xviii 



INTRODUCTION. 



root and at the junction with the prefrontals ; yet there are too many radical and important dissimilarities 

 for them ever to be classed in the same family. With regard to Upupidae, in which some authors have 

 placed certain Birds of Paradise *, Dr. Murie has shown that the members of the two families are not nearly 

 related. 



GENERA. 



To the various members of this family many genera have at times been assigned ; and in a great number of 

 instances more cogent reasons can be given for such a procedure than is generally the case when these divisions 

 have been instituted in some other branches of ornithology. 



The wide divergence in form and structure of the plumes of the species of Paradiseidae seems to call for a rather 

 larger number of generic distinctions than is usual when comparatively such a few number of species are considered ; 

 but I believe that sufficient grounds exist for us to recognize those that have been adopted in this work. Of course 

 many proposed genera have been instituted upon insufficient grounds, and others would not answer for even 

 subgeneric divisions. The following are all the genera that have been proposed since the time of Linnaeus : — 



1760. — Paradisea, Linnaeus, Systema Naturae 



1783. — Manucodia, Boddaert, Tableau des Planches Enluminees de Buffon 



1816. — Astrapia, Vieillot, Analyse - 



Parotia, „ ,, ..... 



Lophorina, „ ,, . ' 



Falcinellus, ,, „ (Preoccupied) . 



1817. — Epimachus, Cuvier, Regne Animal .... 

 1820. — Ptilonorhynchus, Kuhl, Beitrage zur Zoologie . 

 1823. — Cicinnurus, Vieillot, Tableau Encyclopedique et Methodique 



1825. — Ptiloris, Swainson, Zoological Journal 



Sericulus, „ „ „ 



1828. — Phonygama, Lesson, Manuel d'Ornithologie 



1835. — Seleucides, Lesson, Oiseaux de Paradis . 

 Diphylhdes, „ ,, ,, 

 Cinnamolegus, „ ,, „ . . 



Par adig alia, „ ,, ,, 



1836. — Calodera, Gould, Proceedings of the Zoological Society 



1837. — Chlamydera, Gould, Birds of Australia . 

 1840. — Nematophora, G. R. Gray, List of the Genera of Birds 

 1848. — Craspedophora, G. R. Gray, Gen. of Birds 



1850. — Chlamydodera, Cabanis, Museum Heineanum . 



AiJlureedus, ,, ,, ,, 



1854. — Xanthomelus, Bonaparte, Ann. d. Sc. Nat., Ser. iv. Zool. (1854) desc. null. 



* Ibis, April 1873. 



Type Paradisea apoda. 



Type Manucodia chalybea. 



Type Astrapia nigra. 



Type Parotia sexpennis. 



Type Lophorina atra, 



Type Epimachus speciosus. 



Type 



Type Ptilonorhynchus violaceus. 



Type Cicinnurus regius. 



Type Ptiloris paradiseus. 

 Type Sericulus melinus. 



Type Manucodia Keraudreni. 



Type Seleucides alba. 

 Type Diphylhdes speciosa. 

 Type Epimachus speciosus. 

 Type Paradigalla carunculata. 



Type Chlamydodera maculata. 



Type 



Type Seleucides alba. 



Type Ptiloris magnificus. 



Type Chlamydodera nuchalis. 

 Type JSlureedus crassirostris. 



Type Xanthomelus aureus. 



