272 ]\Ir. E. Hargitt on the Genus Chrysophlegma. 



came from Borneo or Sumatra. No specimen of the true 

 C. mentale was acquired by the Paris Museum until 1831, 

 after the publication of Lesson^s ' Traite.^ Dr. Pucheran 

 (Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1853, p. 162) regarded as the type 

 of Picvs squamicollis the specimen in the Paris Museum 

 received from Temminck in 1823, and in this I agree with 

 Dr. Pucheran ; but I think he erred in considering the bird 

 to be nothing more than the female of C. mentale (Temm.), 

 which it certainly is not. 



The adoption of Lesson's name for the present species 

 will probably be unlooked for by many ornithologists ; 

 but I consider that my reasons for accepting the title are 

 valid, and I shall therefore give them as briefly as possible, 

 and endeavour to reinstate a species which has not been 

 recognized since the date of its discovery by any author 

 except Reichenbach. Temminck described the Javan bird as 

 Picus mentalis, and his MS. name of gularis had also refe- 

 rence to the same species. This synonym was adopted by 

 Wagler for the Javan bird ; and the latter author's descrip- 

 tion, although indefinite in some respects, bears evidence of 

 having been taken from the true C. mentale; therefore 

 Wagler's title is a mere synonym. In 1831 Lesson, in his 

 ' Traite,' described a bird of this genus from an unknown ' 

 locality, to which he gave the name of Picus squamicollis. 

 It is the Malaccan bird, and, as I have already stated, I take 

 it to be the type of the present species. Reichenbach, in his 

 ^ Handbuch (Scans. Picinse,' p. 358), clearly points out the 

 differences between the true C. mentale from Java and the 

 present species, but unfortunately names the bird which 

 has the feathers of the throat white with a black central 

 stripe {i. e. the Malaccan species) Venilia mentalis, and the 

 one having these feathers black with white spots at their 

 extremities (i. e. the Javan species) Venilia gularis. If 

 Lesson's title were to be rejected for the present species, 

 that of Reichenbach, although he was fully aware of the 

 value of the species, could not stand, as Temminck had 

 already applied the same name to the Javan bird. 



I am greatly indebted to Dr. Oustalet for having sent me 



