Mr. H. Seebohra on the Genus Himantopus. 225 



ten species which constitute the genus Himantopus. These 

 three characters are a long bill and a long and reticulated 

 tarsus. The genus may therefore be diagnosed as follows : — 

 Charadriidse having the tarsus covered all over with a net- 

 work of fine hexagonal reticulations^ having more than three 

 fourths of the bill (measured from the frontal feathers) beyond 

 the nasal orifice, and having the tarsus at least twice the 

 length of the middle toe. 



The species may be diagnosed. as follows : — 



lost seconda- \ C .. ~>, 



white } ' ^^^"^"'^ 



Innermost seconda- 

 ries 



Toes deeply webbed . . -J americanus 



pectoralis. 



ruhricollis 



<■ White on scapulars. 



I Outer webs of seconda- 

 ( ries chiefly dark. 



andinus 



In pied plumage ; black 

 on hind neck not reach- 

 ing to the crown .... 



Breeding - plumage I 

 entirely dark | 



mexicanus 



h'asiliensis 



leucoceiyhalus 



7iovce-zelandi(s 



melanopterus 



> No white on wings. 



J 



In pied plumage ; black 

 on hind neck not ex- 

 tending under the eye. 



The range of the genus is almost cosmopolitan, but it does 

 not extend into the Arctic Region nor to the smaller islands 

 of the Pacific. Four species breed in the Australian Region, 

 two in the Nearctic and two in the Neotropical Regions. The 

 remaining two species breed in the Palsearctic Region, but 

 one breeds also in the Oriental Region, and the other in the 

 Ethiopian Region. This information has little interest be- 

 cause it has little significance, except perhaps that Australia 

 appears to have been the centre of distribution of the genus, 

 an inference probably false. If the genus be split into three, 

 bad is made worse, and the key to the geographical distribu- 



