386 Letters, Announcements, &;c. 



In the same paper, page 82, I find named a PliUnopus 

 marginalis, Briigg., ex Nova Guinea et Salwatty, and a P. 

 senex, ex Jobi, Avhich I have already discriminated and re- 

 spectively named P. trigeminus and P. geminus in another 

 paper of mine (Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. vii. pp. 78G, 787). 



I take this opportunity to point out that ]\Ir. SevertzofF, 

 in ' Stray Feathers/ vol. iii. p. 430, mentions a Picus Itpio- 

 rhynchus (previously described in 'The Ibis,^ 1875, p. 487); 

 to it he refers a var. leucoptera, which Mr. Scvertzoff iden- 

 tifies with my Picus leucopterus (Atti R. Ac. Sc. Tor. vi. 

 (1871) p. 129). I cannot make out how a species already 

 described can be considered as a variety of one described at 

 a later period ; it would have been only fair to acknowledge 

 a Picus leucopterus with a var. leptorhynchus. 



I remain, dear Sir, 



Yours &c., 



T. Salvadori. 



Mr. Layard's last letters from Fiji give us an account of 

 his own and his son^s doings up to the middle of May last. 

 He was then on the point of leaving for New Caledonia, to 

 which island he has recently been appointed H.M. Consul. 

 As soon as he is settled in his new home his son purposes 

 visiting New Hebrides and the adjoining islands ; and Mr. 

 Layard promises that we shall soon hear more of both of 

 them from their new field of operations. As a last contri- 

 bution to the oi-nithology of Fiji, jNIr. Layard sends us a 

 paper which, received at the last moment, we regret to be 

 obliged to defer publishing till our next number. 



