Proceedings of the Scientific Meetings of the Zoological Society of London 1868

Page 513

1868.] ON THE AMERICAN RALLIDAE. 455 Obs. A P. melanophcea capite rufo, et crisso non rufo, sed medio nigro, albo utrinque marginato, diversa. (4) CRYBASTUS. 12. PORZANA FLAVIVENTRIS. Petit rdle cle Cayenne, Buff. Pl. Enl. 847. Rallus fiaviventer, Bodd. Ortygometra flaviventris, Gray, Gen. iii. p. 593 ; Hartl. Ind. Az. p. 24. Rallus minutus, G m . S. N. p. 719. Ortygometra minuta, Burm. Syst. Ueb. iii. p. 388 ; Gosse, B. Jam. p. 372. Crex minuta, Scl. P. Z. S. 1861, p. 81. Rallus superciliaris, Vieill. N. D. xxviii. p. 565, et Enc. Meth. p. 1070 (ex Azara, no. 377). Laterirallus gossii, Bp. C. R. xliii. p. 599 (1856). Crybastus gossii, Cab. J. f. Orn. 1856, p. 428; Gundlach, Rep. F. N . i. p. 361. Erythra minuta, Bp. C. R. xliii. p. 600 (1856). Supra flavicanti-brunnea, capite et dorso medio obscurioribus, ni-gricanti- brunneis: dorso et alis extus albo maculatis.- superciliis et corpore subtus ochracescenti-albidis, gula et ventre medio albi­cantibus : hypochondriis et crisso albo nigroque transfasciatis : rostro corneo, pedibus flavis: long, tota 5*0, alee 2*7, caudee 1*3, rostri a rictu 0*7, tarsi 0*9, dig. med. cum ungue 1*3. Hab. Cayenne (Buff.) ; Jamaica (Gosse et Osburn); Cuba (Gundlach); Venezuela, Caraccas (Levraud, in Mus. Par.) ; South­eastern Brazil (Burm.) ; Paraguay (Azara). Bonaparte has called the Jamaican form of this species Lateri­rallus gossii, without giving us any explanation of how it differs from the continental form which he calls Erythra minuta. W e have examined a specimen now in the British Museum, obtained by Gosse, and compared it with a skin from Brazil, without being able to detect any differences which would justify the separation of the Jamaican bird. (5) CRECISCUS. a. plaga cervicali postica nulla. a', pectore immaculate. a", dorso toto albo punctato 13. P. jamaicensis. b". dorso fere immaculate 14. P. spilonota. b'. pectore albo nigroque variegato 15. P. notata. b. plaga cervicali postica rufa 16. P. cinerea. 13. PORZANA JAMAICENSIS. Rallus jamaicensis, G m . S. N . p. 718 ; Baird, Birds N. A m . p. 749. Ortygometra jamaicensis, Gosse, B. Jam. p. 375 ; Salv. Ibis, 1866, p. 198. Porzana jamaicensis, Scl. P. Z. S. 1861, p. 81; P. Z. S. 1867, p. 333 et p. 343 ; Schlegel, Mus. des P.-B. Ralli, p. 67.