EPIMACILTNiE. 



Epimachus Cuv.* 



Bill long, arched, and rather slender, with the culmen, lateral margins, and gonys curved to the tips, 

 that of the upper mandible sometimes slightly emarginated ; the nostrils basal, lateral, and placed in 

 a broad membranous groove, which is hidden by the projecting feathers, leaving the opening partly 

 exposed. Wings moderate, with the fourth (to the seventh ?) quills equal and longest ; some of the 

 quills sometimes truncated at the ends. Tail more or less lengthened, with the end graduated and even. 

 Tarsi as long as, or shorter than, the middle toe, and strongly scutellated in front. Toes long and strong, 

 with the inner toe the shorter, the outer united at its base ; the hind toe equal in length to the tarsus, 

 robust, and armed with a robust compressed claw. The sides of the body ornamented with more or less 

 prolonged and decomposed feathers. 



Most of the species of this genus are found in New Guinea, but one inhabits Australia. The habits and manners of 

 those of the former country remain unrecorded by naturalists ; but that of the last continent has been noticed as 

 ascending the upright boles of trees, precisely after the manner of creeping birds ; and, like them, its powers of flight are 

 very limited, being seldom exerted except to transport itself from tree to tree, or from one portion of the forest to 

 another. 



1. E. speciosus (Bodd.) PI. enl. 639. — Upupa magna Gmel. ; U. 

 superba Lath. ; U. striata Bodd. PI. enl. 638. ; Merops fusca Gmel. ; 

 U. papuensis Lath. Sonn, Voy. t. 101. 100., Levaill. Prom. t. 8. 

 13, 14, 15., Vieill. Ois. dor. t. 7-; Cinnamolegus papuensis Less. 

 Hist. Nat. des Parad. t. 39, 40. 



2. B. alius (Blum.) Levaill. Prom. t. 16, 17- — Parad isea nigri- 

 cans Shaw ; P. Candida Forst. ; Falcinellus resplendens Vieill. ; Se- 

 leucides acanthylis Less. Hist. Nat. des Parad. t. 36, 37, 38., 

 Vieill. Gal. des Ois. t. 185. ; Type of Seleucides Less. (1835). 



3. E. magnificus Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxviii. p. 167., Cuv. 

 Reg. An. Ois. t. 4. f. 2., Levaill. Prom. t. 16., Less. Cent. Zool. 

 t. 4, 5., Less. Tr. d'Orn. t. 74. f. 1., Hist. Nat. des Parad. t. 32, 

 33, 34. ; Type of Craspedophora G. R. Gray (1840). 



4. E. paradiseus (Swains.) Zool. Journ. (1825) p. 481. — Epi- 

 machus regius Less. &$ Gam. Voy. de la Coqu. Ois. t. 28. ; Epima- 

 chus Brisbani Wils. 111. Zool. pi. ix., Less. Cent. Zool. t. 3., Hist. 

 Nat. des Parad. t. 29, 30. ; Type of Ptiloris Swains. (1825). 



* Established by Cuvier in 1817 (Reg. Anim. 1817, p- •)• Cinnamolegus of M. Lesson (1835) is synonymous. It embraces 

 Seleucides of M. Lesson (1835) (with which Nematophora of G. R. Gray (1840) is synonymous), Craspedophora of G. R. Gray (1840), and 

 Ptiloris of Mr. Swainson (1825). 



February, 1848. 



