7f)fi 



THE MARQUIS OF TWEEDDALE ON 



[Nov. 20, 



the Philippine and Bornean naked-faced Megapodes differ specifically 

 seems to be established ; but it would appear that the Philippine and 

 not the Bornean species requires a new title. Mr. Sharpe proceeds 

 on the assumption that Mr. Dillwyn described from and bestowed 

 the title of M. cuminyi (P. Z. S. 1851, p. 119, t. xxxix.) on Cuming's 

 Philippine (Manila ?) examples. But neither the context nor the 

 descriptions and dimensions, the last on Mr. Sharpe's own showing, 

 appear to support his conclusion. Mr. Dillwyn {I. c.) considered 

 the Labuan Megapode to belong to the same species as that sent by 

 Mr. Cuming to the British Museum from the Philippines ; and the 

 point of difficulty is whether Mr. Dillwyn described {I. c.) his M. 

 cmmiiffi from Motley's Bornean examples or from Cuming's Philip- 

 pine specimens. Mr. Dillwyn described his type as being " blackish 

 slate-colour" below, and he figured the bird (/. c.) dark (blackish) 

 slate-colour below. Mr. Sharpe, when differentiating the Bornean 

 from the Philippine Megapode, says (I. c.) that the Labuan speci- 

 mens sent to the British Museum by Mr. Lowe are smaller and 

 darker than the Philippine birds, especially on the breast, which is 

 deep plumbeous grey, whereas in the Philippine bird the under sur- 

 face is brownish washed with grey. If we compare the dimensions 

 given by Mr. Dillwyn of his type of M. cumin gi with those given 

 by Mr. Sharpe (/. c.) of his M. lowii{ex Labuan) and of the Philip- 

 pine bird, it will be found that the principal dimensions of Mr. Dill- 

 wyn's type of M. cumingi and of Mr. Sharpe's type of M. lowii are 

 essentially the same, while the dimensions of the Philippine Mega- 

 podes are sensibly larger. 



Mr. Sharpe states that the Labuan birds differ from the Philippine 

 in being smaller, and he admits that the plate {I. c.) of M. cumingi 

 represents the Bornean Mega])ode, and yet he assumes that Mr. Dill- 

 wyn described from Cuming's Philippine individuals. As I first 

 drew attention (T. Z. S. ix. p. 225) to the desirability of recomparing 

 the Philippine Megapode with the Bornean M. cumingi, and as Mr. 

 Sharpe after making the comparison asserts that they differ speci- 

 cally, I propose the title of Megapodius dillwyni for the Philippine 

 species obtained by Cuming '. 



' Since I arrived at this conclusion Mr. Dillwyn has kindly written to me to 

 say, respecting the M. cimiingi described by him in tlie P. Z. S. (and also in 

 his Nat. Hist. Labuan), the description was from a specimen which he received 

 from Motley from Labuan. Wolf's figure was taken from the same specimen. 



