200 Letters, Announcements, i^c. 



Sirs, — I should like to ask the authors of the ' Nomen- 

 clator Avium Neotropicalium ' to see if Euphonia chalcopasta, 

 described in that work (p. 157, November 30th, 1873), be not 

 the same as ray Euphonia mesochrysa (Atti R. Ace. Sc. Tor. 

 viii. p. 193, January 1873). I am pretty well sure that such 

 is the case : the descriptions agree ; and the characteristic 

 phrase, "affinis E. chrysopasta, sed fronte flava diversa,^' 

 applies also to E. mesochrysa, of which I have seen lately a 

 second specimen, exactly like the type, labelled " Bogota.^^ 



T. Salvadori. 

 Turin, Zoological Museum, 

 December 10th, 1877. 



[We have compared a specimen of E. mesochrysa, kindly 

 forwarded by Prof. Salvadori, with the typical specimen of 

 our E. chalcopasta. There can be no question that the species 

 are identical.— Ed d.] 



Sirs, — At page 91, vol. ii. of the English edition of ' New 

 Lands within the Arctic Circle,^ Payer includes Rosses Gull 

 [Rhodostethia rosea) amongst the birds found by the Austrian 

 Expedition between Novaya Zemlya and Franz- Josef Land. 

 Through the courtesy of Mr. Clements Markham, Secretary 

 of the Royal Geographical Society, my request for additional 

 information in reference to this very interesting statement 

 was forwarded to Herr Julius Payer ; and I have pleasure in 

 giving a translation of the answer of that distinguished Arctic 

 explorer : — 



" The Rose-coloured Gull {Rhodostethia rosea) I shot my- 

 self in the summer of 1873. I remember well how this rare 

 Gull threw all on board into astonishment. As we had no 

 zoologists on board, the identification was made by the help 

 of Fritsch^s large and beautiful Atlas as soon as I got into the 

 cabin. All the characters given by Fritsch for Rh. rosea 



were found in the bird we shot The specimen belongs 



to Tegetthoff, whose present address I cannot give. 



" Frankfort-on-Main, 



22nd January, lb78." 



