i82 Records of the Indian Museum. [Voi,. XIX, 



Nevertheless we cannot accept the Pkasianus gallus of the 

 '' Systema Naturae^* as the name for the Red Jungle Fowl for he 

 had used it previously in the Fauna Svecica for domesticated 

 European birds and it cannot be employed again for something 

 else. This contention must hold whether names based on do- 

 mesticated races are accepted or not. It refers to a domestic 

 breed or is not available. There are several species of Jungles 

 Fowl and, as Mr. Stuart Baker points out in his latest remarks on a 

 form of Gallus {Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc, Siam IV, 1920, p. 33), there is 

 nothing to prove that Linnaeus' domestic fowl was unquestionably 

 the direct descendant of the Red Jungle Fowl. The name Pka- 

 sianus gallus therefore cannot properly be applied to this last : we 

 cannot even regard it as a subspecies of Ph. gallus. 



While our paper was being printed Messrs. Bangs and Penard 

 published an article on *' The name of the Common Jungle Fowl." ' 

 They discuss the synonom}^ of the species and, considering that 

 Phasianus gallus is adequately described and can apply to none 

 other than the Red Jungle Fowl, select Bengal as the " terra 

 typica " restricted. 



This finding I cannot accept, even if I accepted for a wild 

 bird the Phasianus gallus of the 12th Edition. Even then it would 

 not be available for the western race since the distribution given 

 by Linnaeus is ' ' India Orientali : Pouli candor, etc." India 

 orientali merely means the East Indies as contrasted with the 

 West Indies, not the eastern part of India, and we cannot regard 

 Pulo Condore as other than a " terra typica " restricted by Lin- 

 naeus himself. Messrs. Bangs and Penard's selection of Bengal 

 comes therefore too late. 



There is no question as to the application of Tetrao ferrugi- 

 neus, Gmelin (vide also Hartert, Nov. ZooL, IX, 1902, p. 218) so 

 that the specific name of the Red Jungle Fowl is Gallus ferrugineus 

 (Gm.), " terra typica " countries east of the Bay of Bengal, the 

 eastern subspecies being thus Gallus ferrugineus ferrugineus. The 

 western race was without a name until recently (a point on which 

 Messrs. Bangs and Penard are in agreement) and this we have sup- 

 plied by proposing as popular a name as possible : murghi (fowl) 

 is perhaps one of the best known words in the Indian vernacular. 



Mr. Stuart Baker is quite out of order in using bankiva as the 

 specific name {Lc.s. and Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Sac. XXV, 1917 

 pp. 1-2 1) the more so in that he employs ferrugineus as a sub- 

 specific one (though crediting it to Blyth instead of Gmelin). 

 Tetrao ferrugineus was proposed by Gmelin in 1788 {Syst. Nat., ed. 

 13^ p. 761), whereas Gallus bankiva was not published until 1813 

 (Temminck, Hist, des Pigeons et des Gallinaces, II, p. Sy ; Java 

 and Sumatra : not, fide Baker, Phasianus bankiva Raffles, Trans. 

 Linn. Soc., XIII, 1822, p. 3^9 » Sumatra).'' 



' Proceedings of the New England Zoological Club, VII, pp. 23-25 (1919). 

 2 Mr. Baker commits another error, as what Raffles recorded was Phasianus 

 gallus, Linn. 



