416 Miscellaneous. 



crisso pallide rufescentibus : rostro nigro, mandibula inferiore 

 ad basm brunnescente, pedibus bruiineis. 



Long, tota 8*0, alse 4-1, caudse 3*3, tarsi 1*2. 



Hab. In Bolivia (Bridges). 



Mus. Derbiano et Brit. 



This fine species of Cinclodes is quite typical in form, though it 

 departs somewhat in colouring from the uniform appearance of Cin- 

 clodes patagonicus and its allies. In this respect it approaches Cin- 

 clodes palliatus (Tsch.), and I was at first almost inclined to believe 

 that it might be referable to that species. It is in fact just recon- 

 cileable with the characters as given in Tschudi's 'Conspectus Avium' 

 (Wiegm. Arch. 1844, p. 281). But turning to the * Fauna Peruana,' 

 we find a plate representing a bird with the apical portion of all the 

 tail-feathers white. On the other hand, in the letterpress of the 

 same work, the tail-feathers are described " an der Basalhalfte rein 

 weiss, im iibrigen verlaufen schwarz,'^ and in the following sentence 

 ** Schwanz schwarz.^^ I cannot undertake to reconcile these three 

 conflicting accounts of the colouring of the tail-feathers ; but if any 

 one of the three be correct*, the present bird must be quite different. 

 It may further be noticed that the underside of Tschudi's species is 

 represented both by figure and description as ^^ pure white.'' The 

 two white bands in the wing of Cinclodes bifasciatus are formed, one 

 by the bend of the wing and distinct exterior edging of the feathers 

 of the spurious wing being white, and the second by a broad white 

 space, which occupies the basal portion of all the secondaries except 

 the outermost, and passes obliquely across the inner primaries, ter- 

 minating at the fourth from the outside, and leaving the three outer 

 primaries wholly unmarked. The fourth primary is marked only on 

 the inner web. There is a specimen of this bird in the British 

 Museum, from the same source as the bird described. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



On the Stomachal Filaments of the Medusae. 

 By D. Fritz Muller. 



In the higher Discophora, in the families of the Rhizostomidse, Me- 

 dusidae, Pelagidse, and Charybdeidse, we have long been acquainted 

 with groups of tentaculiform filaments, endowed with a slow vermi- 

 form movement, covered with vibratile cilia, and more or less abun- 

 dantly furnished with urticating organs. They appear to occur in 

 all the members of the above families, and to constitute the only 

 character by which these are distinguished from the lower Medusae 

 (^Cryptocai'pce, Eschsch., Gymnophthalmata, Forbes). 



The opinions as to the import of these filaments are various. 

 Their presence in the vicinity of the generative organs in the first 

 three families caused them to be regarded as tentaculiform appendages 

 of these, and consequently as connected with the generative function. 



* For other instances of the xmtrustworthiness of the plates of Tschudi's book, 

 see V. Z. S. 1854, p. 248, & 1858, p. 75. Dr. Giinther informs me that the Ba- 

 trachia there fignrcd arc also quite unrecognizable. 



