A correction of Barrows' record of <I>Coccyzus pumilus</I> from Concepcion del Uruguay

Vol. XVII, pp. 165-168

December

27, 1904

PROCEEDINGS

OFTHE

BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

GENERAL NOTES.

GYROSTACHYS SIMPLEX IN VIRGINIA.

^laiiyyearsago^Ifounda_lai-ge

number

of_i)lantsofthisorchidnear Foit IMyer,Alexandria County, but ^{the station} has long been _destroyed.

On

September28,1904,^Ifoundthree plantsⁱⁿa_jiine

wood

inFairfax

County

abovetheGreatFalls.

The

above seemstobethefirstrecordof thissmall species fortheState

and

themost southern.—ir/7^'«;/( Fahner.

ZOSTEROPS FLAA^SSIMA _IMcGREGOR, PREOCCUPIED.

Dr. C.

W. Richmond

writes

me

that the above

name

employed by

me

forthe_silver-eyeof CagayancilloIsland, P.I.,(Bulletin Piiilippine

Museum,

No.4) ^ispreoccupied. Hartert used the

same name

fora_speciesfrom Bi- nongka ^Id..Tukang-Besigroup, southeast of Celebes (NovitatesZoologica?, X,April20, i!)0o,p.2S)j.

As

the Philippine bird requires a

new

name,^it

may

^becalled ZosteropsricJtmondi.^—RichardC.McGregor,Manila, ^{P. I.}

A CORRECTION OF BARROWS' RECORD OF COCCYZUS PUMI- LUS FROM CONCEPCION DEL URUGUAY.

Inthe

Auk

for1884 _(Vol.I,p.28)

W.

B.Barrows notes the capture of three cuckoos at Concepcion^delUruguay, one on

December

11, oiie on

December

_:-30,

and

thethird on January22, 1880.

The

firsttwo he refers to CoccyzvspumUiisStrickland (No. 117 of^hislist) and thelasttoCoccyzua cinereus Vieillott(No. ¹¹⁹ofhis_list).

Ihave _lately

exanuned

these_skins, preserved ⁱⁿ the

Museum

of

Com-

parative Zoology,

and

find that they^all belong^to Coccyzus^cinereus.

The December

_specimens are adults in perfectly characteristic plumage.

The

January^{skin is a}

young

^{bird ina} i)lumage thatdiffers from thatofthe adult inthe

same manner

that

young

^{of other} speciesof Coccyzm ^differ from their parents. In wing

and

tail measurements it agrees with the

33—Proc.Biol. Soc.Wash.Vol. XVII,1904. (165)

166

General Xotcs.

adults; the_bill,however,^is

much

smaller.

The

tailhasthe general^indis- tinctnessof

marking

peculiar^toimmature examplesof Coccyzus; thewing feathers arenarrowly edged andtipped with rusty^; the throat andchest are _plainashy^; thelowersides, tlanks

and

undertailcoverts are strongly

washed

withdull tawny-ochraceous. Inoneratherinteresting point ^this specimen^ispeculiar

—

_{the outer pair}ofrectricesfall 18

mm.

short of the other_feathers,giving the^taila

more

_fan-shaped

and

therefore

more

normal appearance than^intheadult, whichhas a square^tail.

Itwould havebeen, perhaps,hardly worth^whileto

make

thiscorrection herehadnotSclater,on Barrows' record alone,included Coccyzuspumiins in his ArgentineOrnithology(Vol. II, p.?>9), remarking^that"the_species wasonly previously

known

tooccurinVenezuela

and

Colombia." Inthe Catalogue of BirdsⁱⁿtheBritish

Museum,

^Vol.

XIX,

1891,p.313,Shelley includesin his

synonymy,

^under CoccyzuspumUus,a referencetoBarrows' record, but does not allow that record to affect the distribution of the species,the habitat ofwhichisgiven^as

"The

Island of Trinidad,* Vene- zuelaand Columbia."

—

Oulram_Bangs.

ON A SUPPOSED CONTINENTAL SPECIMEN OF SOLENODON.

Thereisinthe

Museum

ofComparative Zoloogy^aspecimen^ofSoleiiodon thatwassentinalcohol_(entireand_apparentlyfresh

when immersed

inthe spirits) fromthe Isthmus_{of Darien,in 1871,} by^{thelateDr.G. A.} Maack.

Twenty

yearslater,on the strength of^thisspecimen.Prof Samuel Garinan in hisreviewofFlower

and

_Lydekker's^"

An

Introduction totheStudy^of

Mammals

_Living

and

Extinct

"f

^said:

"We

find SoUvodon restricted to

Cuba and

_{Hayti though}alsofound inCentral America." This published statement brought ^{forth for} a time no end of

comment, and

^Professor

Garman

defendedhimselfbysaying that therewasthespecimen and ^that therecould be noquestion of ^its genuineness. In time the controversy died a natural death,

and

evenCarman'sstatement that Solenodon occurs inCentralAmericaisprobably

now

_forgotten- Fearing,however,^thatone daj'the questionwassuretobe

mooted

_again,^Itook the Solenodonout ofits jar, skinned it,

removed

the skull

and

_compared ^it with all available material. ThisI didwith the utmostcare,because ^liSolenodon. doesstill

occur onthe continent

—

_{asdoes not seem}

altogether unreasonable in the lightofrecentdiscoveriesj

—

_it

surelymust bedifferentfromeitherof the island_species with which

we

arefamiliar.

The

_specimen in question proved indistinguishable ⁱⁿ

any way

^from

Cuban

_{examples,but,} wishing anotheropinion than

my

own, ^Isentitto GerritS.Miller,Jr.,

who

agreed with

me

thatitunquestionablybelonged

*NeitherL6otaud norChapmangive this bird asfoundin Trinidad,andItherefore doubtits occurrencethere. SeeChapman,^Bull.Am.Mus. ofNat.Hist.,Vol. VI, 1894, pp.10-11,as tonumerousbirdswrongly^attributedtotheisland.

tTheNation,No._1381,Dec.17,1891, p. 477.

JThediscovery^ofa Capromys-like rodentinthe mountainsofVenezuela

—

_Procap-

rumysgeaji(Pousargues)

—

is notlessastonishing,and muchinthesame_line,aswould bethe existence ofa Solenodononthe continent.