GREAT KNOT. 
drawn to the type-specimen, he called it Totanus tenuirostris, sinking his own 
name as a synonym. Through some inexplicable reason it then became 
known under the name crassirostris, given to it by Temminck and Schlegel 
about the same time as Gould called it Schmniclus magnus. When the former 
issued the text to their Fauna Jajtonica^ they claimed priority for their plate, 
but though this has been accepted I have been unable to find any data to 
prove their statement. I, of course, at once reverted to Gould’s name, but 
now find that Horsfield’s name must be used, as it is twenty-seven years older 
than Gould’s. 
In the Gat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. XXIV., Sharpe (p. 600, 1896) used for 
this species Temminck and Schlegel’s name, crassirostris — noting as synonyms 
tenuirostris Auct., not Horsfield. Totanus tenuirostris Horsfield was placed by 
Sharpe in the synonymy of Totanus stagnatilis. I am quite unable to provide 
any explanation for such action on the part of Sharpe. The type of Totanus 
tenuirostris Horsfield is stiU extant in the British Museum but not included 
in the general collection: it is absolutely certain that Sharpe did not 
examine the type when he made this statement, as the two birds are so 
different that it is quite impossible for anyone to confuse them. The long 
legs of T. stagnatilis are just as characteristic as the short legs of the present 
bird ; the long thin biU of the former has httle resemblance to the bill of 
the latter. It should be noted that Horsfield pointed out that T. tenuirostris 
had a slender bill, and this is the case, as the type-specimen, which I have 
carefully examined, is an immature bird. 
■A 
VOL. in. 
277 
