324 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



prefers to call " Fringilliformes/' and gives us an account of 

 five '^families "—the Dicseidse, Hirundinidae, Arapelidse, 

 Muiotiltidffi, and Motacillidse. Besides these he embraces the 

 members of the genns Polioptila, which, as he rightly states, 

 is qnite ont of place here, and ought to have been inserted in 

 a previous volume. But is he not a little severe on Mr. 

 Seebohm for rejecting Polioptila, when, as he allows, its most 

 natural place is among his own Muscicapidse ? Altogether 

 448 species are treated of in the present volume, illustrated 

 in the National Collection by 4590 specimens. Of these 

 88 are " types." Of 32 species allowed as good, the British 

 Museum has not yet acquired examples. Among the Dicseidae, 

 which our author admits " cannot be defined in exact terms/' 

 Mr. Sharpe includes the anomalous Hawaian genera Hemi- 

 gnathus, Drepanis, and their allies, which will eventually, we 

 suspect, be allowed to constitute a distinct family. At any 

 rate, Dicaum should not have been put in the middle of them. 

 The '' family " is rendered further irregular by the fact that 

 7 out of the 13 genera present a " distinct bastard primary," 

 — that is, are really not nine-primaried ! Similar difficulties 

 to those who stick to the division of the Oscines solely by 

 the number of their primaries will be found to occur in the 

 Vireonidae, Fringillidas, and Alaudidte. 



In the present volume Mr. Sharpe has rejected all tri- 

 nomial designations, but admits occasional subspecies with 

 binomial names. 



The following species and subspecies are provided with 

 new names : — Dicceum sulaense, Cotile shelleyi, Petrochelidon 

 iimoriensis, Dendroeca granadensis, Basileuterus auricularis, 

 B. meridanus, B. rorahnce, B. bolivianiis, B. veraguensis, 

 Setophaga guatemala, Polioptila sclateri, P. lactea, Motacilla 

 xantkophrys. 



The following generic terms seem to be new : — Pinaroloxias 

 for Cactornis inornata, Gould ; Xanthocorys for Anthus nat- 

 tereri, Sclater ; and Oreocorys in place of Heterura, Hodgson, 

 previously used. 



Twelve nicely drawn plates by Keulemans conclude the 

 volume. 



