444 Bulletin of the British 



(for example, by Dresser, Jerclon, Seebolim, and Gates) been 

 confounded, but which proved to be distinct. Further notes 

 on these species would be found in the forthcoming number 

 of ' Novitates Zoologicse/ 



Dr. BowDLER Sharpe exhibited a skeleton o^ Paramythia 

 montium, which had been forwarded to the British Museum by 

 Mr. De Vis, of the Brisbane Museum. Sir Wm. Macgregor 

 had procured two specimens of this species on Mount 

 Scratchley, where it was not iincommon, and had sent them 

 to Mr. De Vis in spirits. 



Paramythia montium was described by Mr. De Vis in 

 1892, and was referred to the Sturnida, but the characters 

 of the genus appeared to be so aberrant that in a notice of 

 the genus pubh shed by Dr. Sclater in the 'Ibis^ for 1893 

 (p. 243) the latter gentleman proposed that a separate 

 family, ParamythiidcB, should be established for it, " coming 

 nearest to the Ampelidce and to some of the Dicaida." About 

 the same time, and quite independently. Dr. Sharpe (Zool. 

 Rec. xxix. Aves, p 50) had also relegated Paramythia to a 

 distinct family near the Eulabetidce. 



The wings were not perfect in the specimen examined by 

 Dr. Sclater, who came to the conclusion that there were 

 only nine primary-quills ; but that this was a mistake has 

 already been shown by Mr. Hartert (Nov. Zool. iii. p. 13), 

 and in the wing now exhibited by Dr. Sharpe it was clearly 

 perceptible that the first primary was present, though very 

 minute, and attended by a smaller covert. Thus Paramythia 

 was evidently a ten-primaried bird and had a Starling-like 

 wing. An examination of the base of the skull showed that 

 in the form of this portion of the cranium the palate was 

 Starling-like and had a spinous process on the exterior edge 

 of the palatines : indeed, the skull of Paramythia was 

 extremely like that of Calornis. 



Thus, although the genus Paramythia appeared to be an 

 aberrant kind of Starling, with long slender legs and an 

 unbroken lamina on the front aspect of the tarsus, yet the 

 structure of the skull and the number of primaries seemed 



