328 ON THE IBIS. 



of antiquity and a peremptory proof of the iden- 

 tity of species. These feathers having an uncom- 

 mon form, and not occurring, I believe, in any 

 other curlew, leave, in fact, no doubt respecting 

 the accuracy of my opinion. 



I conclude this memoir with a view of its re- 

 sults : 



1. The Tantalus Ibis of Linnaeus ought to 

 constitute a separate genus, along with the Tan- 

 talus Loculator. Their character would be : 

 Itostrum l<zve, validum, arcuatum, aplce utrin- 

 que emarginatum. 



2. The other Tantali of the last editions should 

 form a genus with the common curlews, to which 

 the name of Numenius might be given. The 

 character of the genus would be : Rostrum teres, 

 gracile, arcuatum, apice mutico. For the spe- 

 cial character of the subgenus of the Ibises, there 

 should be added : Sulco laterali per totam longi- 

 tudincm exarato. 



3. The white ibis of the ancients is not the ibis 

 of Perrault and Buffon, which is a Tantalus; nor 

 the ibis of Hasselquist, which is an Ardea; nor 

 the ibis of Maillet, which is a Vulture; but it is a 

 bird of the genus Numenius, and of the sub-genus 

 Ibis, which has hitherto been described and fi- 

 gured only by Bruce, under the name of Abou- 

 Hannes. I give it the name of NUMENIUS IBIS, 

 albus, capite et collo adulti nudis, remigum apt- 



