Dr. Giiather on the Identity 0/ Alepisaurus with Plagyodus. 185 



Sphenura Broadbenti, M'Coy. 

 (Rufous-headed Bristle-bird.) 



All the back, shoulders, and flanks dull brown; wings and tail 

 of a slightly richer and more rufous brown, the tail-feathers 

 in some lights seeming to be transversely marked with faint, 

 glossy, transverse, narrow bands of slightly lighter shade ; 

 crown of head, nape, and ear-coverts rich chestnut or rufous 

 brown ; triangular spot in front of and slightly over the eye, 

 and the throat, greyish white ; feathers of breast lunulatedj 

 greyish white at margin, dull brownish like the flanks at base; 

 the greyish white extends in a narrow track along the middle 

 of the abdomen ; legs, feet, upper part and tip of bill dark 

 brown ; lateral margins of upper mandible and basal portion 

 of lower one yellowish. 



Length 7 inches 9 lines ; wings 3 inches 4^ lines ; tail 4 inches 

 10 lines; bill, from gape, 11 J lines, from forehead 7 lines; 

 tarsus 1 inch 2 lines. 



The greater length of the wing, tarsus, and bill easily distin- 

 guish this species from the two previously known, as well as the 

 rufous head and ears and the greyish- white instead of buff 

 colour over the front of the eye. I am uncertain what value 

 should be attached to the much darker and stronger lunulation 

 of the breast-feathers, as I have only seen one specimen, and 

 am not certain whether it has attained maturity. The bill is 

 stronger, being deeper as well as longer, and slightly more 

 arched in the culmen than in the S. brachypterus, to which it is 

 most nearly related. The sixth primary is also slightly longer 

 than the fifth and seventh, which are equal ; the claws are rather 

 stouter than in that species, and the three or four large rictal 

 bristles are rather weaker. 



The specimen described was presented to the museum at 

 Melbourne by Mr. Broadbent, who shot it in December 1858 in 

 a dense scrub twenty-four miles from Portland Bay, uttering a 

 note like that of the English thrush, running over logs on the 

 ground. I have not since seen another specimen. 



Melbourne, Dee. 26, 1866. 



XXXII. — On the Identity 0/ Alepisaurus {Lowe) with Plagyodug 

 (Steller), By Dr. Albert Gunther. 



Whilst engaged in the study of the Salmonoids described by 

 Pallas, I met with the description of a fish discovered by Steller 

 at the Kurile Islands, and named by him Plagyodus (Zoogr. 

 Ross.-As. iii. pp. 383, 384). An examination of the notes l(ft 

 Ann. ^' Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 3. Vol, xix. 13 



