Capt. Portlock on the Ova of the Large Spotted Dog-fish. 261 



to front 1 inch, to gape \\ in, ; wing 4i in. ; medial rectrices 

 5 in., external ditto 4^ in. ; tarsus 1^ in. 



This bird is acciu-ately figured by Audubon in his ' Birds of 

 America,' pi. 3G2. fig. 3, and described in his 'Ornithological Bio- 

 graj)hies' and ' Synopsis of the Birds of N.America,' but he erro- 

 neously refers it to the Garndus ultramarinus of the Prince of 

 Canino. The Prince himself also appears not to have detected 

 this error, as he quotes Audubon's plate under his Cyanucorax 

 ultramarinus in the ' Comparative List of the Birds of Europe and 

 North America.' As however the present bird is clearly distinct, 

 and, as far as I am aware, imnamed, I would propose for it the 

 specific name of supcrciliosa. 



This species is more nearly allied in plumage to the Cyano- 

 corax floridanus than to the ultramarinus. The floridanus is 

 however distinguished, as Audubon remarks, by its smaller size, 

 more rounded tail, and whitish band on the forehead, extending 

 thence over the eye. 



The birds of which I have been treating appear to be in want 

 of a generic name. They stand in the same relation to the South 

 American genus Cyanucorax, typified by C. pileatus, and of which 

 Cyanunis, Swains., is a synonym, which Garrulus bears to Corvus, 

 being essentially Blue Jays, while the species pileatus, cristatelliis, 

 peruvianus, azureus, cyanopogon, and one or two others composing 

 Cyanocorax, are Blue Crows. Mr. G. R. Gray's genus Calocitta 

 (typified by C. Bullocki, and perhaps including the Asiatic spe- 

 cies erythrorhynchus) is distinguished by great length of tail, and 

 there is consequently no generic name for these Blue Jays, which 

 I would therefore propose to name Cyanocitta, taking C. cristata, 

 Linn, sp., as the iy^e, and including the species ultramarina, 

 Bonap., superciliosa, mih'i, floridana, Bartram, stelleri. Pall., coro- 

 nata, Swains., and probably a few others. The beak is much 

 more slender, more depressed, and the culmen straighter than 

 in Cyanocorax. 



XXXVI. — Note on Mr. W. Thompson's Paper on the Ova of the 

 Large Spotted Dog-fish. By Capt. Portlock, R.E. 



Corfu, Jan. 23, 1845. 

 On receiving this paper, I turned to a large collection of the ova 

 of dog-fish which I had pm*chased from the fishermen in INIay 

 1844, and at the time classed as ova of Scyllium Catulus, the 

 large spotted dog-fish, both on account of the great difference 

 between them and the ova of either S. Canicula or of Pristiurus 

 melanostomus, and from the fact that the Scyllium Catulus is the 

 common species of Corfu. The resemblance in form between 



