on Mr. G. R. Gray's e Genera of Birds. 421 



Is not the name Orthonyx temminckii, Vig., 1826, prior to 0. spi- 

 nicauda, Tem. ? 



I should have rejoiced had the stern laws of priority allowed the 

 appropriate name, Platyurus, Swains., to be retained instead of a name 

 so absurdly constructed as Merulaxis, Less. Few would discover, 

 without being told, that this word is intended as a compound of Me- 

 rula and Synallaxis. 



Judging from the description, there seems much doubt as to whe- 

 ther Sylvia magellanica, Lath., is the same as Scytalopus fuscus, 

 Gould. 



For Microura write Micrura ; (ov in Greek is always made u in 

 Latin) . 



For Ramphoccenus write Rhamphoc&nus. 



P. 20. Cyanotis, Sw., ought certainly, I think, to come next Re- 

 gulus. 



For Cysticola write Cisticola (Cistus and colo). 

 Hemipteryx, Sw., should be merged into Cisticola, Less. On com- 

 paring specimens of Cisticola schcenicola with Hemipteryx textrix, I 

 find that the form of the wings and feet exactly agrees, and the 

 only structural difference is, that the tail of the former is slightly 

 more developed. The wings of Cisticola are quite different from 

 those of Dry moica, Sw., though Mr. Swainson unites C. schcenicola 

 under the latter genus. 



For Cincloramphus write Cinclorhamphus. 



To the Malurince may be added the following well-marked genus, 

 which I believe has never yet been named : — 



Sfhenoj:acus, Strickland, 1841 (cr^rjy, cuneus, and om£, guberna- 

 culum, rectrix), < Motacilla, Gm., < Malurus, Sw., < Sphenura, 

 Licht. Type, S. africanus (Gm.), mihi. Levaill. Ois. Af. pi. 112. 

 f. 2. Sphenura tibicen, Licht. 



The differential characters of the genus are, — Beak much com- 

 pressed, elevated at the base ; culmen nearly straight, slightly curved 

 down at the tip ; gonys ascending in nearly the same degree. Tail 

 long, very cuneate ; rectrices 12, narrow, pointed, with the webs 

 subdecomposed. 



I cannot adopt the name Locustella avicula, Ray, instead of L. 

 Rayi, Gould. In the first place Ray does not use the word avicula as 

 a specific name, and secondly it has been shown above that we ought 

 not to carry the law of priority further back than Linnaeus. The 

 authority of the genus Locustella rests with Gould, though he very 

 judiciously selected Ray's word Locustella for it, 



P. 21. I at first thought that the specific name of Acrocephalus 

 arundinaceus (L.) would interfere with that of the Reed- Wren 

 {Motacilla arundinacea, Gm.) ; but as there seems to be no doubt 

 that the latter bird is the Motacilla salicaria of Linnaeus, it will 

 be called Acrocephalus salicarius (L.), and the former name may 

 stand. 



The name Regulus, " Ray/' was first used generically by Cuvier. 

 The earliest specific name of the Wood- Wren is sibilatrix, so 



