KOTTFAXaS ZOOI.OOIOA.B XXV. 1918. 49 



was written, or the labels were — in some cases undoubtedly — copied and 

 inadvertently altered. In this case, too, Brehm described 16 tail-feathers. 



In the present state of the type I cannot recognise more than 13 {i.e. 14) 

 rectrices, but 16 sometimes (though rarely) are found. 



263. Melanitta megapns Brehm = Oidemia fusca ftisca. 

 Mdanitta megapus Brehm, Handh. Nat. Vog. Deutschl. p. 906 (1831 — First description. German 

 coasts of Baltic and North Sea). 



Type : <? ad., Kiel, 30. i. 1829. (Probably Boie coll.) 



264. Melanitta platyrhyncha Brehm = Oidemia fusca fusca. 



Mdanitta pldtyrhyncha Brehm, Handb. Nat. Vog. Deutschl. p. 907 (1831 — First description. German 

 coasts of Baltic, etc.). 



Type : <? ad., Greifswald, 26. xii. 1822. 



265. Platypus Homschuchii Brehm = Oidemia fusca fusca. 

 PlatypMS Homschuchii Brehm, Lehrb. Nat. eur. Vog. ii. p. 1102 (1824 — Autumn 1822, Norway, 

 January 1823 on the Roda near Benthendorf). 



Type : <? ad., Norway, 13. x. 1822. 



266. Melanitta gibbera Brehm = Oidemia nigra nigra. 



Melanitta gibbera Brehm, Handb. Nat. Vog. Deutschl. p. 902 (1831 — Fu-st description. " Sie kommt 

 auf ihrer Wanderung aus dem Norden, ihrem Vaterlande, nioht nur an die deutschen Nord- 

 kiisten, sondern in reoht strengen Wintern zuweilen auf die Gewasser des mittlern Deutsch- 

 land"). 



Type : <J ad., Rodatal. 



267. Somateria Danica Brehm = Somateria mollissima mollissima. 

 Somateria Danica Brehm, Handb. Nat. Vog. Deutschl. p. 890 (1831 — Danish Islands). 



Type: <? ad., Helsingoer, 29. xi. 1825. 



268. Somateria Islandica Brehm = Somateria mollissima mollissima. 

 Somateria Islandica Brehm, Handb. Nat. Vog. Deutschl. p. 89.5 (1831 — Iceland). 



Type: 3 ad., Iceland, 10. v. 1826. 



269. Platypus Altensteinii Brehm = Somateria spectahilis. 



Platypus Altenddr.ii Brehm, Lehrb. Nat. eir. Voj. ii. p. 999 (1824 — Greenland). 



Type : <? ad., Greenland, 20. iv. 1823. 



Chiefly separated on account of the small frontal knob. Brehm did not 

 know how enormously that knob varies according to age and season. 



270. Platypus Leisleri Brehm = Somateria mollissima borealis (Brehm). 

 Platypus Leisleri Brehm, Ornis, i. Heft, p. 28 (1824 — Greenland). 



Type : S Greenland, 12. vi. 1823. 



According to the description this must be the type, as it shows the black 

 along the bend of the wing, on the tips of the inner secondaries, and all along the 

 back. It is in very worn breeding plumage, which is very loose and beginning 

 to change for the eclipse. 



4 



