Mr. P. L. Sclater on the Fissirostral family Bucconidse. 355 



I have thought it necessary to make the preceding remarks in 

 order to vindicate the usage of the name Bucconid/E for the pre- 

 sent family ; the Prince of Canino having in his ' Conspectus 

 Generum Avium/ notwithstanding Mr. G. R. Gray's before-men- 

 tioned corrections, continued the terms Bucco and Capito in their 

 respectively perverted senses, — precisely the opposite to those 

 assigned to them by their original propounders. 



Thp members of the family Bucconidce are inhabitants of the 

 most tropical portion of the new world, ranging from about 

 15° N.L. to 30° south of the equator, and not passing the ridge 

 of the Andes as far as I am aware. 



The generic divisions hitherto established among the Bucco- 

 nidce and their types are as follows : — 



Bucco, Linn. 



B. coUaris, Lath. 



Tamatia, Cuv. 



T. macrorhyncha (Gm.). 

 Chaunornis, G. R. Gray. 



C. tamatia (Gm.).'^ 

 Cyphos, Spix. 



C. macrodactylm, Spix. 

 Malacoptila, G. R. Gray. 

 M.fusca (Gm.). 



NoNNULA, Sclater. 



N. ruhecula (Spix). 



MoNASA,Vieill. (Lypornix, Wagl. Scotocharis, Gloger. 

 MoNASTES, Nitzsch.) 

 M. atra (Bodd.). 

 Chelidoptera, Gould. (Brachypetes, Sw.) 



C. tenebrosa (Pall.). 



Of these divisions I propose to adopt only four, namely Bucco, 

 Malacoptila, Monasa, and Chelidoptera, as truly generic; the 

 others may be placed at the head of different subsections to 

 mark out slighter differences, in the manner adopted by Mr. G. 

 R. Gray in his recently published Catalogues of the British 

 Museum. 



In the first genus, Bucco, with fifteen species, the gonys is 

 always curved upwards from the base towards the apex ; the upper 

 mandible, which is strongly hooked over the under, is deeply 



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