THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
When Cabanis dealt with birds in the Museum Heineanum he had not 
many Honey-eaters to deal with, but he proposed a few new genera, among 
them the genus Lichmera, including two species, L. australasiana—Certhia 
australasiana Shaw and L. ocularis = Glyciphila ocularis x subocular is Gould, 
writing “ Die Gruppe steht in der Bildung zwischen Meliomis und Ptilotis.” 
No type was indicated nor any generic description given, so that either species 
was equally available for selection. 
Bonaparte, in Notes Ornith. Coll. Delattre, p. 55, 1854, reviewing 
Reichenbach’s and Cabanis’ genera of Honey-eaters, wrote : “ Ptilotis unicolor 
Gould, forme, avec Glyciphila ocularis, le genre Stomiopara, Reich. Cabanis 
fait de cette derniere espece le type de son genre Lichmera .” This was 
published in 1854 and determines the type of the genus Lichmera in agreement 
with all the requirements of the International Code. 
In 1855, when Gray prepared his Catalogue of Genera and Sub-genera of 
Birds, he overlooked this designation and simply referred Lichmera Cabanis 
to the synonymy of Phylidonyris Lesson of 1831, of which he selected Certhia 
australasiana Shaw as the type. 
In 1865 Gould ignored this altogether and used the genus Lichmera Cabanis 
for C. australasiana, writing : “Of this form I consider there is only one species 
known, the L. australasiana, for I cannot agree with M. Cabanis in associating 
with it the Glycephala ( Stigmatops) ocularis," and then included the genus 
Stigmatops Gould without any other explanation, stating “ Of this form, I 
believe two, if not three, species inhabit Australia, and as many more the islands 
to the northward.” 
Custom has recently followed this incorrect usage by Gould, but we must 
now revert to Lichmera, which has undoubtedly the prior claim. 
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