Vol. 34, pp. 173-192 December 21, 1921 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



STUDIES IN THE TYRANNID.E. 

 I. A Revision of the Genus Pipromorpha. 

 BY W. E. CLYDE TODD. 



In arranging the series of Pipromorpha in the collection of 

 the Carnegie Museum a few years ago the writer noticed certain 

 suspicious-looking differences exhibited by specimens from 

 Bolivia. It was found that the examples from this country 

 fell into two series, in one of which the wings were perfectly 

 plain, while in the other the inner secondaries were conspicu- 

 ously edged terminally with yellowish or buffy, and the middle 

 and greater wing-coverts tipped with the same color, forming 

 two bands across the wing. These differences were correlated 

 with others less noticeable, but apparently constant. Dr. Harry 

 C. Oberholser, to whom some of these specimens were submitted, 

 opined that the differences in question were due to age, but when 

 confronted with further evidence in the shape of additional ma- 

 terial, showing that the characters held for young birds as well 

 as adults, he saw fit to revise his opinion. Meanwhile good 

 series of Pipromorpha from French Guiana and the lower Ama- 

 zon had come to hand, in which precisely the same differences 

 were observable. The question at once arose as to which of 

 these two forms Lichtenstein's name Muscicapa oleaginea applied 

 — a question which through the kindness of Dr. Ernst Hartert, 

 who examined the type-specimen in the Berlin Museum, we have 

 been able to definitely settle. While this investigation was in 

 progress a paper by Mr. Charles Chubb appeared, in which he de- 

 scribed and named no less than six races of Pipromorpha oleaginea, 

 but apparently without recognizing the significance of the char- 

 acters to which we have called attention. In order to clear 

 up the resultant confusion a revision of the entire generic group 



35— Pkoc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. 34, 1921. (173) 



