1878.] IN THE BEITISH-JniSEUM CATALOGUE. 579 



being added), which mode of writing implies that the title of leucophcBus was bestowed by Gray 

 as well as Vieillot ; all reference to Vieillot's title, however, being omitted. Under B. leucogenys 

 we find the synonym B. leucojjhmis, Swinh. (nee V.), no reference to Vieillot being given ; and 

 lower down simply " B. leucophceus. Gray," without the intimation that it is not some one else's 

 species. To an author deep in the mysteries, say of the ' Nouveau Dictionnaire,' this style of 

 noting the titles used by different authors, though troublesome, would not render his search 

 hopeless ; but to a student it would involve that loss of time which it is the very object of 

 a careful writer to save him. There are also many instances of birds which have received from 

 different authors, unknown to one another and at different periods, the same specific title, e. g. 

 Hypsipetes philippinensis, described separately by three different authors under the title of 

 ^Mlippinensis. Again, there are some authors who would object to having some recent titles 

 made to appear as if coined by them. But the main object of the synonymy ought to be to lead 

 the student direct to all that has been written of importance relating to the species ; and the 

 method adopted by Mr. Sharpe does not in many cases fulfil this condition. 



Buchanga insularis.- — This, it is to be presumed, is a new title proposed by Mr. Sharpe for 

 some undescribed Ceylonese subspecies of Buchanga. '■'■ B. ccerulescens, Holdsworth, nee Linn." Ibis, 1878, 

 is added as a synonym. Mr. Holdsworth included the Linnsean species in his list (P. Z. S. 1872, ^' 

 p. 439) on the authority of Mr. Layard, who states (Ann. & Mag. N. H. ser. 2, xiii. p. 129) that 

 he procured one or two specimens of B. ccerulescens at Point Pedro (the extreme north of Ceylon), 

 a very likely locality for this Indian species. Mr. Sharpe, on the authority of Capt. Legge, gives 

 as its range " the whole east of Ceylon and central province, eastern district." B. insularis is 

 introduced by Mr. Sharpe as a subspecies of No. 6. B. ccerulescens ; but when writing on No. 7. 

 B. leucopygialis, a species very distinct from B, ccerulescens, Mr. Sharpe says, " very similar to 

 B. insularis, if, indeed, really separable." Of which of the two very distinct species, B. cceru- 

 lescens or B. leucopygialis, is B. insularis then a subspecies'? And why should the species 

 obtained at Point Pedro by Mr. Layard, and identified by him as belonging to the continental 

 species, B. ccerulescens, be considered by Mr. Sharpe to belong to his new subspecies X We shall 

 not be very far wrong if we reduce B. insularis to a synonym of B. leucopygialis, and if we 

 continue to retain, on Mr. Layard's authority, B. ccerulescens as an inhabitant of, or migrant to, 

 North Ceylon. 



Buchanga loalcleni is, by the formation of its massive bill, closely allied to Bicrurus forjicatus; 

 and through it Mr. Sharpe passes to the latter species, which he keeps separate under Eclolius, 

 Cuv. B. forjicatus is also the type of Reich enbach's genus Brongo (Syst. Av. t. Ixxxviii.), a title 

 which is omitted in the synonymy of the genus. 



Bissemuroides anclamanensis and B. dicruriformis. — ^These are the titles adopted for two 

 races of a species, the first an inhabitant of the Andamans, the other of Great Coco and Table 

 Islands. The two races merely differ in size, the latter being somewhat the largest. Those who 

 regard an excess of a few tenths of an inch in the principal dimensions of birds of this size, or of 

 a few grains in the weight, as constituting specific and differentiating characters, will follow Mr. 

 Sharpe and keep these two birds apart ; for he admits B. dicruriformis into the Catalogue as a 

 distinct subspecies of B. anclamanensis. The difference in the colouring of the " gloss," alluded to Ibis, 1878, 

 by Mr. Sharpe, is not observable in the large series from both localities to which I have access. ^' 



