Note on the synonymy of <I>Haematospiza sipahi</I>

General Notes.

75

THE GENERIC NAME OF THE WILLET.

For

many

years ^since1858at least the Willethas remainedinundis puted possession of the generic

name

Symphemia, proposed

by

Rafinesque in1819 (Journalde_Physique,

LXXXVIII,

p.418),but overlooked

by

^orni

thologists until 1845,

when

it

was

^noticed

by

Hartlaub (RevueZoologique, 1845,p.342). This_author,in

some

notes on genera omitted

by Gray

ⁱⁿ

his"ListofGenera of Birds," mentioned Rafinesque's paper,citing the threegenera^ofbirds there diagnosed,

Rimamphus,

Helmitheros,

and Sym

phemia (allon page418),giving,however, merely a ^{reference to the first} page(p.417) of Rafinesque's^article.

Of

the lasthewrote: "Symphemia,

Genre

etablipar Rafinesque,I.e.,pour^leScolopax semipalmata,Gmel._espSce bien connue et type

du

_genre Catoplrophorus de Bonaparte (1828).

M.

Rafinesque a

nomine

cetoiseauS.atlantica." Relying onHartlaub's usual accuracy,subsequentauthors accepted^thisstatement(and^erroneouspage reference) without_question,

and Symphemia

^hassince figured^asthe proper generic

name

fortheWillet. Turning

now

toRafinesque'spaper

we

find the following ^briefaccount of

Symphemia:

"SYMPHEMIA. Different

du

genre Tringa par bee cylindrique, doigts semi-palme"s.

Type

^{T. semi-} palmata que je

nomme

S. atlantica. II

y

^{en a}

une

autre espece en

Ken

tucky qui peut ^se

nommer

S.melanura" That this diagnosis ^is notin tendedforthe Willetisatonceevident.

The

Willet,a long-legged bird, originallyplacedⁱⁿtheLinnaean genusScolopax, has never been referred to Tringa,

and

its bill is

by

^no

means

cylindrical.

What

_Rafinesque

actually did was to erect the genus

Symphemia

^for Tringa semipalmata Wilson,ourpresent Ereunetes pusiUus(Linnaeus),

and

asanaturalsequence

Symphemia must

^{be reduced to a}

synonym

of Ereunetes _Illiger, 1811.

Hence

another

name

will be _required for the Willet;

and

the earliest generictermfor this bird appears ^to be CatoptrophorusBonaparte (Ann.

Lye. Nat. ^Hist.

New

York,II,Nov.,1827,p. 323),^firstintroducedasasub- genus of Totanus, ⁱⁿ these words: "following^the

mania

ofthe day,

we

have formed a

new

subgenus^forthe reception ofthis bird,

which

deserves thedistinctionquiteas well,

and

betterthan_{a great}

many

others."

Itisunfortunate that_Billberg'sshortterm

Nea was

not _published until 1828 (Synopsis

Faunae

Scandinaviae,II,1828,p.155).

Two

_specieswere included in this genus, ^viz: Scolopax glottis Linn.,

and

S. semipalmata Gmelin.

The

formeristhetype^ofGlottisKoch,1816,leaving the^latteras type^{of Nea. Chas.}

W.Richmond.

NOTE ON THE SYNONYMY OF HMMATOSPIZA SIPAHI.

In a recent noteonthis species (Novitates Zoologicae,XI,p.456), Mr.

Hartert accepts ^{as its} proper

name

Hsematospiza^indica (Gmelin), based

on

Seba _{(I,pi.60,fig.4),}

and

cites

two synonyms

^{not mentioned in the}

British

Museum

^"Catalogue ofBirds," ^viz.: Loxiaindica

Gmelin

_(1788),

and

L.boetonensis

Latham

_(1790).

To

these

may

^be

^added

^threeothers,^all based

on

_{Seba, or}

on

Brisson (ex Seba)^:

76 General

Notes.

Loxiacristata J.R. _Forster,Ihdische_Zoologie, 1781, p. 41.

LoxiabutanensisJ.R. _Forster,FaunulaIndica,1795,p. 8.

LoxiarubraSuckow, _Anfangsgr. Naturgesch. Thiere,II,2, 1801,p.832.

LoxiacrislataFoi-ster,1781,being^theoldest

name

forthe species(assuming Seba's plate^tobe recognizable),Mr.Hartert

would

_{probablyadopt}it,but asit istwice preoccupied (Linnaeus1758, Miiller 1776),thecorrect

name

;

according^tothe

American

Ornithologists'

Union

"Code," would be Hsema- ospiza indica(Gmelin). ^Chas. W. Richmond.

NEW GENERIC NAME FOR THE GIANT FULMAR.

The

_generic

name

_{Ossifraga,given}

_by Hombron and

_Jacquinot(

Comptes

Rendus,

XVIII,

1844,p. 356)^toProcellariagigantea Gmelin,^is antedated

by

OssifragaN.

Wood

(Analyst,II,1835,p.305; VI,1837,p.244),applied toa_verydifferentgroup^ofbirds. As the Giant

Fulmar

isthusbereft of

itsgenericname,^{that of}Macronectes

may

^besuggested^as

an

equivalent.

Chas. W. Richmond.

NOTE ON A SPECIMEN OF PITHECOPHAGA JEFFERYI OGILVIE-GRANT.

The

United States National

Museum

has recently received from Mr.

'Fletcher L. Keller,a hemp-planter ^ofDavao, Mindanao,

and

an_energetic

member

ofthe Philippine^ScientificAssociation, a^fineskin of the Philip pine Monkey-eating Forest-Eagle,

which

Mr.

W.

R. Ogilvie-Grant

made known

as Pithecophagajefferyi,a

new

_genus

and

_species, describedinthe Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, Vol.VI, ^No.

XL,

p.

XVII,

1896,

and

subsequentlyfigured

and

describedingreater ^{detail in} theIbis for1897 _(pp.214-220,pi.V,

and

text_figures1-4

)^.

He

_speaksofitas"

per haps^themost remarkable bird

which

hasbeen discovered inthe Philip pines." Mr._Ogilvie-Grant'sspecimen

came

fromthe island ofSamar.

He

remarks:

"

The

Discovery of^this

mighty

^{bird of}prey^iswithoutdoubtthe most remarkableofMr. Whitehead's achievements in the Philippine ^Is lands.

That

_{so large} a Raptor should have remained

unknown

till the presenttime only

shows how

_easilythese great Forest-Eagles

may

^beover

looked." Respecting ^{th*e size} of this specimen,

which was

a _male,Mr.

Ogilvie-Grant ^states:

"Mr. Whitehead

_{says that}itweighed between¹⁶

and

20Ibs."

The

billofthis species^ischaracterized

by

extreme narrow^T- ness

and

_verygreatdepth;

and

the high ^{vaultednarial}opening^isalsoa peculiar^character.

The naked

tarsi

and

feetresemblethose of the

Harpy

Eagle although considerably weaker.

The

_wings are short

and

thetail verylong, w^hich is just the reverse of the

common

_Eagleof the Islands (Pontoaetusleucogaster). Mr.Ogilvie-Grant says^{: "}Strange^asit

may

seem,

"we

have

littledoubtthatthe

Harpy

^isthe nearest

known

_allyofthe present species." In _Sharpe's

"Hand-List

of the

Genera and

Species of Birds^"

(Vol. I, page 265), this bird is given a _position between the Short-toed Eagles(Circa'etus)

and

the Serpent-Eagles (Spilornis).