I8G8.] MR. p. L. SCLATIiTR ON NKW FORMICARIANS. 571 



2. Descriptions of some New or little-kuowii Species of For- 

 micarians. By P. L. Sclater, M.A.^ Ph.D., F.R.S., 

 Secretary to the Society. 



(Plate XLIII.) 



Having lately had occasion to look carefully through the specimens 

 of Formicariidae in my collection in order to identify some of the 

 species described in the second part of Herr von Pelzeln's ' Ornitho- 

 logie Brasiliens,' I have found amongst them examples of five well- 

 marked species which appear to have been hitherto unnoticed, and of 

 which I subjoin the descriptions, together with that of a species which 

 seems to constitute a new genus in the family. These are : — 



1. ThAMNOPHILUS NIGRICEPS. 



Sttpra brunneo-rufescens, interscapulio , alis extus et cauda tota 

 saturate rufis ; dorsi plumis laxis, elongatis, usque ad mediam 

 caudam protensis, ad basin cinereis, juxta apicem rufescentibus : 

 capite toto cum giitture et pectore nigris, plumarum scapis in piieo 

 angustissime, in corpora inferiore latius, albo strigatis : subtus 

 ex cinereofulvus, hypochondriis et crisso rufescente per fusis, ventre 

 medio sicut pectus striato: remigum marginibus internis cum 

 subalaribus pallide fulvis : rostro nigricanii-plumbeo, pedibus fus- 

 cis : long, tota 6-0, alee 30, caudce 2-75, rostri a rictu OS, 

 tarsi 0-9 (poll. Angl. et dec). 

 Hab. in Nova Granada int. 

 Mus. P. L.S. 



The single specimen of this bird in my collection was obtained 

 out of a collection of Bogota skins, and presented to me by Mr. 

 Osbert Salvin. It is a small, rather weakly formed species, about 

 the size of Th. doliatus, and but for its long tail might almost go 

 with Dgsithamnus. In colouring it is not very like any other known 

 species, but is readily distinguishable by its black head and breast 

 which are marked with white shaft-spots, and rufous wings and tail. 

 The fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh primaries are nearly equal and 

 largest. 



2. NeOCTANTES NIGER. 



Xenops niger, Natt. MS.: Pelzeln, Sitz. K. Akad.Wiss. xxxiv. p. 1 1 1 . 



Pteroptochus niger, Pelzeln, Orn. Bras. p. 46. 



This singular bird was originally described by Herr von Pelzeln as 

 a Xenops, under the designation which it had received in Natterer's 

 MS. In his recently published ' Ornithologie Brasiliens,' Herr 

 von Pelzeln has removed it to the genus Fteroptochus ; but a glance 

 at the structure of the nostrils (which have no traces of the charac- 

 teristic operculum of the Pteroptochidse) is sufficient to show that 

 this is not its natural position. For myself, I believe that it may be 

 correctly removed to the Thamnophilinse, with which it agrees 

 in general structure, but that it must stand as the type of a new 



