Mr. W. Thompson on the British Actiniadce, 229 



a yellowish tinge in both my specimens, more nearly pure white in 

 that in the British Museum. They are thickly feathered down to 

 the fissure of the toes. The form is that of other South American 

 Sgrnia, the fourth and fifth wing-feathers being equal and longest, 

 only slightly exceeding the third. The specimen which I take for 

 the younger bird only differs in having the head varied like the back, 

 and being generally more rufous. 



4. Scops usta, sp. nov. 



Supra saturate castaneo-brunnca, plumis omnibus nigro subtilis- 

 sime vermiculatis : facie et gula pure castaneo-brunneis, hac 

 pallidiore : tinea post regionem auricularem, cornuum capitis 

 extantium marginibus latis et pileo supero nigris : alarum 

 pennis pallide castaneo-brunneis nigro punctulatis, intus autem 

 ochracescenti-albidis, quinque aut sex fasciis latis in pogonio 

 externo, maculas quadratas efficientibus, nigris transvittatis ; 

 cauda ex eodem colore sed fasciis nigris pcene obsoletis : subtus 

 clarius brunnea, lineis angustis longitudinalibus, scapas pluma- 

 rum occupantibus, nigris puree notata : tectricibus alarum in- 

 ferioribus sordide albis : tarsis pallide fulvis ; rostro et pedi- 

 busfavis. 

 Long, tota 8*5, alse 70, caudse 4*0, tarsi 1*2. 

 Hab. Ega on the Upper Amazon (H. W. Bates). 

 This species is distinguishable from every other South American 

 member of the genus, as far as I am acquainted with them, by its 

 rich brown colouring above and below, and by the longitudinal lines 

 below not being crossed as in Scops choliba and S. atricapilla. 



Remarks on the British Actiniadce, and Re-arrangement 

 of the Genera. By W. Thompson. 



Observations extending over many years, on the characters and the 

 habits of the British species, clearly proved to me that the genera of 

 British Actinice required great alterations ; and I submit the present 

 classification as an improvement on those hitherto adopted. 



It is well understood that the principal generic characters are de- 

 rived from modifications and differences existing in the tegumentary 

 system and in the tentacula. Dr. Johnston, in his 'History of 

 British Zoophytes,' published in 1847, made but one British genus, 

 Actinia of Linnaeus, and in this he included all known British spe- 

 cies ; but he divided it into two sections or subgenera, the one cha- 

 racterized by having the skin smooth, the other by having the skin 

 covered with porous warts. Mr. Gosse, in a paper read before the 

 Linnsean Society in the early part of 1855, divided the family into 

 three genera ; namely, Sagartia, destitute of warts, and emitting 

 filaments from pores ; Bunodes, studded with warts, and without 

 pores and filaments ; and Actinia, having a perfectly smooth skin, 

 and destitute of warts, pores or filaments. The character arising 

 from the presence or absence of filaments is not of very great weight, 



Ann. $ Mag. N. Hist. Scr. 3. Vol. ii. 16 



