204 
Annals of the Transvaal Museum 
A. purpurea has been placed in a separate genus by several authors 
under the name of Pyrrherodia Finsch and Hartlaub, and there seems to 
be no reason why this action should not be consistently followed. 
Herodias hrachyrhyncha = Mesophoyx intermedia hrachyrhyncha. 
Herodias + Garzetta garzetta = Egretta gar zett a (cf. Mathews, B. Australia, in. 
422. 1914). 
H. alba = Casmerodius alhus melanorhynchus (Wagler) (cf. Mathews, l.c., in 
part). 
Nycticorax leuconotus (Wagler) should apparently be removed to the American 
genus Nyctanassa, although all authorities have so far placed it under 
Nycticorax, with which it should never have been placed. There is a some- 
what similar case in the Rallidae, and it seems that this erroneous course 
has been followed purely on the hypothesis that the southern Old World 
species could not be related to species of the southern New World. Further 
instances will be found in the Hirundinidae and Anatidae, not to mention 
others which I have not been able to compare and verify. This course is 
the more inexplicable as Dendrocygna viduata and Gelastes cirrocephalus 
are recorded from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean ! 
Buhulcus lucidus = B. ibis (Linn. 1758). 
Ardetta = Ixobrychus (cf. Lonnberg, J . fur Orn. 1906, p. 532). 
Ar delta sturmi = Ardeiralla sturmi. 
Phoenicopteridae 
Phoenicopterus roseus = P. antiquorum. ^ 
P. minor = Phoeniconaias minor. 
Anatidae 
Sarkidiornis melanotus = 5 . melanotus africanus (cf. C. Grant, Ibis, 1915, p. 72). 
Chenalopex aegyptiacus = Alopochen aegyptiacus (cf. Richmond, Proc. U.S. 
Nat. Mus. LIU. 583, 1917). 
It is clear that the two South African ducks commonly placed under 
Anas should not be retained there, the genotype (Anas platyrhyncha Linne) 
differing in several important respects. A . sparsa Eyton differs in having 
the middle toe and claw much longer than the bill, the sexes alike in colour 
and the colour markings very different ; this species I would therefore refer 
to a new genus bearing the name of Mel an an as. A. undulata Dubois 
differs in colour markings, has no seasonal change of plumage and the claws 
longer and sharper; it may therefore be referred to a new genus, Afranas. 
The smaller species sometimes removed under the name of Nettion, or 
Nettium, should naturally also be separated; of the species commonly 
lumped in this genus, there are two names to be considered, Nettion, geno- 
type N. crecca, and Virago, genotype V. gibberifrons. Both our species, 
capensis and punctata, differ from these genotypes in the greater length 
of the secondaries and breadth of the bill; capensis differs further from them 
in that the lamellae project prominently below the tomia of the bill, while 
punctata (which has the lamellae as in Nettion and Virago) has fewer 
tail feathers (only fourteen) and the colour markings of the wing as in 
“Nettion” brasiliense, which may perhaps prove to be congeneric. Having 
regard to these differences, I would raise our two species to generic rank, 
as follows: 
Notonetta gen. nov., genotype Anas capensis Gmelin. 
Micronetta gen. nov., genotype A. punctata Burchell. 
