Dicruridse and their Arrangement. 81 



space than these limited notes afford to discuss whether con- 

 venience or accuracy have led to this result. In a former 

 paper (Ibis, 1877, p. 313) a few remarks on the crestless 

 races of the genus Dissemurus will be found ; and to the con- 

 clusions there put forward I still adhere ; but the discrimina- 

 tion of the crested species is undoubtedly more difficult, re- 

 quiring a large number of specimens from all parts of the 

 area inhabited to be critically compared before any trust- 

 worthy conclusions can be arrived at. Exclusive of D. bra- 

 chy^ihorus, seventeen specimens ar^ catalogued as being con- 

 tained in the British-Museum collection — material hardly 

 adequate when it is considered that some ten species have 

 been discriminated by various authors, to which Mr. Sharpe 

 has added an eleventh, D. ceylonensis. Any one comparing 

 a typical example of D. grandis (Gould) ^ with one of D. 

 malabaricus (Scop.), ex Malabar, would scarcely hesitate to 

 consider them as belonging to two very distinct species ; but 

 many intervening links occur, such as the true D. paradiseus 

 and true D. cristatellus (Blyth), ex Tenasserim, in which 

 the frontal crest is not so much developed as in the Nepal, 

 nor so little as in the Malabar bird. But the variations 

 in structure which differentiate the several local races of 

 this genus, although well marked, would require a separate 

 paper for their elucidation; and I shall therefore, for the 

 present, content myself with pointing out a few errors that 

 have inadvertently crept into Mr. Sharpe's summary of the 

 genus. 



D.platui'us (Vieill.) is not from Java. Temminck (PI. Col., 

 sub Edolius remifer) remarks that Le Vaillant figured (Ois. 

 d'Afr. t. 175) the bird brought from Malabar by Sonnerat. 

 But whether this be so or not, D. platurus is not from Java, 

 it being a crestless species. The correct title for the Javan 

 species is D. formosus, Cab., founded on Javan examples, 

 which I have examined at Halberstadt. Temminck^s name 

 retifer (Sharpe, p. 258, sed lege setifer), adopted by some 



* D, malabaroides (Hodgs.) of Mr. Sharpe (p. 260), a title published 

 one year latei'. Mr. Gould's Sumatran species, said to be exactly the 

 same, has not since been recog'uized. 



SER. IV. VOL. II. G 



