Anatine Genus Nyroca and Its Nearest Ales. 107 
base 5/6-11/10 times its greatest width; base of culmen not deeply con- 
cave; exposed culmen 14/5-21/5 times the height of bill at extreme base, 
13/4-2 times the greatest width of bill, and decidedly less than the length 
of inner toe with claw: anterior outline of feathering at the base of 
culmen triangular and acutely pointed; feathering on sides of maxilla not 
reaching forward as far as that at the base of the culmen; no occipital 
crest. 
Type—Anas marila Linnaeus. 
Remarks—At first sight Fulir novaeseelandiae (Gmelin) differs some- 
what from the two other species of this genus in the relatively greater 
height of its bill at base; in haying the wing but little more than 41/2 times 
the exposed culmen; the nail of the bill narrow with its sides parallel (not 
triangular) ; the exposed culmen usually slightly less than 2 times the 
height of the bill at extreme base; and the width of bill at posterior end of 
nail usually about 3 times the length of the nail. None of the e characters, 
howeyer, are trenchant or constant enough to warrant the separation of 
this species even subgenerically. The narrow, strap-like nail of the bill ap- 
pears to be one of the best differences, but this character is present, though 
not constant, in Fulix affinis. 
The generic name Marila Oken’ is here regarded as a nomen nudum, in 
common with all the other names proposed by Oken in this now famous 
article giving his own equivalents for the generic groups in Cuvier’s class- 
ification. Oken’s proposed equivalents seem not with sufficient definiteness 
introduced as substitutes, and, consequently. are not removed from the cate- 
gory of nomina nuda. The particular name, therefore, which we have now 
under consideration we must reject for the group of ducks to which it has 
been commonly applied, at least as dating from 1817. The next name in 
point of time, which can be used for this group, seems to be Fuli# Sunde- 
vall”2 It was originally proposed for the “Anates lobatae,” to include all 
the ducks with a lobed hind toe, but no species was mentioned, although 
the group was stated to contain the generic groups Platypus Brehm, Hydro- 
bates Temminck, and Fuligula “a Bonaparte acceptum”. Professor 8. F. 
Baird’ was the first author to restrict Pulir Sundevall to a definite modern 
genus of ducks, and he circumscribed the group to include the American 
species Anas marila Linnaeus, Fuligula affinis Eyton, and Anas collaris 
Donovan, but at the same time implying that his type was one of their 
Huropean relatives. However, the type of this group was later definitely 
fixed by Baird, Brewer and Ridgeway in the following language: ‘‘No 
type designated, but restricted to the group of which Anas marila, Linnaeus, 
is typical, by Professor Baird in B. N. Am. 1858, 790.” There thus seems no 
doubt of the propriety of using the name Fulix« for the Scaup Ducks. The 
term Nettarion Baird’ is a name proposed for the same group in case the 
designation Fulir Sundeyall could not properly be restricted as Professor 
Baird intended. 
sis (von Oken), 1817, Heft VIII. col. 1183. 
2Kongl. Vetensk.—Acad. Handl., for 1835 (18386). p. 129. 
sRep. Explor. and Surv. R. R. Pac., IX, 1858, p. 790. 
*Water Birds North Amer., II, 1884, p. 17. 
5Rep. Explor. and Surv. R. R. Pac., IX, 1858, p. 790. 
