402 REVIEW OF JAPANESE BIRDS. 



RALLUS Linn. 



1758. — IiaUiis Linn., S. N., 10 ed., i, p. 153 (type E. aquaticus L.). 



1852. — Hypotccnidia Reichenbach, Syst. Av., p. xxiii (type Ballus pectoralis GouLU), 



1871.— Aramus Gray, Haudb. B., iii, p. 58 (part). 



The tropical eastern spotted and banded Rails have been separated 

 as an independent genus, Hypotcenidia., but I can find no structural 

 characters upon which to establish it. The species included in it form 

 a well marked color group which seems to be quite natural. Ko Hy- 

 potcenidia has been found in Japan, but inasmuch as representative 

 forms of the Philippine R. striatus are known from China and Formosa, 

 it may not be unreasonable to expect it to turn up somewhere in the 

 southern part of the Japanese Empire. I hare therefore given the 

 general characters of tlie R. striatus group without venturing to express 

 any opinion as to what special form may be likely to be found. In re- 

 gard to the forms already known, I refer to a special paper on Rallus 

 striatus and its allies, already publishjed on a previous page of these 

 Proceedings. 



Any species of the R. striatus group may be easily distinguished from 

 the typical Water Rail as follows: 



a} Back without white spots; remiges uniform dusky without white markings 

 (Rallus) B. indicus. 



a* Back speckled densely with white spots; remiges with narrow white cross-bars 

 (Hypot^nidia) [B. striatus.*'] 



(146) Rallus indicus Blyth. 



Eastern Water Rail. Kuina. 



1849.— Ballus aquaticus Temm. & Schleg., Fauna Jap. Av., (p. 122).— Swinhoe, P. Z. 

 S., 1863, p. 322.— Schleg., Mus. P. B., Ralli, p. 10 (1865).— Whitely, Ibis, 

 1867, p. 206.— FiNSCH, Verh. k. k. Zool.-bot. Ges. Wien, 1872, p. 267.— 

 Martens, Preuss. Exp. Ost-As., Zook Theil, i, p. 371 (1876). 



1849. — Ballus indicus Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng., xviii (p. 820). (nee Reichenb., 

 1851).— Jd., Ibis, 1867, p. 172.— Id., ibid., 1870, p. 176.— Swinhoe, Ibis, 1874, p. 

 163.— Blakist. & Pryer, Ibis, 1878, p. 225.— lid., Tr. As. Soc. Jap.,viii, 1880, 

 p. 202.— lid., ibid., x, 1882, p. 122.— Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 591.— Blakist., 

 Chrysauth., 1882, p. 523.— 7(L, ibid., Jan., 1883, p. 28.— Id., ibid., Feb., 1883, 

 p.— .— 7(Z., Amend. List B. Jap., p. 13 (1884).— JOUY, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus., 

 VI, 1883, p. 317. 



1856. — Eallus aquaticus hjaponicus Bonaparte, Compt. Rend., 1856, xliii, p. 598 (nom. 

 mid.). 



1856. — Ballus aquaticus c indicus Bonaparte, Compt. Rend., 1856, XLiii, p. 598. 



1878. — ? Ballus japonicus Dresser, B. of Eur., vii, p. 261. 



Mr* Dresser (1. c), in recognizing R. japonicus as a distinct species, 

 states that he found in the Japanese specimens that "the barring on 

 the abdomen extends quite to the end of the under tail-coverts, there 



* See "Description of Ballus jouyi, with Remarks on B. striatus and B. gularis," By 

 Leonhard Stejr,eger.<Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., ix, 1886, p. 362. 



