Xll 



'',for cxanj]']e. by L'M'esser. Jerdon^ Seebohm; and Oates) been 

 coiiiv.*auded, Uui v\ Licli pruved to be distinct. Furtlier notes 

 on tlitse species vrould be found in the forthcoming number 

 of ■' Xuvitaies Zoological/ 



Dr. BovruLLR Sharpe exliibited a skeleton of Pararnythia 

 YnOuiiiim. v,"liicL i;ad been forwarded to the British ]Museum by 

 Air. l^e \'is, of the Bri^fbane ]\Iuseum. Sir AYm. iNIacgregor 

 had procured tvro specimens of this species from Mount 

 Scratcliley, rriieie n was not uncommon^ and had sent them 

 to ^Ir. De Vis m spirits. 



Paraiiiinhia moni'um was described by ]\Ir. De Vis in 

 j892. and'was referred to the >S7i<r;i?V/*j but the charactei's 

 of the genus appeared to be so aberrant that in a notice of 

 tJie genus published by Dr. Sclater in the ' Ibis ^ for 1893 

 (p. 2 13) the latter gentleman proposed that a separate 

 famaily. Parariwth}?d,ii. should be established for it, "coming 

 nearest to the Ampelidce and some of the Dicaidde," About 

 the same time, and quite independeuth'-, Dr. Sharpe (Zool. 

 Rec. xxix. Aves, p '50) had also relegated ParamytMa to a 

 distinct family near the EuIabetidcB. 



The wings were not perfect in the specimen examined b}'- 

 Dr. Sclater, who came to the conclusion that there were 

 only nine jDrimary- quills; but that this was a mistake has 

 already been shown by Mr. Hartert (Not. Zool. iii. p. 13), 

 and in the wing now exhibited by Dr. Sharpe it was clearly 

 perceptible that the first primary was present, though xerj 

 min\ite, and attended by a smaller covert. Thus Pararnythia 

 Mas evidently a teu-primaried bird and had a Starling-like 

 wing. An examination of the base of the skull showed that 

 in the form of this portion of the cranium the palate was 

 Starling-like and had a spinous process on the exterior edge 

 of the palatines : indeed, the skull of Pararnythia was 

 extremely like that of Culornis. 



Thus, although the genus Pararnythia appeared to be an 

 aberrant kind of Starling^ with long slender legs and an 

 unbroken lamina on the front aspect of the tarsus, yet the 

 structure of the skull and the number of primaries seemed 



