NOVITATBS ZOOLOQICAE XXV. 1918. 49 



MS. was written, or the labels were — in some cases undoubtedly — copied and 

 inadvertently altered. In this case, too, Brehra described 16 tail-feathers. 



In the present state of the type I cannot recogni-e more than 13 (i.e. 14) 

 rectrices, but 16 sometimes (though rarely) are found. 



263. Melanitta megapus Brehm = Oidemia fusca fusca. 



Melanitta megapus Brehm, Handb. Nat. Vog. Deutschl. p. 90G (1831 — First description. German 

 coasts of Baltic and North Sea). 



Type: <? ad., Kiel, 30. i. 1829. (Probably Boie coll.) 



264. Melanitta platyrhyncha Brehm = Oidemia fusca fusca. 



Melanitta platyrhyncha Brehm, Handb. Nat. Vog. Deutschl. p. 907 (1831 — First description. German 

 coasts of Baltic, etc.). 



Type : <J ad., Greifswald, 26.xii. 1822. 



265. Platypus Homschuchii Brehm = Oidemia fusca fusca. 

 Platypus Horiischuchii Brehm, Lehrb. Nat. eur. Vog. ii. p. 1102 (1824 — Autumn 1822, Norway, 

 January 1823 on the Roda near Renthendorf). 



Type : <? ad., Norway, 13. x. 1822. 



266. Melanitta gibbeia Brehm = Oidemia nigra nigra. 



Melanitta gihbera Brehra, Handb. Nat. Vog. Deutschl. p. 902 (1831 — Fu-st description. " Sie kommt 

 auf ihrer Wanderung aus dem Norden, ihrem Vaterlande, nicht nur an die deutschen Nord- 

 kiisten, sondern in reclit strengen Wintern zuweilen auf die Gewagser des mittlern Deutach- 

 land "). 



Type : o ad., Rodatal. 



267. Somateria Danica Brehm = Somateria mollissima mollissima. 

 Somateria Danica Brehm, Handb. Nat. Vog. Deutschl. p. 890 (1831 — Danish Islands). 



Type: <J ad., Helsingoer, 29. xi. 1825. 



268. Somateria Tslandica Brehm = Somateria mollissima mollissima. 



Somateria Islandica Brehm, Handb. Nat. Vog. Devtschl. p. 895 (1831 — Iceland). 

 Type : <? ad., Iceland, 10. v. 1826. 



269. Platypus Altensteinii Brehm = Somateria spectabilis. 



Platypus Allen.'teivii Brehm. Lehrh. Nat. e ir. Vo /. ii. p. 999 (1824— Greenland). 



Type : <? ad., Greenland, £0. iv. 1823. 



Chiefly separated on account of the small frontal knob. Brehm did not 

 know how enormously that knob varies according to age and season. 



270. Platypus Leisleri Brehm = Somateria 7nollissima horealis (Brehm). 



Platypns Leisleri Brelim. Ornii. i. Heft, p. 28 (1824— Greenland). 



Type : <? Greenland, 12. vi. 1823. 



According to the description this must be the type, as it shows the black 

 along the bend of the wing, on the tips of the inner secondaries, and all along the 

 back. It is in very worn breeding plumage, which is very loose and beginning 

 to change for the eclipse. 



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