8 Mathews and Iredale, " Perry's Arcana." [ Voi."'xx?x. 



The plates and letter-press are neither numbered nor paged, 

 so for the purposes of this paper we have numbered the plates 

 I. to LXXXIV., and will refer to them under these numbers. 

 It is easily remembered that Plates I. to XLVIIl. were issued 

 in 1810, and Plates XLIX. to LXXXIV. in 1811, while, as 

 four were published monthly, the exact month is soon cal- 

 culated. 



It is only just to record that Mr. C. Davies Sherborn, while 

 engaged on the second part of his monumental work, the 

 " Index Animalium," had duly noted all the new names in 

 this work, and they have been carefully recorded for the 

 benefit of scientific workers and are at present available in the 

 Geological Department of the British Museum (Natural 

 History). It would thus have been unnecessary to draw up 

 these notes were it not for the fact that the publication of that 

 much-desired second volume of the " Index " does not seem 

 to be yet in sight owing to the colossal nature of the under- 

 taking. 



Interested mainly in birds and shells, we shall first deal with 

 the plates covering these subjects, and then note the other 

 plates discussing points that have attracted us while working 

 up the first two subjects. 



The author of the " Arcana " also published a " Conchology," 

 and the Australian shells therein have been discussed by 

 Hedley (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 1902, p. 24),* who has given 

 a history ot that book, as well as a life of the author. The 

 " Arcana " is important inasmuch as it was mainly published 

 before the appearance of the " Conchology," and, dealing with 

 much the same material, antedates the " Conchology," and this 

 precedence of this hitherto unquoted work necessitates some 

 rather im]X)rtant alterations. 



AVES. 



Plate Vll. is the first to give a bird, the Condor Vulture being 

 there represented without any scientific equivalent being ])ro- 

 posed. This is one of the few instances where no Latin name 

 is quoted. 



Plate IX. is named Psittacus nonpareil, a hitherto unrecorded 

 synonym of Platycercus cximuis, Shaw. 



Plate XL is of Psittaciis viridis, which enters into the 

 synonymy of Pezoporus terresiris, Shaw. 



Plate XX. shows Ara militaris from " New Holland." being, 

 however, Ani militaris (Linnc) of South America. 



Plate XXIL is a splendid figure of the Red-headed ( rane of 

 New Holland, which Perry named Ardca nibicunda. One of 



*See also a paper by Mr. J. H. Gatlift in l'n:ti>i'uiii Notiiraiist lor 

 September, 1902 (xix., p. 75). — Ed. Vict. Nat. 



