428 Mr. W. A. Forbes on a new Species of 



Sharpe and Dresser ; or we adopt an unscientific mixture of 

 Latin and English^ and speak of 



The typical form of Picus major, 



The arctic form of Picus major. 

 Perhaps, after all, the last is the best, as giving the greatest 

 amount of information with the least strain on the memory, 

 except in the case of intermediate forms. No one can deny 

 that Picus major-cissa is a much better phrase than " an 

 intermediate form between the typical and arctic forms of 

 Picus major." 



XXXII. — On a new Species of Hemipode from New Britain. 

 By W. A. Forbes, B.A., M.B.O.U., Prosector to the 

 Zoological Society. 



(Plate XII.) 



A FEW months ago I received, through Mr. Sclater, a small 

 collection of birds in spirit from various parts of the world, 

 which had been forwarded to him for identification by Herr 

 J. D. E. Schmeltz, Curator of the Godefiroy Museum in 

 Hamburg. Amongst these was a single specimen (which on 

 diss'ection proved to be a female) of a small Turnix from New 

 Britain, where it had been collected by the late Herr Klein- 

 schmidt, who was murdered by the natives of that inhospit- 

 able island shortly afterwards. 



I at first thought that this bird was referable to the Aus- 

 tralian Turnix melanonota of Gould ; but having compared it 

 with Gould's types of that species, now in the collection of 

 the Academy of Sciences in Philadelphia, as well as with a 

 series of ten specimens in the British Museum, I am inclined 

 to consider it specifically distinguishable from the Australian 

 bird, and propose therefore to call it 



Turnix saturata. (Plate XII.) 



Affinis T. melanonotce, sed rostro crassiore magisque curvato, 

 superciliis magis rufescentibus, et colore subtus omnino 

 (prsesertim in mento, gula et pectorc) intensiore distin- 

 guenda. 



Long. al. 3-2, tars. -85 poll. Angl. 



