercomela), 30.
Alaemon, 38.
Alauda, 39, 70.
alaudipes (Alaemon), 38.
alba (Motacilla), 38, 71.
— (Tyto), 16.
alberti (Haleyon), 132.
albertorum (Rhipidura), 207.
albicilla (Halcyon), 132, 277.
albidior (Lalage), 208.
albigularis (Hirundo), 28.
albilunulata (Oxytenis), 155.
INDEX.
albolaxatus (Caprimulgus), 207,
albus (Corvus), 47.
alcedo, 85, 130, 203, 268, 277.
Alcyone, 130, 204.
aldabrensis (Fregata), 307, 308, 313.
alecto (Monarcha), 208.
Alectoris, 92.
alexanderi (Eremomela), 34.
— (Galerida), 40.
algeriensis (Lanius), 74.
algirus (Turdus), 79.
alpestris (Eremophila), 70.
aluco (Strix), 86.
amabilis (Opopsitta), 120.
Amazona, 122.
amazonum (Aratinga), 122.
— (Pyrrhura), 122.
amboinensis (Macropygia), 198.
Ammomanes, 41, 42.
amphira (Asthenidia), 139.
Anas, 12.
ancyra (Xenocerus), 241.
andrewsi (Fregata), 306.
Androphilus, 111.
angulata (Oxytenis), 170.
angustata (Hypocysta), 281.
anisus (Phaeochrotes), 234.
annulatus (Dinephrius), 228.
annulipes (Euparius), 244.
anomalus (Crateropus), 32.
— (Turdoides), 32.
Anthribisomus, 258.
Anthus, 38, 70, 71.
Antioxenus, 235.
aolae (Alcyone), 204.
— (Micropsitta), 121.
Apatenia, 236.
apiaster (Merops), 85.
apicatus (Proscoporhinus), 257.
Aplonis, 212, 275, 278.
Apolectella, 245.
Apus, 27, 83.
apus (Apus), 27, 83.
— (Hirundo), 27.
aquaticus (Cinclus), 82.
Aquila, 13, 87.
auiqla (Fregata), 302, 312.
317
318
Araecerus, 227, 246-250.
Araeocorynus, 245.
arafurus (Araecerus), 246.
Aratinga, 121, 122.
aravaca (Oxytensis), 160.
arborea (Lullula), 70.
arcus (Deropygus), 254.
Ardea, 13.
Arecopais, 260.
arenicola (Streptopelia), 91.
arenicolor (Ammomanes), 42.
argentatus (Larus), 91.
Argyronympha, 293-297.
aridula (Cisticola), 34.
ariel (Fregata), 310, 311.
aroa (Hypocysta), 280.
aromatica (Treron), 105.
aruana (Hypocysta) 284.
arubensis (Aratinga), 122.
— (Conurus), 122.
aruensis (Geofiroyus), 124.
arvensis (Alauda), 70.
ascalaphus (Bubo), 16.
aspis (Hypocysta), 280_
Asthenidia, 136-150.
ater (Parus), 73.
aterrimus (Scoptelus), 25, 113, 114.
Athene, 18, 86.
atlas (Eremophila), 70.
— (Erithacus), 81.
— (Parus), 73,
— (Sitta), 72.
atra (Fulica), 7, 108.
atrata (Charmosyna), 119.
atricapilla (Sylvia), 77.
atthis (Alcedo), 85, 130, 203, 268, 277.
aucupum (Steganura), 46.
aurantiiceps (Poicephalus), 122.
aurantiifrons (Loriculus), 127.
aurantiiventris (Chloris), 67.
australasia (Halcyon), 132.
australis (Fulica), 108.
Autotropis, 241, 242.
azurea (Alcyone), 130.
baccula (Commista), 236.
badius (Accipiter), 15.
Balonodes, 227.
balius (Hucus), 233.
barbadensis (Amazona), 122.
barbara (Alectoris), 92.
barbarus (Laniarius), 37.
barbatus (Gypaétus), 89.
— (Pycnonotus), 74.
Basitropis, 243.
batavorum (Loriculus), 127.
Baza, 200.
beccarii (Gallicolumba), 198, 266, 276.
belisarius (Aquila), 13, 87.
beludschicus (Merops), 112.
bengalensis (Centropus), 109.
bennigseni (Antioxenus), 235.
beprea (Oxytenis), 168.
berlepschi (Colius), 128.
bernsteini (Eos), 116.
bethulia (Janiodes), 192.
biarmicus (Falco), 15.
bicalcaratus (Francolinus), 7.
— (Tetrao), 7.
bicornis (Oxytenis), 164.
bismarckii (Baza), 200.
blythi (Cyclopsitta), 120.
— (Opopsitta), 120.
bolinus (Tropiderus), 233.
bonelli (Phylloscopus), 76.
borin (Sylvia), 77.
bornea (Kos), 116.
bougainvillei (Halcyon), 133.
brachydactyla (Calandrella), 42, 69.
— (Certhia), 71.
brachyura (Sylvietta), 34
brachyurus (Araeocorynus), 245.
bradytus (Araecerus), 247.
branickii (Leptosittaca), 128.
brehmi (Ptilopachus), 6.
brehmorum (Apus), 27, 83.
brevis (Idiopus), 237.
browni (Reinwardtoena), 199.
bruijni (Micropsitta), 109.
brunneiceps (Estrilda), 46.
Bubo, 16.
bubo (Bubo), 16.
Bubulcus, 90.
Bucco, 23.
buchanani (Crateropus), 32.
— (Lybius), 23.
— (Myrmecoeichla), 31.
— (Riparia), 28.
— (Turdoides), 32.
buckleyi (Asthenidia), 149, 150.
Burhinus, 10.
buruanus (Ptilinopus), 105.
Butastur, 14.
Buteo, 87, 88.
buteo (Buteo), 88.
Cacatoes, 121.
Cacatua, 121.
Caccorhinus, 243, 244.
Cacomantis, 203.
cafra (Nyctemera), 225.
calandra (Emberiza), 68.
— (Melanocorypha), 69.
Calandrella, 42, 69.
caledonicus (Nycticorax), 199.
Calendula, 42.
callistus (Gibber), 238.
Caloenas, 267, 276.
calypso (Hypocysta) 284.
campestris (Anthus), 38, 70.
Campethera, 21.
canaria (Serinus), 67.
canibuccalis (Conurus), 121.
cannabina (Carduelis), 67.
canorus (Cuculus), 86.
cantans (Aidemosyne), 46.
cantillans (Sylvia), 77.
Capella, 10, 91.
capensis (Burhinus), 10.
— (Oedicnemus), 10.
— (Scops), 17.
Caprimulgus, 25, 26, 84, 109, 207.
caprius (Chrysococcyx), 19.
Carduelis, 67.
carduelis (Carduelis), 67.
carteretia (Macropygia), 198.
castaneus (Androphilus), 111.
catenata (Nyctemera), 226.
celata (Asthenidia), 144.
Centropus, 19, 109.
ceramensis (Accipiter), 109.
Cercomela, 30.
Cercophana, 182
Certhia, 71.
cervinus (Anthus), 38, 71.
— (Phloeobius), 227.
Ceryle, 129.
Cettia, 76.
Ceyx, 130, 131.
chadensis (Alauda), 39.
Chaetura, 26.
Chalcopelia, 10.
Chalcophaps, 198, 266, 276.
chalybeocephalus (Monarcha), 208.
Charadrius, 10, 195, 262.
Charmosyna, 119.
Charmosynopsis, 118, 119, 201.
Chelictinia, 14.
chelieuti (Halcyon), 24, 133.
cheniana (Alauda), 39.
chimaera (Uratelornis), 116.
Chizaerhis, 20.
Chloris, 67.
chloris (Chloris), 67.
choiseuli (Turdus), 273.
chrysochlorus (Chrysococcyx), 19.
Chrysococcyx, 19.
chrysoconus (Pogoniulus), 22.
chrysomela (Monarcha), 207.
Chrysotis, 122.
cia (Emberiza), 68.
Ciconia, 89.
ciconia (Ciconia), 89.
Cinclus, 82.
cinclus (Cinclus), 82.
cinerascens (Bubo), 16.
— (Monarcha), 208, 270, 278.
cinerea (Porzana), 263.
cinereocapilla (Motacilla), 38, 71.
Cinnyricinclus, 47.
Cinnyris, 212, 274, 278.
Circaétus, 13, 88.
Circus, 14, 88.
cirlus (Emberiza), 68.
cirtensis (Buteo), 87.
Cisticola, 34, 78, 212.
cisticola (Cisticola), 78.
cetti (Cettia), 76.
clamans (Spiloptila), 33.
Clamator, 19, 86.
clappertoni (Francolinus), 7.
clavipes (Sesia), 298.
cleopatra (Merops), 112.
climacurus (Scotornis), 26.
clypeata (Spatula), 12.
coccinea (Myzomela), 210.
Coccothraustes, 66.
coelebs (Fringilla), 67, 68.
coeruleus (Parus), 73.
Colius, 22, 128, 129.
collectoris (Ceyx), 130.
Collocalia, 206, 269.
collybita (Phylloscopus), 33, 75.
Coloeus, 65.
colonus (Halcyon), 133.
Columba, 12, 90.
columbiana (Asthenidia), 142.
Commista, 236.
communis (Sylvia), 33, 77.
confatalis (Litocerus), 232.
confertus (Xenocerus), 240.
conis (Ormiscus), 240.
conjuncta (Lalage), 272. —
connectens (Eurystomus), 115.
conspicillata (Sylvia), 78.
continentalis (Ceryle), 129.
Conurus, 121, 122.
Coracias, 22, 85.
corax (Corvus), 47, 65.
corinna (Cinnyris), 212.
corismus (Araeocorynus), 245.
coronatus (Pterocles), 8.
corone (Corvus), 65.
coronoides (Corvus), 213.
corporaali (Apolectella), 245
— (Araecerus), 249.
corticeus (Anthribisomus), 259.
corvina (Corvinella), 37.
Corvinella, 37.
Corvus, 47, 48, 65, 213.
Corynecia, 230.
Cossypha, 31.
320
Coturnix, 6, 92.
coturnix (Coturnix), 6, 92.
— (Tetrao), 6.
Cotyle, 29.
Crateropus, 32.
crecca (Anas), 12.
Crex, 92.
crex (Crex), 92.
Crinifer, 20.
cristata (Galerida), 69.
cruentata (Myzomela), 210.
cruralis (Acorynus), 231.
cryptostictus (Scoptelus), 25, 114.
cucullatus (Harpolestes), 74.
— (Phyllergates), 110.
— (Ploceus), 45.
Cuculus, 86.
cursor (Charadrius), 10.
— (Cursorius), 10.
Cursorius, 10.
curvirostra (Loxia), 67.
cyaneiceps (Prioniturus), 125.
cyanicarpus (Geoffroyus), 124.
Cyanorhamphus, 127.
cyanostictus (Melittophagus), 112.
Cyclopsittacus, 120.
cyrtus (Araecerus), 249.
dacrytus (Xenocerus), 240.
dammeriana (Halcyon), 132.
dampieri (Accipiter), 200, 267.
danae (Tanysiptera), 133.
dauma (Turdus), 273.
decolor (Platypthima), 290.
deichleri (Turdus), 78.
delicatula (Chalcopelia), 10.
delicatulus (Turtur), 10.
Delichon, 82.
Demigretta, 267, 277.
Deroptyus, 128.
Deropygus, 251-255.
deserti (Ammomanes), 41.
— (Oenanthe, Saxicola), 30.
desertorum (Bubo), 16.
desmarestii (Phalacrocorax), 90.
devittata (Domicella), 201.
devittatus (Lorius), 117.
Dicaeum, 211.
Dicrocercus, 113.
didymus (Caccorhinus), 244.
— (Deropygus), 251.
diffissa (Asthenidia), 145, 146.
Dinema, 256.
Dinephrius, 227, 228.
diophthalmus (Opopsitta), 120.
Diplootocus, 80.
discolor (Leptosomus), 116.
discurus (Prioniturus), 125.
dispar (Ceyx), 131.
dispar (Platypthima), 289.
disturbans (Androphilus), 111.
divisa (Homoeopteryx), 179.
djampeae (Tanygnathus), 126.
djampeana (Cacatoes), 121.
— (Cacatua), 121.
djampeanus (Trichoglossus), 118.
dognini (Janiodes), 188.
dohertyi (Loriculus), 127.
dolosa (Basitropis), 243.
domesticus (Passer), 68.
Domicella, 117, 201.
dominicus (Charadrius), 195, 262.
downingi (Autotropis), 242.
Dryobates, 85.
Ducula, 196, 265.
dubius (Bucco), 23.
— (Lybius), 23.
dufouri (Plintheria), 234.
dumasi (Geocichla), 110.
— (Phyllergates), 110.
dumontii (Mino), 212.
dunni (Calendula), 42.
duperreyii (Megapodius), 195, 276.
Eclectus, 123.
ecuadorensis (Janiodes), 189.
Edolisoma, 209, 272, 278.
eichhorni (Collocalia), 269.
— (Erythrura) 274, 278.
— (Gallicolumba), 266, 276.
— (Monarcha), 271.
— (Turdus), 273.
Elanoides, 14.
Electron, 129.
elegans (Deropygus), 252.
— (Homoeopteryx), 178.
— (Pitta), 110.
Emberiza, 43, 44, 68, 69.
emini (Agapornis), 127.
enigma (Halcyon), 133.
Eos, 116, 117.
epiphaea (Oxytenis), 166.
epipona (Basitropis), 243.
epops (Upupa), 24, 85.
eremita (Megapodius), 195, 276.
eremogiton (Halcyon), 24, 133.
Eremomela, 34.
Eremophila, 70.
Eremopterix, 43
Erithacus, 81.
erlangeri (Galerida), 69.
erosa (Oxytenis), 163.
Erycinidia, 285, 286.
erythrauchen (Accipiter), 109.
erythropterus (Melittophagus), 122,
erythropygia (Mirafra), 39.
erythrorhynchos (Irrisor), 24, 114.
erythrorhynchos (Phoeniculus), 114.
Erythrospiza, 45.
Erythrura, 111, 274, 278.
Esacus, 262.
esculenta (Collocalia), 206.
Estrilda, 46.
Euciodes, 260.
Eulabeornis, 262.
eumelas (Sesia), 298.
Euparius, 244.
euptychioides (Platypthima), 289.
europaea (Sitta), 72, 73.
europaeus (Caprimulgus), 25, 84.
Eurystomus, 22, 115, 205, 268.
eutreptorhyncha (Pelargopsis), 129.
everetti (Rhytidoceros), 114.
excelsus (Parus), 73.
excubitor (Lanius), 36, 74.
exilis (Cisticola), 212.
Exillis, 260.
eximium (Dicaeum), 211.
eximius (Caprimulgus), 26.
explorator (Geoffroyus), 125.
falcinellus (Plegadis), 13.
Falco, 13, 15, 86, 87, 109.
fastigata (Apatenia), 236.
ferox (Buteo), 87.
ferreti (Tchitrea), 35.
ferruginea (Oxytenis), 171.
finschi (Pachycephala), 209.
finschii (Micropsitta), 202.
flava (Motacilla), 38, 71.
flavicans (Trichoglossus), 201, 267, 277.
flavifrons (Poicephalus), 122.
flavigaster (Emberiza), 43.
flavigastra (Cinnyris), 212, 274, 278.
flaviventris (Emberiza), 43.
— (Eremomela), 34.
flavotectus (Trichoglossus), 118.
floris (Tanygnathus), 126.
forbesi (Cyanoramphus), 127.
forsteni (Trichoglossus), 118.
fortis (Asthenidia), 146.
— (Trichoglossus), 118.
francica (Collocalia), 269.
Francolinus, 7.
frater (Lybius), 23.
fraterna (Autotropis), 242.
frauenfeldi (Cercophana), 182.
Fregata, 302-313.
frenatus (Gibber), 238.
Fringilla, 67, 68.
Fringillaria, 44.
frontalis (Eremopterix), 43.
— (Sporopipes), 45.
fuciphaga (Collocalia), 206, 269,
Fulica, 7, 108.
fulvus (Charadrius), 195, 262.
— (Crateropus, Turdoides), 32.
— (Gyps), 89.
funebris (Melanopsacus), 255.
fuscicapilla (Zosterops), 211.
fuscifrons (Deroptyus), 128.
fuscus (Larus), 92.
— (Ptilopachus), 6.
gabar (Melierax), 14.
— (Micronisus), 14.
galactotes (Agrobates), 32, 78.
galeata (Numida), 6.
Galerida, 40, 69, 70.
galilejensis (Apus), 27.
Gallicolumba, 198, 266, 276.
gallicus (Circaetus), 13, 88.
gallinago (Capella, Scolapax), 10, 91.
Garrulus, 65.
garrulus (Coracias), 85.
geloensis (Lophoceros), 115.
Geocichla, 110.
geofiroyi (Geoffroyus), 123, 124.
Geoffroyus, 123-125, 201.
geometraria (Asthenidia), 143.
geyri (Ammomanes), 41.
Gibber, 238.
gibraltariensis (Phoenicurus), 80.
gigantea (Oxytenis) 172.
gigas (Eurystomus), 115.
— (Phloeobius), 227.
girrenera (Haliastur), 200, 277.
githaginea (Erythrospiza), 45.
giton (Deropygus), 255.
glandarius (Clamator), 19, 86.
— (Garrulus), 65.
Glaueidium, 19.
glaucurus (Eurystomus),.115.
Globicera, 196.
godmani (Opopsitta), 120.
goertae (Mesopicos), 21.
goliathina (Charmosyna), 119.
— (Platypthima), 290.
goodsoni (Lorius), 123, 203.
— (Macropygia), 266, 276.
gordoni (Hirundo), 28.
goslingi (Emberiza), 44.
— (Fringillaria), 44.
gracilipes (Argyronympha), 295.
gracilis (Deropygus), 252.
— (Erycinidia) 286.
graculus (Phalacrocorax), 90.
— (Pyrrhocorax), 66.
granti (Lophoceros), 114.
Graucalus, 209.
greenwoodi (Araecerus), 246.
grisea (Commista), 236.
321
322
griseogularis (Urocolius), 129.
guineensis (Irrisor), 24.
guizona (Argyronympha), 296.
Gulamentus, 237.
gularis (Eurystomus), 115.
guttulata (Ceryle), 129.
Gymnoris, 45.
Gypaétus, 89.
Gyps, 89.
haematodus (Trichoglossus), 118, 201, 267, 277.
haemonia (Hypocysta), 280.
Halcyon, 24, 132, 133, 205, 268, 277.
haliaetus (Pandion), 88.
Haliastur, 200, 277.
Harpolestes, 37, 74.
Harsiésis, 291-293.
harterti (Lullula), 70.
hathor (Hypocysta), 284.
haussarum (Prionops), 37.
hebetior (Monarcha), 270, 271
hecaerge (Hariésis), 293.
Hedydipna, 34.
heinrothi (Turdus), 273.
Hemiprocne, 206, 269, 277.
hercules (Deropygus), 254.
hermonensis (Calandrella), 42.
hesperia (Nyctemera), 222.
heteroclitus (Geoffroyus), 201.
heuglini (Dicrocercus), 113.
Hieraétus, 87.
hiogaster (Accipiter), 108, 200, 267,
Hippolais, 33, 76.
hirundineus (Dicrocercus), 113.
Hirundo, 27, 28, 82.
hispanica (Oenanthe), 30, 80.
hispaniensis (Sitta), 72, 73.
hispaniolensis (Passer), 68.
hoggara (Streptopelia), 11.
homochroa (Platypthima), 288, 289.
Homoeodera, 229.
Homoeopteryx, 175.
Hormiscops, 227.
hortensis (Sylvia), 33, 77.
hortulana (Emberiza), 69.
Hucus, 233.
huonis (Platypthima), 289.
Hyalodia, 285.
hydrocharis (Tanysiptera), 133,
hygea (Hariésis), 291-293.
Hypocharmosyna, 118.
Hypocysta, 279-285.
hypoenochrous (Lorius), 117.
hypoinochroa (Domicella), 117, 201.
hypoleuca (Motacilla), 36.
— (Muscicapa), 36, 75.
hypoleucos (Tringa), 195, 262, 276.
Hypotaenidia, 195.
hypoxantha (Aratinga, Pyrrhura), 122.
hypoxantha (Pyrrhura), 122.
— (Zosterops), 211.
ibis (Bubulcus), 90.
Idiopus, 237.
ignicapillus (Regulus), 74.
inca (Asthenidia), 146.
indus (Haliastur), 200, 277.
inferior (Ptilinopus), 265.
ingrami (Fulica), 108.
inornata (Sylvia), 77.
inornatus (Caprimulgus), 25, 26.
inseparabilis (Cyclopsittacus), 120.
— (Opopsitta), 120.
insignis (Ceryle), 129.
insolitus (Ptilinopus), 197, 265.
insularis (Corvus), 213.
— (Eos), 117.
intensa (Tanysiptera), 133.
intermedia (Palaeornis), 126.
— (Psittacula), 126.
intermedius (Leptosomus), 116.
— (Monachaleyon), 133.
— (Trichoglossus), 118.
interposita (Halcyon), 132.
iredalei (Fregata), 312.
iris (Neopsittacus), 120.
Irrisor, 24, 114.
isis (Hypocysta), 284.
ispida (Alcedo), 130.
jacobinus (Clamator), 19.
janiodes, 186-193.
jobina (Hariésis), 292.
johannae (Gallicolumba), 198.
johannis (Ptilinopus), 197, 265, 276.
johnstoniae (Trichoglossus), 118.
jonesi (Nyctemera), 223.
jugularis (Cinnyris), 212, 274, 278.
juncidis (Cisticola), 34, 78.
kabylorum (Troglodytes), 82.
karu (Lalage), 208.
keiensis (Micropsitta), 121.
kikuyensis (Colius), 128.
kleinschmidti (Galerida), 69.
klossi (Platypthima), 290.
koenigi (Fringilla), 67.
— (Mesopicos), 21.
krakari (Hypocharmosyna), 118.
krameri (Palaeornis), 21.
— (Psittacula), 21.
krefiti (Mino), 212
kühni (Eos), 116.
labidus (Acorynus), 231.
lactucina (Asthenidia), 148.
laeta (Argyronympha), 294.
Lalage, 208, 272.
Laniarius, 37.
Lanius, 36, 37, 74.
Larus, 91, 92.
lateralis (Caccorhinus), 243.
laverna (Janiodes), 187.
leda (Oxytenis), 161.
lepida (Ceyx), 130.
— (Hypocysta), 283.
Leptosittaca, 128.
Leptosomus, 116.
lesouefi (Hypotaenidia), 195.
leucocephalus (Colius), 129.
leucogaster (Cinnyricinclus), 47.
— (Turdus), 47.
leucomelas (Platypthima), 288.
leucopyga (Oenanthe), 30.
leucopygos (Lanius), 36.
leucorhous (Sparvius), 14.
leucotis (Colius), 128.
— (Hremopterix), 43.
— (Otus), 18.
leucura (Tanysiptera), 134.
leucurus (Oenanthe), 80.
levipennis (Araecerus), 248.
lichtensteinii (Pterocles), 8.
limbata (Autotropis), 242.
Lissotis, 9.
Litocerus, 232.
livia (Columba), 12, 90.
Locustella, 76.
longipennis (Macrodipteryx), 26.
Lophoceros, 114, 115.
Loriculus, 127, 201.
Lorius, 117, 123, 203.
lory (Domicella, Lorius), 117.
Loxia, 67.
lugubris (Ceryle), 129.
Lullula, 70.
Luscinia, 81.
lutens (Passer), 44.
luteolus (Ploceus), 46.
Lybius, 23.
macilwraithi (Cyclopsittacus), 120.
macklotii (Pitta), 207.
maclennani (Geoffroyus), 124.
macrodipteryx, 26.
Macropygia, 198, 199, 266, 276.
macrourus (Circus) 14.
— (Colius), 22.
macrurus (Caprimulgus), 109, 207.
— (Urocolius), 129.
maculatus (Anthribisomus), 258.
maculosus (Burhinus, Oedicnemus), 10.
mada (Prioniturus), 109, 125.
Madanga, 111.
magnificens (Fregata), 303, 305, 313.
masnirostris (Esacus), 262.
major (Domicella), 117.
— (Dryobates), 85.
— (Homoeopteryx), 177.
— (Lorius), 117.
— (Parus), 73.
— (Scoptelus), 113.
malecena (Homoeopteryx), 176.
mandibularis (Nycticorax), 199.
manifesta (Nyctemera), 224.
margaritatus (Trachyphonus), 22.
mathewsi (Fregata), 309.
matthiae (Halcyon), 268, 277.
— (Phylloscopus), 272.
— (Rhipidura), 271.
maudei (Erycinidia), 286.
mauretanica (Strix), 86.
mauretanus (Dryobates), 85.
mauritius (Dinephrius), 228.
mediterranea (Carduelis), 67.
medius (Centropus), 109.
meeki (Ceyx), 131.
— (Cyclopsitta), 120.
— (Hypocharmosyna), 118.
— (Loriculus), 127.
— (Micropsitta), 121, 267, 277.
— (Porzana), 263.
— (Syma), 131.
Megacorma, 298.
megalorhynchos (Tanygnathus), 126.
Megapodius, 195, 276.
megarhyncha (Luscinia), 81.
meiffreni (Ortyxelos), 9.
melanarius (Turdus), 273.
melanocephala (Eremopterix), 43.
— (Sylvia), 77.
Melanocorypha, 69.
melanoleuca (Oenanthe), 30.
melanoleucos (Lophoceros), 115.
Melanopsacus, 255. i
melanorhyncha (Pelargopsis), 129.
melanotus (Porphyrio), 105.
melanura (Cercomela), 30.
melba (Apus), 83.
Melierax, 14, 15.
Melittophagus, 112, 113.
menckei (Monarcha), 269.
meridionalis (Caprimulgus), 26.
Merops, 22, 85, 112, 205, 268, 277.
merula (Turdus), 79.
mesophanis (Caprimulgus), 109.
Mesopicos, 21.
mesotypus (Poicephalus), 20.
metallica (Aplonis), 212, 275, 278.
meyeri (Poicephalus), 122.
michahellesii (Larus), 91.
Microdulia, 185.
Micronisus, 14.
323
324
Mieropsitta, 109, 121, 202, 267, 277.
micrura (Sylvietta), 34.
micula (Ormiscus), 239.
migrans (Milvus), 88.
Milvus, 88.
milvus (Milvus), 88.
Mino, 212.
minor (Agrobates), 32.
— (Electron), 129.
— (Fregata), 306, 307, 308, 313.
— (Prionirhynchus), 129.
mirabilis (Microdulia), 185.
— (Oxytenis), 157.
Mirafra, 39.
modesta (Autotropis), 241, 242.
modestia (Oxytenis), 153.
mombassicus (Colius), 128.
Monachaleyon, 133.
monachus (Monachaleyon), 133.
— (Necrosyrtes), 13.
Monarcha, 207, 208, 269, 270, 271, 278.
monedula (Coloeus), 65.
Monticola, 31, 33, 36, 79.
mordellinus (Araecerus), 250.
morio (Edolisoma), 209, 272, 278.
Motacilla, 31, 38, 71.
moussieri (Diplootocus), 80.
mulcata (Ceyx), 131.
mülleri (Melittophagus), 113
multistriata (Charmosynopsis), 119.
Munia, 213.
muraria (Tichodroma), 72.
murinus (Apus), 27, 83.
— (Caccorhinus), 244.
Muscicapa, 36, 75.
musicus (Melierax), 15.
“— (Turdus), 79.
mussaui (Rhipidura), 271.
mya (Ammomanes), 41.
Myioceyx, 131.
Myrmecocichla, 31.
mystacea (Hemiprocne), 206, 269, 277.
Myzomela, 210, 211, 274.
naemia (Oxytensis), 158, 160.
naevia (Coracias), 22. -
Nasiterna, 121.
naumanni (Falco), 86.
Necrosyrtes, 13.
Nectarinia, 34.
neglectus (Eurystomus), 115.
Neocercophana, 184.
neohanoveranus (Eurystomus), 115, 205, 268.
Neophron, 89.
Neopsittacus, 120.
nerina (Nyctemera ), 220.
neumanni (Melierax), 15.
nicobarica (Caloenas), 267, 276.
nicolli (Fregata), 309.
niger (Melierax), 14.
— (Micronisus), 14.
— (Sparvius), 14.
nigerrima (Munia), 213.
nigriceps (Tanysiptera), 134.
nigrifrons (Opopsitta), 120.
nigrirostris (Macropygia), 199.
nigrita (Hariésis), 292.
— (Myzomela), 211, 274.
nigromaxilla (Ceyx), 130.
nigropuncta (Janiodes), 188.
Nilaus, 37.
Ninox, 200.
nisus (Accipiter), 88.
nitida (Aplonis), 212, 275, 278.
nitidus (Araecerus), 250.
noctua (Athene), 18, 86.
noctula (Hariésis), 292.
notandus (Araecerus), 248.
novae-hibernicae (Pitta), 207.
nuba (Lissotis, Otis), 9.
nubila (Oxytenis), 163, 164.
Numenius, 195.
Numida, 6.
nusae (Halcyon), 205.
nyansae (Poicephalus), 122.
Nyctemera, 217-226.
Nycticorax, 13, 199.
— (Ardea), 13.
— (Nycticorax), 13.
Nyroca, 12.
nyroca (Nyroca), 12.
obiensis (Eos), 117.
obliqua (Megacorma), 298.
obsoleta (Riparia), 28, 29.
occidentalis (Cacatoes), 121.
ochracea (Syma), 131.
ochropus (Tringa), 10, 91.
ochruros (Phoenicurus), 80.
Oedicnemus, 10.
Oenanthe, 29, 30, 79, 80.
oenanthe (Oenanthe), 29, 79.
oenas (Columba), 90.
omoensis (Dicrocercus), 113.
omphalus (Araecerus), 246.
opaca (Hippolais), 33, 77.
Opopsitta, 120.
orecta (Oxytenis), 160.
orientalis (Eurystomus), 115, 205, 268.
— (Merops), 22, 112.
Oriolus, 47, 66.
oriolus (Oriolus), 47, 66.
Ormiscus, 239, 240.
ornata (Platypthima), 287.
ornatus (Merops), 205, 268, 277.
Ortyxelos, 9.
osyris (Hypocysta), 281-283, 284,
Otis, 9.
Otroeda, 220, 221-225.
Otus, 17, 18, 86.
owstoni (Halcyon), 132.
Oxytenis, 151-176.
Pachycephala, 209, 274.
Palaeornis, 21, 126.
pallida (Gymnoris), 45.
— (Hippolais), 33, 77.
pallidiceps (Accipiter), 108.
— (Scoptelus), 114.
pallidior (Calendula), 42.
— (Charmosynopsis), 118, 201.
— (Sporopipes), 45.
pallidus (Apus), 27.
— (Poicephalus), 122.
palumbus (Columba), 90.
Pandion, 88.
pandora (Platypthima), 290.
papilionaris (Nyctemera), 224.
papuanus (Falco), 109.
papuensis (Basitropis), 243.
— (Graucalus), 209.
paradisea (Steganura), 46.
paraensis (Asthenidia), 150.
Parus, 73.
parvula (Cacatua), 121.
Passer, 44, 68.
paulina (Asthenidia), 144.
pectoralis (Eclectus), 123.
— (Pachycephala), 209, 274.
pedaloidina (Platypthima), 291.
pelagia (Hypocysta), 283.
pelagica (Alcedo), 130, 203, 268, 277.
Pelargopsis, 129.
pelegrinoides (Falco), 15.
pellucida (Hypocysta), 281.
perenopterus (Neophron), 89.
peregrina (Oxytenis), 165.
peregrinus (Falco), 15.
perlatum (Glaucidium), 19.
permagnifica (Nyctemera), 225.
perpallidus (Monarcha), 270, 278.
perplexa (Halcyon), 132.
personatus (Geoffroyus), 125.
pertinax (Aratinga), 122
Petronia, 68.
petronia (Petronia), 68.
petrosus (Anthus), 71.
— (Ptilopachus), 6.
Phaeochrotes, 234.
phaeopus (Numenius), 195.
Phalacrocorax, 90.
philippensis (Hypotaenidia), 195.
— (Loriculus), 127.
philippii (Neocercophana), 184.
Philomachus, 10.
philomelos (Turdus), 79.
Phloeobius, 227.
Phoeniculus, 114.
Phoenicurus, 29, 80.
phoenicurus (Ammomanes), 42.
— (Phoenicurus), 29, 80.
Phyllergates, 110.
Phylloscopus, 33, 75, 76, 272.
Pica, 65.
pica (Clamator), 19.
picta (Aratinga), 122.
— (Psittacula), 126.
— (Pyrrhura), 122.
Picus, 21, 85.
Pieridopsis, 286.
pilaris (Turdus), 79.
pinaiae (Erythrura), 111.
piscator (Crinifer), 20.
Pitta, 110, 207.
placentis (Charmosynopsis), 118, 201.
placiva (Platypthima), 287.
plagiatus (Litocerus), 232.
planax (Nyctemera), 221.
platenae (Prioniturus), 125.
platura (Hedydipna), 34.
platurus (Prioniturus), 125.
Platypthima, 286-291.
platyrhynchus (Electron), 129.
— (Prionirhynchus), 129.
plebejus (Crateropus, Turdoides), 32.
Plegadis, 13.
plettina (Oxytenis), 167.
plicatus (Rhyticeros), 206.
Plintheria, 234, 335.
Ploceus, 45, 46.
plumatus (Prionops), 37.
plusiota (Hypocysta), 280.
podaliraria (Asthenidia), 139.
Pogoniulus, 22. :
Poicephalus, 20, 122, 123.
Poliornis, 14.
polyglotta (Hippolais), 76.
Porphyrio, 105.
Porzana, 263, 264.
pratensis (Anthus), 71.
Prionirhynchus, 129.
Prioniturus, 109, 125.
Prionops, 37.
proles (Hucus), 233.
prona (Homoeopteryx), 177.
Proscoporhinus, 257.
Proscopus, 256.
proxima (Micropsitta), 267, 277.
Prunella, 82.
Pseudopsittacus, 124.
Psittacula, 21, 126.
Pterocles, 7, 8.
326
Ptilinopus, 105, 197, 198, 265, 276.
Ptilopachus, 6.
pugnax (Philomachus), 10.
pulchella (Nectarinia), 34.
pulcher (Spreo), 46.
pulchra (Argyronympha), 294.
pullaria (Agapornis), 127.
pullicauda (Neopsittacus), 120.
pumilio (Achoragus), 229.
pumilus (Araecerus), 247.
punctatus (Picus), 21.
punctifrons (Remiz), 35.
punctuligera (Campethera), 21.
punctuligerus (Picus), 21.
purpurea (Ardea), 13.
pusilla (Aleyone), 204.
pusillus (Melittophagus), 112.
pusio (Micropsitta), 121.
Pycnonotus, 74.
pygargus (Circus), 88.
pygmaea (Nasiterna), 121.
pyrgita (Gymnoris), 45.
Pyrrhocorax, 66.
Pyrrhura, 122.
quadricinctus (Pterocles), 8.
ramsayi (Myzomela), 211, 274.
rapax (Aquila), 15, 87.
Regulus, 74.
Reinwardtoena, 199.
reiseri (Hippolais), 33.
Remiz, 35.
remota (Megacorma), 298.
remotum (Edolisoma), 209.
rendova (Argyronympha), 296.
Rhipidura, 207, 271.
rhipidurus (Corvus), 48.
rhodinolaema (Ducula), 196, 265.
Rhyticeros, 206.
Rhytidoceros, 114.
richardsi (Alcyone), 204.
ridgwayi (Fregata), 308, 313.
riocourii (Chelictinia, Elanoides), 14.
Riparia, 28, 29, 83.
riparia (Riparia), 83.
rivolii (Ptilinopus), 105, 198.
roratus (Lorius), 123, 203.
roseogrisea (Streptopelia), 11.
rosseliana (Domicella), 117.
rosselianus (Lorius), 117.
rothschildi (Amazona), 122.
— (Eos), 116.
— (Fregata), 303, 305, 313.
rotundatus (Araecerus), 249.
rubecula (Erithacus), 81.
rubetra (Saxicola), 31, 80.
rubianensis (Argyronympha), 295,
rubicola (Saxicola), 80.
rubricera (Ducula), 196.
— (Globicera), 196.
rubrigularis (Hypocharmosyna), 118.
rudis (Ceryle), 129.
rufa (Macropygia), 266.
ruficollis (Corvus), 47.
— (Madanga), 111.
— (Rhyticeros), 206.
ruficolor (Galerida), 70.
rufipennis (Butastur, Poliornis), 14.
rufiventris (Poicephalus), 122.
— (Rhipidura), 207, 271.
rugulosa (Autotropis), 242.
rupestris (Cotyle), 29.
— (Riparia), 83.
russea (Janiodes), 191.
rustica (Hirundo), 28, 82.
sacra (Demigretta), 267, 277.
saharae (Passer), 44.
sahari (Emberiza), 44.
salax (Asthenidia), 141.
salomonensis (Alcedo), 130.
salvadorii (Micropsitta, Nasiterna), 121.
sancta (Halcyon), 268.
Sarciophorus, 10.
satisbona (Platypthima), 289.
saturatus (Poicephalus), 122.
saurophaga (Halcyon), 277.
saxatilis (Monticola), 31, 79.
— (Turdus), 31.
Saxicola, 30, 31, 80.
scalaris (Xenocerus), 240.
schubotzi (Pogoniulus), 22.
sclateri (Graucalus), 209.
Scolopax, 10.
Scops, 17.
scops (Otus), 18, 86.
Scoptelus, 25, 113, 114.
Scotornis, 26.
scotti (Corynecia), 230.
senator (Lanius), 37, 74.
senegala (Hstrilda), 46.
senegalensis (Centropus), 19.
— (Otis) 9, 17.
— (Pterocles), 8.
— (Scops), 17.
— (Streptopelia), 11.
— (Zosterops), 35.
senegallus (Pterocles), 7.
— (Tetrao), 7.
senegalus (Harpolestes), 37, 74.
— (Poicephalus), 20.
septemstriata (Emberiza), 44.
sepulcralis (Cacomantis), 203.
serapis (Hypocysta), 282.
sericeus (Cinnyris), 212.
Serinus, 67.
serinus (Serinus), 67.
Sesia, 298.
severus (Falco), 109.
sexuvaria (Pachycephala), 274.
sharpei (Melittophagus), 112.
sibilatrix (Phylloscopus), 76.
silex (Araecerus), 246
simplex (Deropygus), 251.
— (Passer), 44.
— (Platypthima), 287.
simplicior (Caprimulgus), 26.
Sitta, 72, 73.
snelli (Homoeodera), 229.
sobrina (Oxytensis), 158.
‚solitaria (Ceyx), 131.
solitarius (Monticola), 79.
solitudinis (Athene), 18.
solomonensis (Eclectus), 123.
— (Lorius), 123, 203.
— (Ptilinopus), 197, 265, 276.
sordida (Halcyon), 133.
sordidus (Halcyon), 133.
spadix (Oxytenis), 173.
Sparvius, 14.
Spatula, 12.
spatzi (Cotyle, Riparia), 29.
speculigera (Muscicapa), 75.
sphenurus (Accipiter), 15.
Spiloptila, 33.
spilosus (Deropygus), 253.
spinicauda (Asthenidia), 147.
spinoletta (Anthus), 71.
spinus (Carduelis), 67.
Sporopipes, 45.
Spreo, 46.
Steganura, 46.
stellae (Charmosyna), 119.
stephani (Chalcophaps), 198, 266, 276.
Sterna, 108.
stichus (Litocerus), 232.
Streptopelia, 11, 91.
striata (Muscicapa), 36, 75.
striatus (Colius), 128.
strieturaria (Asthenidia), 146.
striolata (Emberiza), 44.
Strix, 18, 86.
strumosa (Fregata), 308, 313.
Sturnus, 66.
suavis (Araecerus), 249.
subcristata (Baza), 200.
subtilis (Plintheria), 235.
suecica (Luscinia), 81.
sulphurea (Cacatoes), 121.
suluénsis (Prioniturus), 125.
sumatrana (Sterna), 108.
sumbavensis (Geoffroyus), 124.
superbus (Ptilinopus), 198.
suturalis (Araecerus), 227.
swinderianus (Agapornis), 127.
Sylvia, 32, 33, 77, 78.
Sylvietta, 34.
Syma, 131.
syntactus (Colius), 22.
syssauroides (Homoeopteryx), 178.
taeniatus (Gulamentus), 237.
talautensis (Prioniturus), 125.
Talpella, 228.
tantillus (Achoragus), 230.
Tanygnathus, 126.
Tanysiptera, 133, 134.
targia (Columba), 12.
targius (Pterocles), 8.
Tchitrea, 35.
tectus (Sarciophorus), 10.
tenebrica (Hariésis), 291.
tener (Loriculus), 201.
tentelare (Syma), 131.
tenuimargo (Nyctemera), 224.
tenuisquamosa (Hyalodia), 285.
terminalis (Asthenidia), 142.
tessellatus (Anthribisomus), 258.
Tetrao, 6, 7.
theklae (Galerida), 69, 70.
thomasseti (Hormiscops), 227.
Tichodroma, 72.
timorlaoensis (Geoffoyus), 123.
tingitanus (Passer), 68.
tinnunculus (Falco), 15, 86.
tomentosus (Balanodes), 227.
toni (Sylvia), 78.
torotoro (Syma), 131.
torquata (Saxicola), 80.
torquatus (Turdus), 79.
Trachyphonus, 22.
transversaria (Asthenidia), 140, 141,
Treron, 105. j
Trichoglossus, 118, 201, 267, 277.
trichroa (Erythrura), 111, 274, 278.
tricolor (Eulabeornis), 262.
tridens (Asthenidia), 146.
Tringa, 10, 91, 195, 262, 276.
tringorum (Halcyon), 132.
tristrami (Haleyon), 132, 205.
— (Micropsitta, Nasiterna), 121.
trivialis (Anthus), 38, 71.
trivirgatus (Phylloscopus), 272.
trochilus (Phylloscopus), 33, 76.
Troglodytes, 82.
troglodytes (Troglodytes), 82.
Tropiderus, 233.
truncatus (Deropygus), 251.
Turdoides, 32.
Turdus, 31, 47, 78, 273,
turneri (Colius), 129.
327
328
Turtur, 10.
turtur (Streptopelia), 11, 91.
Tyto, 16.
ugandae (Agapornis), 127.
— (Myioceyx), 131.
ugandensis (Colius), 128.
ugiensis (Argyronympha), 297,
ulava (Argyronympha), 296.
ultramarinus (Parus), 73.
undata (Sylvia), 78.
unicolor (Sturnus), 66.
Upupa, 24, 85.
Uratelornis, 116.
urbica (Delichon), 82.
Urocolius, 129.
ussheri (Chaetura), 26.
vagulus (Litocerus), 232.
vaillanti (Picus), 85.
vanicorensis (Collocalia), 206, 269.
variegata (Eos), 117.
— (Ninox), 200.
variegatus (Numenius), 195.
veitchi (Proscopus), 256.
vella (Argyronympha), 296.
venusta (Cercophana), 183,
verreauxi (Steganura), 46.
versteri (Poicephalus), 20.
verticalis (Cossypha), 31.
— (Monarcha), 207.
vesperina (Nyctemera), 222-224.
vieilloti (Lybius), 23.
virago (Cyclopsittacus), 120.
— (Opopsitta), 120.
virgata (Janiodes), 191.
virgo (Pieridopsis), 286.
viridifrons (Micropsitta), 121, 202.
— (Nasiterna), 121.
viridipectus (Micropsitta), 121.
— (Nasiterna), 121.
viridis (Merops), 112.
— (Tchitrea), 35.
viridissimus (Merops), 22.
viscivorus (Turdus), 78.
vitellinus (Ploceus), 45.
vulcani (Tanysiptera), 133.
vulgaris (Sturnus), 66.
wahnesi (Charmosyna), 119.
waterstradti (Prioniturus), 125.
websteri (Alcyone), 130, 204.
— (Cacomantis), 203.
weddellii (Aratinga), 121.
wetterensis (Neopsittacus), 120.
whitakeri (Garrulus), 65.
wilsoni (Fregata), 311.
Xenocerus, 240, 241.
xylophagus (Anthribisomus), 259.
yalensis (Melittophagus), 113.
yamdenae (Alcyone), 130.
yolanthe (Hariésis), 293.
zedlitzi (Erythrospiza), 45.
Zosterops, 35, 211.
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