EURYLAIMUS JAVANICUS. 



Eurylaimus capite toto corporeque subtus vinaceis, dorso alisque perfuscis flavo 



variis, cauda atra fascia subterminali alba. 

 Eurylaimus Javanicus, Horsf. Sijst. Arrangement of Birds from Java, Linn. 



Trans. Vol. XIII. p. 170. 



In proposing again a new genus in Ornithology, it is necessary to detail with 

 clearness the reasons and comparisons by which I have been guided in this propo- 

 sition. The genus to which Eurylaimiis, in a principal character, is nearly alhed, is 

 Platyrhynchus, as established by Mr. Desmarest, and which comprises, besides the 

 species to be enumerated in the seqviel, the Todus rostratus and Todiis nasutus of 

 Latham. I have to remark, in the first place, that, although on a superficial view, 

 there appears a resemblance between these two genera, it is, in my opinion, much 

 less striking than that which exists between Pitta and Myiothera, of which the 

 former constitutes an Asiatic group, which is supplied in America by the latter. 

 As far as regards Platyrhynchus, we have the authority of Mr. Temminck for proving 

 that, with probably one or two exceptions, its range is confined to America ; while 

 Eurylaimus has only been found in the Indian Archipelago. As types of the genus 

 Platyrhynchus, Mr. Temminck gives Lanius Pitangua of Linnteus, and Platyrhyn- 

 chus olivaceus and Platyrhynchus cancromus, tAvo new species, which are figured in 

 the Second Number of Planches Coloriees, a splendid Work, serving as a conti- 

 nuation of the Planches Enluminees, and pubUshed jointly by Mr. Temminck and 

 the Baron Laugier. 



'S)" 



Referring for the characters of Evirylaimus to the detailed description given in 

 the natural character of that genus, I proceed to a comparison of the characters of 

 Lanius Pitangua, and of the two species of Platyrhynchus above mentioned, as far as 

 the figures referred to have enabled me to make it. The biU of Lanius Pitangua is 

 essentially different; it is longer than the head ; the culmen, or back, is proportionally 

 prominent, and presents a defined ridge, from which the sides dechne gradually, and 

 constitute an elevated upper mandible ; the cutting edges, or tomia, instead of being 

 perpendicular, as in Eurylaimus, are rounded and inflected : the bill in Lanius 

 Pitangua is also less broad at the base ; the edges are continued nearly straight to the 

 gape under the eye, and not extended backward under that organ into a narrow 

 incurved margin, which forms an excessively wide throat, from which the generic 

 name of Eurylaimus is derived. 



The nostrils in Lanius Pitangua, instead of being perfectly naked and open, 

 are covered above by a small membrane, whUe numerous long decumbent vibrissas 



