266 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXIV. 1917. 



Sharpe, who disregarded the description of 1758, because he began his nomen- 

 clature with the year 1766, should not have adopted Linne's name for the African 

 species. 



The oldest available name for the latter is Fulica madagascariensis Latham, 

 1801. As there seems to be no difference between African and Madagascar 

 specimens, this name covers them both, and the change proposed by Sharpe and 

 Reichenow need not take place. 



II. PORPHYRIO POLIOCEPHALUS CASPIUS SUBSP. NOV. 



While there is evidently no difference whatever in colour, I find that the 

 tropical (Indian) form of Porphyria poliocephalus is smaller than the palaearctic 

 one from the shores of the Caspian and Persia. 



Of the Indian form there is a large series in the British Museum fcf. Cat. 

 B. Brit. Mus. xxiii. p. 199), and their wings measure 240-269 mm. Unfor- 

 tunately, quite a number are not sexed at all, and some apparently not correctly, 

 but, taking one or two errors for granted, it seems that the males measure from 

 257-269, females 240-256 mm. There are only four Ceylon skins, and their 

 wings measure 240-243 mm., in one, but perhaps abnormally, only 230 mm., but 

 Legge gives the same length ! It would thus seem that the Ceylon birds are 

 smaller again, but a larger series must be measured in order to verify this 

 supposition. 



Of the Irano-Caspian form I have measured five skins from Lenkoran and 

 eleven from East Persia, and find that they measure 259-286 mm. in the wing 

 —i.e. SS 270-286, $? 259-266 mm. 



There is thus, if specimens of similar sex are compared, a close approach, 

 but not even an overlapping, and the two forms must therefore be separated. 



The Indian bird was named Gallinula poliocephala by Latham (Ind. Orn. 

 Suppl. p. Ixviii. 1801), and again Porphyria neglectus by Schlegel {Mus. Pays- 

 Bas, Ralli, p. 53, 1865). 



The larger Caspian and Persian form has no name.. It is frequently called 

 " Porphyria veterum," but this is not correct. S. G. Gmelin {Reise (lurch Rnss- 

 land, iii. p. 79, pi. 12, 1774) tells us of the occurrence of the Purple Coot in North 

 Persia, and give an uncoloured figure of it. He thought this bird was the Por- 

 phyria of the older writers, and does not, therefore, give it a name. In a footnote 

 he says that it is the Porphijrio veterum, meaning the Porphyria of the old authors, 

 and recapitulates the diagnoses of Klein, Brown, and Linne, of their Porphyria. 

 These authors, however, had different birds in mind, and the name veterum 

 has therefore no standing ; besides that, it was not meant to be a name. 

 I therefore propose for the large form the name — 



Porphyrio poliocephalus caspius subsp. nov. 



because it chiefly inhabits the basin of the Caspian. 

 Type : S ad., Lenkoran, in the Tring Museum. 

 We must distinguish the following palaearctic Porphyrio: 



1. Porphyrio caeruleus (Vandelli). 

 South Portugal and Spain, Marocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Sardinia, and Sicily, 

 formerly Balearic Isles and Malta. It was probably this species which occurred, 



