THE IBIS. 
THIRD SERIES. 
No. XIII. JANUARY 1874. 
I. —On the Prionochili of British India . 
By P. L. Sclater, M.A., PUD., F.R.S. 
(Plate I.) 
The genus Prionochilus was established, in 1841*, by the late 
Mr. Strickland for the reception of the birds described and 
figured in the f Planches Coloriees 9 of Temminck, as Bar da- 
lotus percussus (PL Col. 394. fig. 2), Pardalotus thoracicus 
(PL Col. 600. figs. 1 & 2), and Pardalotus maculatus. Mr. 
Strickland considered the affinities of this group to be with 
Calyptomena, “ which it approaches in the structure of the 
btak and feet much more nearly than to Pardalotus.” The 
name was derived from vrptW, a saw, and yyJAo?, a lip, in 
allusion to the minute serrations of the margins of the beak, 
which, however, are scarcely visible in some of the species 
without the assistance of a magnifying-glass f. 
In 1865 Mr. Wallace described and figured]; a beautiful 
* P. Z. S. 1841, p. 29. 
t Somewhat similar serrations occur in certain Euphonic? (Tanagridse) 
and in the Trochilidine genera Grypus and Anclrodon. 
f P. Z. S. 1865, p. 477, pi. xxix. fig. 1. 
SER. III.-VOL. IV. 
B 
