23 Mr. E. Hargitt on the Genus lyngipicus. 



fate of the original specimen of P. nanus. At the same time 

 I believe that Malhcrbe must have forgotten or confused, the 

 identity of the species on his return to France ; for the bird 

 he figures is only the Indian form of /. gymnophthahnus, 

 which I propose to call lyngipicus peninsularis. Mr. Hume 

 has identified the P. nanus of Vigors with the P. hardwickii 

 of Jerdon ; but the description of the dark occiput disposes of 

 this ; nor will Yigors's description suit the jMalabar bird, as 

 Malherbe would have us believe. In the monograph of the 

 latter author it is stated that specimens of his P. nanus, 

 Vigors, were in the Zoological Society^s Museum (Vigors's 

 type) and in the British Museum. This was written before 

 the dispersal of the old collection of the Zoological Society ; 

 and at that time we know there were only two specimens 

 of /. peninsularis in the British ISIuseum ; and yet, in his 

 monograph, INIalherbe gives figm'es of at least four different 

 specimens (if not of five), though from his letterpress there 

 is no evidence that he knew of more than three speci- 

 mens. My contention, therefore, is that the text and the 

 plates were most likely prepared at different times, and the 

 figures drawn from other specimens than those seen in Eng- 

 land, also that the author was wrong in considering the Mala- 

 bar bird to be identical with the type of Vigors^s P. nanus. 

 As at the date in question the collections in England were 

 separate, no actual comparison of the British-IMuseum skins 

 with Vigors's actual type could be made ; and an error from 

 memory, or from comparing descriptions, may easily have 

 arisen. 



Picus PYGM.EUS (Vigors), Malh. t. cit. p. 147, pi. xxxiv. 

 figs. 5-7. 



This is apparently rightly identified by jNIalherbe, who 

 examined the type in the old Zoological Society^s collection. 



Picus SEMTCORONATUS (Malh.), t. cit. p. 148, pi. xxxiv. fig. 8. 



This bird is the well-known P. rubricaius of Blyth, 

 whose name, however, appears to be subsequent to that of 

 Malherbe. 



Picus AURiTus, Malh. t. cit. p. 150, pi. xxxv. fig. 1. 

 Malherbe apparently knew this species only from the type 



