252 
Annals of the Transvaal Museum 
nov., type Nectarinia arturi P. L. Sclater. The genus would seem to be repre- 
sented as well by 5 . hocagei in Benguella, S. kilimense in East Africa and 
S. tacazze still farther north-east. Aidemonia Rchb., type cuprea (Shaw), 
is smaller and the males lack the long central tail feathers; only the type 
species has been recorded from within our limits, namely, by Alexander 
{Ihis, 1899, p. 555), who secured it on the Zambesi. Another small genus 
is represented by Cinnyris shelleyi Alexander, also obtained on the Zambesi, 
which differs only, so far as I can ascertain in the absence of a specimen 
of A. cuprea for comparison, in the male, which has the metallic coloured 
parts green and a broad, bright red chestband ; it has the tail only a little 
more than two-thirds of the length of the wing, whereas in Aidemonia it 
is over three-fourths. As it occupies a position somewhat connectant 
between Aidemonia and the next genus, I propose to separate it under the 
new generic name of Shelleyia, type Cinnyris shelleyi Alexander. The 
genus just referred to I propose to name Maricornis gen. nov., type 
C. mariquensis A. Smith, which differs from Shelleyia in having the chest- 
band maroon instead of bright scarlet in the male, and the tail longer in 
both sexes, over three-fourths of the length of the wing; the genus is widely 
distributed and contains large and small species, mariquensis of the bush- 
veld and north-westwards being the largest (wing length, 65-72 mm.) and 
microrhynchus much smaller (wing length, 52-57 mm.), the latter occurring 
side by side with Shelleyia on the Lower Zambesi. It will be observed that 
in the above genera with the second primary shorter than the sixth but 
longer than the seventh (a character which is found in both sexes), the 
males lack pectoral tufts and the abdomen is blackish. In the south-west 
of South Africa, however, and occurring also over the dry west, is another 
species which has practically the same size and the same wing formula, 
and the abdomen blackish, but the under-tail coverts white and orange 
coloured pectoral tufts', the length of the tail is between two- thirds and three- 
fourths of the length of the wing and in this respect it comes close to 
Shelleyia. This exceptional case seems to point to a remote isolation of the 
species, and instead of a scarlet pectoral band developing as in Shelleyia, 
orange pectoral tufts have developed instead. Were it not for the obvious 
fact that these birds have been very long established and during their 
history have come to settle down into groups in which the principal 
difference lies in the highly coloured males, I should be inclined to place 
all these with the same wing formula in one genus, and regard the colour 
characters as being of only subgeneric value; but the species of the re- 
spective groups overlap so regularly in the tropics that there is no option 
but to regard them as genera. Under the circumstances, I must regard 
Cinnyris fusca Vieillot (which is so aberrant that Reichenow places it 
under Chalcomitra^) in a distinct genus, for which I propose the name of 
Eremicinnyris, gen. nov. 
The remaining long-billed species are all characterised by having 
pectoral tufts in the males and the second primary equal to or shorter 
than the seventh, in both sexes. Of these, Elaeocerthia verreauxi (A. Smith) 
is readily identified by its grey colour and red pectoral tufts in both sexes; 
the tail is almost square and about four-fifths of the length of the wing. 
Not far removed from this genus we have another in which the sexes are 
alike, namely, Adelinus olivacea (A. Smith), which differs in being olive 
