Families constituting the Order Passeres. 411 
properly distinguished from the Meliphagidse by Dr. Sclater, 
follow naturally here. The Dicseidse, consisting of the genera 
Ficceum , Zoster ops, Pardalotus, Prionochilus ?, and one or two 
others, has always been a subject of discord, the four genera 
above named having been placed in the most diverse families. 
Pardalotus , for example, has been placed in the Laniidse by 
G. R. Gray, in the Ampelidse by Bonaparte, near the Leio- 
trichidse and Paridse by Jerdon, and as a distinct family near 
the Mniotiltidse by Sundevall, who, however, puts Prionochilus 
far away among the Pycnonotidse. The wing-structure, form, 
and habits of the three first-named genera bring them natu¬ 
rally together in this place; and Ficceum is certainly very close 
to the Tanagrine genus Euphonia. Prionochilus is a great 
puzzle. It possesses a minute first primary, which favours 
SundevalPs view of its position; but it agrees so very closely 
in the peculiar form of the bill and general appearance with 
some species of Ficceum and Pardalotus , that I cannot bring 
myself to separate it from them, although I acknowledge it 
to be an awkward anomaly in this series of families. I may 
here notice that the species which I described as Prionochilus 
aureolimbatus y from Celebes (P. Z. S. 1865, p. 477), has only 
nine primaries, and must thus be placed in Ficceum or Pachy- 
glossa, with which latter genus it very closely agrees. I there¬ 
fore cannot follow Dr. Sclater (antea, p. 3) in making Pachy- 
glossa a synonym of Prionochilus. The Dicseidse are typically 
Australian, but have spread over the Oriental and even to the 
Ethiopian region. We next come to the Ampelidse, which 
have also been a source of much confusion, having been placed 
next the Laniidse, Pycnonotidse, or Leiotrichidse by various 
authors. They have been generally recognized as allied to 
Pardalotus; and indeed that genus might perhaps come into 
this family rather than in the last. The colouring of some 
of the Pardaloti approximates to that of Ampelis. The Hi- 
rundinidse are undoubtedly very isolated; yet they assort as 
well in form and plumage with the Ampelidse’and some genera 
of Tanagridse as with any other families that can be named, 
while they have the advantage of agreeing with this series in 
the essential features of wing-structure. The next family. 
