638 MR. p. L. SCLATER ON THE GENUS CH.ETOCERCUS. [DcC. 20, 



Moreover, indcfjendently of the question whether such a change 

 could be admitted, Gray's generic name Hipposideros has priority 

 over Bonaparte's Phyllorliina as distinguished from Leach's. Peters 

 and Dobson quote Hipposiderus as dating from 1834. In the 'Pro- 

 ceedings ' of this Society for that year, p. 53, the name was men- 

 tioned without description and without any species being quoted as 

 type, and would consequently have no validity ; but the generic 

 term Hipposiderus was, in fact, first proposed three years earlier, in 

 1831, in Gray's ' Zoological Miscellany,' p. 3/, witii a description 

 which, although clumsily worded, pointed out the characteristic 

 distinctions of the nose-leaf, and with the following list of the 

 species referred to the new genus : — H. speoris, H. elonyatus, H. din- 

 dema, K. lurvatus, H. vulyaris (= larvatus), //. deformis ( = 

 larvatus), and H. tridens. With the exception of H. elongatus, 

 which I cannot trace, all these are species of the genus Phyllorhina 

 of Peters and other writers. It is quite contrary to the rules of 

 nomenclature generally adopted to set aside a generic name a, properly 

 defined in 1831, in favour of another name b, that in 1816 had been 

 proposed for a species belonging to a different genus and that was 

 only applied some years later to the same genus as a had already 

 been proposed for. 



I can see no escape from the conclusion that the name Hippo- 

 siderus must be adopted for the genus — a conclusion which I greatly 

 regret, as Phyllorhina is preferable on the score both of euphony and 

 of signification. 



December 20, 1887. 

 Prof. W. H. Flower, C.B., LL.D., F.R.S., President, in the Chair. 



The Secretary read the following report on the additions to the 

 Society's Menagerie during the month of November 1887 : — 



The total number of registered additions to the Society's Mena- 

 gerie during the month of November was 132, of which 100 were by 

 presentation, 7 by birth, 8 were received in exchange, and 17 on 

 deposit. The total number of departures during the same period, 

 by death and removals, was 1 1 0. 



Mr. Sclrtter read the following description of a supposed new 

 Humming-bird of the genus Chcetocercus, contained in a letter 

 received from Dr. H. Burmeister, F.M.Z.S. : — 



" The species is nearly allied in size, figure, and colour to 

 Chcetocercus boinbus (Gouid, Men. Troch. Suppl. pi. 32), but differs 

 entirely in its tail, which is of singular construction. 



"The bill is straight, entirely black, and as long as the head ( I cm.). 

 The whole upper part of the body is of a dark green metallic colour, 



