328 Count T. Salvadori on the Eighth and Ninth 



translated my description of it. I said, " corpore subtm minhne 

 rufescente .... ahdomme griseo-fusco." Minime means '^ not 

 at all," while Mr. Gadow has translated it " less ;" and griseo- 

 fusco does not mean that the abdomen is mottled, but simply 

 brownish grey. 



Passing to the genus Philemon, Ph. jobiensis is not simply 

 a subspecies, but a most distinct insular form, and, besides 

 having the fore part of the crown bare, it wants completely 

 the knob at the base of the culmen. I said, " culmine rostri 

 .... minime tuber oso ;" and again minime means "not at all." 



In the habitat o^ Ph. moluccensis (p. 276) I find Bourn 

 and the Ke Islaiids, and two specimens from the latter locality 

 are attributed to that species. But here there must be some 

 mistake, as Ph. moluccensis only lives in Bourn, and in the 

 Ke Islands only Ph.plumigenis is to be found. To this species 

 are attributed (p. 280) the specimens from Tenimber Islands ; 

 but I am inclined to agree with Dr. Meyer, who quite recently 

 has separated them as Ph. timorlaoensis {I. c. p. 41). In the 

 genus Philemon is included Ph. sclateri, which I still believe 

 to be allied to the genera Melidectes and Melirrhophetes , and 

 to be generically separable as Meliarchus. 



The union of Melijwtes gymnops in one genus with the 

 species attributed to Euthyrhynchus is beyond my compre- 

 hension ! 



The last species included in Mr. Gadow's vol. ix. of the 

 British Museum Catalogue is my (Edistonia pygmceum, rele- 

 gated to the Appendix. The author^s last remark is as 

 follows : — " Count Salvadori has placed this genus between 

 his genera Glycychara and Melilestes. Not having seen a 

 specimen, I have not been able to place it systematically, but 

 it probably comes near Glycyphila." I can most positively 

 state that Mr. Gadow would not have erred if he had left in 

 peace my genus Melilestes, instead of splitting it into two 

 parts, one of which, most wrongly, he has attributed to 

 Arachnothera ! Melilestes fiovce-guinece, M. iliolophus, M. 

 affinis, and M. poliopterus are no Arachnotherte at all, but 

 most certainly Meliphagine birds ; they have the " bill with a 

 prominent culmen, broadened out at base . . . maxilla serrated. 



