134 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM — DEIGNAN vol. los 



Bonaparte ^ in 1854 as a monotypic genus, Apalopteron. Sharpe 

 (1882, p. 120, footnote) restored it to the bulbuls as a member of the 

 type genus Pycnonotus, and the most recent Japanese writers, using 

 the name Apalopteron, have retained it in that family. Delacour 

 (1946, pp. 21, 29), on the other hand, has considered it to be a timaliine 

 closely related to the genera Actinodura and Minla. It is my conten- 

 tion, however, that Apalopteron is in fact a fairly typical genus of the 

 Australasian Meliphagidae or honey-eaters. 



The true meliphagid tongue, fringed and quadrifid at its distal end, 

 has been most recently discussed and portrayed by Scharnke (1931, 

 pp. 454-466) in the genera Myzomela, Myza, Melidectes, Orodytes, 

 Philemon, Xanthotis, Ptiloprora, and Toxorhamphus ; by the same 

 author (Scharnke, 1932, pp. 117-119) in Promerops; and by Dorst 

 (1952, pp. 185-214) in Meliphaga, Gliciyhila, Melithreptus, Zantho- 

 miza, Meliornis, and Melipotes. Comparison of the flattened tongue 

 of Apalopteron (pi. 1) with the drawings of the tongues of Myzomela 

 and Philemon (Scharnke, 1931, pp. 456, 457) and the schematized 

 drawing of the tongue of Meliphaga (Dorst, 1952, p. 187) will show 

 that all are modeled upon a common pattern. 



Tlie Meliphagidae are unusual, if not unique, among oscinine birds 

 by their pervious nostrils. I have noted this character in freshly col- 

 lected specimens representing the Australian genera Melithreptus, 

 Entomyzon, Rarasayornis, Conopophila, Myzomela, Meliphaga, Lich- 

 mera, Myzantha, and Philemon. Specimens of Apalopteron in the 

 U. S. National Museum that quite certainly have never had the 

 nostrils pierced by a needle are similarly devoid of tlie narial septum. 



Such unspecialized genera of the Meliphagidae as Myzomela, 

 Lichmera, Ramsayornis, Conopophila, Meliphaga, et al. have the 

 tarsus in the adult so obscm-ely scutellate as to appear booted (bila- 

 minate behind) , although scuteliation is usually apparent in the young. 

 The tarsus of adult Apalopteron shows the same quasi-booted aspect, 

 and it is interesting to note that, according to a recent communication 

 from Dr. Yamashina, scuteliation cannot be seen even in the newly 

 hatched chick. 



In its gross external features, Apalopteron certainly more nearly 

 resembles the unspecialized honey-eaters than it does any member of 

 either the Pycnonotidae or the Timaliinae. Its but slightly decurvcd 

 bill, with strongly operculate nostrils, is not strikingly different from 

 that of Lichmera, while its general coloration and pattern about the 

 head are reminiscent of those found especially in certain species of 

 Meliphaga (e. g., M. chrysops and M. melanops). The short, some- 

 what recurved, bristle-like feathers that appear on the front and 



' Comptes Renrtas, Acad. Sci. Paris, vol. 38, pp. 54, 59, 1854. 



