1878.] MR. R. B. SHARPE ON PCEOPTERA LUGUBRIS. 803 



soit ou non la lugubris, Miiller;" and I am glad that I followed 

 Hartlaub, and did not alter the name, as I had felt inclined to do. 

 Dr. Briiggemann was also mistaken in supposing that he was the 

 first to inform me of the probable identity of the species described 

 by Cabanis with Bonaparte's Pceoptera lugubris ; for I had finished 

 my synonymy of this bird for my ' Catalogue ' long before the 

 casual conversation to which he alludes. 



After all, however, it appears that both Dr. Briiggemann and 

 myself were wrong in our facts, and Myiopsar cryptopyrrhus of 

 Cabanis is not synonymous with Pceoptera lugubris of Bonaparte. 

 Dr. Peters having very kindly sent me from Berlin some of the new 

 species of birds lately described by Drs. Cabanis and Reichenow for 

 examination, has added the type of Myiopsar, and asked me to com- 

 pare it with our examples of Pceoptera lugubris. I am surprised to 

 find it specifically distinct ; and so the subjoined modification must 

 take place in the synonymy of the genus as given by me in the 

 ' Catalogue.' 



Genus Pceoptera. 



Pceoptera, Bp. Comptes Rendus, xxxviii. p. 381 Type. 



(1854) P. lugubris. 



Myiopsar, Cabanis, J. f. O. 1876, p. 93 P. cryptopyrrha. 



Range. West Africa, from the Gold Coast to the Congo. 



Key to the Species. 



a. Purple ; edges of secondaries whity brown, form- 

 ing a light band down the wing ; inner .webs of 

 quills dark brown, scarcely lighter than the 

 outer web P. lugubris. 



h. Violet-blue with somewhat of a greenish gloss ; 

 no whity-brown edges to the wing ; quills 

 rufous on the inner web, forming a red lining 

 to the wing P. cryptopyrrha. 



1. Pceoptera lugubris. (Plate XLIX.) 



Pceoptera lugubris, Bp. C. R. xxxviii. p. 381 ; Hartl. Orn. W.-Afr. 

 p. 69 (1857) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. hi. p. 281 (1877). 



Thamnobia lugubris, Gray, Hand-1. B. i. p. 212 (1869). 



Pceoptera crptopyrrha, Briigg. Ann. N. H. (4) xx. p. 244 (1877, 

 nee Cabanis). 



Hab. From the Gold Coast to Gaboon. 



Since the publication of the Catalogue, I have discovered in the 

 British Museum a third specimen, a male, put away by mistake 

 along with the species of Thamnobia, according to Gray's classifi- 

 cation. It was only discovered this month (August 1878), during a 

 re-arrangement of the specimens of Chats. 



2. Pceoptera cryptopyrrha. 



Myiopsar cryptopyrrhus, Cab. J. f. O. 1876, p. 93. 

 Adult male (type of species). — General colour above glossy 

 violet blue, with here and there a slight shade of steel-green ; least 



