30 BULLETIN OF THE LIVERPOOL MUSEUMS. 
MEROPIDZ. 5 
DICROCERCUS, Cab. & Heine. 
azuror (Less.). One. West Africa. 
An examination of the Type of Merops furcatus, Stanley, Salt’s Voy. Abyss. App. 
iv. p. 57 (1814), from Adowa, Abyssinia, shows that it must be referred to the 
southern form D. hirundineus (Licht.}, as it presents no trace of the blue super- 
ciliaries and forehead. Merops chrysolaimus, Jard. & Selb. Ill. Orn. ii. pl. xeix., 
which slightly antedates Merops azuror (Less.), must be rejected on account of 
ambiguity. Though the description is sufficiently correct, the authors evidently 
intended it to apply to the southern form also, as they mention having received it 
from the Cape of Good Hope; the figure, moreover, is not that of the West 
African species. 
hirundineus (Licht.). Six. 2, jr. Abyssinia (Adowa). Central Africa 
(Nyassaland, Zomba, July; Zambesi). South Africa (Damaraland, 
October). 
No. 6 is the Type of Merops furcatus, Stanley, loc. cit. 
MELITTOPHAGUS, Boie. 
meridionalis, Sharpe. Eleven. 3, 29. Abyssinia. Central Africa 
(Nyassaland, Zomba, July). South Africa (Transvaal: Rustenberg, June ; 
Natal). 
The presence of this species in Abyssinia, where two specimens were collected by 
Salt in 1812, is puzzling ; they agree perfectly with others fromm the Transvaal, 
Natal, and Nyassaland. It is very probable, however, that the true locality is 
Mozambique, where Salt also collected. 
pusillus (P. L. S. Mill.). Six. 29 (1 jr.). West Africa (Senegal ; Niger). 
East Africa (Ghaba Shambé, July ; Kikombo). 
A specimen, presumably immature, collected at Ghaba Shambé in July, 1882, by 
Emin Pasha, and marked @ , differs from all the others by the entire absence of blue, 
black, and chestnut from the upper breast, which is dull greenish buff ; the bill, 
too, is shorter, and very much less curved. 
cyanostictus, Cu). One. East Africa (Ribe). 
variegatus (Vivill.). One. West Africa (Lagos). 
lafresnayii (Guerin). Two. Abyssinia. 
These specimens, collected by Salt in 1812, are the Types of Swa/low-tailed Bee- 
eater, var. A. Lath., Gen. Hist. iv. p. 142 (1822). 
gularis, Shaw &: Nodder. Ten. 6, 9. West Africa (Gold Coast: 
Denkera, January ; “ Rio de Boutig,” October, December ; Lagos). 
gularis, su)sp. gabonensis, susp. nov. One. — West Africa (Gaboon). 
Closely allied to M. yularis typicus, but having the frontal band much narrower, of a 
dull olive green, not cobalt blue ; the superciliary stripe very ill-defined, of the same 
colour as the forehead. Edges of the primaries, secondaries, and two central tail 
feathers dull greenish, not bluish, somewhat narrower than in the typical form. 
Feathers of theupper breast with brick red shaft stripes broadening out towards 
the tips. Wing, 98 ; tail, 71 ; culmen (from anterior margin of nasal aperture), 29 ; 
tarsus, 9mm. Habitat. Gaboon (Coll. Walker). 
Apparently intermediate between MW. gu/aris and M. gularis australis. 
gularis, subsp. australis (Rchnw.). 
bullocki (/%ill.). Two. Senegal. 
No. 1. is the Type of Scarlet-throated Bee-eater, Lath. Gen, Hist. iv. p. 137 (1822). 
frenatus (Hartl.) (= Merops bullocki, Vieill. Tristr. Cat. Coll. Birds, p. 96). 
One. 6. North-Eastern Africa (Bora, November). 
boleslavskii (Pe/z.) ; oreobates, Sharpe. 
bullockoides (Smith). Nine. 3¢, 29. Central Africa (Nyassaland, 
Tsheromo, September). South Africa (Transvaal: Limpopo River, July ; 
Natal, Menocursi River ; Kurrichane). 
rivoilii, Ovst. 
