1878.] IN THE BEITISH-MUSEUM CATALOGUE. 581 



the first being more than three times the length of the body ; but, taken alone, the great length 



of an outer rectrix can hardly be considered a sufficient generic character. The outer rectrix 



in D. megarhjnchus only differs from that in Bissemurus in having the lengthened shaft webbed 



throughout its entire length, this being normal in the species, whereas, although sometimes 



occurring, it is abnormal in the other species of the genus Bissemurus, except in B. lophorhinus. 



In the latter species the outer rectrix is generally completely webbed also, but is not nearly so 



much prolonged. The character is clearly only specific, and the generic title Bicranostre})tus Ibis, 1878, 



should be merged unAer Bissemurus. This bird is the B. intermedins, Lesson (Tr. d'Orn. p. 380*; P' ^*^- 



cf. Lesson, Compl. Buffon, viii. p. 4.39, note 5 (1837) ), a title altogether omitted by Mr. Sharpe. 



Both names were published in 1830 ; but that of the discoverer of the species should rightly 



prevail. Mr. Sharpe includes the Ke Islands, on Dr. O. Finsch's authority, within its range. 



But that author so attributed it (Neu Guinea, p. 171) on the authority of a specimen stated by 



Mr. Gray to have been obtained in the Ke Islands by Mr. Wallace (P. Z. S. 1861, p. fi35) ; and 



there is every reason to believe that the title as it stands in Mr. Gray's " List of the new Birds 



collected by Mr. Wallace " (/. c.) is a misprint for B. megalornis, a real inhabitant of Ke. Mr. 



Sharpe omits to include the Solomon Islands, from which area it has been recorded by Mr. Sclater 



(P. Z. S. 1869, pp. 119, 124). 



Bhringa remifer. — This is the sole representative of the genus, and is one of the many Javan 

 species which recur on the continent north of the Malaccan peninsula, although not found on 

 the peninsula itself. Temminck states that it is also an inhabitant of Sumatra ; but this assertion 

 requires confirmation. It is nothing but a larger species of Chaptia (enea, with the shafts of the 

 outer pair of rectrices enormously developed t, nude after surpassing the remaining rectrices, 

 until the apices are reached, where the shafts are equally webbed on both sides. These 

 ornamental plumes are only assumed during the breeding-season [teste Jerdon, B. India, i. p. 435). 

 Admitting the validity of the genus, its natural position is next to Chaptia. 



Bissemurus paradiseus.-^AXl the racket- tailed Drongos are " lumped '' by Mr. Sharpe under 

 the above specific title, given by Linnaeus to a bird from Siam described by Brisson from a drawing 

 made by Poivre. It would require far more space than these limited notes afford to discuss Ibis, 1878, 

 whether convenience or accuracy have led to this result. In a former paper (Ibis, 1877, p. 313 %) ^' 

 a few remarks on the crestless races of the genus D/ssfwrnras will be found; and to the conclusions 

 there put forward I still adhere ; but the discrimination of the crested species is undoubtedly 

 more difficult, requiring a large number of specimens from all parts of the ai'ea inhabited to be 

 critically compared before any trustworthy conclusions can be arrived at. Exclusive of B. brachy- 

 phorus, seventeen specimens are catalogued as being contained in the British-Museum collection — 

 material hardly adequate when it is considered that some ten species have been discriminated by 

 various authors, to which Mr. Sharpe has added an eleventh, B. cc>/lone?isis. Any one comparing 



* It is true tliat (Ibis, 1877, p. 313) [anted, p. 497] I referred this title to D. platm-us; but it was with a note of 

 interrogation. 



t In a Tenasscrim male (nius. nostr.), while the wing and the eight middle rectrices measure a little over five inches, 

 the outer pair of tail-feathers measure nineteen and a half. The outside length given in the Catalogue is 17'2. 



X [Anted, p. 497.— Ed.] 



4 F 



