Vol. XI" 



IV 9+ . 



Recent Literature. 7. I 7 



Stone's Revision of the Genus Anous. ' — Mr. Stone recognizes seven 

 species of the genus Anous, one of which, A. atrofuscus, is described as 

 new, and he has apparently done good service in straightening out the 

 complicated synonymy of the group. A synoptic table is given of the 

 species. — J. A. A. 



Stone on the Old World Rallinae.- — Says Mr. Stone: 'Having had 

 occasion to make a thorough investigation of the literature bearing upon 

 the Old World Rails, I think it desirable to prepare the following list of 

 the described species and genera which brings together in one paper all 

 the references to published descriptions. Lack of sufficient material lias 

 prevented me from making a monographic studs- of the group, but where 

 specimens were at hand 1 have been able to judge of the specific relations 

 of various described forms and to arrange the synonymy accordingly." 

 Mr. Stone's paper was prepared independently of Dr. Sharpe's recent 

 work on the group, as finally set forth in Vol. Will of the British 

 Museum 'Catalogue of Birds,' which appeared almost coincidently with 

 Mr. Stone's paper. Mr. Stone, however, refers to Sharpe's paper on the 

 Rallidic published in 'The Ibis' in 1 893. It is therefore of interest to 

 compare the views of the two authors. The number of genera recognized 

 for this group by Mr. Stone is 23, with 3 additional subgenera; by Mr. 

 Sharpe, 33. Mr. Stone formally recognizes 88 species ; Mr. Sharpe,8S, — 

 a remarkable agreement in respect to the number of species admitted. 

 The order of arrangement of the genera is very different in the two 

 publications. 



Mr. Stone gives a chronological list of the -'generic names which have 

 been proposed for the Old World Rails" — 38 in all — from 175S to 1893, 

 excluding, however, a number proposed by Heine in 1800. In commenting 

 on these names, he states that Ortygometra Leach is simply a synonym 

 of Crex, though wrongly used in another connection. He disapproves of 

 Mr. Sharpe's recognition of so many generic divisions of the old genus 

 Porzana, and considers that while Zapornia and Coturnicops ( = ' Ortygops' 

 of Sharpe) may stand as subgenera, Phalaridion and Rallites must be 

 regarded as merely synonyms of Porzana. No new names, either 

 generic or specific, appear to be proposed, but two generic names that 

 have been in more or less common use are shown to be preoccupied, and 

 later names are properly adopted in their stead ; namely, Sarothrura 

 Heine for Corethrura Reich. ; Euryzona Bon. for Rallina Reich, nee 

 Gray. The body of the paper consists of a synonymic list of the genera 

 and species, with their habitats, and more or less technical comment on 

 questions of nomenclature. — J. A. A. 



1 A Revision of the Genus Anous. By Witmer Stone. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sei. 1'hila., 

 1894, pp. 115-118. 



2 A Review of the Old World Railing. By Witmer Stone. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. 

 Phila., 1894, pp. 130-149. 



