440 PHAINOPTILA MELANOXANTHA. 



" Phainoptila, gen. nov.* 



^^ Rostrum debile, angustum^ glabrum, valde aduncatum, maxillae apice dentato : nares apertae : 

 setse rictales breves. Alse rotundatse : remex primus longus_, dimidium secundi sequans. 

 2.<3.<4. = 5., 4. et 5. longissimi. Acrotarsi breves, integri, sicut in gen. Turdus, Ptilosis 

 mollis sicut in gen. Ampelidarum . 



Typus et species unica. 



^^PhAINOPTILA MELANOXANTHA, Sp. n. 



^' Nitente nigra, pectore et abdominis lateribus cum crisso olivaceis, ventre medio ardesiaco : hypo- 

 chondriis et dorso postico Isetissime flavis : rostro et pedibus nigerrimis. Long, tota 9*0, 

 alee 4*0, caudse 3*5, tarsi 1, dig. post, sine ungue '5, rostri a rictu '9. 



" Hob. Costa Rica QH. Rogers). 



" Mr. H. Rogers, who is now in Costa Rica collecting objects of natural 

 history, shortly after his arrival in that country sent home a box, chiefly of 

 insects, but with them four bird-skins, one of which is the remarkable 

 individual which I exhibit to-night. That it belongs to an undescribed 

 genus there can be little doubt ; that it is a member of the family Ampelidse 

 is perhaps not so certain. The presence of a large first primary shows 

 its position amongst the true Oscines ; but the comparative narrowness of the 

 gape, feeble bill, the longer and stouter tarsi than is usual in Ampelidse, and 

 the fact of the front of the tarsus being covered by a single scute suggest that 

 the bird may prove to be an aberrant member of the family Turdidse. The 

 wing-formula is quite that of Ptilogonys^ to which genus the glossy plumage 

 and some of the characteristics of the coloration suggest an affinity ; and 

 these characters have induced me to place Phainoptila for the present near 

 Ptilogonysf in the family Ampelidse.'' 



^ (^aeLv6<;, splendenSj et tttiKov, pluma, 



t Ptilogonys (Genus 3, Pam. 11. Ampelid(2, ^ Nomenclator Avium Neotropicalium/ Sclater 

 & Salvin, p. 13), consisting of two species — (1) cinereus, Sw., ex Mexico et Guatemala ; (2) caudatus, 

 Cab., ex Costa Rica. This latter is figured in tlie ^Exotic Ornithology/ by the above authors, 

 plate vi. p. 11. Cinereus is the type {cf, Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, 'American Birds,^ vol. i. 

 pp. 404, 405) . 



