552 Notices and Descriptiofis of various new [No. 164. 



of its being at all a desideratum. It is therefore probable that I 

 shall soon obtain specimens. (C. bicolor. Lesson, has just been re- 

 ceived by the Society, with the specific name celebensis, probably of 

 Temminck. It is a very distinct species.) 



"We may next pass to the paper on Leiotrichance, &c, and Fringillidce, 

 Vol. XIII, pp. 933 et seq., to notice some further identifications which 

 have occurred to me. 



Leiothrix furcatus, v. sinensis, must be designated L. luteus, (Sco- 

 poli). 



Siva occipitalis, nobis, (p. 937,) makes so considerable an approach 

 in plumage and general character to the Yuhina ? flavicollis, Hodgson, 

 As. Res. XIX, 167, that their near affinity is indisputable; and this 

 brings the latter species, for which Mr. Hodgson now proposes the 

 generic name Ixulus (vide sequel, p. 562), within the confines of the 

 group of Leiotrichance, where the slender form of the bill approximates 

 it to Minla, from which it is barely separable, and it thence carries on 

 the series of affinities to Yuhina and also to Myzornis (J. A. S. XII, 

 984). The Siva occipitalis, however, differs greatly in the form of its 

 bill from Ixulus flavicollis, that of the former being fully as stout as in 

 Proparus, in which group it might very well be classed : and as re- 

 gards other distinctions, the crown is tinged with rufous, the slightly 

 reverted crest is less developed, the narrow blackish streak from the 

 corners of the mouth does not occur, the under- parts are much more 

 sullied or less whitish, and the wings are longer ; yet, notwithstanding 

 these various differences, the resemblance is at first sight not inconsider- 

 able. It may be added, that the name Certhiparus, which Mr. Hodgson 

 wishes to substitute for Minla, is objectionable on other grounds than 

 as concerns the mere alteration ; it having been previously applied 

 (apparently by the Baron de la Fresnaye) to a group of New Zealand 

 Meliphagida?.* 



* Vide G. R. Gray, in Dieffenbach's 'New Zealand,' II, 189 (1843). This na- 

 turalist, by the way, reunites the whole of Mr. Hodgson's divisions of Leiotrichance 

 under Leiothrix; and he gives four species of Pteruthius, adding as a fifth the Pipriso- 

 ma agilis, which has no sort of relationship to the group. The male of Pt. rufiventer, 

 nobis, is beautifully figured, but the sexes of this species are so different, that the 

 female should certainly have accompanied it. As for his mixing up the Leiotrichane 

 birds with Pardalotus, Pachycephala, &c, 1 am quite of Mr. Strickland's opinion, 

 that the group Pachycephalia so formed is an extremely forced and unnatural one ; 

 and that such is usually the case, when too little attention is paid to the geography of 

 genera thus brought together. 



