McAllan: Ramsay’s Solomon Islands bird types 
39 
specimen came from “Lango, Guadalcanal’. This locality 
is given on the early British Museum label, but not on the 
oldest label attached to the specimen which simply notes 
“Solomon Islands” (M. Walters, in litt.). The latter locality 
is also written in the register. The specimen was “received 
in exchange” from Ramsay, but there is no indication of any 
such exchange in the Australian Museum registers, and so 
the specimen evidently came from the Dobroyde collection. 
M[yiagra] ferocyanea Ramsay, 1879, Nature 20: 125, (5 
June 1879) and 
Myiagra (?) ferro-cyanea Ramsay, 1879, Proceedings 4: 
78-79,(16 June 1879). 
[= Myiagra ferrocyanea ferrocyanea Ramsay, 1879] 
Ramsay initially named this species M. ferocyanea in 
Nature , but in his following paper in the Proceedings he 
used the spelling M. ferro-cyanea (Ramsay, 1879b). Ingram 
(1987) and Longmore (1991) suggested this act was an 
emendation by Ramsay. This is not strictly true, as Ramsay 
never mentioned the Nature paper in his 1879 Proceedings 
account. Nevertheless, it appears Ramsay sent the paper to 
Nature. Later Ramsay used the spelling M. ferrocyanea and 
referred to the 1879 Proceedings paper (Ramsay, 1882f). 
Elsewhere in this 1882 paper he used the name Cinnyris 
melanocephalus as used in Nature and not C. dubius which 
was listed in synonymy. In his 1881 Proceedings paper 
he specifically mentioned the 1879 paper in Nature. This 
indicates that he was aware of the 1879 Nature paper and 
thus the spelling of M. ferrocyanea as used in the 1882 paper 
was a valid emendation under the ICZN (1999). 
As early as his first 1879 Proceedings paper Ramsay 
suggested that his M. pallida may refer to females of M. 
ferrocyanea. Salvadori (1880) merely noted Ramsay’s 
indecision about this taxon. Tristram (1882) again suggested 
that these could be the same species, but did not make a 
definite decision. Later Tristram (1892) noted a female 
specimen of M. ferrocyanea in a collection from the 
Solomons, but did not say how he disposed of the name 
M. pallida and so did not act as first revisor as required 
by the ICZN (1999). It was not until 1901 that Rothschild 
& Hartert finally acted as first revisors by noting under 
the heading Myiagra ferrocyanea , “There is no doubt that 
Myiagra pallida of Ramsay is the female of M. ferrocyanea ” 
(Rothschild & Hartert, 1901). 
Australian Museum. Four syntypes: 0.18720, A.3833, 
A.3835, A.3837. 0.18720, ex Dobroyde collection, 
registered 1912. This specimen was labelled by Ramsay 
supposedly in December 1878, though as the ship did not 
arrive in Sydney until 6 January 1879, this is presumably 
an error for the collection date. It is labelled as a type of 
Myiagraferrocyanea from the Solomons. The sex was given 
as “male?”. A.3833, labelled by Ramsay as a type from 
“Guadalcanal’ and a male. A.3835, labelled by Ramsay as 
a type from “Guadalcanal and a probable male. A.3837, 
labelled by Ramsay as a type from “Guadalcanal’ and a 
possible female. This was evidently an error by Ramsay as he 
had named the females of this species Myiagra pallida (see 
below). The last three specimens are listed in the register as 
having been collected by “Capt Brodie ‘Ariel’ & Cockerell”. 
Museum Victoria. Five syntypes: B. 19552, B. 19553, 
B. 19554, B. 19555, B. 19556. These specimens have the 
following details on the strip wrapping: B. 19552, Solomon 
Isl., Oct 78, male; B. 19553, Solomon Isl., Oct 78, male; 
B.19554, Solomon Isl., Oct/78/ male; B.19555, G [= 
Guadalcanal], Solomon Isl., Dec 77 [the second 7 crossed 
out], male; B. 19556, Solomon Isl., Oct 77 [the second 7 
crossed out], male. The first four are labelled on additional 
tags: “Cockerell’s Solomon Isds Coll.; Jan.23/79”, but 
B. 19556 has no additional tag. 
Macleay Museum. Four syntypes: B.7265, B.7266, B.7267, 
B.7268. All four specimens were labelled by Masters 
“Myiagra ferro-cyanea. male. Solomon Is.” and are of typical 
Cockerell make. Stanbury (1969) referred to these specimens 
as possible types. 
Queensland Museum. One syntype: 0.20855. 
Longmore (in Ingram, 1987) noted that Ramsay sent a 
syntype (Australian Museum specimen A.3834) on exchange 
to the Queensland Museum. A mounted specimen in the 
Queensland Museum, number 0.20855, was believed by 
Ingram (1987) to be the specimen in question. 
The Natural History Museum. One syntype: 1884.1.19.10. 
According to Warren & Harrison (1971) this specimen came 
from “Guadalcanal Solomons” with the date “Dec. 1879”. 
The specimen is actually labelled “Solomon Islands”, as is 
the register, with no mention of“Guadalcanal’ (M. Walters, 
in litt.). The label also notes “ex RR. 12.1879”, though it may 
be that “ex P.R.” refers to E. P. Ramsay. The date is after 
the description of the taxon and may be the date of receipt 
(M. Walters, in litt.). The specimen was purchased by The 
Natural History Museum directly from Cockerell. Given the 
date of receipt it is evident that the specimen was part of the 
original collection and thus seen by Ramsay. 
Mfyiagra]pallida Ramsay, 1879, Nature 20: 125. 
[= Myiagra ferrocyanea ferrocyanea Ramsay, 1879, see 
Rothschild & Hartert (1901)] 
Australian Museum. Four syntypes: 0.18722, A.3838, 
A.3839, A.3840. 0.18722, ex Dobroyde collection, 
registered 1912. This specimen was labelled by Ramsay 
supposedly in December 1878, though this could be the date 
of collection. It is labelled as a type of Myiagra pallida from 
the Solomons. The sex of this specimen was not recorded. 
A. 3838, labelled by Ramsay as a type from “Guadal- 
canar”and a probable male. A.3839, labelled by Ramsay as 
a type from “Guadalcanar”with sex initially not determined 
and then replaced with male. A.3840, labelled by Ramsay 
as a type from “Guadalcanar”and a probable female. 
As with M. ferrocyanea the sexes of A.3838 and A.3839 
are incorrect, as M. pallida should only refer to females. This 
incorrect sexing of the specimens of both M. ferrocyanea and 
M. pallida by Cockerell evidently resulted in Ramsay never 
being fully convinced that only one species was involved. 
Museum Victoria. Four syntypes: B. 19557, B. 19558, 
B. 19559, B.19560. All four have tags labelled: “Cockerell’s 
Solomon Isds Coll.; Jan.23/79”. B. 19557, notes on the strip 
