36 
Mr. D, G. Elliot on the Trocliiliclse. 
Thaumatias to an entirely different generie form of the Tro- 
chilidae from that indieated by Bonaparte by his type^ a form 
for which Beichenbach had established the term Agyrtria, 
with Ornismyia brevirostriSj Less., for its type; and in future, 
therefore, the birds reviewed in this paper should be classed in 
ReichenbaclEs genus, with Thaumatias, Gould (nee Bon.), as 
its synonym Thaumantias, Bon., becoming a synonym of 
Polytmus, Brisson'^. 
The sexes of the members of this genus are alike in plumage, 
except in the case of T, chionurus, the female of which varies 
in a slight degree from the male; and it is probable that in a 
final classification of this family this species may appropriately 
be removed into another genus. I did at one time refer to 
Thaumatias two birds described by my friend Mr. G. N. 
Lawrence as Eupherusa cupreiceps and E. nigriventris (Ann. 
& Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 4. vol. viii. p. 267, 1871); but I believe 
they are better placed in a genus by themselves, as has been 
done by M. Mulsant in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux- 
mouches,^ as in several particulars they differ from the genera 
with which they have been associated. I am able to recognize 
twenty-one species (one perhaps doubtful) belonging to the 
genus Thaumatias, and have divided them into three groups, 
characterized by the coloration of their throats and breasts. 
The first of these contains two subdivisions, distinguished 
from each other by the degree of brilliancy observed on the top 
of the head. The second group contains three subdivisions, 
characterized by the coloration of the under tail-coverts. One 
of the chief specific characters among the members of the va¬ 
rious groups appears to be the coloration of the rectrices, which, 
in the majority of cases, permits the species to be determined 
without much difficulty. Six species have brilliant metallic 
crowns, varying somewhat in the extent of the dispersion of the 
hues towards, or upon, the occiput; three have this part only 
slightly metallic; one has both crown and face covered with 
* [This view of the type of Thaumantias, Bp., we cannot agree to; 
for it is evident from the Oonsp. Av. (p. 78) that T. thaumantias, Linn., 
apnd Bp. = T, alhinentris. Less., and therefore = T. tephrocephalus, Vieill., 
apiid Elliot (infra, p. 48). Thus considered, Mr. Gould is correct in his 
application of Bonaparte’s name — Edd.J 
