( '54) 



Carapace : 



Length over curve, 02 indies = 1550 mm. 



„ iu straigbt line, 491 inches = 1238 mm. 

 Breadth over curve, 6ii indies = loiii) mm. 

 Ila//. Therese Island, St. Anue's Channel, Seychelles Islands. 

 The carapace of the T. (/igantca used for comjiarison measured 40 inches in a 

 straight line, = 122;") mm. It is true T. gigantea of Schweiger, of which 7'. hololissa 

 Giinther is a synonym. This form inhabited the smallest of the three Aldabra 

 islands, while T. gigantea elephantina inhabited the northern large island, and 

 T. (laitdiiii is still found on the southern large island. T. soiimeirei inhabited one 

 of the smaller islands either of the Seychelles or neighbouring groups. 



I 



ADDITIONAL NOTES ON BIRDS FROM N.W. AUSTRALIA. 



By ERNST HAETERT, Pii.D. 



(Plate I.) 



Amytornis woodward! Hart. 



(Plate I. fig. 1, 6 ad.) 



IN Nov. Zool. 1905, p. 225, I mentioned a series of a bird under the name 

 Amytornis Itousei. Mr. Bernard Woodward, curator of the Perth Museum, 

 has now kindly sent me a specimen of the true A. homei, and I find it quite 

 distinct from our series. I therefore described the birds from the Alligator River, 

 Aruhem Land, under the name of Amijtornis icoodicardi, iu honour of Mr. Woodward 

 {Bull. D. 0. Club xvi. p. 30, November 1905). In Amyt. housei, originally described 

 as Amytis housri (Rep. Kimberley Exped., Ajip. B, 1902) the tail is much shorter 

 (in the sj)ecimen before me 01 mm., against 106 to 114 in A. icood/rardi), the 

 throat is striated with black and white, each feather being white with black 

 margins, the malar region similarly marked, the chest, breast and abdomen are 

 light chestnut, the former only being slightly marked with buff shaft-lines, the 

 vent and under tail-coverts blackish with rufous shafts, and the iijiper wing-coverts 

 chestnut with whitish shaft-lines. In other resjiects A. Iwusvi is much like 

 A. icoodivardi (cf Bull. B. 0. Club xvi. pp. 30, 31). 



Amytis housei is well figured on PI. XIII, Emu iv. 



The generic name of these jieculiar little birds has been rather unlucky. 

 They were named Amytis by Lesson in 18:;l, but as this name had been 

 preoccupied by Savigny in 1820 for a genus of worms, Stejneger in 1885 

 created the name Amytornis, which fact being overlooked by Uberholser, this 

 author made another substitute f(U' Amytis, namely Difipliorillas, in 1S09. 



In r.lOl Mr. Milligaii described a new sjiecies under the name gigiintura. 

 This name was changed first for megalura and then for ineyalurus by Sharpe 

 {Zoological Record for 1901, ji. 08, and Hand-list iv. j). 240) under the belief that 

 giyantura was a " vox hybrida." Fortunately, however, the original name is 

 comjiosed of two genuine jiure Greek words, and " megalura " as well as 

 " megalarus " are therefore under any circumstances useless synonyms. The fear 

 of Mr. Milligau (cf. Victorian Naturalist xx. p. 138) that Dr. Sharpe " forestalled" 

 him with his uamo megalurus is of course unfounded ! 



