On the Zoology of New Guinea. 317 



with references to full descriptions, has, most unaccountably 

 been ignored by all writers on ornithological nomenclature. 



The Palestine Warbler will doubtless stand as Sylvia me- 

 lanothorax, Tristram (Ibis, 1872, p. 296). I have only seen 

 skins obtained by Canon Tristram in Palestine and by Lord 

 Lilford in Cyprus. The immature birds come so near Riip- 

 pell's figure and Heuglin's description of Sylvia lugens (Riipp. 

 Neue Wirb. p. 113, pt. 42, 1835), that I should have hesi- 

 tated to consider the two species distinct if I had not had 

 the opportunity of examining the type of Curruca lugens in 

 the Senckenberg Museum at Frankfort. RuppelPs bird has 

 far too large a first primary to be admitted into the genus 

 Sylvia at all, and is certainly not S. melanothorax. 



I am unable to find any characters to entitle Melizophilus 

 to stand as a genus. All the species which I have enumerated 

 have the tail shorter than the wing, except the following : 



S. blanfordi has the tail JQ longer than the wing. 



S. deserticola has the tail -fa longer than the wing. 



S. melanocephala has the tail also - Q longer than the wing. 



S. sarda has the tail -fa longer than the wing. 



S. undata has the tail varying from 1 to \ longer than the 

 wing. 



I have much pleasure in doing tardy justice to the dis- 

 coveries of a distinguished field-naturalist by rescuing two of 

 his new species from the oblivion in which cabinet-naturalists 

 had buried them ; but I venture to suggest that, if my friend 

 Canon Tristram had described his species in honest English, 

 instead of in ornithological Latin, they could scarcely have 

 been overlooked so long. The attempt to give them a cos- 

 mopolitan fame has resulted in their absolute seclusion for 

 half a lifetime. 



XXVII. Remarks on the Second Part of Mr. Ramsay's 

 ( Contributions to the Zoology of New Guinea. 3 By T. 

 SALVADORI, C.M.Z.S. 



MR. RAMSAY has been so kind as to .send me an early copy 

 of his " Contributions to the Zoology of New Guinea/' con- 

 taining a list of the Mammals and Birds obtained during 



