136 PKOCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1894. 



under the generic names Biensis and Lewinia do not seem to me 

 sufficiently distinct to warrant their separation. Rallus bruehipus 

 (type 0^ Lewinia) is the connecting link to Hijpotaenidia as regards 

 plumage, being very near to the H. striata group. 



Rallus aquaticus Linn. 



Rallus aquaticvs Linn., S. N. ed. 10, I (1758), p. 153. 



Hab. Europe. 



Rallus indicus Blyth. 



Bulliis indicus Blyth, Jour. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, XVIII, p. 820 

 (1849). 



f Rallus japonicus Dresser, Bds. of Europe, VII (1878), p. 261. 



Hab. Bengal, Nepaul, Japan, etc. 



This species is the eastern representative of the former. 



Rallus coerulescens (Im. 



RuUus coerulescens Gm. , S. N. I, p. 716, 1788. 



Hab. S. Africa. 



Rallus madagascariensis Desj. 



Rallu.s mad(((jascariensts Desj., P. Z. S., 1831, p. 45. 

 Biensis typus Pucheran, Rev. ZooL, 1845, p. 278. 

 Hab. Madagascar. 



Rallus bracMpus Sw. 



Rallus brachipus Sw. , Anini. in Menag. , (1838) p. 336. 



Rallus Lewinii Sw. , Anim. in Menag., p. 336. 



"Rallus pectoralis Cuv. ," fide Pucheran, Rev. Zool., 1845, p. 



278. 

 Hab. Australia. 



Rallus muelleri Rothsch. 



R(dlu.^ muelleri Rothsch., Ibis., 1893, p. 442. 



Hab. Aukland Isl., New Zealand. 



A close ally of the preceding. 



HYPOTAENIDIA Reichb. 

 1850, — Hypotaoiidia Reichh., Syst. Avium, p. XXIII (type " R. 

 pectorcdis Gould " = i?. philippensislj.). 

 Reichenbach gives as the type of his genus " Rallus pectoralis 

 Cuv." which Pucheran states is Rallus brachipus Sw. ; the bird 

 figured on the plate to which we are referred, however, is the " Ral- 

 lus pectoralis Gould " which is R. phillppensis Linn. 

 This genus comprises three groups of species: 



