AVIFAUNA OF LATSAN, ETC. 



79 



ON THE 



GENERA HEMIGNATHUS AND HETERORHYNCHUS. 



These two genera are entirely confined to the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands, where they were 

 discovered during Cook's exploration of the islands in 1779. 



The first species described was Hemignathus obscurus (Gm.), which was diagnosed by 

 Latham, in his 'General Synopsis of Birds' in 1782, as the "Hook-billed Green Creeper," 

 which description was translated by Gmelin in his edition of the ' Systema Naturae ' in 1788, 

 who gave to the bird the name Cert Ma obscura. 



In 1839, in the ' Abhandlungcn dcr koniglichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu 

 Berlin, aus dem Jahre 1838,' Lichtenstein described and figured two of these birds, for which 

 he founded the genus Hemignathus, and which he called Hemignathus obscurus and Hemi- 

 gnathus lucidus. Both these species were obtained on the island of Oahu, while Latham's 

 (and Gmelin's) Certhia obscura came from Owhyhee (Hawaii). 



The long-billed species from Oahu was named Hemignathus lichtensteini by Mr. Scott 

 Wilson in 1889 ; but this name cannot stand, as long before the same species was named 

 Drepanis (Hemignathus) ellisiana by Gray in his ' Catalogue of the Birds of the Tropical 

 Islands of the Pacific Ocean.' 



In 1839 Lafresnaye, in the 'Magasin de Zoologie,' described Lichten stein's Hemignathus 

 lucidus under the name of Heterorhynchus olivaceus, forming for this short-billed species 

 the new genus Heterorhynchus. 



The type of the genus Heterorhynchus, therefore, is undoubtedly H. olivaceus = lucidus ; 

 but it is perfectly obvious to anyone reading the description of Lichtenstein that the type of 

 Hemignathus is his II. obscurus, and not II. lucidus as stated in the 'Catalogue of Birds,' 

 vol. x., and elsewhere. The whole of the description, translated from the German, will be 

 found under my notice of H. ellisianus. See also Stejneger's footnote in the ' Proceedings 

 of the U.S. National Museum,' 1887, p. 93. 



Mr. Scott Wilson has unfortunately applied Lafresnaye's name of Heterorhynchus 

 olivaceus to the species of this group from Hawaii, but I cannot understand anybody possibly 

 mistaking Lafresnaye's figure and description for a bird having no sign of the heavy yellow 

 superciliary stripe and a perfectly straight under mandible. However, this is fully explained 

 in the description of Heterorhynchus wilsoni. 



So far as can be ascertained at present, there are four described species of Hemignathus 

 and four of Heterorhynchus ; but I have strong presumptive evidence that at one time there 

 was a fifth species of Heterorhynchus on the island of Lanai, while Judge Hole records 



