PROCEEDINGS OF THE Biological Society of Washington VOLUME XXVIII 1915 WASHINGTON PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATIONS N. HOLLISTER, Chairman W. L. McATEE WELLS W. COOKE Press op H. L. & J. B. McQueen, Inc. Washington, D. C. OFFICERS AND COUNCIL OF TIIK BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON For 1915 W. P. HAY J. N. ROSE (ELECTED DECEMBER 12, 1914) OFFICERS President PAUL BARTSCH Vice-Presidents A. D. HOPKINS MARY J. RATHBUN Recording Secretary MARCUS W. LYON, Jr. Corresponding Secretary W. L. McATEE Treasurer WELLS W. COOKE COUNCIL VERNON BAILEY FREDERICK V. COVILLE* WILLIAM H. DALL* B. W. EVERMANN* J. W. GIDLEY N. HOLLISTER L. 0. HOWARD* FRANK H. KNOWLTON* F. A. LUCAS* C. HART MERRIAM* E. W. NELSON* T. S. PALMER* WILLIAM PALMER HUGH M. SMITH L. STEJNEGER* GEORGE M. STERNBERG* DAVID WHITE* A. D. Hopkins Lewis Radcliffe H. H. Bartlett W. L. McAtee STANDING COMMITTEES— 1915 Committee on Communications William Palmer, Chairman Committee on Publications N. Hollister, Chairman C. V. Piper Edwin Kirk Alex Wetmore Wells W. Cooke • Ex-Presidents of the Society. (iii) EX-PRESIDENTS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON ♦Theodore N. Qua., 1881, 1882 * Charles A. WiiiTE, 1883, 1884 *G. Brown Goode, 1885, 1886 William H. Ball, 1887, 1888 * Lester F. Ward, 1889, 1890 C. Hart Merriam, 1891, 1892 *C. V. Riley, 1893, 1894 *Geo. M. Sternberg, 1895, 1896 L. 0. Howard, 1897, 1898 Frederick V. Coville, 1899, 1900 F. A. Lucas, 1901, 1902 B. W. EvERMANN, 1903, 1904 F. H. Knowlton, 1905, 1906 L. Stejneger, 1907, 1908 T. S. Palmer, 1909, 1910 David White, 1911 E. W. Nelson, 1912, 1913 (iv) ' Deceased. TABLE OF CONTENTS (Jiricers and Committees for 1915 iii Troceedings for 15)15 ix First Listof the Fishes of the Vicinity of Plummers Island, Mary- huid, by W. L. McAtee and A. C. Weed . 1-14 The Water Shrew of Xova Scotia, by Glover M. Allen 15-18 Proposal of New Muscoid Genera for Old Species, by Charles H. T. Townsend 19-24 Andropogon halepensis and Andropogon sorghum, by Charles V. Piper 25-44 Four New North American Diptera, by J*. R. Malloch 45-48 A Remarkable New Thrips from Australia, by J. Douglas Hood 49-52 An Outline of the Sul)families and Higher Grojips of the Insect Order Thysanoptera, by J. Douglas Hood 53-60 The Variations of a Brood of Watersnakes, by E. R. Dunn . . 61-68 General Notes ... 69-70 Determination of Vesperugovaga7is Dobson from "Bermuda," by Oldfield Thomas, 69; The Generic Name Connochxtes of Lichtenstein, I)y Oldfield Thomas, 69; The Type Locality of Pecari tajacu, by N. Hollister, 70; A New Name for the White-tailed Jack Rabbit, by N. Hollister, 70. Recent Notes Regarding West Indian Reptiles and Amphibians, by T. Barbour 71-78 Preliminary Diagnoses of Apparently New South American Birds, by W. E. Clyde Todd 79-82 Two New Species of Pipunculus, by Frederick Knab 83-86 A New Species of Achyranthes from Tobago, by Paul C. Standley 87-88 Notes on the Sharks and Rays of Cape Lookout, N. C., by Rus- sell J. Coles ... 89-94 New Fresh- Water Crabs ( Pseudothelphusa) from Colombia, by Mary J. Rathbun 95-100 A New Spider ^Monkey from Panama, by E. A. Goldman . . . 101-102 Description of a New Bob-white from Colorado, by F. C. Lincoln 103-104 Descriptions of some New Forms of American Cuckoos, Parrots, and Pigeons, by Robert Ridgway 105-108 Descriptions of a New Genus and Seven New Races of Flying Squirrels, by Arthur H. Howell 109-114 A New Squirrel from Northeastern China, byGerritS. Miller, Jr. 115-116 New Species of Decapod Crustaceans from the Dutch West In- dies, by Mary J. Rathbun 117-120 A New Turnagra from Stephens' Island, New Zealand, by J. H. Fleming 121-124 Three New Subspecies of Birds from Eastern Mexico and Yuca- tan, by Outram Bangs 125-126 (v) vi Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington . Five New Rice Rats of the Genus Oryzomys from Middle America, by E. A. Goldman 127-180 A New Species of Tailless Batracliian from North America, by Leonhard Stejneger 131-132 Five New Mammals from Mexico and Arizona, byE. A. Goldman 133-138 A New Pigeon from Chiriqui, Panama, by Robert Ridgway . . 139-140 General Notes 141-144 Eureodon as tlie Generic Name of the Warthogs, by M. W. Lyon, Jr., 141; Jacquinotia, a New Crab Name, by Mary J. Rathbun, 142; The Systematic Name of the Mexican Spider Monkey, by N. HoUister, 142; The Name of Azara's Agouar- achay, by Wilfred H. Osgood, 142-143. The Status of the Tunicate Genera Appendicularia and Fritil- laria, by Paul Bartsch 145-146 Diagnosis of a New Subspecies of Marmot from Colorado, by J. D. Figgins 147-148 A New Snake from Southern Peru, by Thomas Barbour .... 149-150 Scales of Panama Fishes, by T. D. A. Cockerell 151-160 Descriptions of Three New Birds from China and Japan, by J. H. Riley 161-164 New Genera and Species of Acoceplialinse, by E. D. Ball . . . 165-168 Preliminary Diagnoses of Seven Apparently New Neotropical Birds, by W. E. Clyde Todd . . 169-170 A New Species of Iresine from the United States, by Paul C. Standley 171-174 An Anatomical Note on the Genus Chordeiles iiwamson, by Alex Wetmore . . 175-176 A New Pigeon from Jamaica, by Robert Ridgway . 177-178 General Notes 179-184 Macaca versus Pii/iecus as the Generic Name of the Macaques, by M. W. Lyon, Jr., 179; CyrnopoUa versus Palimis, by Mary J. Rathbun, 180; Notes on Several Preoccupied Generic Names (Aves), by Charles W. Richmond, 180; Grossiilaria marcescens, by Frederick V. Coville, 181; Phacochoerus as the Generic Name of the Warthogs, by Oldfield Thomas, 181 ; Note on a New Zealand Grass, by A. S. Hitchcock, 182; A Note on the Occurrence of Epiperipatus imthurmi (Sclater), by Austin H. Clark, 182; Note on the Generic Name .BoZ- borhynchus Bonaparte, by Chas. W. Richmond, 183; Note on Chlorostilbon puruensis, by J. H. Riley, 183; The Specific Name of the Striped Muishond of South Africa, by N. Hol- lister, 184. Table of Contents. vii PLATES. I. Facing p. 14. Map of Potomac River, Great Falls to Little Falls. II. Faciiio; p. 14. Hypentelium nigricans, showing position of fins. III. Facing p. 85. Pipunculus industrius and P. vagabundus. The Committee on Publications declares that each paper of this volume was distributed on the date indicated on its initial page. The index, title page, and minutes of meetings for 1915 (pp. i-xiv, 185-189) were issued on January 25, 1916. Vol. XXVIII, pp. ix-xiv PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON PROCEEDINGS. The Society meets in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club on alternate Saturdays at 8 p. m. January 9, 1915— 533d Meeting.* President Paul Bartsch in the chair and 40 persons present. Dr. L. 0. Howard made remarks on meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science lately held in Philadelphia. Dr. H. A. Pilsbry discussed certain aspects of Hawaiian land shell problems. The regular program consisted of three communications, as follows : "An Unknown Fossil " ; William Palmer. "An Albino Diamond-back Terrapin " ; W. P. Hay. " Notes on the Physiology of Bats " ; M. W. Lyon, Jr. January 23, 1915— 534th Meeting.f President Bartsch in the chair and 75 persons present. Dr. Johan Hjort, Director of Fisheries of Norway, discussed Norwegian herring catches. Lantern slides on biological subjects were exhibited by W. W. Cooke, Hugh M. Smith, William Palmer, and Paul Bartsch. The regular program consisted of a single paper, as follows: " Developing Instincts of a Young Squirrel " ; Agnes Chase. ♦Abstracts of papers in Journ. Washington Acad. Sci.. Vol. 5, pp. 290-291, April 19, 1915; and in Science, N. S.. Vol. 41, p. 477, March 26, 1915. t Abstracts in Journ. Washington Acad. Sci., Vol. .'i. pp. 290-291, April 19, 1915; and in Science, N. S„ Vol. 41, p. 478, March 26, 1915. (ix) X Proceedings of the Biological Societi/ of Washington. February 6, 1915— 535th Meeting.* Vice-President A. D. Hopkins in the chair and 35 persons present. Dr. B. H. Ransom called attention to a new biological jour- nal devoted to animal parasites. Prof. W. W. Cooke read a brief letter from Dr. B. W. Ever- mann of San Francisco. The program consisted of two communications, as follows: " Remarks on the Rate of Growth of Stony Corals "; T. Way- land Vaughan. "Botanical Explorations in South America"; J. N. Rose. February 20, 1915— 536th Meeting.! President Bartsch in the chair and 65 persons present. Gen. T. E. Wilcox made inquiries concerning the color of the eyes of certain turtles. Dr. L. 0. Howard discussed the mosquito campaign in New Jersey . Mr. William Palmer exhibited the tip of the tongue of a sulphurbottom whale. One communication was presented for the regular program ; "A Naturalist in Nevada " ; H. C. Oberholser. March 6, 1915— 537th Meeting. 1: Ex-President Leonhard Stejneger in the chair and 60 persons present. Prof. A. S. Hitchcock called attention to the prexmration of a new Flora of the District of Columbia. Two communications were presented : " Notes on the Possible Origin of the Bears "; J. W. Gidley. "The Evolution of the Horse"; H. K. Bush-Brown. March 20, 1915— 538th Meeting.^ President Bartsch in the chair and 45 persons present. * Abstracts in Journ. Washington Acad. Sci., Vol. 5, pp. 291-292, April 19, 1915; and in Science, N. S., Vol. 41, p. 551, April 9, 1915. t Abstracts in Journ. Washington Acad. Sci., Vol. 5, p. 292, April 19,1915; and in Science. N. S., Vol. 41, p. 552, April 9, 191.5, I Abstracts in ,lourn. Washington Acad. Sci., Vol. 5, pp. 333-334, May 4, 1915; and in Science, N. S.. Vol. 41, p. 587, April IG, 1915. ^Abstracts in Journ. Washington Acad. Sci., Vol. 5, pp. 334-335, May 4, 1915; and in Science, N. S., Vol. 41, p. 604, April 30, 1915. Proceedings. xi Gen. T. E. Wilcox called attention to a Cedar of Lebanon in Lafayette Square. Three communications were presented : " Notes on the Importation of Foreign Birds "; T. S. Palmer. ' ' Notes on the Breeding of Minks in Captivity ' ' ; Ned Dear- born . '' Endamoeba gin givalis and Pyorrhea"; M. W. Lyon, Jr. April 3, 1915— 539th Meeting.* President Bartsch in the chair and 65 persons present. Dr. L. 0. Howard called attention to a curious wasp's nest. Doctors Bartsch and Lyon made remarks on the red-headed woodpeckers in the grounds of Freedmen's Hospital. Dr. Bartsch and Mr. Vernon Bailey made remarks on the gray squirrels in the city parks. Two communications were presented : "The Snakes and Lizards of Okefinoke Swamp"; A. H. Wright. " The Birds of a Cat-tail Marsh " ; Arthur A. Allen. April 17, 1915— 540th Meeting.t Vice-President J.N. Rose in the chair and 50 persons present. Dr. L. 0. Howard discussed the novel breeding habits of certain mosquitos in the mountains of New York. Three communications were presented : " Some Features in the Morphology of the Insect Order Thy- sanoptera " ; J. D. Hood. "Biological Explorations in Eastern Panama"; E. A. Goldman. " Notes on Variation, Distribution, and Habits of the Pocket Gophers of the Genus Thomomys " ; Vernon Bailey. May 1, 1915— 541st Meeting.t Vice-President Rose in the chair and 26 persons present. Dr. 0. P. Hay made remarks on a North American specimen of the extinct mammalian genus Nothr other iwn. •Abstracts in Journ. Washington Acad. Sci., Vol. 5, pp. 371-373, May 19, 1915; and in Science, N. S., Vol. 41, pp. 785-736, May 4, 1915. t Abstracts in Journ. Washington Acad. Sci., Vol. 5, pp. 409-410, June 4, 1915; and in Science, N. S., Vol. 41, p. 877, June 11. 1915. t Abstracts in Journ. Washington Acad. Sci., Vol. 5. pp. 411-412, .lune 4, 1915; and in Science, N. S., Vol. 41, p. 878, June 11, 1915. xii Proreedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Mr. William Palmer remarked that he had lately seen a European skylark in Virginia, and exhibited the jaws of a ray from Chesapeake Beach, Maryland. Mr. E. W. Nelson called attention to the newspaper notoriety attained by the San Antonio, Texas, bat roosts. Two communications were presented : "Observations on New Dinosaurian Reptiles"; C. \Y. Gil mo re. " The Basic Facts of Bird Coloration " ; William Palmer. May 15, 1915— 542d Meeting.* President Bartsch in the chair and 43 persons present. Dr. L. O. Howard exhibited lantern slide views of the moth Ceratomia amyntor. Four communications were presented: " Two Years' Investigation in Peru of Verruga and its Insect Transmission " ; C H. T. Townsend. " Tbe Uses of Weevils and Weevil Products in Food and Medicine"; W. Dwight Pierce. "Observations on Mosquitos and House Flies"; L. 0. Howard. "Remarks on Some Little-known Insect Depredators "; A. L. Quaintance. October 23, 1915— 543d Meeting.f President Bartsch in the chair and 85 persons present. Dr. C. W. Styles made remarks on blood examinations of children and on generic names of birds. Dr. J. N. Rose exhibited Brazilian hummingbird nests. Two communications were presented: " Collecting Grasses in the Southwest " ; A. S. Hitchcock. "African Studies: Things in Common Among Men, Apes, and other Mammals "; R. L. Garner. ♦Abstracts in Journ. Washington Acad. Sei., Vol. 5, pp. 448-4.50, June 19, 1915; and in Science, N. S., Vol. 41, pp. 915-916, June 18, 1915. t Abstracts in Journ. Washington Acad. Sci., Vol. 5, pp. 652-653, December 4, 1915; and in Science, N. S., Vol. 42, pp. 843-844, December 10, 1915. Proceedings. xiii November 6, 1915— 544th Meeting.* President Bartsch in the chair and 90 persons present. Three communications were presented : "A New Pleistocene Sloth from Texas "; O. P. Hay. " Botanical Explorations in South America"; J. N. Rose. "Some Biological Pictures of Oahu (Hawaii)"; L. O. Howard. November 20, 1915— 545th Meeting.! President Bartsch in the chair and 50 persons present. Mr. Lewis Radcliffe made remarks on the rearing of shad in ponds and exhibited specimens. Three communications were presented : " The Dispersal of Some Species of Flies " ; Frederick Knab. " Notes on the Habits of the Duck Hawk " ; Alex Wetmore. " Geographical Relationships of the Philippine Flora " ; El- mer D. Merrill. December 4, 1915— 546th Meeting, t President Bartsch in the chair and 55 persons present. Resolutions with respect to the death of George M. Sternl)erg, former President of the Biological Society, were read and adopted. Dr. O. P. Hay made remarks on a fossil walrus and exhibited a specimen. Dr. L. 0. Howard made remarks on the cluster fly. Two communications were presented: "Identification of the Stages in the Asexual Cycle of Bertonella hacilliformis, the Pathogenic Organism of Verruga, and their Bearing on the Etiology and Unity of the Disease"; Charles H. T. Townsend. § " Mississippi River Dam at Keokuk, its effect on Biological Conditions, especially those of the Plankton "; A. A. Doolittle. •Abstracts in Journ. Washington Acad. Sci., Vol. 6, p. 24, January 4, 1916; and in Science, N. S., Vol. 42, p. 880, December 17, 1915. t Abstracts in Science, N. S., Vol. 43, pp. 75-76. Januiiry 14. 1916. t Abstracts will shortly appear in tlie Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, and in Science. § Journ. Washington Acad. Sci., Vol. 5, pp. 662-667, December 19, 1915. xiv Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. December 18, 1915 — 547th Meeting. THIRTY-SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING. President Bartsch in the chair and 27 persons present. The annual reports of officers and committees were received. The following officers were elected for the year 1916: President: W. P. Hay. ' Vice-Presidents: J. N. Rose, A. D. Hopkins, Hugh M. Smith, Vernon Bailey. Recording Secretary : M. W. Lyon, Jr. Corresponding Secretary : W. L. McAtee. Treasurer: Wells W. Cooke. Members of Council: N. Hollister, J. W. Gidley, William Palmer, Alex Wetmore, Edgar A. Mearns. President Hay was selected to represent the Society as a Vice- President of the Washington Academy of Sciences. President Hay appointed as Committee on Publications for 1916 : N. Hollister, W. L. McAtee, Wells W. Cooke; as Com- mittee on Communications for 1916 : William Palmer, Alex Wetmore, Lewis Radcliffe, J. W. Gidley, W. R. Maxon, and H. S. Barber. Vol. XXVIII, pp. 1-14 February 12, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON [ FIRST LIST OF THE FISHES OF THE VICINITY OF PLUMMERS ISLAND, MARYLAND. BY W. L. McATEE AND A. C. WEED. Introduction . Plummers Island lies in the Potomac River, nine miles above the City of Washington, D. C. It has been the home of the Washington Biologists' Field Club since 1901. The study of its fauna and flora and to some degree that of the surrounding region, is one of the principal objects of the Club. The present paper brings up to date the information on the fish fauna of this region. Collecting of fishes has been carried on with varying degrees of activity since 1905. The earlier work was done by W. L. McAtee assisted at times by Dr. A. K. Fisher, H. S. Barber, and W. H. Osgood. In 1912 A. C. Weed and W. L. McAtee collected vigorously, and much assistance was received at that time and since by J. D. Shafer, keeper of Lock No. 11, on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Region Treated. For our survey of the fish fauna of the vicinity of Plummers Island we have selected as our faunal area that section of the Potomac River between Little Falls and Great Falls together with its tributary streams (see map, Plate I). Plummers Island is almost midway of this stretch of the river, which is clearly marked off as a faunal unit. The river between these two falls is deep and with considerable current as a rule; there are several important rapids and the bottom is rocky and rugged. Condi- tions thus are unfavorable for aquatic vegetation, a great factor in modifying the fish fauna. To any one acquainted with the 1— Prog. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXVIII. 1915. (1) 2 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Potomac River, the contrast between Little River or Eastern Branch or even the main stream near Washington, with a wealth of water plants, or of the broad shallow stream so characteristic above Great Falls, with the section we are now treating, needs no emphasizing. This portion of the river is further strongly characterized by the distribution of the anadromous fishes. Three species of herrings and two of sturgeons ascend to Little Falls but no fur- ther, while the shad, striped bass and white perch enter this section of the river only to be stopped by Great Falls. Difficult Run, Va. Our plans for collecting in Difficult Run were thwarted, and this is particularly unfortunate as Difficult is the largest creek system in our area. We are able to present only a brief list of species taken near the mouth . The upper course of this stream is the only water in our region known to be inhabited by the brook trout. LIST OF FISHES. Lower part Upper part Ameiurus catus Salvelinus fontinalis Semotilus atromaculatus Rhinichthys atronasus Lepomis auritus gibbosus Micropterus dolomieu In ponds on the rocky headland just below Difiicult Run sun- fishes are very abundant. In the clear water a school of a hundred or more may be seen scrambling for a single morsel of food. The species noted are Lepomis auritus, L. solis, L. gibbosus, L. cyanellus, and Chaenobryttus gulosus. ScoTTS Run, Va. About ten miles west of the center of the City of Washington is an irregular ridge of from 400 to 500 feet elevation, whose surficial rocks belong to the Lafayette formation. This ridge has a total length of about 3^ miles and is the source of several of the largest creeks in the region. Here head an important branch of Difficult Run, Scotts Run, Pimmit Run, which joins the Potomac at Chain Bridge, Four-mile Run, emptying above McAtee and Weed — Fishes of Vicinity of Phimmers Island, Md. 3 Alexandria, Holmes and Cameron Runs, which unite and flow into the river just below that city, and Accotink Creek, emptying five miles below. The distance between the mouths of the creeks at the extremes of this system, measured along the river, is 24 miles. Scott's Run, the only one of this group in which we are especially interested in the present connection, has a total length of approximately 41 miles. It drops into the river over a fall 25 feet above low water mark and within a half a mile from its mouth has a total descent of about 100 feet. The mouth is about li miles above Plummers Island. LIST OF FISHES. Below the fall Above the fall Pimephales notatus Catostomus commersonii Notropis amoenus Semotilus atromaculatus analostanus Leuciscus vandoisulus hudsonius Rhinichthys atronasus Lepomis auritus " cataractae gibbosus Boleosoma olmstedi Micropterus dolomieu Boleosoma olmstedi Dead Run, Va. Dead Run has its source at Mackall Hill at an elevation of 300 feet, has a total length of about 2^ miles and empties into the river about i mile below Plummers Island, The stream falls about 120 feet in the last half mile of its course. LIST OF FISHES. Belovj falls Above falls Various river fishes occa- Semotilus atromaculatus sionally run in, as Rhinichthys atronasus catfishes, sunfishes, and black bass. Turkey Run, Va. This stream heads near Langley, Va., at an elevation of 240 feet. Its total length is about li miles, and its descent in the last half mile of its course is about 100 feet. 4 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. LIST OF FISHES. Beloiv falls A hove falls Hypentelium nigricans Hybognathus nuchalis Seraotilus atromaculatus Semotilus atromaculatus Pimephales notatus Leuciscus vandoisulus Notropis amoenus Rhinichthys atronasus analostanus cornutus hudsonius Ericymba buccata Campostoma anomalum Lepomis gibbosus Boleosoma olmstedi Discussion of Virginia Creeks. Difficult Run is excluded because we know so little of its fauna. It is distinguished from all of the other creeks by pos- session of the brook trout. Abrupt descent near the mouth is a striking characteristic of the other Virginia creeks and it is the chief factor in determining the nature of their fish fauna. Scotts Run, with an initial single obstacle 25 feet in elevation and a steep series of rapids immedi- ately adding 75 feet more, nevertheless has the largest number of species occurring above the falls. The writers feel sure this is due to other factors than feasible water connections or climb- ing abilities of the fish. An old mill now stands about a mile from the mouth of the creek, and it is possible that small fishes collected elsewhere for bait may have been released above the dam or in the race supplying the mill. Other agencies of transportation and other motives are conceivable. The more normal conditions are represented by Dead and Turkey Runs. Dead Run falls 120 feet in its last half mile in a series of rapids which includes one particularly long steep waterslide with never more than a thin sheet of water running over it. Only those redoubtable climbers, the fall fish (Semotilus atromaculatus) and the black-nosed dace (Rhinichthys atronasus) have surmounted these obstacles. Repeated investigations of the upper reaches of the brook have revealed no other species. Turkey Run, although falling 100 feet in its last half mile has no single fall of any magnitude. Its plunge into the river is by means of a large number of small rapids. This probably explains why two more species (Hybognathus nuchalis and McAtee and Weed — Fishes of Vicinity of Plummers Island, Md. 5 Leticiscus vandoisidus) were able to reach the upper part of the stream than was the case in Dead Run. There is little proba- bility that there has been any meddling by mankind with the fish fauna of these two streams. Rock Run, Md. Rock Run has its source near Potomac, and after a course of about 5 miles, no part of which is precipitous, empties into the Potomac just below Lock 11 of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. This run flows under the canal through a large culvert. Here the stream is shallow and of comparatively uniform depth ; it flows from the culvert in a thin sheet and drops about 18 inches into a deep pool. In time of flood river water backs into this culvert; nevertheless large fishes running in from the river do not as a rule go above this pool. Scores of Catostomus and Moxostoma are netted here every spring. The culvert marks very well the boundary between the true creek fauna and the intruders from the river. The following have been taken only in or above the culvert: Semotilus atromaculatus Rhinichthys cataractae Leuciscus vandoisulus Boleosoma olmstedi Notropis cornutus Etheostoma flabellare The following species have been taken only below the culvert: Moxostoma macrolepidotum Chaenobryttus gulosus Anguilla rostrata Lepomis cyanellus Ambloplites rupestris " gibbosus The following species have been taken both above and below the culvert: Schilbeodes insignis Rhinichthys atronasus Catostomus commersonii Exoglossum maxillingua Hypentelium nigricans Lepomis auritus (only one small Pimephales notatus specimen taken in culvert. Notropis amoenus Probably accidental ; this fish hudsonius clearly belonging to the deeper water fauna) Cabin John Run, Md. Cabin John Run rises near Rockville, and has a total course of about 7i miles. It also flows through a culvert under the canal, and it is at this point that most of the following species were collected : 6 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Schilbeodes insignis Catostomus commersonii Hypentelium nigricans Semotilus corporalis atromaculatus Leuciscus vandoisulus Notemigonus crysoleucas Pimephales notatus Notropis procne hudsonius arge Notropis amoenus analostanus cornutus Ericymba buccata Rhinichthys atronasus cataractae Hybopsis kentuckiensis Exoglossum maxillingua Percopsis omiscomaycus Boleosoma olmstedi Etheostoma flabellare Canal, The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, if left undisturbed, would soon become a fish paradise. It supports an abundant growth of submerged vegetation, something the river in this region almost entirely lacks. However it is drained everj^ winter and fish can not become permanently established. Although this is bad for the fishes, it is very good for collectors, and our records are practically complete up to date. However, owing to the way in which the canal is filled (diversion of river), its length, and the number of tributaries, something new may turn up at any time. Our notes refer to the level between locks 11 and 12, a stretch bordering the property of the Washington Biologists' Field Club. LIST OF SPECIES. Ictalurus punctatus Ameiurus catus nebulosus Schilbeodes insignis Carpiodes cyprinus Catostomus commersonii Hypentelium nigricans Erimyzon sucetta oblongus Cyprinus carpio Notemigonus crysoleucas Notropis hudsonius amoenus Rhinichthys cataractae Anguilla rostrata Dorosoma cepedianum Esox reticulatus Pomoxis sparoides annularis Ambloplites rupestris Chaenobryttus gulosus Lepomis cyanellus auritus gibbosus Micropterus dolomieu Perca flavescens Boleosoma olmstedi Morone americana Channel between Plummers Island and Maryland Shore. In low water this channel is narrow enough to be crossed in a single step at three different places. At such a stage the water McAfee and Weed — Fishes of Vicinity of Plummers Island, Md. 7 flows two ways from a point at the western end of the island where is the mouth of a small creek; the maximum depth is about 8 feet. During floods a broad strong current sweeps through this channel, the water often rising as much as 15 feet above the ordinary level. This channel is used as a breeding place by black bass, sun- fishes and catfishes. LIST OF SPECIES. Ictalurus punctatus Ericymba buccata Ameiurus catus Rhinichthys atronasus nebulosus Hybopsis kentuckiensis natalis Anguilla rostra ta Schilbeodes insignis Dorosoma cepedianum Catostomus commersonii Pomoxis sparoides Semotilus atromaculatus " annularis Notemigonus crysoleucas Chaenobryttus gulosus Pimephales notatus Lepomis cyanellus Notropis amoenus " auritus analostanus " gibbosus cornutus Micro pterus dolomieu hudsonius " salmoides Boleosoma olmstedi The Main River. The Potomac between Great Falls and Little Falls is character- ized by its rocky shores and bed, its numerous rapids, alter- nating with deep stretches and its exceedingly irregular bottom. There is almost no aquatic vegetation. Off Plummers Island soundings of 80 feet have been obtained; at ordinary stages the river here is about 100 yards wide. A mile above the island is a rather important rapid known as Stubblefield Falls; a small rapid begins a quarter of a mile below. The names of many fishes inhabiting the main river need not be repeated here, as a complete list would include all species previously recorded for the lower reaches of brooks as well as those found in the channel behind Plummers Island All of these must at times travel about in the' river, and collections in the main river, no matter where, would yield some of them. The following species include those which so far as known are confined to the main river, together with several (starred) whose place of occurrence it is desirable to definitely record. 8 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. LIST OF SPECIES. *Petromyzon marinus *Perca flavescens Ictalurus furcatus *Stizostedion vitreum *Carpiodes cyprinus Roccus lineatus *Enmyzon sucetta oblongus *Morone americana Alosa sapidissima Restriction of Fishes to Certain Parts of Our Area. The brook trout is confined to Difficult Run, probably because that stream was the first resort found in the down-stream journey by some pioneers or wait's from the normal mountain home of the species. Campostoma anomalum and Hyhognathus nuchalis have so far been collected only in Turkey Run; both should be found elsewhere. Boleosoma effidgens has been found at Little Falls; if it occurs in the upper part of these rapids it may fairly be considered as a species of our area. Percopsis omiscomaycus has been collected only in Cabin John Run; and Exoglossum maxillingua and Etheostoma flabellare shared by this stream and Rock Run have not been found elsewhere. The pickerel { Esox reticulatus) has been taken only in the canal. The river alone harbors the shad, and the striped bass, and has yielded the only specimens so far caught of the sea lamprey, forked-tailed catfish, and pike-perch. The carp sucker {Carpiodes cyprinus), chub sucker {Erimyzon sncetta oblongus), the yellow perch, and white perch, have been taken in both the canal and river but nowhere else, and the mud-shad (Dorosoma) has been collected only in the channel behind Plummers Island and in the canal. Ecology of Some of the Fishes. Some of the above-mentioned restrictions in distribution are no doubt due to ecological conditions; others can not be so explained. A fact impressed upon one when seining the various brooks is the extent to which the upper courses of the creeks are monopolized by the fall fish iSemotilus atromaculatus) and the black-nosed dace (Rhinichthys atronasus). These fishes are of general distribution but it is evident that they are expert climbers. They do not ascend streams merely to spawn for the upper reaches of the brooks always have a certain population of these two species, Etheostoma flabellare was found only in shallow McAtee and Weed — Fishes of Vicinity of Plummers Island, Md. 9 riffles; Exoglossuin, Leuciscus and Rhinichthys cataractae were usually in swirling pools just beneath miniature cataracts. ANNOTATED LIST OF SPECIES. Petromyzonid^. Petromyzon marinus Linnaeus. — A lamprey about 18 inches long was found dead on rocks at the lower end of Plummers Island, May 14, 1905. The species must frequently occur in our waters as it commonly clings to shad on their run up the river. SlLURID^. Ictalurus furcatus (Le Sueur). — An introduced species. Our only definite record is for two specimens taken in the river April 28, 1912. Ictalurus punctatus (Rafinesque). — Spotted cat. Introduced, abun- ant in the main river. The largest specimen taken weighed 8 pounds and individuals of from 2 to 4 pounds are common. One weighing 4J^ pounds was caught on a hook baited with an 8 inch fish of the same species. The young are most distinctly spotted. The members of the species found in the channel between Plummers Island and the Maryland shore and in the canal are usually under 2 pounds in weight. Examination of a few stomach contents resulted as follows: May 17, 1907. The stomach and intestines were filled with seeds of the white elm {Uhnus americanus), about 400 of which were present. These constituted 98 per cent of the food. The remaining 2 per cent consisted of: 1 snail, 1 ant, 1 Dryops lithophilus, 1 mandible of hellgramite {Corydalis cornutus larva), and a few other fragments of insects. May 18, 1907. One stomach contained the head and skin of an eel- which had just been thrown in the river, and the intestines were full of macerated elm seeds. The stomach of another specimen also was filled with the last mentioned material. July 4, 1908. Ninety per cent of the contents of a stomach was made up of adult mayflies (Hexagenia bilineata). A few stone-fly larvae, a beetle (Stenelmis), and vegetable debris including bits of juniper twigs and a seed of Smilax rotundifolia made up the remainder. Ameiurus catus (Linnaeus). — Mississippi or Channel cat. Common in the river. Amieurus nebulosus (Le Sueur). — Mud cat. Abundant, particularly in the channel behind Plummers Island and in the canal. A pair had their nest in the channel near the ferry in the summer of 1912. Both adults constantly guarded the nest, as they did also the carefully herded young for a fortnight or more. When the canal is drained young catfish of this species are to be seen in large numbers. In December, 1913, about a solid half bushel of mud cats, 6 to 8 inches long, were seen in a single small pothole. Apparently each was striving to get to the bottom of the mass, so that all were in constant motion. This performance lasted for days and weeks, and so far as could be observed, without cessation. 10 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Ameiurus natalis (Le Sueur). — Yellow cat. Occasionally taken in the channel behind Plummers Island. Ameiurus nebulosus and A. natalis from this region are not nearly so well differentiated as they are, for example, in Lake Ontario. The information at hand does not show whether or not this is a case of hybridization under the somewhat unnatural conditions of the Plummers Island Channel. Schilbeodes insignis (Richardson). — Eed-eyed cat. Occurs in Rock Run, Cabin John Run, the river and canal. A specimen of near the maximum size for the species was taken on hook and line in Sycamore Cove, September 4, 1911. Catostomid^. Carpiodes cyprinus (Le Sueur). — American carp. Occasional in the river and rare in the canal. Catostomus commersonii (Lacepfede). — Yellow sucker. White sucker. Hickory shad. Common everywhere in the river and larger creeks; occasional in the canal. Large numbers ascend Rock Run in March and April. Hypentelium nigricans (Le Sueur).— Black sucker. Spotted sucker. Stone roller. Taken in the river, and in Rock, Cabin John and Turkey Runs. Large individuals are caught in Rock Run in spring, and speci- mens are sometimes found in the canal. The name Hypentelium which has been used subgenerically seems to us to be worthy of generic rank. Catostomus is distinguished among the suckers by having the air bladder large and divided into two parts. In Hypentelium the air bladder is rudimentary. The cranium of Hypentelium is much shorter and broader than in any species of Catostomus and the pectoral fins are set lower and carried horizontally instead of vertically as in most fishes (see Plate II). Hypentelium is developed as a bottom fish and seems to us to be much farther removed from Catostomus than is Pantosteus. Erimyzon sucetta oblongus (Mitchill). — Mountain sucker. Chub sucker. Rare in river and canal. Moxostoma macrolepidotum ( Le Sueur) . — Large specimens are caught in Rock Run in April. Cyprinid^. Cyprinus carpio (Linnaeus). — Carp. Abundant in the river and fairly numerous in canal. The largest specimen from the vicinity of Plummers Island examined was 27 inches long and weighed 7% pounds. Campostoma anomalum (Rafinesque). — Two taken in Turkey Run, Va., March 27, 1912. Not hitherto recorded from this region. Hybognathus nuchalis Agassiz. Taken only in Turkey Run. Setnotilus corporalis (Mitchill). — Our only records are for Cabin John Run. Semotilus atrotnaculatus (Mitchill). — Horned chub. Abundant in all the creeks, particularly in their upper courses. Found also in shallow McAtee and Weed — Fishes of Vicinity of Plummers Island, Md. 11 parts of the river. A specimen taken in Dead Run, May 9, 1907, had only damselfly nymphs in the stomach and intestines. Leuciscus vandoisulus Cuvier and Valenciennes. — Common in all the large creeks, except Dead Rim where it has not yet been taken. Notemigonus crysoleucas (INIitchill). — Roach, Mill Roach. Common in the canal and river, also taken in Cabin John Run. Pimephales notatus (Rafinesque). — Abundant in shallow parts of river and about the mouths and in the lower reaches of creeks. Notropis procne (Cope). — Taken only in Cabin John Run. Notropis hudsonius amarus (Girard). — Shiner, Smelt. Common in most of the creeks, in shoal portions of the river and in the canal. Notropis arge (Cope). Specimens provisionally identified as this species have been collected in Cabin John Run. Notropis amoenus (Abbott). — Common in most of the creeks and in Plummers Island channel. Taken in the canal February, 1914. Notropis photogenis (Cope). — Plummers Island channel October 15, 1905. Rock Run, March 10, 1912. The differential characters of the three preceding species are so obscure and recent investigations have thrown so much doubt on the subject that we are unable to decide whether the specimens should be referred to one species or to three or more. Notropis analostanus (Girard). — Has been taken in Cabin John, Scotts and Turkey Runs and in Plummers Island channel. Notropis cornutus (Mitchill). — This species has been collected in Plummers Island channel, and in Rock, Cabin John and Turkey Runs. Specimens taken in Rock Run March 17, 1912, exhibited the breeding colors. Ericymba buccata (Cope). — Collected in Plummers Island Channel July 14, 1906, about 5 years before it was recorded as an inhabitant of this region. Also taken in Cabin John and Turkey Runs. Rhinichthys cataractae (Cuvier and Valenciennes). — Collected in Rock, Cabin John and Scotts Runs. Not rare. Taken in the canal February, 1914. Rhinichthys atronasus (Mitchill). — An ubiquitous species, most common in creeks, especially their upper courses. Hybopsis kentuckiensis (Rafinesque). — This species has been taken in Plummers Island channel, in the canal and in Cabin John Run. Exoglossutn maxillingua (Le Sueur). — Tongue chub, Black chub. Nigger perch. Common in Rock and Cabin John Runs. Anguillid^. Anguilla rostrata (Le Sueur). — Eel. Abundant in river and canal, goes little beyond the mouths of creeks. The largest specimen seen was 3 feet long. DOROSOMATID^. Dorosoma cepedianum (Le Sueur). — Mud shad. Single specimens have been taken in Plummers Island channel (October 15, 1905), and 12 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. in the canal (December 14, 1913). The largest individual was 103-^ inches long over all. Clupeid^. Alosa sapidissima (Wilson). — Shad. Ascends the Potomac to Great Falls, hence is transient in our waters. Shad are still caught in dip nets both at Great and Little Falls ; formerly some fishing of this nature was done at Stubblefield Falls. Salmonid^. Salvelinus fontinalis (Mitchill). — Brook trout. In 1899 Smith and Bean published the following remarks about the brook trout: " In former years this fish inhabited Difficult Run, on the Virginia side of the Potomac, below Great Falls, but was supposed to have been long since exterminated. Recently, however, a few have been taken in this stream." (P. 184). ESOCIDJE. Esox reticulatus (Le Sueur). Pike. Trout. Of occasional occur- rence in the canal. Percopsid^. Percopsis omiscomaycus ("Walbaum). — Smith and Bean (p. 185) state that this species has been taken in Cabin John Run. Centrarchid^. Pomoxis sparoides (Lacepfede). Pomoxis annularis Rafinesque. — These two introduced species are indiscriminately referred to as Crappie. They are about equally common and occur both in the river and canal. A specimen of annularis caught May 19, 1907, measured 133=^ inches over all. Ambloplites rupestris (Rafinesque). — Goggle-eye. Introduced, has been collected in Rock Run and in the canal. Chaenobryttus gulosus (Cuvier and Valenciennes). Introduced, has been taken in Plummers Island channel, in Rock Run and the canal. A specimen caught in Rock Run, April 7, 1912, has in many ways the appearance of a hybrid. It has the shape of head, dentition, scaling and fin count of Chaenobryttus and the color and body form of Lepomis cyaneUus. An apparent hybrid with Lepomis gibbosus was taken in a pool near Difficult Run, June 11, 1911. Lepomis cyanellus (Rafinesque). — Introduced and fairly common. Has been taken in Plummers Island channel, in Rock Run and the canal. Occurs also in some of the pools near Difficult Run. Lepomis auritus (Linnaeus). — Bream, Brim. Abundant in the river, canal and the mouths of creeks. Several nests of this species were observed in Plummers Island channel during the latter half of June, 1908. They were guarded by the males but were finally abandoned as the water lowered before hatching occurred. The stomachs of specimens McAtee and Weed — Fishes of Vicinity of Pluvimers Island, Md. 13 caught in Sycamore cove, September 18, 1910, contained caterpillars of Hcterocampa manteo and Ceratomia amyntor, and an adult locustid, Scudderia furcata. Lepomis solis (Cuvier and Valenciennes). — Bean and Weed (p. 173) comment on the status of solis and state that it probably should stand as a separate species. If recognized as anything more than a variety, it will have to so stand as it occurs with auritus under conditions where the two forms could not breed true, except for the intervention of a physiological difference sufficient to prevent cross-breeding. A case in point is the colonies of sunfishes in pools on a rocky headland just below Difficult Run. The abundance of Lepomis in these water pockets is such that we may say they are saturated with sunfishes. Gibbosus, cyanellus auritus and solis occur here and one is as recognizable and distinct as the other. Chaenobri/ttus gulosus, however, seems to hybridize with all. Lepomis gibbosus (Linnaeus). — Punkin seed. Abundant in the river, canal, and in the pools above mentioned, and occasional in the mouths of creeks. Micropterus dolomieu (LacepMe). — Black bass. Introduced, common in the river, sparingly distributed in the canal. Micropterus salmoides (LacepMe). — Introduced. The only definite record for our region is a capture on hook and line in the Plummers Island channel, September 13, 1911. Percid^. Perca flavescens (Mitchill). — Yellow perch. Ring perch. Occurs in both the canal and river, sometimes rather commonly in the latter. Stizostedion vitreum (Mitchill). — One specimen was caught in the river April, 1913. Boleosotna olmstedi (Storer). — Abundant and almost omnipresent. Darters as a rule are lovers of rocky riffles and swift currents, but this species is often found on mud bottom in deep pools and in canal locks. Specimens taken in Rock Run March 17, 1912, appeared to be nearly ready for spawning. Boleosotna effulgens (Girard). — Recorded by Smith and Bean from Little Falls and as it occurs in the rapids themselves it fairly belongs in our list. Etheostoma flabellare (Rafinesque). — Not uncommon in Rock and Cabin John Runs. SeRRANIDjE. Roccus lineatus (Bloch). — Striped bass. This species ascends the river to Great Falls. A few small specimens have been caught on hook and line in the vicinity of Plummers Island. Morone americana (Gmelin). — White perch. The white perch runs up the Potomac as far as Great Falls. The main run occurs in spring but individuals linger in our waters and they may be captured at almost any season. We have collected this species both in the river and the canal. 14 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. The last two species and the shad exemplify gradations of a funda- mentally simple habit. All are anadromous, and ascend the river primarily to spawn. The shad do not linger after performing this function and the young apparently soon leave the upper river. Adults of the striped bass behave about the same while young of various sizes linger in these waters. The adults of white perch, however, are apparently at home in our waters, and some of them are present throughout the year. Summary. Of the 54 species in the above list 10 are known to have been introduced into the Potomac and possibly some of the others were. The known in- troductions include two species of catfish, the carp, two crappies, the goggle-eye, the warmouth, one sunfish, and two kinds of bass. Approximately 83 per cent of the species belong to five families of fishes, while the remainder, 9 species in all, represent 8 families. The Cyprinidfe or minnow family ranks first with 19 species; the other important families are sunfishes and bass (Centrarchidse), 10 species; cat- fishes (Siluridse), 6 species; and suckers (Catostomidse), and perches (Percidse) with 5 each. Bibliography. Smith, Hugh M., and Bean, Barton A. List of fishes known to inhabit the waters of the District of Columbia and vicinity. Bull. U. S. Fish Commission. (1898), 1899, pp. 179- 187. Records 8 species from our region. Bean, Barton A., and Weed, Alfred C. Recent additions to the fish fauna of the District of Columbia. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 24, pp. 171-174, June 16, 1911. Records 4 species from Cabin John Run. I'uoc. Bioi.. Soc. Wash., \'ui.. XXVlll. 191.1. I'l.ATK I. Viiov. r.ioi.. Soc. Wash., X'oi.. X X \' 1 1 1 , I'.M.-). I'l.Aii: II. r' v4 GO a be 5i r y^ Vol. XXVIII, pp. 15-18 February 12, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON THE WATER SHREW OF NOVA SCOTIA. BY GLOVER M. ALLEN. In the Bangs Collection, now the property of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, is a series of Water Shrews {Neosorex) obtained some years ago by Mr. Outram Bangs in Nova Scotia. These specimens I have lately had occasion to compare with skins representing true N. albibarbis, collected in August, 1914, near Tupper Lake in the Adirondacks of New York, by Messrs. Thomas and Fritz Barbour, Dr. J. L. Huntington, and myself. Much to my surprise the Nova Scotian specimens prove not to be albibarbis but are at once distinguishable by the whitish under- parts, bicolor tail, and more plumbeous instead of blackish coloration above. In these respects they resemble N. palustris of western North America, described by Richardson (Zool, Journ., 1828, vol. 3, p. 517) as found in "marshy places from Hudson Bay to the Rocky Mountains. " Although undoubtedly the Nova Scotian race intergrades with palustris, it is much smaller of skull and differs slightly in color. It may be known as Neosorex palustris acadicus subsp. nov. Type, skin and skull 2046, Bangs Collection, Museum of Comparative Zoology, from Digby, Nova Scotia; female, collected July 26, 1894, by Outram Bangs. General Characters. — Body measurements as in palustris, but the coloration above with a slightly brownish cast instead of clear dark plumbeous, belly whitish or silvery, slightly clouded with brownish on the chest; tail bicolor; skull and teeth smaller than in palustris. Description. — Entire dorsal surface of the body a very dark blackish brown, slightly paler on the sides, which with the head and shoulders are very slightly frosted through the presence of minute silvery tips to 2— Proo. Biol. Soo. Wash., Vol. XXVIII, 1915. (15) 16 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. the hairs. Ventral surface of body and fore limbs soiled whitish, slightly washed with pale brown across the chest. The bases of the hairs, except at the chin, are dnll plumbeous. AVrists and central part of the meta- carpal area are dark like the back, the fingers and edges of the palm white. The hind legs are dusky all around and this color extends to the entire outer part of the hind foot above, but the three inner toes and the metatarsal area corresponding are white. Tail sharply bicolor; dark like the back on its upper side and practically all around at the tip. Below it is pure white, but this area narrows terminally and ends at about a centimeter from the tip. Skull. — The skull does not differ appreciably from that of albiharbis though the braincase seems to be a trifle wider. From palustris, as represented by Alberta specimens assumed to be typical, it differs in the much shorter rostrum, though the braincase is equally broad. The appearance of breadth is therefore much more marked in the Nova Scotian animal, though it is only proportionately broader. The teeth are smaller, but seem essentially the same in structure, though the third unicuspid in the specimens at hand appears to be relatively smaller in comparison with the fourth. Measurements. — The collector's measurements of the type specimen are: total length 150.5 mm., tail 66.5, hind foot 20, which are essentially the same as for palustris (Merriam gives 155, 65.5, and 19 respectively for the corresponding measurements taken from Richardson's description, and 157, 68, and 20 for a specimen from Edmonton, Alberta). A large male from Halifax, N. S., measures 167, 69, 19.5 for these respective dimensions. The following cranial measurements are taken from the type skull, with in parentheses the corresponding dimensions of a specimen of palustris from Alberta: greatest length 20.8 (22.1), basal length 18 (19.5), palatal length 9.1 (10.3), upper tooth row 9 (10), greatest width outside molars 5.8 (6.1), greatest width of brain case 10.1 (10). For a specimen of palustris from Edmonton, Alberta, Merriam gives, greatest length 22.5, width of braincase 10.2. Remarks. — The Nova Scotia Water Shrew is closely related to N. palustris palustris, from which it differs in the size and proportions of the skull, and in its slightly browner color, which on the belly is sometimes a very pronounced wash. Intergradation takes place, probably in the region of southern Canada. Preble (No. Amer. Fauna, 1902, No. 22, p. 71) con- siders specimens from the north of Lake Winnipeg as representing/)aZu8— I S^l C5 --^ — ?! — — "M — ;i.— 0>0l— I— ■Ol-ft-^ I— (1— l-Mt— i.-H^HCCt^'MT-Hr-^rHr-.^H^-i— . ri ^ c^ >i ri r-H -M .— -M rj c-i oa 5— I rH I I i-H r-( I I ^H - — I Ol Ol I I CO CO Ol Ol . 4-; Ol Ol CO CO Ol Ol I I Ol r-l Oa Ol I Oi Ol I CO Ol OS_ Ol I CO Ol I Ol 04 I Ol I CO O-l I l-H Ol s s a o iOTj.o • ;0 w ^ ^ w w ^ ^"^ + ' o o i^ '^ CO X -f ic -f CO — • CO o t^ 1^ :d :o CO X t^ -^ lO co > •fi 1 68 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Correlations. — The most obvious correlation appears to be the phenora- enon of a high number of subcaudals (i. e., the male sex) and a low scale formula. A double loreal appears to accompany a low scale formula also, and a triple nasal very rarely appears in the absence of the double loreal. No other correlations are evident. Conclusions. — These are chiefly conspicuous by their absence, but the young appear to inherit from the mother: (a) the decided abnormality of a double loreal; (6) the reducing of 19 to 17 by dropping the third row. The averages of ventrals, sub-caudals, and color bands are quite close to the mother's formula. They show a smaller number of dorsal scale rows, and a smaller labial formula. Vol. XXVIII, pp. 69-70 March 12, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON GENERAL NOTES. DETERMINATION OF VESPERUGO VAGANS DOBSON FROM "BERMUDA." In 1879, shortly after the pubhcation of his classical Catalogue of Chir- optera, Dr. G. E. Dobson described a bat, said to be from Bermuda, as Vesperugo vagans,* its type being in the British Museum (No. 79. 1. 7. 1. ). This bat has never been rediscovered, nor is it even mentioned in the account of the Mammals of Bermuda,! written by the donor of the speci- men, Mr. J. M. Jones. I have now examined the type, and extracted its skull, which although broken, shows most of the essential characters. After a vain attempt to tit it to any known American, European, or African bat I have at last been able to identify it with one from New Zealand, Chalinolnbus tuberculatus Gray, with which it agrees in every detail. How the mistake as to its locality occurred, it is impossible to say, and of but little importance. What matters is we may now safely bury the hitherto problematical Vesperugo vagans Dobson, 1879, in the syn- onymy of Chalinolobus tuberculatus Gray, 1843, and so dispose of the fiction that Bermuda contains a special bat of its own. — Oldfield Thomas. THE GENERIC NAME CONNOCH^TES OF LICHTENSTEIN. In the General Notes for 1914 (p. 228) Doctor Lyon shows reason for the rejection of the names Gazella and Bubalis as dating from Lichten- stein, 1814, on the ground of their having been published as plural words C'Oazellx" and " Bubalides"), and he attempts to do the same for Con- nochsetes. But in this I venture to think he is in error, for while 8 species are included in the Bubalides and 12 in Gazellse, not to mention the 8 in "Antiloppe genuinse," only one is included in Connochsetes, so that this word, as formed by its author, would not have been a plural word at all, but a singular one, and as such valid in nomenclature. Moreover, apart from any question of construction, the derivation of the word is amply indicated by Lichtenstein's own quotation of "Bos connochmtes Forster in Mscpt. p. 66" among the synonyms of the single species included. Connochsetes therefore appears to me to be a perfectly valid generic name. — Oldfield Thomas. •Ann. Mag. X. H. (5) IV. p. 135. 1879. t Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 25, p. 145. 1884. 9— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash.. Vol. XXVIII, 1915. (69) 70 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. THE TYPE LOCALITY OF PECAKI TAJACU. The Linnsean name Sus tajacu * has been apphed by recent mammal- ogists, almost without exception, to the South American collared peccary. There is now no misunderstanding as to its use in this group rather than to one of the larger white-lipped peccaries (Tayassu). Recently, how- ever, Thomas has proposed,! by use of a consistent method for determin- ing bases of all Liunaean mammal names of 1758, to fix the type locality of Sus tajacu in Mexico. Practical and convenient as it is in most cases, this method is faulty in the case of the peccary, as the name has already been definitely fixed on a South American species by earlier workers. Linnfeus gave the range of his Sus tajacu as " Mexico, Panama, Brazil." Cope,+ in reporting on a collection of mammals from Brazil, separated the peccary of Texas as a new species, thus virtually, as " first reviser," restricting the Linntean tajacu to Brazil. Mearns,§ Bangs, || and Merriam,ir the next writers to describe new forms, did so with the belief that Cope's action was settled and definite. Bangs even remarked that " when Prof. Cope named the Texan peccary angulatus he irrevocably restricted the Linnpean name tajacu to the peccary of southern Brazil." In this particular case the selection of Mexico as the type locality is open to further question because the final basis for this fixation, "Tyson's description of what he calls a Mexican Musk-Hog," refers as much to South America as to ^Mexico. Tyson,** in describing the anatomy of the animal which came under his observation, gives no clew as to the origin of the specimen and simply uses the nanae "u4per Mexicanus Moschiferus or Mexico Musk Hog " as we would say Carolina wren, English sparrow, or Chinese pheasant, regardless of where the specimen was captured. So far as can be ascertained from a reading of Tyson's account, his speci- men may well have come from some South American port. Before this proposed change of names goes further, it seems important to consider all these facts. Except from evidence that might be furnished by the discovery of a type specimen, it seems to me that it is not possible to change the type locality of Pecari tajacu to Mexico, as an actual first reviser has already fixed it in Brazil. — N. Hollister. A NEW NAME FOR THE WHITE-TAILED JACK RABBIT. The name in use for the white-tailed jack rabbit of the Great Plains, Lepus campestris Bachman (Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 7, p. 349, 1837), is preoccupied by Lepus cuniculiis campestris Meyer (Mag. f. Thiergesch., vol. 1, p. 55, 1790), a synonym of Oryctolagus cuniculus. The Lepus campestris of Bachman may be replaced by Lepus townsendii campanius. The two western subspecies of this jack rabbit will be known as Lepus toivnsendii townsendii Bachman and Lepus townsendii sierrse Merriam. — N. Hollister. •Syst. Nat.. 10 ed., vol. 1, p. 50. 1758. t Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1911, p. 140. X Amer. Nat., vol. 23, p. 147. February, 1889. § Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus.. vol. 20, p. 469. 1897. II Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 12, pp. 164-165. August 10, 1898. IT Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 14, pp. 102, 119-124. ,Tuly 19, 1901, ** Phil. Trans., 1683, pp. 3,59-385. Vol. XXVIII, pp. 71-78 March 12, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON RECENT NOTES REGARDING WEST INDIAN REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS. BY T. BARBOUR. Since my preliminary survey of the herpetological fauna of the West Indies * was published, new material has made it possible to clear up the identity of several species the status of which was in doubt, to present new locality records for several species, and to characterize some which appear to have remained undescribed. Since the revision of the genus Ameiva is the subject of a special study by Mr. G. K. Noble and myself no notes upon it will appear in this short paper. I also hope to review the Cuban forms in collaboration with Mr. C. T. Ramsden of Guantanamo hence I am reserving recent Cuban data for that paper, now fairly well under way. During the past summer Mr. G. K. Noble and Mr. F. R. Wulsin made a trip to the West Indies for the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass. Mr. Wulsin was able to remain but a short time, while Mr. Noble remained for some ten weeks upon Guadeloupe making full collections of the land vertebrates. These men both got some interesting species upon other islands which they touched at both going and returning. Beside this Dr. A. G. Ruthven of the Zoological Museum of the University of Michigan has kindly allowed me to examine and retain a considerable portion of the material which he obtained during the stays in West Indian harbors of the ship in which he journeyed to and from Demarara. Some of his material has been extremely helpful. Eleutherodactylus lentus (Cope). Up to 1914 I had not been able to satisfy myself of the certainty of the occurrence of this species upon St. Croix, and I recorded it as confined • Mem. M. C. Z.. 44, 1914, p. 209-359, pi. 1. 10— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXVIII, 1915. (71) 72 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. to St. Thomas. (1. c. p. 247.) This summer, however, Noble and Wulsin found it upon St. Thomas, and both Noble and Ruthven found it even more abundant upon St. Croix l^oth at Christiansted and Fredric- sted. I am unable to find any difierence between the individuals from the two islands. Leptodactylus albilabris (Gunther). I was at first inclined to believe that a series of examples collected by Ruthven and Noble at St. Croix were different from those from St. Thomas (the type locality) and Porto Rico. Since, however, I have had the opportunity to examine some specimens which Doctor Stejneger loaned me from both these localities. I am convinced that all are probably the same. These Leptodactyli are curious and puzzling "frogs" and large series should always be gathered when possible, as some peculiar varia- tions occur. Sphaerodactylus tnacrolepis Gunther. This species was described from St. Croix and subsequently recorded from St. Thomas. This summer both Messrs Noble and Wulsin, as well as Doctor Ruthven and his assistant Mr. Gaige, visited both these islands, staying for some days at St. Croix on their return voyage, where Ruth- ven, Gaige and Noble did extensive collecting together. Nearly a hun- dred Sphaerodactyli were secured on both these islands. All are referable to one species, which agrees with what Garman has called, without doubt correctly, Sphaerodactylus macrolepis. On St. Croix the lizards were secured not only at Christiansted but also at Fredricsted, at the opposite end of the island. Some were secured about houses in the towns, many others in the country. The collection makes it quite evident to me that but a single species of Sphaerodactylus is found in St. C'roix as is usual on all but the Greater Antilles. In 1862 Reinhardt and Lutken described S. microlepis on a specimen said to have come from St. Croix, but the describers stated clearly that the locality record needed confirm- ation. Beside this they identified their new form with A. Dumeril's S. fantasticus variete a taches noires, which came from St. Lucia. The diagnosis of S. microlepis certainly recalls a Lesser Antillean form, and the type probably never came from St. Croix. I suggest then that the name probably belongs to the St. Lucia species, in which case S. melanospilus Bocourt, also from St. Lucia, becomes a synonym of micro- lepis, which is probably confined to that island. Sphaerodactylus fantasticus Dumeril & Bibron. It becomes increasingly evident that the species of this genus do not range widely through the Antillean chain. Anderson (Bih. K. Svensk. vet.-akad. Handl., 1900, 26, afd. 4, No. 1, p. 27) has examined Sparr- man's type of S. sputator which came from St. Eustatius and said that it was the same as S. fantasticus of Dumeril et Bibron, which was said to have come from Martinique. There is no evidence that Anderson made a direct comparison hence it is wise until we know to the contrary Barboui — Regarding West Indian Reptiles and Amphibians. 73 to assume that S. sptUator is confined to St. Eustatius. S. fantasticus was one of tlie species received from P]6e and credited by Dumeril et Bibron to Martinique. Stejneger pointed out how worthless was this information.* Further investigation shows that while Plee evidently collected at the various French Islands, probably on a voyage from Porto Rico to Martinique, he did very little reptile collecting upon that island itself. This summer Doctor Ruthven got three Sphaerodactyli upon Martinique and it became obvious at once that they were not fantasticus, since they lacked the granular middorsal area mentioned by Dumeril et Bibron. When on the other hand, I examined Noble's series of about fifty exam- ples from Guadeloupe I was struck by their very exact agreement with the ilescription of fantasticus. This was especially evident in comparing specimens with Dumeril et Bibron' s figure, since I was able to match absolutely with several different individuals the peculiar and I imagine quite characteristic markings of the head and neck region. Thus I sub- mit that S. fantasticus D. .* Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, 4500 feet, under log, A. S. Pearse, July 2, 1913, 1 d* holotype, Orig. No. 7, Cat. No. 45,872. Cincinnati Cofiee Plantation, 4500 feet, under logs, F. M. Gaige, July 2, 1913, 5 d" 5 9 5 juv.,Orig. No. 8, Cat. Nos. 45,863, 45,879. Southeast of Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, 4800 feet, in forest, A. S. Pearse, July 2, 1913, 1 9 , Orig. No. 15, Cat. No. 45,869. Cincin- nati Coffee Plantation, under stones in damp creek bed, A. S. Pearse, July 3, 1913, 13 d* 8 9 7 jnv., Orig. No. 18, Cat. No. 45,721. Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, 4000 feet, under stones in creek bed, but not in water, A. S. Pearse, July 3, 1913, 2 c? 1 9 0 jnv., Orig. No. 19, Cat. Nos. 45,721, 45,865. Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, 3800 feet, in bottom of stream, A. S. Pearse, July 3, 1913, 1 9 jnv., Orig. No. 22, Cat. No. 45,875. Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, 4800 feet, walking over ground during rain, F. M. Gaige, July 3, 1913, Id" 3 9 , Orig. No. 25, Cat. No. 45,720. Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, 3800 feet, in burrow under rock beside stream, A. S. Pearse, July 4, 1913, 2 d* 39 , Orig. No. 27, Cat. No. 45,719. Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, over 4000 feet, walking in a creek, A. S. Pearse, July 4, 1913, 1 9 with many young, Orig. No. 34, Cat. No. 45,724. South of Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, in forest, under stones in dry creek bed, A. S. Pearse, July 5, 1913, 2d' 2 juv., Orig. No. 40, Cat. No. 45,861. Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, 4200 feet, in cavity in stump, A. S. Pearse, July 5, 1913, 2 9 , Orig. No. 44, Cat. No. 45,859. Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, .3500 feet, under stone, A. G. Ruthven, July 5, 1913, 1 9 , Orig. No. 47, Cat. No. 45,870. Santa Marta Mountains, 4600 feet, under logs in forest, A. G. Ruthven, July 7, 1913, 1 d', Orig. No. 55, Cat. No. 45,717. Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, 5000 feet, in rill in cornfield, A. S. Pearse, July 8, 1913, 1 d*, Orig. No. 56, Cat. No. 45,862. South of Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, in gully in forest, A. S. Pearse, July 9, 1913, 1 9 , ovig., Orig. No. 66, Cat. No. 45,718. Cincin- nati Coffee Plantation, 4500 feet, Clara Flye, July 10, 1913, Id*, Orig. No. 76, Cat. No. 45,871. Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, 4000 feet. Clara Flye, July 11, 1913, 1 9 , Orig. No. 78, Cat. No. 45,723. Cornfield at south end of Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, 4500 feet, F. M. Gaige, July 12, 1913, 1 9 , Orig. No. 81, Cat. No. 45,722. Below Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, 4000 feet, in creek under stone, A. S. Pearse, July 16, 1913, 1 d" juv., Orig. No. 102, Cat. No. 45,878. San Lorenzo Mountain, 4700 feet, under stones in dry creek bed in forest, A. S. Pearse, July 17, 1913, 2 d*, Orig. No. 114, Cat. No. 45,715. Near Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, 4200 feet, A. G. Ruthven, July 17, 1913, 1 juv., Orig. No. 115, Cat. No. 45,868. Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, 4500 feet, Clara Flye, July 21, 1913, 1 9 , Orig. No. 147, Cat. No. 45,725. Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, 4200 feet, in creek, Clara Flye, July 24, 1913, 2 9 2 juv., Orig. No. 175, Cat. Nos. 45,860, 45,866. Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, 4200 feet, in creek, Clara Flye, July 26, 1913, 1 juv., Orig. No. 183, Cat. No. 45,728. Remarks. — The type was chosen for its good preservation. Tliere are larger specimens in the collection. The largest male (45,720) measures • The catalogue numbers are those of the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan. 98 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 25.2 by44.2mm.,the largest hard-shell female (45,722) is31.3by57.2mm. ; a thin-shell female (45,873) is about I mm. larger. A female (45,724) is accompanied by over 50 young in the first free- swimming stage ; some of them are still attached to the abdomen ; they have the general form of the adult ; the upper margin of the front is just beginning to develop; the exognath is longer than in larger specimens but does not reach end of ischium ; the efferent branchial orifice is open, the jugal spine not yet developed. One female (45,721) has the left cheliped represented by a very short stump; the right cheliped is of normal size but the fingers are strongly bent, tlie immovable finger outward and the dactylus inward so that their planes form an angle of about 55°. Pseudothelphusa angulata sp. nov. Holotype. — Adult male, Cat. No. 45,880, Museum of Zoology, Uni- versity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Micliigan. Collected above Mlnca, Santa Marta INIountains, Colombia, 2900 feet elevation, under stones bordering a rill, July 10, 1913. Measurements. — Holotype male, length of carapace on the median line 40 mm., width of carapace 65 mm., width between outer angles of orbits 32 mm., width of front above, between the eyes, 15.3 mm., length of larger propodus below 52.7 mm., height of palm at distal end 19.9 mm., greatest tliickness of palm 14.6 mm. ; length of dactylus of cheliped (approx. ) 27.2 mm. Description. — This species in its shape and ornamentation resembles the preceding, but is somewhat larger. The front is narrower and the orbits higher. The orifice of the efferent branchial channel is wide open behind. The merus of the outer maxilliped is similar in shape to that of pearsei, having a concave outer margin, but that margin forms at its union with the anterior margin a very prominent angle or lobe, to which the specific name refers. Exognath very short, about J^ as long as ischiognath. Chelipeds rougher than in pearsei, carpal tooth acute. Shape of male abdomen subtriangular after the third segment. Append- age of first segment with a large outer lobe near the end; tip subtruncate, with a short projecting point. Relationships. — Near P. monticola Zimmer* but distinguished as fol- lows: In monircoZa the outer margin of the merognath is not concave and the antero-external angle not so well marked or so advanced ; the penultimate segment of the abdomen is shorter; the lobe on the outer edge of the first abdominal segment is more evenly rounded, not subtri- angular as in angulata. Pseudothelphusa clausa sp. nov. Holotype. — Adult male. Cat. No. 45,864; Museum of Zoology, Uni- versity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Collected in brooklet, ♦ Mem. Soc. iieuchdteloise Sui. nat., vol. 5, 1912, p. 3, pi. 1, figs. 3 and 4, text-figs. C-10. Kathbun — Neiv Fresh- Water Crabs from Colombia. 99 Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, Santa Marta Mountains, Coloml)ia, 4500 feet elevation, by M. A. Carriker, July 10, 1913, Orig. No. 75. Measurements. — Holotype male, length of carapace on the median line 15.3 mm., width of carapace 26. (> mm., width between outer angles of orbits 15.5 mm., width of front above, between the eyes, 8.3 mm., length of larger propodus below 25.2 mm., greatest height of palm (near middle) 10.3 mm., greatest thickness of palm 7.3 mm., length of dactylus of cheliped, 13 mm. Largest female, length IS, width 32 mm. Description — A small species. Carapace smooth to the eye, very iinely granulate and furrowed, punctje visible without a lens ; cervical suture straight and deep for the greater part of its length, but almost imper- ceptible toward the middle of the carapace and toward the margin. Lateral margins almost entire; a broad emargination just behind the orbit, and a number of inconspicuous teeth behind the cervical suture. Front without definite upper limit, the dorsal surface of the carapace rounding gradually downward to the sinuous or quadrilobate lower margin. Orbits nearly transverse, upper and lower margins subparallel. Orifice of efferent branchial channel completely rimmed but in a difTerent way from P. pearsei. In clausa the outer end of the epistome is produced laterally in a long spine, which meets an oblong prominence of the jugal area. Merus of outer maxilliped with outer margin very oblique, and nearly straight, with only a very shallow siims behind the articulation with the carpus; ischium a little narrowed at distal end; exognath between ^ and % as long as ischium. Chelipeds very unequal; merus very rough above, irregularly toothed within; tooth of carpus short, subacute; fingers gaping; a tooth at the extreme proximal end of the immovable finger gives a peculiar appear- ance to the large chela. The sides of the male abdomen are as a whole somewhat convex after the third segment although the margins of the segments are separately concave. The appendages of the first segment viewed from the inside are slightly constricted behind the extremity, which is oblique and arcuate and produced at either end ; an upward-pointing tooth projects from the distal surface. Relationships. — In my key (op. cit. ) this species would fall under a, b, c\ Variations. — The front is not always distinctly four-lobed, as the median emargination is at times so slight as to be almost imperceptible. Record of specimens. — Cineinnati Coff'ee Plantation, Santa Marta Moun- tains, Colombia, 4500 feet, under logs, F. M. Gaige, July 2, 1913, 1 c? 1 9 1 juv., Orig. No. 8, Cat. No. 45,879. In forest south of Cincinnati Coff'ee Plantation, 4200 feet, A. S. Pearse, July 2, 1913, 19 6 juv. (first free stage), Orig. No. 14, Cat. No. 45,874. Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, 4100 feet, under stones near creek, A. S. Pearse, July 3, 1913, 1 <5^ 6 juv., Orig. No. 19, Cat. No. 45,877. Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, 4800 feet, walking over ground during rain, F. M. Gaige, July 3, 1913, 1 c? 100 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. jnv., Orig. No. 25, Cat. No. 45,720. In forest south of Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, under stones in dry creek bed, A. S. Pearse, July 5, 1913, 1 c? 2 9 , Orig. No. 40, Cat. No. 45,861. South of Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, 4000 feet, under stones, F. M. Gaige, July 5, 1913, 2 9 , Orig. No. 46, Cat. No. 45,867. Santa Marta Mountains, 4600 feet, under logs in forest, A. G. Ruthven, July 7, 1913, 2 9 , Orig. No. 55, Cat. No. 45,717. Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, 4500 feet, from brooklet, M. A. Carriker, July 10, 1913, 1 c? holotype, Orig. No. 75, Cat. No. 45,864. Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, 4200 feet, in creek, Clara Flye, July 26, 1913, 1 9 , Orig. No. 183, Cat. No. 45,728. Pseudothelphusa ruthveni sp. nov. Holotype. — Adult female, Cat. No. 45,716, Museum of Zoology, Uni- versity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Collected at south end of Cincinnati Coffee Plantation, Santa Marta Mountains, Colombia, 2500 feet elevation, by Dr. A. G. Ruthven, July 4, 1913, Orig. No. 33. Measurements. — Holotype female, length of carapace on the median line 19.8 mm., width of carapace 35 mm., width between outer angles of orbits 21 mm., width of front above, between the eyes, 9.7 mm., length of larger propodus below 26 mm., greatest height of palm (near middle) 9 mm., greatest thickness of palm 6.4 mm., length of dactylus of cheliped 14.6 mm. Description. — The dorsal aspect is much like that of P. clausa. The size is greater, the punctae are proportionally larger, lateral teeth more prominent and surface near them rougher; cervical suture more sinuous, epigastric lobes higher. Front trilobate, middle lobe lower down than lateral lobes. Orifice of efferent branchial channel closed and similar to that of P. pearsei, the jugal angle being prolonged in a spine which meets the lateral tooth of the epistome. Outer margin of merus of maxilliped nearly straight up to the articulation with the carpus; sides of ischium subparallel; exognath reaching very nearly to end of ischium. Fingers longer and slenderer in proportion to palm than in clausa; larger prehensile teeth narrower and more separated than in clausa, most noticeable in the smaller chela. Vol. XXVIII, pp. 101-102 April 13, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON A NEW SPIDER MONKEY FROM PANAMA. BY E. A. GOLDMAN. In determining the collection of mammals made in the course of the Smithsonian Biological Survey of the Panama Canal zone (1911-1912), a black spider monkey obtained in the east- ern part of Panama was provisionally referred to Ateles ater F. Cuvier of Guiana, a species first recorded from Panama by Sclater.* More recent comparisons, however, with material from various sources including the type and a topotype of Ateles rohustus Allen from western Colombia, kindly loaned l)y Dr. J. A. Allen of the American Museum of Natural History, indicate that the specimen represents a new form described below. Atele.s dariensis sp. nov. DARIEN BLACK SPIDER MONKEY. Type from near head of Rio Limon (altitude 5200 feet). Mount Pirri, eastern Panama. No. 179,044, female adult (teeth slightly worn), U. S. National Museum (Biological Survey Collection), collected by E. A. Goldman, April 29, 1912. Original number 21,664. General characters. — A rather small long-tailed black spider monkey of the Ateles ater group. Similar in total length to Ateles robustus of west- ern Colombia, but tail longer and head and body correspondingly shorter (tail nearly twice as long as head and body, instead of only a little longer as in A. robustus); skull differing especially in the greater posterior extension of the palate, and the peculiar flattened condition of the audital bullae. Apparently diflering from A. ater in relatively longer tail, smaller general size, and in cranial details. Color. — Face and entire pelage uniform deep glossy black, except a few whitish hairs on the middle of the forehead and about the mouth. Skull. — Similar to that of A. robustus, but smaller, the frontal region more elongated anteriorly; zygomatic portion of jugal more expanded • Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1872. p. 5. 16— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXVIII, 1915. (101) 102 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. vertically ; palate longer, reaching posteriorly beyond the posterior plane of last molars, the greater extension due to expansion of the palatines; audital bultemuch flattened and angular instead of rounded and inflated, the outer edges overlapped by extensions of the alisphenoids and squa- mosals, molariform teeth smaller; upper premolars less extended antero- posteriorly, the anterior of the series more distinctly smaller than the second. Contrasted with a skull without definite locality, but believed to be from tlie Lower Amazon or Guiana and assumed to represent A. ater, the frontal region is similarly prominent and the palate as a whole is of about the same length, but the palatine portion of the bony slielf is longer, reaching anteriorly to the posterior plane of first molars; the zygomatic portion of the jugal is much heavier, more expanded vertically, and the audital bullae much smaller, less inflated. Measurements. — Type: Total length, 1260; tail vertebrae, 810; hind foot, 170. Skull (type): Greatest length, 113.9; occipitonasal length, 98.3; basal length, 79; breadth of braincase, 59; zygomatic breadth, 65.7; orbital breadth, 57.3; postorbital breadth, 44.7; breadth of rostrum at canines, 26.2; greatest width of nasals anteriorly, 10.4 ; palatal length, 35.5 ; upper molar series, 22; lower molar series, 27. Remarks. — The Darien representative of the A. ater group is externally distinguished from its geographic neighbor, A. robustus of Colombia, by the proportionately longer tail ; the skull may be known by the posterior extension of the palate beyond the last molars. Its exact relationship to A. ater of Guiana is somewhat problematical owing to unsatisfactory material for comparison, but the latter appears to be a shorter-tailed animal with cranial differences already pointed out. Moreover, the cranial measurements given by Elliot* indicate that J., ater in a larger animal. Ateles rufiventris Sclater, which was described from the Rio Atrato and may range north to Panama, seems amply distinguished by its color. Specimens examined : One, the type. ■ Rev. Primates, vol. 2, p. 30, 1913. Vol. XXVIII, pp. 103-104 May 27, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON DESCRIPTION OF A NEW BOB-WHITE FROM COLO- RADO, i I BY F. C. LINCOLN. 1 Examination of a series of Bob-whites from northeastern Colorado reveals characteristic differences, warranting their separation as a distinct subspecies, which may be known as follows : * Colinus virginianus taylori new subspecies, t Type speci7nen.—Adu]t male; Cat. No. 4326, Colo. Mus. of Nat. Hist.; Collected at Laird, Yuma Co., Colo., by F. C. Lincoln; January 27, 1915. Characters . — Size averaging sliglitly smaller than Colinus v. virginianus Linnaeus, with upper parts much lighter and grayer, and dark areas of back, tertials, and scapulars sharply defined and less mottled with brown. Vermiculations finer or absent. Bill shorter and deeper at base. Male. — White of throat and belly immaculate or but faintly shaded with pale bufT or cream-color. Black patch of lower throat broad and well defined. Purplish or vinaceous band on upper chest restricted or totally absent. Lateral bars of under parts broad and nearly transverse. Flanks light cinnamon. Triangular patch on upper back well shaded with purplish or vinaceous. Dark markings well defined and much less mottled with brown. Edgings of scapulars and tertials pale bufl' to creamy white. Rump and upper tail coverts pale olive gray. Female. — Similar to female of virginianus but bars on lower parts broader, flanks lighter and tail more heavily shaded with vinaceous. • It is the intention of the writer to prepare for publication a review of the genus Colimis. 1 1 take pleasure in naming this proposed form in honor of Mr. Frank M. Taylor of Denver. 17— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXVIII, 1915. (103) Vol. XXVIII, pp. 105-108 May 27, 1915 PROCEEDINGS ^ OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME NEW FORMS OF AMERICAN CUCKOOS, PARROTS, AND PIGEONS. BY ROBERT RIDGWAY. [By permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.] The following new forms will be described more fully in Part VII, Bulletin 50, U. S. National Museum ("Birds of North and Middle America"). Coccyzus minor palloris siibsp. nov. Type, adult $ , U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 198,745, Pigres, w. Costa Rica, February 3, 1905. Collected by R. Ridgway. Agreeing with C. m. minor in absence of gray tinge to buff of sub- orbital and subanricular regions, sides of neck and chest, but much larger and paler, the under parts pale cream-buff, and pileum distinctly grayer than back, passing into clear gray anteriorly; closely resembling C. m. maynardi in color of upper parts and posterior under parts, but anterior under parts wholly pale buff, concolor with posterior portions, and decidedly larger. Wing, 142; tail, 153.5; culmen, 30; tarsus, 28; middle toe, 21.5 mm. Coccyzus minor rileyi subsp. nov. Type, adult c?, U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 191,153, Barbuda, Lesser Antilles, August 23, 1903. Collected by H. G. S. Branch. Similar in coloration to C. m. nesiotes, but decidedly larger; similar to C. m. vicentis, but smaller, color of upper parts slightly grayer and bill narrower (in lateral profile) and decidedly more compressed. Wing, 141; tail, 162; culmen, 30 mm. Morococcyx erythropygus mexicanus subsp. nov. Type, adult c?, U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 29,235, Juchitdu, Oaxaca, Mexico, March, 1862. Collected by F. Sumichrast. Similar to M. e. erythropygus but larger and paler, the upper parts averaging more grayish olive, the under parts varying from cinnamon- 18— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash.. Vol. XXVIII, 1915. (105) 106 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. ocliraceous to dull light ochraceous-bufF or even pale buff; under surface of tail, however, darker, showing on lateral rectrices less contrast between the grayish brown of proximal and blackish subterminal portions. Wing, 101; tail, 142.5; culmen, 25.5; tarsus, 36; middle toe, 23.5 mm. Ara militaris tnexicana subsp. nov. Type, adult cj', U. S. Nat. Mus. (Biological Survey), No. 155,409, Manzanillo, Mexico, February 5, 1892. Collected by E. W. Nelson (orig. No. 40). Similar to A. m. militaris but larger. Measurements of type. — Wing, 385; tail, 435; culmen, 63; tarsus, 34.5; outer anterior toe, 44 mm. Conurus holochlorus strenuus subsp. nov. Type, adult c?, U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 91,098, Ometepe, Nicaragua, February 23, 1883. Collected by C. C. Nutting (orig. No. 654). Similar in coloration to C. h. holochlorus (from eastern Mexico) but decidedly larger, especially the bill and feet. Measurements of type. — Wing, 173.5; tail, 139; culmen, 28.5; tarsus, 19.5; outer anterior toe, 26 mm. Gratnmopsittaca lineola maculata subsp. nov. Type, U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 106,056, adult (sex not determined). Eastern Peru? Similar to G. I. lineola but rump and upper tail-coverts much more heavily spotted with black, and general color deeper, more olivaceous, green. Measurements of type. — Wing, 108, tail, 60.5; culmen, 12 mm. Amazona vittata gracilipes subsp. nov. Type, adult c?, U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 169,034, Culebra Island, West Indies, February 11, 1899. Collected by A. B. Baker. Similar to A. v. vittata but smaller, with relatively smaller and more slender feet. Measurements of type. — Wing, 175; tail, 95; culmen, 26.5; tarsus, 21; outer anterior toe, 25 mm, Noticenas * gen. nov. Similar to Chlorcenas but tarsus longer than middle toe (without claw) ; tail much shorter than in Paluvihuena t (only half as long as wing) ; bill smaller (length from frontal antia less than distance from same point to anterior angle of eye) ; plumage of neck not metallic. Type, Columba maculosa Temminck. Chlorcenas inornata exsul subsp. nov. Type, adult (sex not determined), U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 236,736, Porto Rico. • N6Ttos, southern; oha^, a wild pigeon. t Palumbsena Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Av., ii, 1857, 49; type, Columba xnas Linnaeus. Ridgway — Some American Cuckoos, Parrots and Pigeons. 107 Similar to C i. inornata but coloration slightly deeper, the forehead nearly, if not quite, concolor with rest of pileum, and white edgings to distal wing-coverts averaging broader; similar also to C i. exiqua but coloration less deep. Measurements of type. — Wing, 216.5 ; tail, 131 ; culmen, 17 ; tarsus, 27.5 ; middle toe, 36 mm. Zenaidura macroura tresmariae subsp. nov. Type, adult c?, U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 150,700, Marie Madre Island, Tres Marias group. May 5, 1897. Collected by Nelson and Goldman. Similar to Z. m. carolinensis , but adult male with forehead, anterior and lateral portions of crown, and supra-auricular region (sides of occi- put) bright fawn color, approaching sayal brown, conspicuously deeper than color of chest ; chin buflfy white, abruptly contrasted with adjacent light vinaceous-fawn color, and with back and distal wing-coverts darker. Measurements of type. — Wing, 144; tail, 126; culmen, 14; tarsus, 19.5; middle toe, 20.5 mm. Zenaida ruficauda robinsoni subsp. nov. Type, adult c?, U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 236,767, Honda, Colombia, July 14, 1892. Collected by Lieut. Wirt Robinson, U. S. A. Similar to Z. r. vinaceo-rufa but coloration deeper, more brownish above, more vinaceous below. Measurements of type. — Wing, 137.5 ; tail, 86.5 ; culmen, 15.5 ; tarsus, 21 ; middle toe, 21 mm. Melopelia asiatica mearnsi subsp. nov. Type, adult d^, U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 121,177, five miles north of Nogales, Arizona, June 2, 1891. Collected by P. L. Jouy (orig. No. 1187). Similar to 31. a. asiatica but averaging decidedly larger, and coloration paler and grayer, the foreneck and chest light drab to hair brown instead of fawn color, the back, etc., hair brown to deep drab. Measurements of type. — Wing, 166.5; tail, 112; culmen, 23; tarsus, 25; middle toe, 27 mm. Leptotila verreauxi nuttingi subsp. nov. Type, adult d^, U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 91,130, Ometepe, Nicaragua, March 7, 1883. Collected by C. C. Nutting. Similar to L. v. verreauxi but with much less of vinaceous-russet (or cacao brown) on inner webs of remiges, this color forming merely a broad edging, at the widest part not more than one-fourth the width of the web ; upper parts browner (but much lighter brown than in L. v. riottei). Measurements of type. — Wing, 141; tail, 107; culmen, 15; tarsus, 30.5; middle toe, 24.5 mm. Vol. XXVIII, pp. 109-114 May 27, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON DESCRIPTIONS OF A NEW GENUS AND SEVEN NEW RACES OF FLYING SQUIRRELS. BY ARTHUR H. HOWELL. A study of the American flying squirrels has led to the dis- covery of a number of unrecognized forms, preliminary descrip- tions of which are presented herewith. The subgenus Glaucomys Thomas,* is believed to be of generic rank and the name is therefore used for all the American species. The large Hima- layan species, Sciuropterus fimbriatus Gray, referred by Thomas to Glaucomys, is here made the type of a new genus. Sciuropterus F. Cuvier, 1825, as has been shown by Miller, t is a synonym of Pteromys G, Cuvier, 1800t; the latter name, in my opinion, should be restricted to the small Palaearctic species — volans,% huchneri, and related forms. Eoglaucomys genus nov. Type, Sciuroptera fimbriata Gray (= Sciuropterus fimbriatus aiict.). Characters. — Skull essentially similar in general features to that of Glaucomys; postorbital processes longer and more strongly decurved; in- terparietal with antero-posterior diameter much greater than in Glauco- mys— about two-thirds of the transverse diameter ; molariform teeth much as in Glaucomys, with comparatively simple structure, but tvith crown of pm^ divided into tivo cusps by a distinct sulcus (partially worn teeth •Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., (ser. 8) 1, 1908, p 5 (type Mus volans Linn.). t Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash.. XXVII, 1914, p. 216. X Pteromys G. Cuvier, Lemons Anat. Conip., I, 1800— Type, Sciurus volans Linn. = Pteromys rtissicus auct. $ Linnaeus (Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 1758) named the European flying squirrel Sciurus volans and the American species Mus volans; the names are not homonyms, therefore, and in recognizing the two animals as generically distinct, it will be necessary to use the name Pteromys volans (= P. russicus of Tiedemann and later authors) for the Russian animal, retaining Glaucomys volans for the small species of eastern North America. 19— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXVIII, 1915. (109) 110 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. showing two closed triangles). Soles partially naked, bearing five pads — four at the bases of the toes, and a large metatarsal pad, elliptical in shape, situated about midway between the heel and the base of the toes;* tail slightly flattened, full and bushy, narrowing decidedly towards the tip; ears large, subtriangular in shape, more acutely pointed than in either Glaucomys or Pteromys. Remarks. — The genus, so far as known, is monotypic. In external appearance it bears no close resemblance either to the American Glauco- mys or to the small Palaearctic flying squirrels of the genus Pteromys, being readily distinguished from either by the characters of the soles, as well as by large size and bushy, tapering tail. In cranial characters, the resemblance to Glaucomys is certainly striking, as Mr. Thomas has pointed out,t but in assigning the animal to the latter group, he evidently overlooked the important structural differences in the anterior premolar and in the plantar tubercles. Qlaucomys volans saturatus subsp. nov. Type from Dothan, Alabama; adult female, No. 178,366, U. S. Nat. Mus. ( Biological Survey collection); collected March 13, 1912, by A. H. Howell; original number 1960. Characters. — Similar in size and skull characters to volans, but upper- parts darker at all seasons ; toes not conspicuously whitened in winter. Compared with querceti: Upperparts darker, face grayer (less buflfy), hind feet grayer (less brownish), and audital bullae smaller. Measurements. — Average of 12 adults from southern Alabama: Total length, 226; tail vertebrae, 100; hind foot, 30. Skull (of type): Greatest length, 34.9; zygomatic breadth, 20.4; mastoidal breadth, 17.4; inter- orbital breadth, 7.2; length of nasals, 9.5; alveolar length of maxillary tooth row, 6.5. Remarks.— This dark race of volans occupies the Gulf States, excepting Florida and Texas (and perhaps Louisiana), extending north to eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina and west to Arkansas and Okla- homa. It differs in color from all the surrounding races and from querceti and texensis also in skull characters. Glaucomys volans texensis subsp. nov. Type from 7 miles northeast of Sour Lake, Texas. Adult male, No. 136,400, U. S. Nat. Mus. (Biological Survey collection); collected March 15, 1905, by J. H. Gaut; original number 3480. Characters.— ShmlsLT in size and color to volans; upperparts slightly more ochraceous and toes without conspicuous white markings in winter ; skull decidedly shorter and relatively broader. Compared with saturatus: Colors much paler; skull shorter and broader. Compared with querceti: similar in color, but skull shorter, with smaller audital bullae. • A small, circular, supplementary tubercle appears in some specimens on the outer side of the sole, directly posterior to the pad at the base of the fifth digit. + Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (Ser. 8), 1. 1908, p. 6. Howell — A New Genus and New Races of Flying Squirrels. Ill Measurements. — Average of six adults from type locality: Total length, 229; tail vertebrae, 104; hind foot, 30.8. Skull (of type): Greatest length, 84; zygomatic breadth, 20.9; mastoidal breadth, 17.2; interorbital breadth, 7.:'); length of nasals, 9.2; alveolar length of maxillary tooth- row, 6.3. Remarks. — This subspecies bears a close resemblance to both volans and querceti in color but difiers from them in characters of the skull. It is known from only a few localities, but apparently occupies the humid portion of eastern Texas and portions of Louisiana. QIaucomys sabrinus canescens subsp. nov. Type from Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. Subadult female. No. 7663, Field Mus. of Nat. Hist.; collected February 3, 1900, by G. F. Dippie. Characters.— ^imWax to G. s. macrotis, but much paler, with grayer head and larger skull. Compared with sabrinus: Size smaller; upperparts and feet paler; underparts whiter. Measurements. — Average of two specimens from type locality: Total length, 298; tail vertebrae, 140; hind foot, .38. Skull (of type): Greatest length, 38.8; zygomatic breadth, 22.9; mastoidal breadth, 17.6; inter- orbital breadth, 7.6; length of nasals, 11.2; alveolar length of maxillary toothrow, 7.6. Remarks. — This is the palest of the races of sabrinus and is apparently intermediate in size between sabrinus and macrotis. By reason of the small number of specimens available, its range can not be defined with exactness, but probably it occupies the thinly timbered portions of southern Manitoba and eastern North Dakota and may range even farther westward. QIaucomys sabrinus columbiensis subsp. nov. Type from Okanagan, British Columbia. Subadult male. No. 94,310, U. S. Nat. Mus. (Biological Survey collection) ; collected May 9, 1898, by Allan Brooks ; original number 1214. Characters. — Similar to G. s. klamathensis , but upperparts more vina- ceous and tail much darker; much paler tlvdn oregonensis, both above and below; very similar to sabrinus, both in color and cranial characters, but soles of hind feet often yellow (as in klamathensis) ; skull similar to that of oregonensis ; smaller than that of klamathensis, with smaller bullae. Measurements .—Tvio specimens (subadult) from Okanagan Lake, B. C, each measured: Total length, 313; tail vertebrae, 143; hind foot, 42. Skull: Average of 4 (adult and subadult) from same locality: Greatest length, 41; zygomatic breadth, 24.4; mastoidal breadth, 19.1; interor- bital breadth, 7.3; length of nasals, 12.7; alveolar length of maxillary toothrow, 7.8. 112 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Remarks. — Tliis subspecies is most closely related to oregonensis of the coast region of Oregon and Washington, intermediates between the two forms occurring at Sumas and Chilliwack, B. C. Intergradation with fuliginosus — the form occupying the Cascades — is shown by specimens from mouth of Salmon River, B. C. The present form occupies the low country in the interior of British Columbia and northern Washington. Glaucomys sabrinus latipes subsp. nov. Type from Glacier, British Columbia. Adult female, No. 68,753, U. S. Nat. Mus. (Biological Survey collection); collected August 13, 1894, by J. Alden Loring; original number 2111. Characters. — Similar to G. s. fuliginosus, but larger, and upperparts averaging darker and grayer; feet larger and darker colored. Compared Vi'ith alpinus : Size larger; colors darker (more brownish, less drab); underparts darker. Measurements. — Adult female (type): Total length, 359; tail vertebrae, 161; hind foot, 43; average of 9 adults from Coolin, Idaho, and Stanton Lake, Mont. : 339,151; 40.6. Skull (of type): Greatest length, 44.2; zygomatic breadth, 25.1; mastoidal breadth, 20; interorbital breadth, 8.3 ; length of nasals, 14; alveolar length of maxillary toothrow, 8.8. Remarks. — This subspecies is one of the largest of the American flying squirrels, equaling yukonensis in external measurements and exceeding it in size of skull. Although evidently closely related to fuliginosus, of the Cascades, there is at present no evidence of intergradation with that race. The present form differs widely from alpinus, which occupies the eastern slopes of the Rockies in Alberta, and from the much smaller bangsi of the Bitterroot and Sawtooth Ranges of Idaho and Montana. Glaucomys sabrinus flaviventris subsp. nov. Type from head of Bear Creek, Trinity County, California (altitude 6400 feet). Adult male. No. 13,319, Univ. of Calif., Mus. Vert. Zool.; collected August 13, 1911, by Annie M. Alexander; original number 1775. Characters. — Similar in size and skull characters to O. s. lascivus, but underparts and feet strongly suffused with yellow or buff; similar to klamathensis , but smaller, with much smaller audital bullae; underparts more yellowish and tail darker beneath. Compared with stephensi : Upperparts much paler and underparts more yellowish ; skull flatter with shallower braincase. Measurements. — Average of five adults from type locality: Total length, 301; tail vertebrae, 133; hind foot, 40.4; ear, 20.7. Skull (of type): Greatest length, 40; zygomatic breadth, 23.4; mastoidal breadth, 17.9; interorbital breadth, 7.9; length of nasals, 12.3; alveolar length of maxil- lary toothrow, 8.1. Remarks. — This race is apparently most nearly related to lascivus of the Sierra Nevada, from which it diflers widely in the color of the under- Howell — A New Genus and New Races of Flying Squirrels. 113 parts. It Intergrades with lascivua in the region around Mt. Lassen, with klamathensis in the AVarner Mountains, and with fuliginosus in tl)e Siskiyou Mountains. QIaucomys bullatus sp. nov. Type from Sawtooth (Altnras) Lake, Idalio. Adult female. No. fMH. U. S. Nat. Mus. (Biological Survey collection); collected September 28, 1890, by Vernon Bailey and B. H. Dutcher; original number 1883. Characters. — Size large (about equaling G. sabrinus latipes ; much larger than G. s. bangsi) ; color of upperparts similar to that of hangsi but decidedly more ochraceous (less vinaceous) ; gray on face purer and more extensive ; skull large, with narrow, deep braincase, the fronto- parietal region markedly elevated; molars heavy; audital bullae very large. Measurements.— kduM female (type) : Total length, 340; tail vertebrae, 150 ; hind foot, 46; average of 6 adults from Ketchum, Idaho: 336; 142 42.5. Skull (of type): Greatest length, 44; zygomatic breadth, 25 mastoidal breadth, 19; interorbital breadth, 8.7; length of nasals, 13.9 alveolar length of maxillary toothrow, 9.2. Remarks. — This species resembles certain of the forms of sabrinus rather closely in color but is readily separated from all of them by its peculiar skull with very large bullae. Its range, as now known, is from Ketchum, Idaho, north to Cranbrook, British Columbia. At Sawtooth Lake it occurs on the same ground with the much smaller G. s. bangsi and at Cranbrook, B. C, occurs with G. s. columbiensis. Vol. XXVIII, pp. 115-116 May 27, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON A NEW SQUIRREL FROM NORTHEASTERN CHINA. BY GERRIT 8. MILLER, Jr. [Published here by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.] During February, 1915, Mr. Arthur de C. Sowerby visited the recently opened hunting reserve in a well wooded region about sixty miles northeast of Peking. Here he took five speci- mens of a squirrel of the genus Tamiops, no member of which has hitherto been known to occur in northeastern China. The animals, he writes, are almost entirely arboreal in habits, living in holes in the oak trees. They are very active, taking enor- mous leaps from one tree to another. The species is readily distinguishable from those previously described. Tamiops vestltus sp. nov. Type — Adult male, with moderately worn teeth (skin and skull), No. 199,561, United States National Museum. Collected by Arthur de C. Sowerby at Hsin-lung-shan, south of Jehol and 65 miles northeast of Pekinor, China, February 15, 1915. Original number 754. Diagnosis. — Size maximum for the genus; fur dense and soft, its quality suggesting that of a flying squirrel ; general color pale and grayish ; a broad median blackish stripe and two broad pale lateral stripes, all becoming abruptly indistinct at shoulder, but fading away gradually to root of tail. Color. — Sides of body below outer pale stripe a light gray between drab-gray and pale-drab-gray of Ridgway, passing into dull pale-pinkish- bufi' on underparts and cheeks, and into a distinctly brighter buflf on crown, neck and shoulders, this area slightly clouded by blackish hair- tips; crown somewhat more brownish and reddish than neck, approach- ing a rich tawny-olive; ear bufTy on inner side, blacki.sh along rim, huffy white on outer surface (the whitish hairs elongated to form noticeable tuft); median dorsal stripe blackish, about 7 mm. wide at middle, ending abruptly at shoulder but fading and narrowing gradually to base of tail; first lateral pale stripe essentially concolor with buff of neck, but without 20— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXVIII. 1915. (115) 116 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. the (lark clouding; second pale stripe essentially concolor with buffy white of ear; region between pale stripes slightly darker and more brown- ish than sides of body; feet light bnfF or huffy white, about concolor witii inner pale dorsal stripe; hairs of tail brownish buff, those at sides and on upper surface with black subterminal band (about 4 mm. ) and buffy white tip, the under surface about concolor with crown though less tinged with red; hairs at tip of tail black to extremities, but not forming a dark pencil. Measurements. — Type, head and body, 123; tail, 88; hind foot, 31; ear, 16; condylobasal length of skull, 32.0; zygomatic breadth, 21.8; interorbital constriction, 12.2; breadth of braincase, 17.2; depth of braincase, 12.8; nasal, 10.4; diastema, 7.8; mandible, 21.0; maxillary toothrow (alveoli) 6.2; mandibular toothrow, 6.2. Remarks. — Its full, soft fur and pale colors at once distinguish the boreal Tamiops vestitus from the austral members of the genus. In general type of markings it agrees with T. hainamis (Allen), and so far as can be judged from the descriptions, with T. maritimus (Bonhote) and T. monticohis (Bonhote). Vol. XXVIII, pp. 117-120 May 27, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON . Lu V NEW SPECIES OF DECAPOD CRUSTACEANS FROM THE DUTCH WEST INDIES. BY MARY J. RATHBUN. Some time ago I prepared an account of the stalk-eyed crus- taceans collected by Dr. J. Boeke in 1905 in the Dutch West Indies. As the publication of that report has been unavoidably delayed, Doctor Boeke has given me permission to publish separately descriptions of the new species. The type specimens are in the Leiden Museum. Fajhly PENEID^. Metapeneeus mobilispinis sp. nov. Type. — Male, from Cave Round Bay, Saba, in about 4 fathoms, stony bottom ; August 26. Measurements. — Male, length from tip of rostrum to tip of telson 32.4 mm., length of carapace including rostrum 9.5 mm. Description. — Carapace short-pubescent in front of cervical suture. Rostrum ascending, short, not reaching end of eyes ; deep, lower limb as wide as upper, which is convex and armed with 5-7 curved teeth. Post- rostral crest continued to middle of carapace and armed at anterior fourth of carapace and at posterior end of rostrum with a straight, slender spine. Antero-lateral angles of carapace rounded. Postocular tooth small, acute. Postantennular spine long and slender, postantennular groove deep, meeting the cervical groove. A very short, oljlique and deeply impressed groove on either side of rostrum at anterior border of gastric region. Branchial region bordered anteriorly by a sinuous groove (part of the cervical groove), and superiorly by a groove which is very deep below the hepatic spine but becomes faint posteriorly and disappears altogether towards the hind region of the carapace. Fifth and sixth abdominal terga sharply carinated at middle; fifth seg- ment a little more than half as long as sixth, which is a little longer than telson. Telson consideraljly shorter than inner caudal swimmeret and has two slender marginal spines (the posterior the longer) on either side 21— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXVIII, 1915. (HT) 118 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. near the middle; extremity cut into three slender spines, middle one longest, widening; at its middle, lateral ones very slender, with an articu- lating extremity. Eyes very large, not reaching end of antennular scale. Outer or upper antennular flagellum shorter than inner which is shorter than peduncle. Third maxillipeds reach to middle of last article of antennal peduncle; dactylus suboval. Terminal joints of fourth and fifth pairs of thoracic legs lanceolate; fifth pair extend to end of first third of antennal scale. The andricum increases in width distally, is much thickened at the middle, very thin in terminal third where it forms three lobes on each side, the distal one round, the next half as wide, the proximal one fili- form . Relationships. — M. goodei (Smith) of the West Indian region and M. pubescens (Stimpson) from St. Thomas, which may be identical, both have a longer rostrum than our species, a spine at antero-inferior angle of carapace and the abdominal carina begins on the second segment. Family XANTHID^. Panopeus boekei sp. nov. Type. — Male, from Tumble-Down-Dick Bay, St. Eustatius, 15 fathoms, stony bottom; September 17. Measurements. — Male, length 8.6 mm., width 13 mm., fronto-orbital width 9.4 mm., front 4.4 mm. Description. — Carapace deeply areolated in anterior two-thirds, areoles crossed by granulated rugae; surface finely granulated and covered with scattered hairs of uneven length ; carapace convex in a longitudinal as well as in a transverse direction, save for the four antero-lateral teeth which are thickened and upturned ; teeth well separated ; first tooth short and broad, convex; second tooth more prominent and equally wide, posterior margin convex, anterior straight or slightly concave, tip blunt; third tooth similar in shape, but longer, narrower and thicker; fourth tooth narrow, triangular, acute, situated at widest part of carapace. Front with a deep, narrow, median emargination, forming a rounded lobe on each side, at the outer end of which there is a very small rounded lobe. Across the front runs a transverse raised line fringed with long hair. Preorbital angle prominent, blunt; lobe between the two upper fissures of the orbit nearly transverse, slightly convex; lower margin with a blunt inner tooth ; a V-shaped notch below outer angle. Larger cheliped much more massive than smaller. Merus short and high, with a groove subparallel to distal margin and behind it a flattened tooth on upper margin ; carpus rugose, with a distal furrow and a small inner tooth ; manus granulate, granules reticulating, upper surface with a shallow groove; fingers with rows of punctse, a groove on outside and inside of immovable finger, and a groove near upper edge of outer surface of dactylus; prehensile edges irregularly toothed, one of the larger teeth at base of dactyl of larger chela ; fingers in this chela gaping moderately; Rathhun — New Species of Decapod Crustaceans. 119 larjijer thumb slightly deflexed, smaller one considerably so ; fingers light brown, color not extended on palm. Ambulatory legs hairy, slender and rather long, second one longer than carapace is wide. Surface of maxillipeds and sternum finely granulate. Abdomen of male reaching to coxa? of- last legs; third, fourth and fifth segments coalesced, although short depressions indicate suture lines ; sixth segment about twice as wide as long, widening distally, seventh segment broadly triangular. Relationships. — This species in its areolation and prominent lateral teeth resembles P. bermudensis Benedict and Rathbun* in which the first lateral tooth is larger and the last tooth smaller: the lobes of the front are not so rounded nor so deeply separated ; tooth larger at base of dactylus of large chela; male abdomen with fused segment wider at base, penultimate and last segments longer. • Proc. U. S. Nat. Mu3., vol. 14, 1891, p. 376. pi. 20, fig. 2. pi. 24, figs. 14, 15. Vol. XXVIII, pp. 121-124 May 27, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON A NEW TURNAGRA FROM STEPHENS' ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND. BY J. H. FLEMING. The Turnagra from Stephens' Island, New Zealand, appears to differ subspecifically from the South Island Thrush and may- be known as Turnagra capensis minor subsp. nov. Like Turnagra capensis capensis, but smaller; back brownish olive, not raw umber as in capensis; concealed bases of the feathers of the back lighter. Sparrnian's name capensis has been revived, and I think rightly, by IMathews and Iredale,* who fix the type locality at Dusky Sound,! South Island. The type of Tanagra capensis figured by Sparrman* is a young bird similar to the last three birds in my table of measurements. Gmehn's Turdus crassirostris ^ is based on a male and female "Thick- billed Thrush" described by Latham ;|| one of the types, the male, is still at Vienna ;]r and Dr. Sharpe's statement that the type is in the British Museum ** is erroneous. He probably had in mind Forster's drawing, plate 145, in the museum library, which is marked " Dusky Bay, Queen Charlotte's Sound, April 4, 1773. "ft Sparrman was Fors- ter's assistant on Cook's Second Voyage, and Latham described birds then in the Leverian Museum from Cook's Voyage, it is therefore proba- ble that the types are of the same origin if not the same birds. The type of Tanagra macularia of Quoy and Gaimardtt was taken, the authors state, §§ on the South Island in the thick woods of the heights of * Ibis, 1913, p. 445. t Ibis. 1913, p. 202. i Mus. Carlson., 1787, pi. XLV. $Sygt. Nat. I. p. 815, 1789. II Gen. Synop. II, pt. I, p. U. pi. XXXVII, 1783. IT Ibis, 1873, p. 26. ** Hist, of the Collections in the British Museum, Birds, p. 492, 190o. ft Hist, of the Collections in the British Museum, Birds, p. 194, 1906. tt Voy. de I'Astrol., Zool. I, 1830, p. 186, pi. 7, fig. 1. 5$ Voy. de I'Astrol., Zool. I, 1830, p. 187. 22— Pkoc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXVIII, 1915. (121) 122 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. the French Pass. They do not appear to have landed on D'Urville Island, and the nearest anchorage of the "Astrolabe" in Tasman's Bay was Croiselles Harbor. D'Urville Island thus separates the type locality of macularia from minor. Stephens' Island is in Cook's Strait and is thus described by Buller: " Lying two miles to the north-eastward of the northern extremity of D'Urville Island, and rising abruptly from the sea to a height of a thou- sand feet, is Stephens' Island, only about a square mile in extent, and more or less wooded on its sides."* Stephens' Island is known to orni- thologists as the place where Travcrsia lyalli was found and exterminated. Buller gives the following measurements in inches of eggs in the Nelson Museum: South Island, 1.3 x 1.05 1 and 1. 6 x. 95; Stephens' Island, 1.25 x.75.t Notes on the plumage of Turnagra capensis capensis. I have examined for the purposes of this paper, twenty-three skins of Turnagra, seven in the British Museum, five in the Carnegie Museum, § three in the U. S. National Museum, and eight in my own collection; of these only eleven have localities on the labels, and the sex marks are, of course, unreliable, but enough material has been compared to separate the ages, which does not appear to have been done clearly before. Adults.— Large birds, distinguished by sooty black upper and lower mandibles (in dried skins), tarsus not quite so dark, back raw umber becoming brighter on the rump. The breast feathers are dark citrine, with large white centres, producing a regularly streaked efiect; the mid- dle and greater coverts only slightly edged with chestnut, which is absent in more worn plumage. Immature.— Upper mandible lighter than in the adult, lower mandible Brussels brown, the tarsus raw umber in dried skins; back sepia, in adults and immature birds a gray cast appears in worn plumage on the head and hind neck but does not reach the back ; breast feathers pale olive buflf in the centres, chestnut edgings of the greater and lesser coverts greatly increased. This is the plumage figured by Buller, || who gives the irides as yellow. Foim^.— Smaller birds, distinguished by beak and tarsus being wholly Brussels brown in dried skins, breast lighter owing to the grayer edgings to the feathers, many of the throat and neck feathers tipped or edged with chestnut, exposed parts of the greater and lesser coverts chestnut, producing a solid chestnut patch on the wing. A skin from the Jardine Collection is marked "Irides gray." •Ibis, 1895, p. 236. t Birds of New Zealand, 2d ed., 1888, p. 32. J Birds of New Zealand, Suppl. 1905, p. 136. $ I have compared these with my series through the kindness of Mr. W. E. Clyde Todd. 11 Birds of New Zealand, 2d ed., 1888, pi. V. Fleming — A Neiv Tnrnagra from New Zealand. 123 Table of Measurkmknts (in millimeters). Collection. Carnegie Mus. 24,753 Fleming Coll. *3915 Brit. Mas. 1903. 12. 10. 2 Carnegie Mus. 24,754 Si X c« c?ad. c?ad. 9 ad. 9 ad. Turnagra capensia minor. Stephens' Island, N. Z. 1894 Stephens' Island, " N. Z 1895 rn bo _: d :" ■^ ^ 32. 114. 108. 114. 104. 33. 114. 102. 32. 108. 98. .32. a s "3 o 19. 18. 18. 17.5 Turnagra capensis capensis. Brit. Mus. 1903. 7. 17. 18 U. S. Nat. Mus. 148,738 U. S. Nat. Mus. 192,508 U. S. Nat. Mus. 192,507 Carnegie Mus. 24,752 Carnegie Mus. 24,755 Fleming Coll. 12,267 Brit. Mus. 49. 12. 12. 23 Brit. Mus. 49. 12. 12. 24 Brit. Mus. 86. 6. 24. 22 c?ad. C?im. 9 ad. c?ad. d'ad. 9 ad. 9 ad. d'juv. 9juv. ? juv. Dusky Bay, N. Z. , June, 1901 tTiapo, N. Z., Sept., 1873 Secretary Island, N.Z., Jan. 17,1899 Secretary Island, N.Z.,Jan.l2,1899 tLake McKerrow, N. Z.,Sept. ?, 1894 Otago, N. Z., 1895 tTiapo, N. Z., Sept., 1873 — ? N. Z. — ? N. Z. — ? N. Z. 126. 118. 36. 126. 116. 38. 126. §127. 37. 125. 115. 39. 124. 121. 33. 124. 120. 119. 111. 32. 34. 119. 117. 114. 105. 110. 107. 32. 32. 32. 19. 19. 19. 19.? 21. 18.5 19. 16. 16. 17. Collectors. — The Carnegie Museum birds are from Sir Walter Buller's last collection, but they were not collected by him ; the Stephens' Island birds were perhaps collected by Dannefperd in 1903 — 2 certainly was; 1903 — 18 was collected by the Earl of Ranfurley ; the Secretary Island birds by Mr. H. H. Travers; 86—22 is from the Jardine Coll.; 49—23 and 24 were collected by Dr. Lyall. • Type. t Probably Taipo in N. E. of Westland Prov.; the labels are those of Sir J. Van Haast. t In Lake Co. $ This is the longest tail measurement in a series of twenty -three. Vol. XXVIII. pp. 125-126 May 27, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON THREE NEW SUBSPECIES OF BIRDS FROM EASTERN MEXICO AND YUCATAN. BY OUTRAM BANGS. Of the three birds here provided with new names one is a well-marked subspecies of Tityra semifasciata, inhabiting Yucatan, characters for which have already been indicated l)y Ridgway. Another is the resident form of the American Robin of Southern Mexico, the peculiarities of which have been noticed by both Ridgway and Phillips. The third is a strongly characterized northeastern form of the little blue grosbeak of INIexico — Cyanocompsa parellina. Tityra semifasciata deses subsp. nov. Type from Chichen Itza, Yucatan. No. 40,079, Museum of Compara- tive Zoology, adult cf. Collected February 26, ]!I04, by L. J. Cole. Characters. — Similar to T. semifasciata personata. (J. & S.) but smaller and paler. Adult cJ witli gray of upper parts paler, and with the under parts white, less grayish. Adult $ with the color of upper parts pale, more uniform and decidedly more brownish. Measurements. — In four adult c? topotypes, wing, 125.5 to 127.5; tail, 73 to 75; tarsus, 24 to 26; exposed culmen, 23 to 24. In three adult ? topotypes, wing, 121 to 124; tail, 70.5 to 72; tarsus, 25.5 to 28; exposed culmen, 24-25.5. Turdus migratorius phillipsi* subsp. nov. Type from Las Viegas, Vera Cruz, Mexico, adult $ , No. 2130. Bangs Coll. in Mus. Comp. Zool. Collected April 20, 1897, by C. B. Isham. Characters. — Similar in color and markings to T. migratorius pro- pinquus Ridg., but decidedly smaller with relatively larger bill. Type, adult 9. Wing, 126; tail feathers, S6; tarsus, 33; exposed culmen, 19. For further measurements and remarks, see Ridgway, Birds of North and • Named for my colleague, Dr. John C. Phillips. 23— Pkoc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXVIII, 1915. (125) 126 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Middle America, Part IV, p. 101, and Phillips, A Year's Collecting in the State of Tamaulipas, Mexico, The Auk, Vol. XXVIII, p. 80. Remarks. — All specimens from Central and Northwestern Mexico should, I think, be referred to T. migratorius propinquus, those from northern Tamaulipas are more or less intermediate, while all from southern Tamaulipas and the mountains of Vera Cruz belong to the new form. I use the generic name Titrdus, not because I consider the American Robin more nearly related to the spotted thrushes than to the members of the so-called genus Planesticus, but because I agree with most European ornithologists in failing utterly to understand why such intimately related forms should be separated generically. Cyanocompsa parellina beneplacita subsp. nov. Type from Santa Leonor, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Adult c?. No. 49,685, Coll. Mus. Comp. Zool. Collected April 5, 1909, by F. B. Armstrong. Characters. — At once distinguished from all the other subspecies by having a much shorter, narrower, more fringilline bill, which in the c? is wholly black, in the 9 dusky horn color; the mandible scarcely paler. Adult (^ duller and grayer blue than the adult d of C. parellina parellina (Bp. ) of Vera Cruz to Yucatan, some examples nearly as pale as C. parellina indigoiica Ridg. of western Mexico (as a whole the series is about intermediate in color between these two forms). Adult $ , much paler and grayer brown, both above and below than the $ of C. p. parellina, not very different in color from the Q of C. p. indigotica. Size, except bill, about as in C. p. parellina, smaller than in C. p. indigotica. Measurements.— Type, adult d". Wing, 68; tail, 55; tarsus, 19.5; culmen from base, 10.5; width of mandible at base, 7. Adult 9 topotype No. 49,682, wing, 66; tail, 52; tarsus, 18.5; culmen from base, 10; width of mandible at base, 6.5. Extreme measurements afforded by ten other males are— wing, 67-70.5; tail, 52.5-57; tarsus, 17-19.5; culmen from base, 10-11; width of mandible at base, 6.5-7.5; by three other females —wing, 64-65 ; tail, 50-52; tarsus, 18-19; culmen from base, 10-10.5; width of mandible at base, 6.5-7. Remarks.— Whi\e collecting for Doctor Phillips in Tamaulipas, F. B. Armstrong secured twenty-six specimens of this well-marked form. All from the hill country in the west central part of the state are typical. Several skins, however, from Altamira in the southeastern corner of Tamaulipas are decidedly intermediate in all characters, and might almost as well be referred to C. p. parellina as to the new form. It is possible a still further subdivision should be made and the Yucatan form be given a name. It is similar to the Vera Cruz bird in size and in size, shape and color of the bill, but three out of our four adult males are very bright blue below, much more brilliant than in any Vera Cruz skin ; the fourth specimen, however, is not different from A'era Cruz examples. Vol. XXVIII, pp. 127-130 June 29, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON FIVE NEW RICE RATS OF THE GENUS ORYZOMYS FROM MIDDLE AMERICA. BY E. A. GOLDMAN. The following descriptions of new species and subspecies of Oryzomys are published in the course of a revision of the North and Middle American forms of the genus now in progress. These represent widely differing groups, three forms being from Mexico, one from Panama, and one from Costa Rica included with other material from that country kindly loaned by Dr. J. A. Allen, Curator of Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History. Oryzomys guerrerensis sp. nov. Type from Omilteme, Guerrero, Mexico. No. 127,517, male adult (molars moderately worn), U. S. National Museum (Biological Survey Collection), collected by E. W. Nelson and E. A. Goldman, May 20, 1903. Original number 16,454. General characters. — A small species similar in general to 0. melanotis, but decidedly smaller; color darker; ears wholly black [inner sides clothed with rusty reddish hairs in melanotis] ; skull with very low, flat braincase. Color. — Type (fresh pelage): Upperparts ochraceous-tawny (Ridgway, 1912), purest on cheeks, shoulders and sides, the face, top of head, and back darkened by a moderate admixture of black hairs ; underparts dull grayish white, the plumbeous basal color of the fur showing through; outer and inner sides of ears well clothed with deep, glossy black hairs; feet whitish, the claws of longer toes overlapped by tufts of silvery bristles; tail brownish above, irregularly flesh color below to near tip, which is dusky all around. Skull. — Similar in general to that of 0. melanotis, but much smaller and lighter, with more slender zygomata; braincase similarly broad, but very much lower and flatter; outer wall of antorbital foramen with anterior border more rounded and less noticeably projecting forward as viewed from above; interparietal smaller; anterior palatine foramina about as broad anteriorly as posteriorly [broader posteriorly in melanotis] ; teeth as in melanotis, but smaller. 24— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash,. You XXVIII, 1915. (127) 128 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Measurements. — Type: Total length, 220; tail vertebrae, 118; hind foot, 27. Skull (type): Greatest length, 26.3; zygomatic breadth, 14; interor- bital breadth, 4.9; length of nasals, 10.1 ; length of anterior palatine fora- mina, 4; length of palatal bridge, 5.5; length of upper molar series, 3.8. Remarks. — Six specimens from the type locality represent a form apparently allied to 0. melanotis, of Jalisco, but specifically distinct. The wholly black ears and remarkably flat skull are distinguishing char- acters. Oryzomys nitidus alleni subsp. nov. Type from Tuis (about 35 miles east of Cartago), Costa Rica. No. tItt) young adult male (teeth slightly worn), American Museum of Nat- ural History, collected by George K. Cherrie, July 15, 1894. General characters. — In external appearance closely resembling Oryzo- mys nitidus nitidus, the pelage long and very soft as in that form (hairs on back about 12 millimeters in length); skull with higher, much more fully expanded braincase. Color. — Type : Upperparts between ochraceous-tawny and cinnamon- brown, purest on cheeks, shoulders and sides; the face, top of head, and back heavily mixed with black, the very dark basal color of the fur showing through and producing a blackish effect ; underparts dull whit- ish; ears black, thinly clothed with very short inconspicuous hairs; feet fiesh color; tail nearly unicolor, dark brownish above, slightly paler below. Skull. — Similar in general to that of 0. n. nitidus, but braincase much more distended ; interorbital constriction about the same, but supraorbital ridges more strongly divergent and frontal region decidedly broader pos- teriorly ; dentition about the same. Measurements. — Type: Total length, 218; tail vertebrae, 111; hind foot, 29. Skull (type): Greatest length, 28.2; zygomatic breadth, 14.3; interorbital breadth, 5.5 ; length of nasals, 10.9 ; length of anterior pala- tine foramina, 3.5; length of palatal bridge, 5.5; length of upper molar series, 4.3. Remarks. — Specimens from San Javier and Carondelet, northern Ecua- dor, some of which have been identified by Mr. Oldfield Thomas with the Peruvian form described as ' Hesperomys laticeps var nitidus ' have been used for comparison. The Costa Rican animal agrees with these in many essential respects ; it differs most noticeably in the expansion of the braincase, the swelling extending forward between the orbits and resulting in a greater lateral development of the frontals. The new form is named for Dr. J. A. Allen, of the American Museum of Natural History, to whom I am indebted for many courtesies. Specimens examined. — Three, from the type locality. Oryzomys alfaroi dariensis subsp. nov. Type from Cana, eastern Panama (altitude 2,000 feet). No. 178,660, female adult, U. S. National Museum (Biological Survey Collection), collected by E. A. Goldman, March 4, 1912. Original number 21,453. Goldman — Five Neiv Rice Rats of the Genus Oryzomys. 129 General characters. — A small form closely allied to Oryzomys alfaroi alfaroi ; color of upper parts richer, more rufescent; skull usually nar- rower. Similar to 0. gracilis and to 0. alfaroi pabnirx, but color more rufescent and skull differing in detail. Color. — Type: General color of upperparts near ochraceous-tawny, purest on cheeks shoulders and sides, the top of head and back suffused with tawny, finely mixed with black ; underparts dull white ; ears black ; feet white, the four longer toes of hind feet with tufts of silvery bristles projecting beyond the claws. Skull. — Small and slender in form, the anterior palatine foramina broad, but much shorter than palatal bridge; audital bullae small. About like that of 0. a. alfaroi, but braincase and frontal region usually nar- rower. Closely resembling that of 0. a. palmirse, but shorter, with more widely spreading zygomata and smaller teeth. Measurements. — Type: Total length, 203; tail vertebrte, 107; hind foot, 25.5. Average of five adult topotypes: 220 (212-226); 113 (107- 117); 24.6 (23-26). Skull (type): Greatest length, 27.4; zygomatic breadth, 14.5; interorbital breadth, 5; length of nasals, 11.1; length of anterior palatine foramina, 3.7; length of palatal bridge, 5.5; length of upper molar series, 3.7. Remarks. — This small, slender rice rat differs from typical 0. a. alfaroi, of Costa Rica, mainly in richer, more tawny coloration. It is closely allied to the Colombian form described as 0. palmirx and the latter is clearly assignable to subspecific rank, if it does not prove to be identical with 0. gracilis, the type of which came from farther north in the Cauca Valley. Comparison of 0. a. dariensis with specimens from northern Ecuador, assigned to 0. gracilis by Mr. Oldfield Thomas, and reference to the original description of that species indicate that the two are very nearly related. The description of the color of 0. gracilis, however, seems to apply to the Ecuadorean specimens, or to 0. palmirse, rather than to the Darien animal. Moreover, the skull of the new form is dis- tinguished from that of 0. gracilis, as here understood, by the greater lateral expansion of the zygomata. Specimens examined. — Ten, all from the type locality. Oryzomys couesi regillus subsp. nov. Type from Los Reyes, Michoacan, Mexico. No. 125,945, male adult, U. 8. National Museum (Biological Survey Collection), collected by E. W. Nelson and E. A. Goldman, February 17, 1903. Original num- ber 15,962. General characters. — A large richly colored form of the 0. couesi group, with long, soft pelage. Similar in general to 0. c. couesi but much larger and paler colored, the underparts usually white instead of buffy. Size and proportions about as in 0. albiventer, but upperparts darker and more rufescent in color. Color. — Type: Upperparts in general rich ochraceous-buff, the back and rump strongly suffused with tawny and lined with black hairs; under- 130 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. parts, including lips, dull whitish ; outer sides of ears blackish, the inner sides clothed with buffy hairs; feet white; tail light brownish above, whitish or flesh color below on basal half, becoming brownish all around toward tip. In other examples the underparts vary from nearly pure white to light buff. Skull. — In general form very similar to that of 0. c. couesi, but much larger, with heavier dentition ; anterior palatine foramina about equal to palatal bridge [usually longer than palatal bridge in 0. c. couesi], and ending posteriorly near anterior plane of first molars ; interparietal rela- tively smaller. Measurements. — Type: Total length, 305; tail vertebrte 169; hind foot, 36. Skull (type): Greatest length, 33.4; zygomatic breadth, 18.3; in- terorbital breadth, 5.2; length of nasals, 12.5; length of anterior palatine foramina, 6.4; length of palatal bridge, 6.4; length of upper molar series, 4.9. Remarks. — This handsome rice rat is a member of the widely dispersed 0. couesi group. It is closely allied to 0. albiventer, a near geographic neighbor, and examination of specimens from intermediate localities in- dicates gradation through intervening forms to typical 0. c. couesi. Specimens examined. — Ten, all from the type locality. Oryzomys fulvescens lenis subsp. nov. Type from Los Reyes, Michoacan, Mexico. No. 125,941, male adult, U. S. National Museum (Biological Survey Collection), collected by E. W. Nelson and E. A. Goldman, February 14, 1903. Original number 15,948. General characters. — Similar to Oryzomys fulvescens fulvescens but upper parts paler ochraceous-bufF, the general tone more yellowish; skull broader and more massive. Color. — Type (fresh pelage): Upper parts in general pale ochraceous- buff, becoming warm buff on cheeks, shoulders and lower part of sides ; the face, top of head and back moderately lined with dark hairs; under parts light buff, except chin and lips, which are white; outer sides of ears blackish, inner sides clothed with ochraceous buffy hairs; feet white; tail light brownish above, flesh color below proximally, becoming dusky all around toward tip. Skull. — Broader than that of 0. f. fulvescens ; zygomata more widely spreading; maxillary arms of zygoma and ascending branches of pre- maxillse broader and heavier; dentition rather heavy, but equalled in some examples of 0. f. fulvescens. Measurements. — Type: Total length, 198; tail vertebrae, 115; hind foot, 23. Skull (type): Greatest length, 22.6; zygomatic breadth, 12.3; inter- orbital breadth, 3.4; length of nasals, 8.6; length of anterior palatine foramina, 3.9 ; length of palatal bridge, 4. ] ; length of upper molar series, 3. Remarks. — Oryzomys f. lenis is a pale form of 0. fulvescens ranging at the lower elevations along the Pacific side of Mexico. Aside from paler coloration, it is distinguished from 0. f. fulvescens by the broader, more massive skull. Vol. XXVIII, pp. 131-132 June 29, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON A NEW SPECIES OF TAILLESS BATRACHIAN FROM NORTH AMERICA. BY LEONHARD STEJNEGER. [Published by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.] A very interesting addition to the fauna of the United States was found in a recent collection kindly presented to the National Museum by Mr. R. D. Camp. It is a small species of the Mexican genus Syrrhophus, already represented in Texas by the type species Syrrhophus viarnockii Cope, the original specimens of which came from near San Antonio. These Leptodactylid toads differ from Eleutherodadylus and Lithodytes in the absence of vomerine teeth. Syrrhophus campi new species. Diagnosis. — Heel of extended hind leg reaches center of eye; diameter of tympanum slightly more that half that of eye ; back coarsely granular ; head wide. Type— v. S. Nat. Mus. Cat. No. 52,290; Brownsville, Texas ; R. D. Camp, collector. Description of type-specimen. — Tongue broadly pear-shaped, somewhat truncate behind with a tendency to a posterior lateral projection on each side ; nostrils much nearer the tip of snout than the eye, their distance from the latter slightly less than the eye diameter and equal their distance from each other; upper eyelids much narrower than interorbital space which is wider than diameter of eye; tympanum distinct, circular, its rim interrupted above, slightly more than half the diameter of eye, distance from the eye one-third its own diameter; fingers with well- developed terminal disks which are truncate anteriorly; subarticular tubercles very strongly developed; palms strongly tuberculate; second finger scarcely longer than first; toes with considerably smaller disks; soles with small tubercles; both inner and outer metatarsal tubercles present and well developed ; no tarsal fold ; the bent limbs being pressed along the side, knee and elbow overlap; hind limb being extended along the side, heel reaches beyond posterior angle of eye; hind limbs being 25-Proc. Biol. Soo. Wash.. Vol. XXVIII. 1915. (131) 132 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. placed vertically to the axis of the body, the heels overlap; skin above densely tubercular, except on snout and interorbital space which are nearly smooth; underside of body smooth, of femurs granular. Color (in alcohol) brownish gray above, with dark brown irregular markings which on the back join to form four ill-defined longitudinal bands ; indication of a dark band across the interorbital space ; ground color on top of snout anterior to this band and the outer space between the dorsal bands paler than elsewhere; a dark band from nostrils over lores, through eyes to above tympanum; sides with numerous small white spots; limbs with dusky cross bands and whitish spots on the light spaces; underside white, chin and throat minutely sprinkled with dusky. Dimensions. — Tip of snout to vent, 24 millimeters; width of head, 8; nostrils to eye, 2.5; interorbital space, 3; diameter of eye, 2.75; diameter of tympanum, 1.5; fore leg from axilla, 14; hind leg from vent, 34; vent to heel, 19. Coloration of living specimens. — Iris golden with black reticulations; ground color above olive clay, dark markings blackish ; aide of face dark with the loreal band blackish and whitish spots on upper lip and under eye; underside whitish, with more or less purplish tinge. Variation. — The chief variation is found in the coloration of the alco- holic specimens, many of which are quite pale above with numerous small dusky spots without much indication of the pattern described in the type. A pale canthal stripe is often markedly set off from the dark loreal stripe, as is also a pale cross band in front of the interorbital black band. Younger specimens are often uniformly light brownish gray, and the very youngest, of which I have examined a number not measuring more than 7 mm. in total length, seem always to be without any dusky spots on back. All show more or less definite indications of cross mark- ings on the legs. The skin above is equally tubercular in all the speci- mens, young as well as adult. Remarks. — This species in many respects approaches S. leprus in gen- eral proportions and aspect (except coloration) but the head is somewhat narrower, the snout is longer and more pointed, the second finger is shorter and the foot longer. It difiers from all the species described before by its coarsely granular upper surface. This interesting novelty, according to information furnished by Mr. Camp, was " found under boxes and boards about buildings in city." A number of very young specimens, 7-8 mm. long, were collected with the adult ones. They show no trace of a tail and it is quite likely, as Dr. Thomas Barbour has suggested to me, that they are hatched fully devel- oped from the egg, as we know to be the case with some of the species of Eleutherodactylus. Vol. XXVIII, pp. 133-138 June 29, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON FIVE NEW MAMMALS FROM MEXICO AND ARIZONA. BY E. A. GOLDMAN. The following descriptions of hitherto unrecognized forms of mammals in the collection of the Biological Survey are based in part on material gathered by E. W. Nelson and myself, mainly in Mexico. One of the woodrats was included in a collection of mammals made by Charles Sheldon during a recent visit to the state of Sonora, Mexico, Potos flavus guerrerensis subsp. nov. GUERRERO KINKAJOU. Type from near Ometepec, Guerrero, Mexico. No. 74,683, male adult, U. S. National Museum (Biological Survey Collection), collected by E. W. Nelson, and E. A. Goldman, February 15, 1895. Original number 7464. General characters. — Size and color about as in P. f. aztecus; skull less elongated, the rostrum and frontal region relatively broad ; audital bullae more fully inflated, rounded and bulging conspicuously below basiocci- pital, instead of flattened as in all of its known relatives in Middle America. Color. — Type: Upperparts near clay color (Ridgway, 1912), somewhat suflFused with ochraceous-tawny, especially on neck, the top of head and back darkened by brownish-tipped hairs; underparts, Including inner sides of limbs and under side of tail cinnamon-buffy, this color darkest across abdomen and becoming clay color along the sides ; outer sides of limbs and feet to base of toes similar to back, the toes more brownish. Another specimen, an adult male, is richer, more ochraceous-tawny in color, with an elongated dark brown patch on the median line of the abdomen ; also present in some specimens of other forms of the group. Skull. — Similar to that of P. f. aztecus, but less elongated, the rostrum and frontal region relatively broad ; basioccipital narrower and less dis- tinctly ridged along median line; audital bullae more inflated, projecting 26— Pkoc. Biol. Soc. Wash.. Vol. XXVIII. 1915. C133) 134 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. more conspicuously below basioccipital ; postorbital processes stout and tapering as in aztecus, not peg-like as in P.f. cMriquensis. Measurements. — Type: Total length, 1050; tail vertebrse, 536; hind foot, 110. An adult male topotype: 950; 490; 103. Skull (type) : Great- est length, 93.5; condylo-basal length, 89.1; zygomatic breadth, 61.9; interorbital breadth, 22.3; breadth of rostrum, 23.7; breadth across mastoid processes, 46.3; alveolar length of upper molariform tooth- row, 21. Remarks. — An arm of the general range of the Polos flavus group extends northward in the tropical belt along the Pacific coast west of the high mountains of the interior to Papayo ( near Acapulco ) , Guerrero, and perhaps farther. Specimens from this region do not differ appreciably in general size or color from P. f. aztecus of eastern Mexico, but the cranial characters are distinctive. Specimens examined. — Four, from localities in Guerrero as follows: Near Ometepec (type locality), 3; Papayo, 1. Qeomys personatus tropicalis subsp. nov. TAMAULIPAS POCKET GOPHER. 7)/pe from Alta Mira, Tamaulipas, Mexico. No. 92,946, male adult, U. S. National Museum (Biological Survey Collection), collected by E. A. Goldman, April 18, 1898. Original number 12,320. General characters. — Similar in color to G. p. personatus and G. p. fallax; size rather small, about as in fallax, much smaller than in typi- cal personatus; skull differing in detail from both, especially in the anteriorly spreading zygomata, slenderer posterior ends of premaxillse, and narrower interpterygoid fossa. Color. — Type (somewhat worn pelage) : General color of upperparts between cinnamon and cinnamon-buff, fading to light buff along lower part of sides; the top of head and back thinly overlaid with brown; underparts white ; feet thinly clothed with short whitish hairs ; tail nearly naked; flesh-colored. Skull. — Similar in size to that of G. p. fallax, much smaller than that of G. p. personatus; zygomata narrowing posteriorly, the sides less nearly parallel, and ascending branches of premaxillae narrower, more tapering posteriorly than in fallax or typical personatus; interpterygoid fossa narrow ; mastoid and audital bullpe shrunken in appearance much as in typical personatus, not swollen or rounded as in fallax. Measurements. — Type: Total length, 270; tail vertebrse, 86; hind foot, 33. Skull (type): Condylo-basal length, 46.9; zygomatic breadth, 30.4; interorbital breadth, 6.2; length of nasals, 17,6; alveolar length of upper molar series, 10. Remarks. — No specimens of the genus Geomys, as now restricted, have hitherto been recorded from Mexico. The discovery of a form of G. personatus in extreme southern Tamaulipas, therefore, materially extends the known range of the group to the southward. Specimens examined. — Twelve, all from the type locality. Goldman — Five New Mammals from Mexico and Arizona. 135 Neotoma albigula mearnsi subsp. nov. MEARNS WOOD RAT. Type from Tinajas Altas, near international boundary, southwestern Arizona. No. 202,981, male adult, U. 8. National Museum (Biological Survey Collection), collected by E. A. Goldman, November 21, 1913. Original number 22, .300. General characters. — Closely allied to N. a. albigula but paler, the ground color of upperparts light buff instead of warm buff or light ochraceous-buff of Ridgway, 1912, as in that form; underparts purer ■white, the areas of basally plumbeous fur more restricted ; tail less sharply bicolor, grayer above. Color. — Type (fresh pelage): Upperparts light buff, nearly pure on cheeks, flanks and outer sides of limbs, the top of head and back rather thinly lined or overlaid with an admixture of black-tipped hairs ; under- parts, including lips, sides of muzzle, and inner sides of limbs white, the fur pure white to roots except along flanks and sides of abdomen where it is pale plumbeous basally; ears grayish, edged with white; feet white; tail grayish above (light and dark hairs intermixed), white below. Skull. — Like that of N. a. albigula; palate concave posteriorly and first upper molar with antero-internal reentrant angle shallow, as in the typical form. Measurements. — Type: Total length, 337; tail vertebr?e, 165; hind foot, 35. Average of two adult topotypes: 332 (329-335); 158 (157-159) ; 32 (31.5-32.5). Skull (type): Greatest length, 43.2; zygomatic breadth, 21.5; interorbital breadth, 5.9; length of nasals, 16; length of anterior palatine foramina, 8.6; length of palatal bridge, 7.7; length of upper molar series, 8.5. Remarks. — The pallid coloration of this form readily distinguishes it from N. a. albigula whose range includes most of Arizona, New Mexico, eastern Texas and much of northern Mexico. N. a. mearnsi is probably restricted to the extremely arid desert area extending from near the type locality southward along the eastern side of the Gulf of California — a region largely covered with shifting, whitish sand. Close comparison with N. a. melanura and N. a. seri of southern Sonora is unnecessary, both being darker forms with differing cranial details. The skull of N. a. seri is somewhat smaller and less massive, with narrower frontal region, smaller interparietal and slightly smaller audital bullae. Some of the specimens of N. a. albigula from Sonoyta, Sonora, are pale and apparently show gradation toward the present form. The pallid colora- tion of three or four examples of N. albigula from Tinajas Altas and vicinity was pointed out by Mearns* who contrasted them with the darker animals inhabiting the Gila River bottom. It was not until the accession of new material that the necessity of recognizing a new form became apparent. It is named for Dr. E. A. Mearns who collected spec- imens at the type locality more than 20 years ago. Specimens examined. — Ten, all from southwestern Arizona as follows : * Mammals of the Mexican Boundary, Bui. 56, part I, U. S. Nat. Mus., p. 480, 1907. 136 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Gila Mountains (near Tinajas Altas ), 3; Granite Mountains (near Tule Wells), 1; Tinajas Altas (type locality), 4; Tule Wells, 2. Neotoma albigula sheldoni subsp. nov. SHELDON WOOD RAT. T)/pe from Pinacate Mountains (Papago Tanks), Sonora, Mexico, No. 206,812, U. S. National Museum (Biological Survey Collection), collected by Charles Sheldon , 1915. General characters. — A dark colored form of the N. albigula group, differing from N. a. albigula and N. a. mearnsi in the peculiar vinaceous bufliy general tone of the upperparts. Color. — Type (fresh pelage): Upperparts in general vinaceous-bufF, purest on shoulders and sides, the back rather strongly darkened by black hairs ; head grayish ; underparts white, the fur pure white to roots on throat, chest, and inguinal region, as usual in N. a. albigula ; ears and orbital borders blackish; feet white; tail sharply bicolor, black above, white below. In one specimen the vinaceous-bufF of sides extends across the abdomen, but the throat and chest are pure white as in the others. Skull. — About like that of N. a. albigula. Measurements. — Type (dry skin): Total length, 334; tail vertebrte, 136; hind foot, 32.5 Skull (type): Greatest length, 44; zygomatic breadtli, 23.1 ; interorbital breadth, 5.5; length of nasals, 16.9; length of anterior palatine foramina, 8.9; length of palatal bridge, 7.4; length of upper molar series, 8.5. Remarks. — In the pronounced vinaceous buffy shade of the upperparts and more copious admixture of black, this form contrasts strikingly with its exceedingly pallid relative, N. a. mearnsi, of the region along the international boundary, only 40 or 50 miles away. The two forms agree so closely in cranial details, however, that it seems best to regard them as subspecies. The dark color of the form inhabiting the Pinacate Mountains seems to be associated with that of its lava environment. It is named for the hunter-naturalist, Charles Sheldon, who collected the material which forms the basis of this description, and through whose interest and generosity much has been contributed to our knowledge of many North American mammals. Specimens examined. — Ten, all from the Pinacate Mountains. Noctilio leporinus mexicanus subsp. nov. MEXICAN BULLDOG BAT. Type from Papayo, Guerrero, Mexico. No. 126,672, male adult, U. S. National Museum (Biological Survey Collection), collected by E. W. Nelson and E. A. Goldman, April 17, 1903. Original number 16,318. General characters. — Closely resembling N. I. leporinus and N. I. mastivus but smaller, the difference in size most noticeable in the skull. Maxillary toothrow short. Color. — Male (type) : About as in N. I. leporinus, the general color of upperparts rich, dark, ochraceous-tawny (Ridgway, 1912), becoming Goldman — Five New Mammals from Mexico and Arizona. 137 tawny on the head, with a narrow stripe of paler fur along median line of back ; underparts between zinc orange and tawny. Female: Upper- parts near buckthorn brown ; underparts pale yellow ocher. Skull. — Similar in form to those of N. I. leporinus and N. I. mastivus, but smaller ; maxillary toothrow shorter, the teeth relatively broader, or more extended transversely. Measurements. — Type (dry skin) : Forearm, 83.2; tibia, 37; foot, 33.5. An adult male topotype : 83.9; 37.1; 32.9. Two adult female topotypes : 82, 85.8; .35.5, 36.8; 32, 31. Skull (type):* Greatest length, 28.5 (26.4, 26.2); condylo-incisive length, 25.2 (24.7, 24.3); zygomatic breadth, 19.8 (18.6, 18.7); interorbital breadth, 7.4(7.1, 6.8); length of maxillary toothrow, 10.7 (10.4, 10.1). Remarks. — Specimens from various localities in South America and the West Indies have been used for comparison, of which those from Trinidad are assumed to represent typical N. I. leporimis,^ while a pair from Mono Island have been taken to represent N. I. mastivus, in the absence of material from the type locality, the neighboring island of Saint Croix. While the exact status of N. I. leporinus and N. I. mastivus seems not entirely clear. South American, and West Indian specimens from as far west as Jamaica differ from the Mexican series, especially in larger size. The males in forms of N. leporinus are larger than the females. Occa- sional females, in the Mexican form, at least, may, however, have fore- arms about as long as males of greater general dimensions. Specimens examined. — Nine, all from the type locality. * Measurements of two adult female topotypes in parentheses. f Type locality, Surinam (see Thomas. Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 131, March, 1911). Vol. XXVIII. pp. 139-140 June 29, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON A NEW PIGEON FROM CHIRIQUI, PANAMA. BY ROBERT RIDGWAY. [By permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.] In working up the pigeons of the genus CEncenas for Part VII, Bulletin 50, U. S. National Museum ("Birds of North and Middle America"), the following new species was discovered. CEnoenas chiriquensis sp. nov. Type, unsexed, U. S. National Museum, No. 148,301, Chiriqui, Pana- ma. Collected by E. Arce. Similar to CE. purpureotincta , but with longer bill, wing and tail (the bill relatively more slender), color of head and neck more vinaceous, and inner webs of remiges wholly grayish brown ; similar also to CE. nigriros- tris but bill very much more slender, upper parts more purplish (less olivaceous) brown, inner webs of remiges without cinnamomeous (wood brown) tinge, and color of under parts darker. Adult (male ?). — Forehead and anterior portion of crown between vinaceous-drab and brownish drab, passing into deep brownish drab on posterior part of crown, occiput, and hindneck, the latter transversely spotted (a pair of subterminal spots on each feather) with purplish vina- ceous or light vinaceous-lilac; * rest of upper parts dark olive brown or dark bister, passing into more purplish brown (nearly light seal brown, somewhat tinged with bronzy) on rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail,t the primaries darker and more grayish brown; sides of head and neck, foreneck, and chest plain vinaceous-drab or deep brownish drab, passing into deep vinaceous-buff or avellaneous on chin and upper throat and into brownish drab on breast and more posterior under parts, the under tail-coverts dark vinaceous-drab, tinged with brighter or clearer vina- ceous-drab; axillars and under wing-coverts nearly concolor with breast, but slightly tinged with cinnamon ; under surface (inner webs) of remiges grayish brown; bill black; legs and feet pale brownish (probably red in life). Wing, 153; tail, 119; culmen, 13; tarsus, 20; middle toe, 23.5 mm. • These spots are probably not always present, as they are an inconstant feature in other forms of this genus. + This purplish hue is more pronounced in freshly grown feathers, and a few such occur among the posterior scapulars and proximal greater wing-coverts. 27— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXVIII, 1915. (139) Vol. XXVm, pp. 141-144 June 29, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON GENERAL NOTES. EUREODON AS THE GENERIC NAME OF THE WARTHOGS. Phacochoerus or some of its numerous variants has long been used as the generic name of the African warthogs, dating from G. Cuvier's Rfegne animal, volume 1, page 236, 1817, probably appearing late in the previous year. An examination of the original reference convinces me that Cuvier never used the word Phacochoerus as a proper generic expression. In his account of the pigs, the warthogs are well described and considered a genus apart from the true pigs. As was so frequently the case with French authors the genus is designated by the French term Les Phaco- Choeres (Fred. Cuv. ). A foot note occurs written thus: Phaco choerus ; cochon portant une verrue. At no place in the text does the single word Phacochoerus exist either standing by itself or in combination with a specific name. The foot note is clearly only an explanation of the French term Phaco-choeres which is not given on G. Cuvier's authority but is quoted by him as the designation of warthogs used by his brother, F. Cuvier. In the second edition of the R^gne animal, 1829, page 244, the status of the name is the same although the two parts of the explan- atory foot note are connected by a hyphen. The first use of Phacochoerus as a proper generic term is apparently by Fisher von Waldheim in the Memoirs de la Society Imperiale des Natu- ralistes de Moscou, volume 5, page 417, 1817. It is here used as a Latinization of F. Cuvier's French term Phacochoere. Unfortunately it is given as a synonym of Fischer's designation of the warthogs, Eureodon, occurring first on page .373 and later with description and synonymy on page 417. Eureodon and Phacochoerus as valid generic terms for the warthogs were published simultaneously and Eureodon having been given preference by Fischer, the first reviser, as well as originator of the terms, according to Article 28 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature should be accepted as the generic designation of the warthogs. — M. W. Lyon, Jr. 28— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXVIII, 1915. (141) 142 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. JACQUINOTIA, A NEW CRAB NAME. In 1830, William Elford Leach, in a paper entitled " On two new genera of Crustaceous animals, discovered by Mr. John Cranch, in the expedi- tion to Congo," and published in the Transactions of the Plymouth Institution, described the genus Prionorhynchus (p. 170) for a pelagic larval crustacean, P. cranchianus, from ofi" the northwest coast of Africa. In 1853 Jacquinot made a new genus of spider crabs (Family Inachidse) under the name Prionorhynchus, type P. edwardsii, from the Auckland Islands. This was described in Hombron and Jacquinot' s " Voyage au Pole Sud et dans I'Oceaniesur les corvettes 1' Astrolabe et la Zelee," ZooL, vol. 3, Crust., p. 5. As the name Prionorhynchus had been used 23 years previously by Leach for a different genus, I propose the name Jacquinotia (Jacquinotia edwardsii, type) for Jacquinot' s genus. — Mary J. Rathbun. THE SYSTEMATIC NAME OF THE MEXICAN SPIDER MONKEY. Mr. E. A. Goldman has called my attention to a name for the Mexican spider monkey which antedates my Ateles tricolor (Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash- ington, Vol. 27, p. 141, 1914). This generally overlooked name is Ateles neglectus Reinhardt (Vid. Medd. nat. For. Kjobenhavn, 1872, p. 150), type locality, Mirador, Vera Cruz. I have seen no specimens from the type locality, but a study of Reinhardt's description and an examination of some skins and skulls in the Biological Survey Collection taken by Nelson and Goldman at Tuxtepec, Oaxaca, less than 100 miles from Mirador, indicate that this species and my Ateles tricolor from Tehuantepec ' are identical. The Mexican spider monkey, which is clearly distinct from Ateles pan of Guatemala, should be known as Ateles neglectus Reinhardt. — N. Hollister. THE NAME OF AZARA'S AGOUARACHAY. As shown by Thomas,* the small "fox" of Paraguay and northern Argentina, long known under the name Canis azarae, should bear another name. However, Pseudalopex azarica, proposed for it by Thomas, is antedated by at least two earlier names. The species was first described by Azara in 1801 under the native name Agouarachay . Maximilian, like Burmeister and other later authors, believed the Agouarachay to be the same as the crab-eating dog of eastern Brazil, which was the real basis of the name Canis azarae. But meanwhile Gottholf Fischer in 1814 had proposed the name Procyon gymnocercus for the species described by Azara and, although this name has been generally overlooked, it is much earlier than any other based exclusively on the Agouarachay. The use of the generic name Procyon by Fischer was doubtless induced by the fact that Azara had placed the species next to one properly belonging to that genus and had made some com- parisons with it. * Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (8), XIII, pp. 350-360, 1914. General Notes. 143 Cariis brasilieyisis Schinz ;il.so refers exclusively to the Agouarachay and does not supersede Maximilian's azarae as supposed by Allen * and Thomas. Examination of the description by Schinz shows that it is based wholly on the Agouarachay , in fact being scarcely more than an abridged translation of the characters and measurements given by Azara. This name therefore becomes a synonym of Fischer's gymnocercus , as does also the recent azarica Thomas. Canis azarae of Maximilian will thus stand for the crab-eating dog of eastern Brazil selected by Thomas as the genotype of Cerdocyon. The synonymy of the two species will be as follows: Canis (Pseudalopex) gymnocercus Fischer. L' Agouarachay, Azara, Quad. Paraguay, I, pp. 317-323, 1801. Procyon gymnocercus Fischer, Zoognosia, III, pp. 178-179, 1814, Canis hrasiliensis Schinz, Das Thierreich, I, p. 220, 1821. Canis azarae of various authors; not of Maximilian. Pseudalopex azarica Thomas, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (8), XIII, pp. 350-360, 1914. Canis (Cerdocyon) azarae Maximilian. Canis azarae Maximilian, Beitr. Naturg. Bras., II, pp. 338-343, 1826. Cerdocyon guaraxa Smith, Jard. Nat. Lib., Mamm., IX, pp. 262-263, 1839. Canis brachy teles Blainville, Osteogr. Mamm. (g. Canis), pp. 30, 32, 47, 151, fasc. XIII, 1843. ? Canis melampus\ Wagner, Wiegmann's Archiv. f. Naturg., I, p. 358, 1843. Canis melanostomus Wagner, Wiegmann's Archiv. f. Naturg., I, p. 358, 1843. ? Canis thous angulensis i Thomas, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. (7), XII, p. 460, Oct., 1903. Canis thous riograndensis von Ihering, Rev. Mus. Paulista, VIII, p. 217, May, 1911. — Wilfred H. Osgood. •Mamm. Patagonia, p. 158, footnote, 1905. t Whether this name is synonymous with azarae or not is doubtful; possibly it should apply to the form described from the same region (Matto Grosso) as Cerdocyon mimax (Thomas. Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. (8), XIII, p. 3.55, 1914). t The form to which this name applies is of somewhat uncertain status, since it is probable that it ranges into the state of Rahia, which, being the only specific locality mentioned by Maximilian, may be regarded as the type locality of azarae. Vol. XXVIII, pp. 145-146 August 23, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON THE STATUS OF THE TUNICATE GENERA APPEN- DICULAR! A AND FRITILLARIA. BY PAUL BARTSCH. Appendicular ia Chamisso & Eisenhardt; hologenotype Appen- dicular ia flagellum Cham. & Eis., 1821,* appears unrecognizable. With the intention of saving this generic name, Fol in 1874 decided to give it a new status by redefining it and applying it to organisms typified by Appendicidaria sicula, Fol. In reality Fol here creates a new genus, Appendicular ia,'\ with A. sicida Fol as hologenotype. This genus of Fol's has been recognized by subsequent writers on the subject as the basic genus Appendicidaria. Appendicidaria Fol, 1874, being preoccupied by Appendicidaria Cham. & Eis., 1821, according to the rules requires a new name and I propose in its place Appendicula with Appendicidaria sicida Fol as holo- genotype. Fretillaria was cited by Agassiz, 1846,+ but Quoy and Gaimard referred to the animals as Fretillaires § and described them under the name Oikopleura hifurcata Q. & G.ll Agassiz there- fore becomes the author of the genus Fretillaria and Oikopleura hifurcata is the hologenotype. Huxley in his ' ' Remarks upon Appendicularia and Doliolum" states : 'i " The only other notice of the genus (so far as I am aware) is that given by MM. Quoy and Gaimard. It was observed in • Xov. Acta. Acad. Leop.. Vol. 10, p. oii2, t. 31, f. 4, 1821. t Arch. Zool. exper.. Vol. Ill, p. XLIX, 1874. X Xomeii. Zool. Acalephae, p. 4, "Fretillaria Quoy ot G. Zool. rle I'Astr. Fretum. Beroiflae." ^ Voy. Astrolabe, Vol. 4, p. 10, 1834. II Ibid., pp. 304-oOG, pi. 26, figs. 4-7, 1834. IT Trans. Roy. See. London, p. 595, 1857. 29— Proc. Riol. Soc. Wash., Vol.. XXVIIl, 1915. (145) 146 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. immense masses off Algoa Bay, South Africa, and was called by them Fritillaria, until they afterwards became acquainted with the descriptions of Chamisso and Mertens. Recognizing as they do the priority of discovery of the former, they yet adopt the name conferred by the latter, and, without any very just reason, give to the specimens observed by themselves a new specific name, 0. bifurcatn.'" This is wrong in so far as the name Fritillaria is concerned, which was not mentioned by Quoy & Gaimard, but must date from Huxley, having the same hologenotype as Agassiz's name, and thus becoming an absolute synonym of it. But Oikopleura hifurcata Q. & G. appears unrecognizable. In the belief that he was saving this generic name, as in the case of Appendicularia, Fol in 1874* emended the diagnosis of Fritillaria to fit a group of organisms which he had described in 1872. t Fritillaria Fol 1874 is therefore preoccupied by Fritillaria Huxley, 1857, and since no other generic name appears to have been proposed to replace Fritillaria Fol, 1874, 1 suggest for it the name Fritillura designating Fritillaria magachile Fol as type. • Arch. Zool. exp., Vol. 3, p. XLIX, 1874. + Mojn. Soc. Phys. Geneve, pp. 473-^8. 1S72. Vol. XXVIII, pp. 147-148 September 21, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON DIAGNOSIS OF A NEW SUBSPECIES OF MARMOT FROM COLORADO. BY J. D. FIGGINS. Examination of specimens of Marmola from northern Colo- rado reveals pronounced differences in both color and cranial characters, as compared with Marmota f. luteola Howell and Marmota f. obscura Howell. This subspecific form may be dis- tinguished as follows: 'e>^ Marmota flaviventer campion! subsp. nov. Ti^pe specimen, male adult, Colorado Museum Natural History number 1235. Locality, detached range between tlie " North Fork" and North Platte River, eight miles north of Higho, Jackson Co., Colo. Collected by H. H. Sheldon, June 19, 1914. Characters. — Compared in size, campioni differs very little from either luteola or obscura. In color, campioni is distinct, notably in the pre- ponderance of white on the liead, throat and under parts. Upper parts, including back, sides, outer sides of legs, and two-thirds of tail light cinnamon brown; chin, lips, nose, throat, and fore chest a pure white, whicli blends beneath with the darker color of the belly and disajipears at the base of the tail ; an irregular band of pale vandyke brown across muzzle terminating at anterior corner of eye, adjoined posteriorly by a stripe of ocher yellow which verges into white on the forehead, is inter- rupted at the eye, but continues below in the form of a malar patch to ear. Measurements. — Type specimen, total length, 670; tail, 180; hind foot, 83. Skull : Zygomatic ])readtli, 55; rostrum, 18; condy]ol)asa] lengtii, 87. Skull. — When compared with skulls of obscura and luteola, the .-^kull of campioni more nearly conforms to the latter, tlie chief differences being di.'^tinct compres.sion of bases of pterygoids; larger and more rounded foramen magnum; nasals much flatter anteriorly; distance between postorbital processes of frontal much less; postorbital arch of frontal deeply indented opposite ends of nasals; maxilke shorter; bullaj dis- 30— Pp.oc. Biol. Soc. Wa.sh., Vol. XXVIII, llJl.'). (147) 148 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. tinctly larger and less flattened ; paroccipital processes much shorter and curved sharply forward. A further comparison of campioni with specimens probably intermediate between luteola and warreni, makes it impossible to place the former with such intergrades, since it is considerably lighter in color tlian other Colorado forms. Note. — Marmota f. campioni is named in honor of Mr. John F. Campion, President of the Colorado Museum of Natural History, whose liberality and active interest have played so important a part in the advancement of the natural sciences of the State. 1 Vol. XXVIII. pp. 149-150 September 21, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON A NEW SNAKE FROM SOUTHERN PERU. BY THOMAS BARBOUR. In a small collection of reptiles submitted to me for study by Dr. Hiram Bingbam of Yale University, I find two specimens of a Coronelline snake wbich appears to be undescribed. It resembles in many respects Leimadophis taeniurus (Tschudi), but differs in baving tbe scale rows evidently regularly nineteen in number and having a somewhat lower number of both ven- tral and subeaudal scales, and an entirely different type of coloration. This species may be known as Leimadophis andicolus up. iiov. Type, ;ui adult, ^l. C. Z. No. 10,987, collected at Hnispan^, in the Andes of southern Peru, altitude 12,175 feet, September 18, 1914, by E. C. Erdis of tiie Yale Peruvian Expedition. Ej'e moderate; rostral sliglitly broader than high, scarcely visible from above; internasal suture about equal to praefrontal suture; frontal longer than its distance from end of snout, shorter than parietals, widely sepa- rated from praeocular; supraocular narrower than frontal; nasal semi- divided, about equal in length to its distance from the eye; loreal small, almost square; one praeocular much broader above than below; two postoculars; temporals 2-2 on one side and 2-3 on the other; eight supra- lal)ials, fourth and fifth supralal)ials in contact with eye; nine lower lal)ials, fourth in contact with anterior chin shield, one in contact with posterior; anterior chin shields much longer and wider than posterior ones; scales smooth, generally with a single apical pit, in 19 rows; ven- trals 150; anal divided ; subcaudals in 49 pairs. Color pattern. — Groundcolor of head and body olive brown; an ill- defined middorsal lighter stripe, composed of more or Jess confluent light spots; two less well-defined light lateral stripes broken at regular intervals by darker blotches; an alternating series of dark brown spots on each side of the middorsal stripe, which not only alternate with each other, but with the dark blotclies which interrupt the lateral light lines; sides 31— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXVIII, 1915. (149) 150 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. of head with a dark stripe running through the eye to the angle of the mouth ; an indistinct dark band across the interorbital region ; two other dark stripes running across the temporal regions parallel and posterior to the stripe through tlie ej'e; these posterior stripes are connected by a band which crosses just posterior to the parietal scales, and almost touches two large but rather indistinct nuchal blotches; lower surfaces light olive brown, an ill-defined series of dark olive blotches on the mid- dle of each ventral; these blotches may almost cover the whole scale, or simply show themselves as a small median dot; they are absent from the first eight ventrals and tend to become broader and to cover more of the ventrals posteriorly. A second specimen, M. C. Z. No. 10,986, a paratype, having the same data as the type already described, is very similar in all characters to the other specimen. Its ventrals are 144 in number, and the subcaudals 48 pairs. On both sides of the head there are three scales in the second series of temporals. The coloration of the dorsal surfaces is very similar to the other, with the exception that the lower lateral row of blotches is fused into a continuous dark band, which is bordered above by a zone slightly lighter than the general ground color. The middorsal light stripe, bounded on each side by the alternating dark blotches, is the same as the other, also the arrangement of the markings of the head. The ventrals are more generally covered by the dark blotches than they are in the type, but the same number of ventrals anteriorly are without the heavy dark blotches. Vol. XXVIII, pp. 151-160 September 21, 1915 PROCEEDINGS or THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON SCALES OF PANAMA FISHES. BY T. D. A. COCKERELL. The year before last, when Dr. S. E. Meek was working at the U. S. National Museum on his collection of Panama fishes, he very kindly allowed me to take scales of a large number of species. The present report deals with this material, including also a few species collected by others in the Republic of Panama or the Canal Zone. Whenever the collector's name is not given, it is to be understood that the material was obtained by Messrs. Meek and Hildebrand. The following key enumerates the species studied, and shows how they may be separated. With few exceptions, a single normal (not regenerated) scale from the middle of the side will serve to distinguish a species from all the others in the col- lection. Scales cycloid ( obscurely ctenoid in Gerres) 1. Scales ctenoid 16. 1. Circuli and radii entirely transverse (Clupeidae) Opisthonema libertate Giinther. (Tabogal.) Circuli transverse, basal only; no radii, but basal margin lobed, and radial folds faintly indicated (Atherinidae) Atherina arxa Jordan & Gilbert. (Porto Bello. ) Circuli concentric ; radii absent 2. Circuli concentric, or rarely (Opisthopterus) essentially transverse; radii present, not transverse, or (Gastropelecus) only partly so . 3. 2. Circuli complete; scales very minute (Belonidse) Tylosurus scapularis Jordan & Gilbert. (Balboa.) Circuli absent from apical part of scales (Characidse) Roeboides guatemalensis Gunther. (Gatun R. ) .3. Scales elongate ; with very numerous radii all around (Rypticidse) Rypticus nigripinnis Gill. (Corazal.) Radii not all around 4. 32— Pboc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXVIII. 1915. (151) 152 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 4. Scales very broad and short, with very few radii ; circuli absent in apical field 5. Scales longer than broad, or if broader than long, not excessively so . 6. 5. Circuli extremely dense, essentially transverse (Clupeidse) Opisthopterus dovii Giinther. (Panama market.) Circuli not dense, concentric (Hemiramphidy?) Hyporhamphus unifasciatus Ranzani. (Balboa.) 6. Small scales, with rounded laterobasal corners, and numerous radii . 7. Larger scales, with angular or subangular laterobasal corners, or if (Gastropelecus) sometimes rounded, then radii very few .... 9. 7. Lateral and apical circuli crossed by fine radial lines of hyaline dots (Pleuronectidae) . . Citharichthys spilopterus Giinther. lower side (Toro Point. ) No such lines of hyaline dots 8. 8. Radii (all basal) less than ten (Pleuronectidae) Paralichthys woolmani Jordan & Williams, upper and lower sides (Taboga I.] Radii extremely numerous ; circuli in apical field broken up ( Dacty- loscopidse) Dactylagnus mundus GiU. (Taboga I.) 9. Radii few, mostly apical ; or when many basal, central region of scales with coarse radial reticulation (Characidse) 10. Radii numerous, all apical ; basal margin not lobed (Characidse) . 11 . Radii apical and basal ; basal margin deeply lobed ; center of scale not reticulated (Characidse) . Curimatus magdaleneeSteindachner (Rio Abaco.) Radii basal 12. 10. Circuli absent in apical field ; centre of scale with a minute reticula- tion derived from the circuli Gastropelecus maculatus Steindachner. (Creek near Chorera. ) Circuli broken up, but coarse and conspicuous, in apical field; some scales with a central reticulate pattern derived from the radii Piabucina panamensis Gill. ( Rio Calobre. ) 11. Circuli represented in apical field by a broken zigzag pattern ^sJyanax^sc^m Steindachner. (Creek near Chorera.) Circuli not showing a zigzag pattern in apical field Astyanax grandis Meek & Hildebrand. (Rio Abaco. ) 12. Scales longer than broad, with only three or four radii, in deep folds; basal margin lobed ( Synodontidse) /Si/nodus evermanm Jordan & Bollman. (Taboga I.) Scales broader than long 13. 13. Radii 6 to 8; basal margin strongly crenulate (Xystsematidse) Oerres rhombeus C. & V. (Mindi Cut. ) Radii more than ten ; basal margin without regular crenulations (Poeciliidse) 14. 14. Circuli obtusely angulate in median line above nucleus Pcecilia sphenops C. & V. (Corazal.) Cocker ell — Scales of Panama Fishes. 153 [Circiili not angulate in median line above nucleus ; scales larger. Xiphophorus helleri Meckel. (Obispo, Mexico; S. E. Meek).] 15. Apical margin with a single row of sharp teeth, and no ctenoid ele- ments below them ; nucleus just below apical margin 16. Apical field with one or more rows of ctenoid elements below the marginal teeth 19. 16. Scales with rounded base (Pleuronectidse) Citharichthys spilopterus Gthr. , upper side. Scales with truncate base, the laterobasal corners evident ; apical margin usually like the transverse section of a roof of a house (Gobiida?) 17. 17. Basal radii about 7 to 9 Chonophorus nelsoni Evermann (Rio Culebra. ) Basal radii more numerous 18. 18. Scales 2.5-3 mm. long Philypnus maculatus (Chepo.) Scales less than 2 mm. long . . Eleotris pisonis Gmel. (Porto Bello.) Gobius claytoni. (Mindi.) Gobius soporator C. & V. (Fox Bay, Colon.) 19. Scales conspicuously longer than broad, parallel sided 20. Scales broader than long, or at most a little longer than broad . . 22. 20. Scales minute, much less than 2 mm. long; nucleus never elongate, always subapical (Soleidse) 21. Scales larger, at least over 2 mm. long; nucleus often elongated, and then radii not reaching middle of scale; apical teeth often trun- cate (Serranidee) . Petr ometopon panamensis Steind. (Tabogal. ) Bodianus acanthistius Gilbert. (Panama market.) Mycteroperca xenarcha Jordan. (Corazal.) Paranthias furcifer C. & V. (Taboga I.) 21. Scales more or less narrowed apically ; radii 3 to 5 Achirus fluviatilis . both sides (Rio Chorera.) Scales not narrowed apically ; radii very many Symphurus plagusia B. & S. both sides (Fox Bay, Colon.) 22. Basal radii few (4 to 6), and widely spaced; subapical ctenoid ele- ments brick-like (MuUidse) TJpeneus maculatus ^\och. (Fox Bay.) Basal radii many, or at least closer together, usually arranged in fan-like manner ; subapical ctenoid elements not brick-like . . 23. 23. Scales minute, 1.5 mm. or less long; only about three rows of distinct ctenoid elements below the marginal teeth (Sciaenidse) Menticirrhus martinicensis C. & V. (Fox Bay.) Scales larger 24. 24. Elements of ctenoid patch triangular, feebly developed, with no sharp salient marginal teeth ( Xystaematidse ) Eucinostomus californiensis Gill. (Mindi Cut.) Elements of ctenoid patch well developed; marginal teeth salient, narrow and sharp, or (Stellifer and Orthopristis) often slightly bifid 25. 154 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 25. Submarginal ctenoid elements like the marginal ; ctenoid patch very large ; basal margin very strongly crenate, the lobules free from circuli (Cichlidse) . . JEguidens casruleopunclatus Kner&Steind. (Rio Las Sabanas, A. H. Jennings.) Satanoperca crassilabris Steind. (Frijoles, Canal Zone.) Submarginal ctenoid elements unlike the marginal ... ... 26 26. Submarginal ctenoid elements long, strongly ridged ; basal margin not crenulate (Sciaenidse) . . . Paralonchurus dumerili Bocourt. (Panama, C. H. Gilbert.) Submarginal ctenoid elements short 27. 27. Basal margin not crenulate (Scisenidae) Odontoscion dentex C. & V. (Toro Point.) Stellifer colonensis ( Mindi Reef. ) Basal margin crenulate (Hsemulidpe) Orthoslcechus maculicauda GiW. (Tabogal.) Pomadasis bayanus Jord. & Everm. (Corazal.) Pomadasis macracanthus Gthr. (Balboa.) Orthopristis chalceus Gthr. (Balboa.) CHARACID^. An account of the scales of the neotropical Characidfe was published in Annals Carnegie Museum, ix, 1914. AVhile recording the Panama species, I give some notes on others, supplementary to the paper mentioned. BiviBRANCHiix.E. BivibrancMa protractila Eigenmann. Rockstone, British Guiana (Eigenmann). U. S. N. M. A remarkable fish, re- sembling Albula vulpes. Scales about 2 mm. long and over 2.5 wide, broadly rounded apically, sides sloping, base very broadly truncate, laterobasal angles distinct, basal margin with a strong median lobe, nucleus central; circuli coarse, absent from apical field. No radii, but a radial fold on each side of basal lobe. The scale resembles that of the Curimatinse, but is peculiar for the single basal lobe, and the thin weak apical field, without radii or marginal teeth. ANOSTOMATiN^. ScMzodonf asciatus Spix. BoHvia( Gibbon). U. S. N. M. Large red scales, subquadrate, about 9.5 mm. long and broad, basal margin strongly bilobed, circuli very fine and dense, nucleus approxi- mately central; apical radii few and weak, except one on each side, basal radii rudimentary ; apical field coarsely pustular. The Anostom- atine genera known to me are separable thus : Scales with a strong radial line extending horizontally to each side, and two (rarely one) extending upward to apex, in lateral line scales sometimes two also to base Anostomus. Scales without such radial pattern ; apical field with weak radii, usually rather numerous 1. 1. Nucleus well below middle Leporinus. Nucleiis about middle Schizodon. BRYCONiN^. Brycon dentex Gthr. Nicaragua (L. F. H. Birt. ). U. S. N. M. Scales about 11 mm. long and 13 broad. The three before me Cockerell — Scales of Panama Fishes. 155 are all latini;cleate, but they agree with those of B. falcatus in all essential characters; the apical radii are many and parallel, and the apical margin is strongly crenulate or subdentate, though not ctenoid in any proper sense. TETRAGONOPTERiN,E. Two species of Astyanax are given in the table above. A. fischeri is related in the characters shown by the scales to ^4. bimaculatus, though the scales are much smaller (5-5.5 mm. broad), the circuli are less dense, and the weak subparallel apical radii are very different. The relationship is perhaps actually closer with the still smaller scales of the A. polylepis group. A. grandis is very close to fischeri. Thus the two Panama species form a little group intermediate between the South American groups of A. bimaculatus (large scales with very coarse spreading apical radii) and of A. polylepis, abramoides , etc. (small scales with very weak apical radii). The J., mucronatus group (with V-like apical radial pattern) stands apart from all these; to it must be added A. fasciatus Cuvier, Rio Primero, Argentine (J. W. Titcomb). The mucronaius-fasciatus group is typical Astyanax. Poecilurichthys, which Eigenmann has recently treated as a distinct genus, is typified by A. bimaculatus ; but according to scale characters we should be inclined to include in it some of the species which Eigenmann, in his catalogue, has left in typical Astyanax. GASTEROPELECIN.E. Gasteropclecus maculatus has scales which do not differ in any tangible way from those of G. sternicla L. piABUCiNiE. Piabucina panamensis has scales of the same general type as those of Chalceus macrolepidotus , but much smaller (length 7, breadth 8 mm.). The intermediate, minor apical radii are not so evi- dent in the Piabucina as in the Chalceus. In all respects the scales of Piabucina are essentially as in the African genus Alestes. Both show a radial polygonal pattern in the middle, at least in some of the scales. Are the Piabucinae separable as a subfamily from the Alestinae? HYDRocYNiN^. Luciochavax insculptus Steind., Rio Abaco, Panama (Meek & Hildebrand). Scales subquadrate, about 6 mm. long and broad; basal margin strongly undulate, or emarginate in middle; nucleus a little above the middle; circuli fine; a few basal, apical and lateral radii (1 or 2 apical, 1 to 3 basal, 1 to 5 lateral, but when more than one lateral, they are only partly developed) , in Alestiform fashion ; apical field without circuli, but thrown into strong parallel pleats or folds (not radii), which end as strong sharp teeth on the margin. The circuli are microscopically beaded. These are ctenoid scales, using that word in a purely descriptive sense. There is no resemblance to Hydrocynus, at least judging from the scales of the latter genus seen by me, which are, however, apparently quite immature. Eigenmann states that adult scales of Hydrocynus have denticulate apical margins. The scale of Luciocharax is singularly like that of Phractolxmus. CHARAciN^. The genera of this subfamily now before me may be sepa- rated thus : 156 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Apical field with numerous sharp isolated teeth in about four rows, one of which is marginal ; base broadly rounded, with rather coarse cir- culi, and no radii; nucleus central. The arrangement of the teeth reminds one of the Macruridse. Cynopolamus argenteus Val., Paraguay (Page) ; U. S. N. M. No such teeth in apical field; scale cycloid 1. 1. Apical field with many radii, between which the circuli are very coarse and widely spaced, in complete contrast with those of the base and sides of the scale; scale about 4.75 mm. long and 6 broad; laterobasal corners rounded; no basal radii. System of circuli like that of the African genus Sarcodaces Salminus maxillosus C. & V. Paraguay ( Page ) ; U. S. N.M. Apical field without radii or circuli 2. 2. Circuli very dense, largely transverse, wavy, broken and branching; weakly developed and very variable undulating transverse radii ; scales transversely oval or nearly circular. These look like clupeid scales Bramocharax bransfordii Gill. Nicaragua (Bransford); U. S. N. M. Circuli not very dense; apical field with evident growth-lines; no trace of radii anywhere 3. ?). Scales small, transversely short-oval . Rceboides guatemalensis Gthr. Scales extremely broad, but of the same type Charax and Acanthocharax. There are clearly indicated several tribes ; Characini (Charax, Acanth- ocharax and Rvehoides), Salminini (Salminus), and Cynopotamini (Cynopotamus). The Bramocharax, if correctly determined, rep- resents another group. CURIMATIN^. Curimatus magdalense has scales like those of C. spilurus Gthr. CLUPEIDiE. Opisthonema libertate scales (mine evidently immature) do not differ from those of 0. oglinurn, except in the absence of pitting. The first transverse radius is complete, the second always interrupted. Opisthopterus dovii belongs to the Pristigasterinae. The five transverse circuli and the hyaline apical field are as in the Clupeinse, but the few radii in the basal field are directed obliquely basad, instead of being transverse. There are fine irregular apical radii, poorly developed. The apical margin is not dentate. SYNODONTID^. Synodus evermanni scales are like those of S. foetens, but smaller, with the nucleus nearer the centre. Probably most of this difference is due to immaturity. POECILIIDjE. Poecilia sphenops scales do not difler appreciably from those of P. butleri. Xiphophorus helleri scales resemble in structure those of Pseudoxipho- Cockerell — Scales of Panama Fishes. 157 phorus himamlatus Heckel, from Quirigua, Guatemala (W. P. Cockerell), but differ iu detail thus: Scales subquadrate, about 5 mm. long and broad ; apical circuli denser Xiphophorus . Scales broader than long, about 3.6 long and 4.5 broad; apical circuli not dense Pseudoxiphophorus. BELONID.E. Tylosurus scapularis scales look like very young scales of T. acus. The structure is entirely the same. My material of scapularis is probably immature. HEMIRHAMPHID.E. Hyporhamphus unifasciatus from Balboa, Canal Zone, differs from the same species from Woods Hole, Mass., in the absence of the dense fine circuli in the apical field, but it is immature. At the sides of the apical field in the Balboa fish there are variable feebly developed circuli run- ning upward instead of transversely, about two-thirds as far apart as the uppermost ones of the basal field, which they almost meet. In the narrow zone between these two sets of circuli are rudiments of the fine transverse circuli which are so conspicuous in the Woods Hole fish. The Balboa fish is presumably true H. unifasciatus ; that from Woods Hole should perhaps be referred to H. roberti. It remains to be seen whether fully mature scales from the Panama region will be readily distinguishable from those of the northern fish. ATHERINID^. Atherina araea scales agree entirely in type with those of A. pinguis from Australia, even to the frequent presence of a curious nuclear pit. A. araea scales are however much smaller, about 1.5 mm. long and 3.5 broad. In Mem. Queenst. Mus., Dec, 1913, I have discussed the scales of Atherina, and given an account of another Panama species, A. stipes. The lobules in the middle of the basal margin of A. araea are usually two, but sometimes three. MULLID^. Upeneus maculatus scales do not differ appreciably from those of U. dentatus. RYPTICID^. The scales of Rypticus are so entirely different from those of the Serranidee that a distinct family appears to be indicated. The absence of the anal spines, and other characters, further distinguish the group. The group is called Grammistinte by Boulenger, and appears to include three genera. Jordan and Evermann recognize two subfamilies, Gram- mistinae and Rypticinae. Scales of Rypticus nigripinnis are minute, about 1.3 mm. long and .4 broad; greatly elongated, with rounded ends; nucleus central, elon- gated; radii numerous, all around; circuli coarse; margin of course wholly cycloid. Only a very small area is covered by skin. The apical 158 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. end is distinctly larger than the basal, and the apicolateral radii are curved, with the convexity upward. These scales are extraordinarily similar in general type to those of some Ophidiidse, as Lepophidium microlepis. SERRANID^. Petrometopon, Bodianus and Mycteroperca are Epinephelinse, and have the characteristic elongated, parallel-sided scales of that subfamily. Scales of P. panamensis are broader than those of the Australian Epinephelus megachir, but otherwise little different. Paranthias furcifer (subf. Anthiinse) has scales about 5 mm. long and 3.5 broad, entirely of the Petrometopon type. Thus it appears that the Anthiiufe can not be separated from the Epinephelinse on the scales. Bodianus acan- thistius scales, only about 2.5 mm. long, are structurally like the others, but with rather conspicuously bulging or convex sides. Myctero- perca is like Bodianus, but the scales are larger and the sides straighter. H^MULID^. The scales in this family, so far as seen, are very uniform, subquadrate, usually broader than long, always with the lower margin crenate or scalloped, a character which distinguishes them from the Sciaenidse, In Pomadasis the scales are about as long as broad, and the marginal teeth are pointed. In Orthostoechus the scales are broader than long, length about 3, breadtli 3.75 mm. ; the marginal teeth are pointed. In Orthopristis the marginal teeth are subtruncate or obscurely bifid, and the scale is very little broader than long. XYSTAEMATID^. The scale of Gerres rhombeus appears cycloid, but under the compound microscope the ctenoid patch, of weak transversely diamond shaped dentiform structures, can be seen. These are even crossed by broken and rudimentary transverse circuli. In the Eucinostomus these ctenoid elements are narrower and rather more distinctly dentiform, without rudiments of circuli; but the general type of structure is the same. The Australian Xystaema darnleyensis has lost the ctenoid patch alto- gether. Both the Panama species have transverse circuli reaching the middle of the lateral margin at right angles with it. SCIAENID^. The lateral circuli are directed vertically, instead of transversely as in the last family. The scales are broader than long, and the lower margin is without distinct crenulations. Leaving out Cynoscion, the scales are of a very uniform type, but Paralonchurus dumerili is readily separated from the others by the comparatively long and narrow elements of the ctenoid patch. It has the marginal spines stout, obtusely pointed. CICHLID^. Cichlid scales are broader than long (sometimes not greatly so), with the lateral circuli vertical, and the basal margin strongly crenate. In my Cocker ell — Scales of Panama Fishes. 159 table in Bull. Bureau Fisheries, XXXII, p. 160, both the Panama species run to Geophagus brasiliensis, tliough the Satanoperca scale is not quite so broad as the others. The Brazilian Chietobranchopsis ocellaris does not have basal lobules free from circuli ; but sucli lobules are well developed in Chaetohranchus flavescens, as in the Panama species. Tilapia nilotica has short broad lobules free from circuli. GOBIID^. The Panama scales confirm the very distinct and nearly uniform Gobiid type, already discussed elsewhere. DACTYLOSCOPID^. Dactylagnus mundus has already been discussed in Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. , XXVI, p. 91. PLEURONECTID^, Paralichthys woolmani scales, as represented by my material, are much smaller than those of P. oblongus, but the structure is the same. Citharichthys spilopterus are also small, but structurally closely resemble Syacium papillosum, the lateral field being essentially after the manner of this species, not as in Citharichthys arctifrons. SOLEIDiE. Achirus fluviatilis scales agree structurally with A. lineatus. Symphurus plagusia scales essentially agree with those of S. piger. XoTE. — In Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. , XXVI, p. 77, the scale of Bregmaceros is discussed, and said to apparently lend some support to the Tims theory of the origin of teleostean scales. Further investigation shows that this idea was based on an error of interpretation, and other studies appear to show conclusively that the Tims theory is incorrect. Vol. XXVIII, pp. 161-164 September 21, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON / DESCRIPTIONS OF THREE NEW BIRDS FROM CHINA AND JAPAN. BY J. H. RILEY. [By permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.] Mr. Arthur de C. Sower by, who has been collecting natural history material for the U. S. National Museum in the Chinese Empire for a number of years, has from time to time sent in small lots of birds. During the past year a much larger series of fine skins was obtained in the Province of Chihli and from Manchuria, and a comparison of this material with that already possessed by the Museum has enabled me to differentiate a few forms not included in Mr. Sowerby's collections. These are described below. As the distribution of the birds in the Chinese Empire, espe- cially the interior, is not any too well known, I intend later to prepare a catalogue of Mr. Sowerby's collections, including such data as a study of his material permits. For the loan of a series of seven specimens of Dryocopus martixis martins, the author is indebted to the authorities of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Tetrastes bonasia vicinitas snbsp. nov. Type, U. S. National Museum, No. 120,574, adult male, Hakodate, Yezo, Japan, November 22, 1883. Collected by Harry V. Henson. Similar to Tetrastes bonasia bonasia but much grayer above, the scap- ulars and frons with much more white. Wing, 175; tail, 139.5; culmen, 16.5. Remarks. — Seebohra* in his description of Tetrao bonasia septentrionalis specifies no definite habitat, except that it is a Siberian arctic form. In • Ibis. 1884, 430. 33— Proc. Biol. See. Wash.. Vol. XXVIII, 1915. (161) 162 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Mr. Sowerby's collection there are two adult males from near I-mien-po (near Ninguta), N. Kirin, Manchuria, taken in October, that I refer to T. b. septentrionalis . They are very much alike and differ from T. b. vicinitas in being darker gray above, the black barring upon the mantle more pronounced, in having a bare indication of the white scapular bar, and the barring below heavier. A female specimen from the Valley of the Yenesay, Lat. 66)4°, seems to represent still another form, grayer than T. b. bonasia with more white spotting upon the scapulars and wings and the bars below darker and much more num- erous. This Yenesay specimen is much nearer T. b. vicinitas than T. b. bonasia but differs from the former in not having so much white on the scapulars, the barring below more pronounced, and the bill smaller. Possibly it may represent Tetrastes orientalis Madasasz.* "Whenever a large series of these grouse from the various parts of its range can be got together and thoroughly studied, some interesting results are to be expected. The following are the measurements of the series before me for com- parison : Wing Tail Culmen Three males, Europe 169.2 116.8 15.7 Two males, Manchuria t 161.5 110.2 16.7 One male, Yezo, Japan 175 139.5 16.5 One female, Europe 156 '116 15 One female, Valley Yenesay 156 93 13.5 Two females, Yezo, Japan 167.5 115.5 14.7 Dryocopus martius silvifragus subsp. nov. Type, U. S. National Museum, No. 120,551, adult male, Hakodate, Yezo, Japan, December 2, 1884. Collected by Harry V. Henson. Similar to Dryocopus martius reichenowi Kothe, + but black, not so slaty and bill smaller. Wing, 243; tail, 190; culmen, 62. Remarks. — I have compared the Japanese bird with a male from I- mien-po (near Ninguta), N. Kirin, Manchuria, and a female from Hsing- lung-shan, 65 miles northeast of Peking, China, and a series of eight specimens from Europe. Hartert |1 unites D. m. reichenowi with D. m. martius but, in my opinion, is not justified in doing so, as the former is a much larger bird in all its measurements and is also of a deeper slaty black. The Japanese specimens have a brownish cast to the black, especially noticeable upon the wings, but this is due most probably to the length of time the birds have been in the collection, as Doctor Stejnegeriji in reporting upon them says they were of a " very intense black." The two specimens of D. m. reichenowi before me are of a very deep black • Ann. Mus. Nat. Hung., vii, 1909, 178. t T. b. septentrionalis. X Orn. Monatsber., 1906, 95. II Vogel palaark Fauna, heft vii, 1912, 932. § Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XV, 1892, 301. Wing Tail Culmen 238.2 162.8 56.3 243 190 62 256 209 64 238 180 59 240 168.5 55.5 240 185 59 248 205 60 RUey — Three New Birds from China and Japan. 163 with a slight slaty cast, hut leaving out of consideration the differences in tlie intensity of the black in the different specimens before me, as some of it is probably due to the length of time the birds have been kept in collections, whether exposed to light or not, the differences in the size of the bill will, in my opinion warrant the separation of an east Asiatic and a Japanese race. A male from Sakhalin Island* agrees fairly well with Japanese birds and in measurements is even slightly smaller. For the present, I refer it to the Japanese race. Lonnbergt in writijig upon the Sakhalin bird says they average a little larger and are more intensely black and glossy with the crimson of the head more brilliant than in European specimens. He also gives a table of measurements of ten specimens. The material before me of the three races under consideration measures as follows: Three males of D. m. mar tins One male of J>. to. silvif vagus One male of D. m. reichenowi One male, Sakhalin Island Three females of D. to. martins t One female of D. to. silvifragus One female of D, to. reichenowi Eophona melanura sowerbyi subsp. nov. Type. — U. S. National Museum, No. 213,242, adult male, Chang Kow Hsien, Hupeh, China, February 4, 1908. Collected by Walter R, Zappey. Similar to E. to. melanura but much lighter in color above and below; the rump lighter gray, inclining to whitish posteriorly (uniform neutral gray in E. to. melanura); the black of the wings, tail, and head less intense. Wing, 107.5; tail, 82.5; culmen, 20.5; tarsus, 22; middle toe, 18. Female differs from the same sex in E. to. melanura in being lighter below with the top of the head concolor with the back, which is near Saccardo's umber (grayish in E. to. melanura) the black of the wings and tail less intense. AVing, 104; tail, 82; culmen, 21; tarsus, 22; middle toe, 18. Remarks. — Loxia melanura Gmelin§ was founded on Le Gros-Bec de la Chine of Sonnerat.H Latham'sf description seems to be a mere trans- lation of Sonnerat. The bird that served Sonnerat for his description •U. S.N. M. No. 159,334. t Journ. Coll. Scl. Imp. Univ. Tokyo, xxiii, Art. 14, 1908, 44. t One female in this series is extraordinarily large, much larger than any male of D. m. martius before me, and really nullifies the value of this set of female averages for comparison. $Sys. Nat., i, pt. i, 1788, 853. II Voy. Ind. Orient, et Chine, ii, 1782, 199. irSyn. Birds, ii, pt. 1, 1783, 145. 164 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. was probably procured somewhere on the coast where his expedition touched and not from the interior. Tlie National Museum possesses two males and three females from Kiangyin, near the mouth of the Yang-tze-kiang, males taken in February and the females in December. They are all uniformly dark and so differ- ent from the Hupeh specimens that no ornithologist upon comparison would think of uniting them. The Hupeh male in color is very much like E. m. migratoria but is a little lighter and has a heavier bill. The male of E. m. melanura has the chest mouse gray while in E. m. soiverbyi it is a pale mouse gray and less extensive in area, occurring in a semi- ring below the black of the throat, the rest of the chest being washed with vinaceous buff. The three forms measure as follows : • Males Wing Tail Culmen Depth of bill One E. m. sowerbyi 107.5 82.5 20.5 17 Two E. m. melanura 102.7 80.5 22.2 17.5 Three E. m. migratoria 98.3 73.3 20.5 15.2 Females One E. m. sowerbyi 104 82 21 17.5 Three E. m. melanura 101.7 74.2 21.2 16.8 Four E. m. migratoria 96.5 66.6 19.4 14.7 Vol. XXVIII, pp. 165-168 November 29, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON NEW GENERA AND SPECIES OF ACOCEPHALIN^. [HOMOPTERA.] BY E. D. BALL. In collecting along the Pacific coast at different times the writer has taken a number of new species of leaf-hoppers ap- parently belonging to a closely related group of forms. Most of these insects have been black or dark brown in color with ivory-white markings — a striking color combination and one that is rare in the leaf -hoppers. In working up these forms a general study was made of other black species with the result that it was determined that another black form was incorrectly placed and a new genus is made for it and its South American allies. Nionia new genus. Closely resembling Tartessus of Stal, but not possessing a supernumer- ary cell in the wing. Superficially resembling Pediopsis in general shape of head and pronotum but with the ocelli near the vertex margin. Vertex appearing as scarcely more than a line bounding the conically produced anterior margin of the pronotum, except at the apex where it is conically produced and appears to be twice the length next to the eye, anterior margin rounding almost inperceptibly to front. Front broad, convex in both diameters forming with the vertex and pronotum a blunt cone. Ocelli just under the vertex margin, nearly as far from the eye as from the apex of vertex. The lateral margins of front broadly rounding into the vertex margin above and the long narrow clypeus below. Surface especially along the side rather coarsely wrinkled. Pronotum excep- tionally long, due to the conically rounding anterior projection, extend- ing over one-half its length into the head. Posterior margin broadly rounding with a slight median emargination. Surface finely wrinkled. Elytra coriaceous, moderately long with narrowly rounding apices. All veins margined with lines of punctures giving a double-veined efiect on 34— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXVIII, 1915. (165) 166 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. clavus. Venation of corium regular, two cross-nervures present, apical cells longer than wide. Type of genus Goniagnathns palmeri V. D. This genus is apparently closely related to the Old World genus Tar- tessus, but differs in the venation and head characters. It appears to liave no close relatives in our fauna, but should be placed between Mem- nonia and Driotura on the one hand and Xestocephalus on the other. It is apparently a South American group, N. palmeri of the southern States and Mexico being the only representatives north of the Isthmus. All the known species are jet black in color. The genus Goniagnathus does not occur in America. Uhleriella ziczac n. sp. Form of coquilletti nearly, intermediate in color pattern between that species and stygica. Vertex and pronotum dark with narrow light mar- gins. Length, 4-5 mm. ; width, 1.5 mm. Vertex almost right angled, the apex slightly acute, slightly sloping, depressed before the margin, especially at apex. Venation as in coquil- letti. Color dark iridescent brown shading to black on the anterior part of pronotum. Vertex margins and posterior margin of pronotum lined with white or yellowish white. The inner nervure of clavus, the ends of the outer nervure, all transverse veinlets on corium, the apical margin and the inner fork of first nervure lined with ivory white. These mark- ings appear as three slightly oblique bands across the apical half of the elytra, the inner one connected in a right angle with the line on the inner sector. Below dark, face black with a transverse band crossing lower half of front ivory wiiite. Legs dark, the tibia lined with light. Genitalia: Female segment very slightly emarginate and depressed in the center of the posterior margin. Male plates long-triangular, their apices slightly developed as finger-like processes. Described from two females and two males from Pasadena, California. Closely related to stygica and coquilletti from the former of which it can be separated by the angular head and tlie white lines, and from the latter by the solid dark head and pronotum and the male genitalia. Uhleriella pasadena n. sp. Resembling signata in form and appearance. Color pattern similar to coquilletti except much paler. Length, 5.5 mm. ; width, nearly 2 mm. Vertex slightly broader than in coquilletti, slightly roundingly right angled, disc sloping with a shallow depression before the margin. Elytra broad, abruptly slightly obliquely truncated posteriorly. Venation simi- lar to ziczac, but with one or two cross-nervures between the claval veins and usually two or three reflex veinlets to costa at the apex of the outer anteapical cell. Color rusty straw ornamented with smoky brown and ivory white. Ball — Neio Genera and Species of Acocephalinae. 167 Vertex rusty straw color, a dark band just back of the marj^in. Prono- tum rusty straw with the margin Hned with white. ScuteHuni rusty, a pair of triangular spots just inside the angles and a pair of round dots on disc. Elytra rusty subhyaline with the nervures light, mostly margined with smoky brown. Claval nervures including the transverse veinlets and all transverse nervures on corium broadly ivory white. Genitalia: Female segment long with a broad and equally deep, black- margined, median excavation. Described from a single female from the hills back of Pasadena, Cali- fornia. A male from the same locality which probably belongs here is darker and has rather long-triangular plates with bluntly rounded tips. The ivory white markings on elytra will separate this species from sig- nata, while the genitalia are quite distinct from that of coquilletti. Drionia new genus. Resembling UJileriella in color and venation, but differing widely in form of head. Head resembling Driotura, but still broader and shorter and with the lower part of face strongly inflated. Vertex short and broad, a little over one-half as long as the pronotum, anterior margin broadly evenly rounding, one-fourth longer in the middle than against the eye. Surface sloping and rounding over to the inflated front without definite margin except for a slight carina on the median third. Ocelli one-third the distance from the eye to apex. Front inflated, almost vertical for two-thirds of its length, then rounding into the long narrow clypeus. Lorae elongate, strongly transversely convex. Pronotum scarcely twice wider than long, anterior margin broadly round- ing, posterior margin very slightly roundingly emarginate, surface trans- versely wrinkled. Elytra short, broad, coriaceous, shghtly inflated behind the middle. Venation similar to Uhleriella, the second cross- nervure present, anteapical cells long, apicals short, veinlets to costa at both extremities of the anteapicals reflexed and usually forked or doubled. Type of genus, D. nigra n. sp. This genus together with Cochlorhinus and Uhleriella are all peculiar to the Pacific coast region, and while differing widely in head characters, all have the same type of venation and are usually black or dark with ivory ornamentation. Drionia nigra n. sp. Resembling the alate form of Driotura gammaroidea. Superficially resembling black examples of the genus Macropsis. Black, the male with an oblique dash on each elytron. Length, 4 mm. ; width, 2 mm. Vertex sloping, rounding to the front without a definite margin except for a slight carina, one-third longer on middle than against the eye. Front broad, tumid, rounding back to the small slender clypeus. Elytra broad and short, gibbous behind the middle. Venation as in Uhleriella except that the outer anteapical is not acuminate posteriorly. 168 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Color: Black, a white band across the face crossing the lower third of front and an oblique ivory white dash on the inner branch of the outer sector of the corium. Tibiae rufous. Genitalia : Female segment short, broadly rounding posteriorly, slightly elevated on the median line giving the appearance of a slight notch. Male valve broadly rounding, plates narrow, triangular, longer than wide, their apices inclined to be finger-like. Described from two females and two males collected by the writer at Medford, Oregon. Vol. XXVIII, pp. 169-170 November 29, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON PRELIMINARY DIAGNOSES OF SEVEN APPARENTLY NEW NEOTROPICAL BIRDS. BY W. E. CLYDE TODD. The present paper is the third of the series appealing in these Proceedings dealing with the apparently new birds discovered from time to time in the collections received by the Carnegie Museum from tropical America. As before, the descriptions are admittedly brief and preliminary in character, as it is ex- pected that all of the forms here named will be treated more at length at some future time. The author's acknowledgments are due to Mr. Harry C. Oberholser for making critical com- parisons of several of the forms here described. Euscarthmus olivascens sp. nov. Above, including outer margins of remiges and rectrices, yellowish olive, duller and browner on the pileum ; auricnlars dull brown ; throat dull white, with obscure brownish streaks; breast with a band of pale brown, laterally shaded with olive, and streaked with dull white; abdomen white, obscurely streaked with grayish brown anteriorly and laterally, the flanks and under tail-coverts tinged with pale greenish yellow; under wing-coverts pale yellow. Wing, 56; tail, 45; bill, 12. Tyfje, No. 43,820, Collection Carnegie Museum, adult male; Rio Surutu, Bolivia, April 30. 1911; Jose Steinbach. Attila arizetus sp. nov. Pileum medal bronze, passing into cinnamcm brown on the back, scapulars and tertiaries; rump and upper tail-coverts primuline yellow; tail Prout's brown; remiges dusky, the primaries margined externally with hair brown, the secondaries with cinnamon brown; middle and greater coverts tipped with ochraceous tawny, the lesser series with cinnamon brown ; throat citrine, obscurely streaked with sulphine yellow; 35— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXVIII, 1915. (109) 170 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. breast brownish citrine, the streaks obsolete; abdomen white medially, the sides, flanks, and under tail-coverts strongly tinged with bufFy yellow. Type, No. 44,050, Collection Carnegie Museum, adult male; Rio Yapa- cani, Bolivia, August 26, 1913; Jose Steinbach. Coryphistera alaudina campicola subsp. nov. Similar to Coryphistera alaudina alaudina Burmeister, but general coloration decidedly paler throughout, the upper parts with more buffy, less brown, and the under parts not so heavily streaked. Type, No. 32,962, Collection Carnegie Museum, adult male; Guanacos, Bolivia, August 23, 1909; Jose Steinbach. Phoethornis subochraceus sp. nov. Somewhat resembling Phmthornis squalidus (Temminck), but more cinnamomeous below, and rectrices with white tips. Type, No. 43,585, Collection Carnegie Museum, adult (male?); Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, May 30, 1909; Jose Steinbach. Columba inornata proxima subsp. nov. Similar to Columba inornata inornata Vigors, but general coloration decidedly paler and grayer, and the greater wing-coverts with narrower white margins. Type, No. 39,892, Collection Carnegie Museum, adult male; Los Indios, Isle of Pines, December 13, 1912; Gustav A. Link. Asturina nitida pallida subsp. nov. Similar to Asturina nitida nitida (Latham) of eastern and northern South America, but everywhere lighter colored, the dark barring paler and narrower. Type, No. 43,807, Collection Carnegie Museum, adult female; Rio Surutu, Bolivia, September 15, 1910; Jose Steinbach. Crax annulata sp. nov. Adult female similar to that of Crax pinima Velzoin, but with much more white beneath, the white barring extending to the chin, and the crest-feathers more extensively white. Type, No. 44,563, Collection Carnegie Museum, adult female; Don Diego, Colombia, January 26, 1914; M. A. Carriker, Jr. Vol. XXVIII, pp. 171-174 November 29, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON A NEW SPECIES OF IRESINE FROM THE UNITED STATES. BY PAUL C. STANDLEY. (Published by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.) Iresine is one of the larger genera of the Amaranthaceae, being represented in North America by approximately thirty species, and in South America by many others. The genus is chiefly tropical, only three species being known to occur in the United States. Hitherto only a single one, Iresine celosi- oides L., has been reported from this area, but there are two others which are undescribed, one of them an inhabitant chiefly of northeastern Mexico, but extending also into Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas, and another which is here dis- cussed. Apparently no one has ever doubted that the Iresine which ranges from Maryland to Tennessee and Kansas, and southward to Alabama and eastern Texas, is the same as the Linnaean J. celosioides, a species which has a wide range in tropical America, and occurs also along the southern borders of the United States. It has never been given a distinctive name, even by any of the early American botanists who were some- times wont to pronounce a plant a distinct species simply be- cause it came from a locality well outside the previously known range of the species to which it really belonged. Indeed, the present plant seems to have received little attention from botanists of the United States, few of whom have been ac- quainted with it in the field. This ignorance of the live plant is well proved by the fact that all the manuals describe it as an annual, while, as a matter of fact, it is a perennial with long 36— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXVIH, 1915. . (171) 172 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. slender rootstocks. This character is sometimes shown in her- barium material, but too often the dried specimens show nothing of the underground parts. Iresine celosioides is typically an annual, with a slender or stout taproot. Under favorable tropi- cal conditions the plants doubtless persist for more than a single season, but they never, so far as known, develop root- stocks. Nor is this important difference in habit the only character which differentiates the two species. In Iresine celosi- oides the sepals of the pistillate flowers are 3-nerved, usually obtuse, and longer than the utricle, while in the species here described they are faintly 1 -nerved, acute, and equal to or usually shorter than the utricle. In herbarium material there is an evident difference in general appearance, the leaves of the former being usually yellowish, small, and thick, while those of the latter are bright green, larger, and thin. Iresine rhizomatosa Standley sp. nov. Iresine celosioides Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer. 2: 244. 1803, and of many other authors ; not Iresine celosioides L. Iresine paniculata Uhne & Bray, Bot. Gaz. 21 : 353. 1896, in part, and of recent American authors ; not Celosia paniculata L. Perennial from slender elongate horizontal rootstocks; stems commonly solitary, herbaceous, stout or slender, erect, 3-15 cm. high, usually simple up to the inflorescence, sparsely villous with short hairs, more densely villous at the nodes, sometimes glabrous throughout, the nodes slightly swollen, the internodes 5-14 cm. long; petioles slender, 0.8-3 cm. long; leaf blades broadly deltoid-ovate to ovate or elliptic-oval, 6-15 cm. long, 2-7 cm. wide, acute or rather abruptly acute to long-acuminate at the apex (or the lowermost very rarely obtuse), truncate to acute at the base and usually slightly decurrent, thin, bright green, bearing a few scattered short stout hairs on the upper surface along the veins, sparsely pubescent beneath with short stout soft hairs, or sometimes nearly glabrous; pistillate panicles 7-30 cm. long and 2.5-20 cm. broad, much branched, the stoutish branches erect or ascending, usually deiase, sparsely villous, the spikelets alternate or opposite, stout, densely flowered, 0.5-2 cm. long, the staminate panicles often laxly branched and with longer spikelets ; bracts white, equaling or somewhat shorter than the sepals, ovate to ovate-orbicular, acute or acutish ; sepals ovate- oblong or oblong, acute or acuminate, 1-1.3 mm. long, faintly 1-nerved, white, the pistillate flowers bearing copious long white wool at the base; lobes of the staminal cup nearly obsolete ; utricle equaling or commonly longer than the sepals; seed suborbicular, dark red, shining, 0.5 mm. in diameter. Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, No. 865,290, collected in shaded Standley — A New Species of Iresine from the United States. 173 alluvial soil on the south side of Plummers Island, in the Potomac River, JNIontgomery County, Maryland, October 4, 1915, by Paul C. Standley (No. 12,500). Additional specimens examined: Maryland: Plummers Island, 1896, Topping ; in 1903, Kearney 173; Oct. 18, 1896, Pollard, Topping & Olds (no other locality is given than the heading of the label, which is " District of Columbia," but the specimens probably came from Plummers Island). Tennessee: Knoxville, 1898, Euth 182. Nashville, 1877, Ward; in 1883, Gattinger. Alabama: In 1878, Mohr. Missouri: Eagle Rock, 1890, Bush 445. Lakeside, 1908, Bush 5160. Kansas: Arkansas City, 1891, Car/c^on 486. Oklahoma: Palmer 281. Cimarron River, 1895, /. U. Kimmons. Near Jennings, 1896, Ward 36. Sapulpa, 1894, Bush 482. Texas: Lindheimer 1111. Columbia, 1899, Bush 336. Near Houston, 1898, Thurow ; in 1912, G. L. Fisher 176. The writer has also seen other specimens of this species in the her- barium of the New York Botanical Garden and in the Gray Herbarium, but unfortunately no record of them has been kept. The occurrence of the plant upon Plummers Island is of great interest, for the station is the northernmost locality now known for the species and for the genus. It seems probable that seeds have been brought down by the Potomac from some locality in the mountains, although the genus is not known upon the east slope of the AUeghanies ; or perhaps the plants are the last survivors of ancestors which had a wider range in Maryland and Virginia. There are several colonies of the plant upon Plummers Island consisting of numerous individuals, but in 1915 only two or three plants flowered. Vol. XXVIII, pp. 175-176 November 29, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON AN ANATOMICAL NOTE ON THE GENUS CHORDEILES SWAINSON. BY ALEX WETMOKE. Mr. F. E. Beddard * in 1886, quoting a manuscript note left by Professor Garrod, stated that the genus Chordeiles pos- sesses no gall bladder. Two years later Dr. R. W. Shufeldtt in comparing Chordeiles with Antrostomus says that ^^Antrosto- mus possesses a small gall-bladder, while the several species of Chordeiles lack this organ." Still later Beddard t again stated that Chordeiles possesses no gall bladder. Following these authorities Mr. H. C. Oberholser § used the lack of a gall bladder as one of the minor characters upon which he founded the family Chordeilidee. Bearing these statements in mind, I was interested in exam- ining critically such individuals of the genus Chordeiles as came into my hands. The dissections made by Garrod and by Shu- feldt, recorded above, may have been made upon specimens of nighthawks that were poorly preserved, as on opening a speci- men of Chordeiles virginianus, killed near the mouth of Bear River, Utah, during the past fall, I found a distinct receptacle for bile developed in the right hepato-enteric duct and later found the same condition in two additional specimens. As is the case in other related forms the right lobe of the liver is the larger in the nighthawk. On raising this lobe *On the Syrinx and Other Points in tlie Anatomy of tlio Caprirnnlgidiie, P. Z. S., 1886. p. 151. i Studies of the Jlacroehires, Jlorpliological and Otherwi.se, Linn. Jour.-Zool., Vol. XX.188S. p. 317. X .^tnic'ture and Classification of Birds, London, 1898, p. 234. $ Monograph of the Genus C'hordeiles Swainson, Type of a New Family of Goat- suckers, Bull. 86, U. S. N. M., 1911, p. 9. 37— Pkoc. Broi,. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXVIII, 1915. (175) 176 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington . the gall bladder (Fig. 4, gr) is found in the usual position above it in contact with the anterior end of the small intestine and the adjacent side of the stomach. It lies ex- ternally to the median line of the lobe. Seen from above when fully distended this cyst is elliptical. In outline from the side it ap- pears somewhat triangular with rounded angles. This triangular appearance is in- tensified in alcoholic specimens. In several examined the posterior portion, nearly empty Fif"'- 4- of bile, projects from the main body of the Viscera in Chordnlr.s ^ , -r viriiininmis with right cyst as an elongate sac. in one specimen lobe of liver raised to .' ^wor.\ ,i n i i t i show position of gall (A. W . No. 2/83) the gall bladder measures bladder. (/. prall bladder; , ■, n ^ i r. >- • i d. f-ysio-enteric duct approximately 7 mm. iong by d.O mm . Wide. (about life size). „, , , . t , /-r^- a t\ • The cysto-entenc duct (.rig. 4, a) rises near the center of the sac on its external side and passes back to empty into the ascending arm of the duodenum near its summit. Through the courtesy of Dr. C. W. Richmond, Acting Curator of Birds in the United States National Museum, I have been able to examine three alcoholic specimens of Chonleiles uc%di- pennis (U. S. N. M. Nos. 17,487, 17,488 and 18,791) in the Division of Birds. In each of these a gall bladder, identical in position and form with that above descril)ed in C. virginianus was found. In No. 17,487 this cyst measured 6.8 mm. long by 3.4 mm. in vertical diameter. In the other two specimens the sac was less perfectly preserved. In these specimens the cysto-enteric duct had the same point of origin and emptied into the same portion of the duodenum as in Chordeiles virgini- anus. In the preparation of this paper no attempt has been made to distinguish subspecies among the nighthawks, as the work was done entirely with alcoholic specimens, difficult to deter- mine other than specifically. In the drawing (Fig. 4), made from Chordeiles virginianus, the points illustrated are necessai-iJy made somewhat diagrammatic. The right lobe of tlie liver has been raised to show the gall bladder and the upper portion of the pancreas removed to uncover the cysto-enteric duct. Tlie point of origin of this duct is hidden, as is also the place at which it empties into the intestine. Vol. XXVIII, pp. 177-178 November 29, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON A NEW PIGEON FROM JAMAICA. BY ROBERT RTDGWAY. [By permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.] In studying the pigeons of the genus Chloroenas for Part VII, Bulletin 50, U. S. National Museum ("Birds of North and Middle America"), the following new form was discovered and is herewith described. Chloroenas inornata exigua subsp. nov. Type, adult male, U. S. National Museum, No. 236,735, Cumberland Valley, Jamaica, February 27, 1866. Collected by W. T. March. Similar to C. i. inornata, but decidedly deeper in color, the back and scapulars browner (approaching olive-brown), the head and neck deep vinaceous-drab, the forehead between hays brown and vinaceous-brown, the chest, breast, etc., between sorghum brown and vinaceous-brown. Wing, 229; tail, 143; culmen, 19; tarsus, 29; middle toe, 36.5. Adult female very similar to the adult male of C. i. inornata, but fore- head deeper colored (nearly concolor with rest of pileum). Wing, 222; tail, 127; culmen, 19.5; tarsus, 29.5; middle toe, 37. 38— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash.. Vol. XXVIII. 1915. (177) Vol. XXVIII, pp. 179-184 November 29, 1915 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON GENERAL NOTES. MACACA VERSUS PITHECUS AS THE GENERIC NAME OF THE MACAQUES. The monkeys having the common name macaque have long borne the generic designation Macaca Lacepfede, 1799, or the more usual spelling, Macacus Desmarest, 1820. In 1909, in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 8, volume 4, page 250, Dr. D. G. Elliot adopted for these monkeys the generic name Pithecus of E. Geofi'roy and G. Cuvier in the Magazin encylopedique, 1795, volume 3, page 462. In the Review of the Primates, volume 2, page 176, Doctor Elliot again uses Pithecus as the generic term for the macaques and in a footnote selects by elimination sinica, the last named species in Geoffroy and Cuvier's Pithecus, as the type of the genus. The other four species included by GeoflTroy and Cuvier are veter, silenus, faunus and cynomolgus . Of these four Doctor Elliot says the first three are undeterminable and that cynomolgus is a Papio and equals Simla hamadryas Linnaeus. In 1894, Mr. Oldfield Thomas selected veter as the type of Pithecus (Ann. Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat., Genova, ser. 2, vol. 14, p. 664). He de- liberately did this because Blanford (Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1887, p. 622) had shown veter to be an undeterminable species. Thus Pithecus was " consigned to the limbo of unrecognizable names." Mr. Thomas' action appears to me to be final under the International Code of Zoo- logical Nomenclature. His method of selecting the type was by the first species rule and it might be urged that this method has no standing under the Code. It does not seem to be a matter of any importance by what mental process an author arrives at the selection of a genotype so long that one is selected. Doctor Elliot's selection would be equally open to objection as he followed the method of elimination. In view of the possibility that some one might doubt the validity of Mr. Thomas' action, I now deliberately select veter as the type of Geoffroy and Cuvier's genus Pithecus. Hence Pithecus must be dropped as the technical name of the macaques and the more familiar Macaca be restored. — M. W. Lyon, Jr. 39— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXVIII, 1915. (179) 180 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. CYMOPOLIA VERSUS PALICUS. In 1897 (Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 11, p. 93), I replaced the crab genus Cymopolia Roux (Crustaces de la Mediterranee, 1828, p. [77] ; type, C. caronii Roux, 1828) with Palicus Philippi (Zweiter Jahresber. d. Vereins f. Naturk. in Cassel, 1838, p. 11; type, P. granulatus Philippi, 1838 = C. caronii Roux, 1828), because the name Cymopolia had been used in 1816 by Lamouroux (Histoire des polypiers corallig^nes flexibles, 1816, p. 292) for a genus of polyps. I did not then know that Lamouroux' s genus though classed by him with the polyps is in reality an alga. As the same name may be used for two genera in different kingdoms, Cymopolia is tenable for a crab as well as an alga. The name Cymopolia Roux is therefore restored and the family of which it is the type will be known as Cymopoliidse. — Mary J. Rathbun. NOTES ON SEVERAL PREOCCUPIED GENERIC NAMES (AVES). Stenopsis Cassin, 1851, for a genus of neotropical Caprimulgidae, is preoccupied by Stenopsis Rafinesque, 1815 (Analyse, p. 113), a genus of Coleoptera. It may be renamed Thermochalcis * (type, Caprimulgus cayennensis Gmelin). Oreomyias Berlepsch, 1907, a genus of Tyrannidfe, is not available, owing to the prior Oreomyias of Reichenow, 1902, a genus of Musci- capidse. For the former I propose to substitute Oreotriccus i- (type, Pogonotriccus plumbeiceps Lawrence). Oreospiza Ridgway, 1896, a genus of Fringillidse of North America, is long antedated by Oreospiza Keitel, 1857, for an Old World group in the same family. The later genus is here renamed Oberholseria + (type, Fringilla chlorura Audubon). Lamprotes Swainson, 1837, a genus of Tangaridae, is invalidated by Lamprotes " R. L.," 1817, proposed in Lepidoptera. As Swainson's genus appears to have no available synonym, I suggest for it Compsothraupis § (type, Tanagra Joricata Lichtenstein). Odontorhynchus Pelzeln, 1868, a genus of Troglodytidse, is preoccupied by Odontorynchus Leach, 1830, for a genus of Crustacea. It may be called Odontorchilus II (type, Odontorhynchus cinereus Pelzeln). — Chas. W. Richmond. *6epiJ.6s, warm: xaX/cfs, a night bird. + 6'poj(3peos), mountain; Tp'iKKO^, a small bird. X For Harry Church Oberholser. 5/co/xi/'6i, elegant; Opavirls, a small bird. ll(55oi^s(656i'ros), tooth; dpx^^os, wren. General Notes. 181 GROSSULARIA MARCESCENS. In the year 1874 a Japanese gooseberry was described by Maximowicz in Bulletin de I'Academie Tmperiale des Sciences de St. Petersbourg, volume 19, page 250, under the name Ribes grossularioides. However, Steudel in 1821 had published the same name, Ribes grossularioides, in his Nomenclator Botanicus, page 691, for an American species, attributing the name to Michaux, who evidently had used it as a manuscript or herbarium name but had never himself published it. This older publi- cation of the specific name grossularioides, in 1821, invalidates the later use of the name grossularioides for any other species and it becomes necessary, therefore, to give the Japanese species a new name. In allusion to the persistence of the dried corolla on the mature fruit, the name Grossularia marcescens is here proposed as a substitute for the invalid name Ribes grossularioides of Maximowicz. The gooseberries are regarded as constituting by themselves a genus, Grossularia, distinct from Ribes, which comprises the currants. — Frederick V. Coville. PHACOCHCERUS AS THE GENERIC NAME OF THE AVARTHOGS. When the validity of a name which has been in universal use for a long period is assailed, it is above all things important that the arguments against its status should be definite and absolute, and not be open to personal divergences of opinion. Now I hold that the case against Phacochcerus , as published by Doctor Lyon in the General Notes for June* is not strong enough to warrant our giving up so well known a name. In the first place the fact that it was printed Phaco choerus by Cuvier no doubt influenced Doctor Lyon, but an examination of the other similar footnotes in the Regne Animal shows that such notes were printed indiscriminately joined up, hyphenated or separate (Dasyprocta, Arcto-mys, Hydro choerus) so that no stress can be laid on the printing of an individual name. Then we have not to deal with what Cuvier meant to do, but what he did do, and he certainly published the Latin name Phaco chcerus in connection with the warthogs. Merely to give the explanation of the French Phaco-choeres he should have given the Greek words — as indeed he did in other cases, e. g. "v\l/a-nrpvfivbs." Finally Doctor Lyon quotes Fischer as the " first reviser," and if we take him as such, we may say that in referring to ^'Phacochcerus F. Cuv. apud. G. Cuv." as a validly formed name, even though synonymous with that given by him (for which he unjustifiably claimed three years priority) he accepted its standing as such, an acceptance there is not sufficient reason for us to refuse. I am not denying the probable correct- ness of Dr. Lyon's interpretation of Cuvier's meaning, but I claim that technically there is not sufficient reason to make of Phacochcerus another cantlidate for a place in the Fiat list. — OldUeld Thomas. * Proe. Biol. Soc. Wash., vol. 28, p. 141. 182 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. NOTE ON A NEW ZEALAND GRASS. Torresia fraseri (Hook. f. ). Hierochloe fraseri Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. 1:93. 1844. Savastana fraseri Skeels, U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur. PI. Ind. Bull. 248:21. 1912. This species is a native of New Zealand and Tasmania. It has been referred to Torresia redolens (Forst. ) Roem. & Schult. (Hierochloe redolens R. Br. ) but differs in its smaller size, more slender culms and smaller spikelets. Seeds of this grass were sent to the U. S. Department of Agriculture by Dr. A. H. Cockayne, of Wellington, New Zealand. They were referred to me with the request that I designate the name the species should bear in the forthcoming Inventory of Seeds and Plants Imported. I have recently published* a note upon Torresia Ruiz. & Pav., showing it to be the earliest tenable name under the American Code for the species in- cluded under Savastana and Hierochloe, and transferring to it the North American species of the genus. Besides the New Zealand species under consideration there are six or eight other species of the southern hemi- sphere that should be placed under Torresia but the validity of each name should be investigated before the transfer is made. — A. S. Hitchcock. A NOTE ON THE OCCURRENCE OF EPIPERIPATUS IMTHURMI (SCLATER).t Mr. Gilbert E. Bodkin, the Government Economic Biologist for British Guiana, has recently sent me five specimens of Epiperipatus imthurmi (Sclater) which he collected in .June, 1915, at the Government Rubber Station, Issororo, Northwest District, British Guiana. The specimens vary from 32 mm. to 47 mm. in length, and in width from 3 mm. to 4 mm.; four have 30 pairs of ambulatory legs, and the fifth has 31. Mr. Bodkin writes: " I discovered them beneath rotten stumps of wood in a lowlying piece of soil at the foot of a hill at the Government Rubber Station, Issororo. The soil here is composed of about five feet of humus overlying clay, and is planted with trees of Havea braziliensis now about six years old. Only stumps in an advanced stage of rottenness were inhabited by these creatures. I found them to be common in this piece of land and secured about fourteen specimens in half an hour; some stumps harboured three or four specimens. I could easily have collected three times the number. Their colour when alive was a beautiful velvety chocolate brown above and a delicate flesh pink on the ventral surface." — Austin H. Clark. • Amer. Journ. Bot. 2: 300. 1915. t Published with the permission of the Acting Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. General Notes. 183 NOTE ON THE GENERIC NAME BOLBORHYNCHUS BONAPARTE. As originally proposed in Comptes Rendus, XLIV, 1857, p. 596, this name is a pure nomen nudum, and recent authors have turned to Souance, Icon. Perroquets, 1857, for the purpose of determining the type species, which has been fixed as Arara aymara D'Orbigny. The genus has been recently subdivided by Mr. Ridgway,* who has retained the name Bolborhynchus (by inference) for aymara, and created three additional genera, Grammopsiitaca (type, Psittacula lineola Cassin), Nannopsittaca (type, Brotogerys panychlorus Salvin and Godman) and Psilopsiagon (type, Trichoglossus aurifrons Wagler). Unfortunately for nomenclature, Bonaparte introduced some additional matter in the author's separately paged reprint t of this paper, which is, in fact, a combination of two papers from the Comptes Rendus and has priority over Souance's work. Here we find (p. 6) Bolborhynchus as a valid name, with two ostensible species, Myiopsitta tigrina Honance,* and Myiopsitta catharina Bonaparte, both now synonymized under Bolbor- hynchus lineolus (Cassin). The species aymara is not mentioned, hence the type must become one of the two forms noted above. I accordingly designate Myiopsitta catharina Bonaparte ( = Psittacula lineola Cassin ) as type, since M. tigrina, said to be from Venezuela, may prove to be difi"erent. It follows that Grammopsittaca Ridgway is a pure synonym of Bolborhynchus, and that aymara is without a genus. For this species I propose the generic ■ term Amoropsittaca § (type, Arara aymara D'Orbigny). — Chas. W. Richmond. NOTE ON CHLOROSTILBON PURUENSIS. In these Proceedings, || I described a hummingbird as Chlorostilbon puruensis. Shortly after the description was published I became con- vinced that I had placed the bird in the wrong genus. I was led astray by its resemblance to Chlorostibon prasinus, an aberrant member of the genus Chlorostilbon. My bird really belongs to the genus Chlorestes and is close to Chlorestes cseruleus, but not quite the same. The chin is not quite so blue and the bill is longer. Seven adult males of Chlorestes c. aeruleus from Bahia and the lower Amazon have the culmen, 15.5-17 (1().5) against 18 and 19.5 for my C. puruensis. In view of the above facts, the combination Chlorestes cseruleus puruensis will better express the relationship of the bird described by me. — /. H. Riley. * Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, XXV, 1912, p. 100. tThe reprint is entitled "Remarques k propos des Observations de M. Emile Blan- chard sur les Caracteres ost6ologiques Chez les Oiseaux de la famille des Psittaeides, et Tableau des genres de Perroquets disposes en series parallfeles," pp. 1-9; published in March, 1857. It may be added that the genera Primolius and Ptiloscle.ra are valid from this reprint (jiom/na nwda in the original paper), and the name Ognorhynchus occurs for the first time. The latter will replace Qnathositlaca Cabanis, 1864 (= 1865). X Revue et. Mag. de ZooL, 1856, p. 144. ^d/xopos, unlucky; ypiTT&Kfi, a parrot. II XXVI, 1913, 63. 184 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. THE SPECIFIC NAME OF THE STRIPED MUISHOND OF SOUTH AFRICA. In 1906 Howell* called attention to the fact that the specific name striata then in use for the striped maishond of South Africa referred in reality to a species of S/nlogale, and he proposed that the African animal be called Ictonyx capensis ( Smith ).+ It now comes to light that the Cape muishond was independently named Bradypus striatus in 1810 by Geo. Perry, t and as this name is not preoccupied by the Viverra striata of Shaw, 1800, which is a species of Spilogale, the South African striped muishond must be called Ictonyx striatus (Perry). The animal from which Perry's plate was drawn was exhibited alive in London and was doubtfully reported to have been found in South America, but there is no question as to its identification with the Cape form of Ictonyx. —N. Hollister. * Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 19, p. 46. February 26, 1906. + Descriptive Cat. S. African Miis., p. 20. 1826. X Arcana or The Museum of Natural History, pt. 11, pi. [41] and text. p. [1]. November, 1810. I am indebted to Dr. C. W. Richmond for the opportunity to see this volume. The text and plates are not numbered ; title page dated 1811. INDEX New names are printe