GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 353 
these there are no fewer than 35 peculiar genera. Great as is this 
amount of peculiarity, the present writer believes it to be rather 
understated than exaggerated ; but it is sufficient to shew all that 
is here needed, though he would add that, in his opinion, at least 
3 of the genera, Huryceros, Philepitta, and Mesites, must be regarded 
as forming the types of as many distinct Families, the first belong- 
ing to the normal Acromyodian Passeres, the second to the Oligo- 
myodian section of the same Order, and the third, though of kin to 
the Rallidz (RAIL), can hardly be kept in that Family. It is quite 
possible too that Falculia, which apparently had allies in Mregilupus 
and Necropsar (both recently extinct) of the Mascarene Islands, 
though commonly referred to the Sturnide (STARLING), and 
Brachypteracias, with Atelornis and Geobiastes, which are generally 
included among the Coraciidx (ROLLER), should be removed from 
those Families, and recognized as forming distinct Families, which 
would have to take the names of Fregilupide and brachypteraciidx 
respectively, while Heliodilus is an OWL, belonging to the Strigine 
Family, <Aluconidx, which hitherto had but one known repre- 
sentative, the widely-spread Aluco flammeus. But the Avifauna 
of Madagascar is not entirely composed of such singularities as 
these. We have homely genera, even among the true Passeres, 
occurring there—such as <Alauda, Acrocephalus, Motacilla, and 
Praticola, while the Cisticola madagascariensis is only distinguishable 
from the well-known Fan-tailed Warbler, C. schenicola, of Europe, 
Africa and India, by its rather darker coloration. But there are 
also species, though not Passerine, which are absolutely identical 
with those of Britain—Aluco flammeus, Coturmx communis, Porzana 
pygmea, and Podicipes fluviatilis—all of them common and apparently 
resident in the island. 
The Comoros, as might be expected, are influenced by their 
proximity to the African continent. The latest list of their Fauna, 
by Messrs. A. Milne-Edwards and Oustalett in 1888 accords them 
79 species or local races, of which 59 are Land-birds— but at 
least 5 of these have certainly been imported, and one is in- 
cluded by mistake. Of the remainder 2 are common to South 
Africa, 22 to Madagascar, and 29 seem to be peculiar, one forming a 
peculiar genus, but nearly all have their nearest allies in Madagascar, 
and with them have doubtless a common ancestry, and indeed 
the Comoro Islands furnish one of the best examples in the 
world where species may be seen in the process, so to speak, of 
specification. 
1 Nouv. Arch. du Muséum, ser. 2, x. pp. 219-298, pls. iv.-ix. Earlier notices 
by the same naturalists are in Comptes Rendus, ci. pp. 218-222, and Ann. Se. 
Nat. ser. 7, ii. pp. 213-238; and still earlier, by other hands, are Sclater, bis, 
1864, p. 292; E. Newton, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1877, pp. 295-302, pls. xxxill. XXxXiv. ; 
and Shelley, op. cit. 1879, pp. 673-679. 
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