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Show 118 MESSRS. MARSHALL ON THE CAPITONIDA. [Feb. 24, subfamilies, of which the following diagnoses will furnish distinguishing characteristics:- a. With the upper mandible toothed or notched Pogonorhynchince. b. With margin of mandible smooth ; rictal bristles strongly developed Megalcemince. c. With margin smooth; rictal bristles rudimentary or wanting Capitonince. The first subfamily is represented in Africa and America; the second in Asia and Africa ; the third is common to all three continents. The ornithology of Asia and America has received so much attention, and the facilities for research are comparatively so great, that but little remains to be done in the way of classification ; and, with the exception of cancelling a few of Bonaparte's genera, of which we are unable to give sufficient diagnoses, we have retained the existing arrangement. In the American group we have re-united Eubucco of Bonaparte with Capito of Vieillot. In the Asiatic group, Cyanops and Chotorea of Bonaparte are merged in Megaleema of Agassiz. The ornithology of Africa, on the other hand, is considerably less developed, the opportunities for study and research being few and precarious; it contains types of all three subfamilies, and nearly half of the known species, including the most aberrant forms, are found there: among these is one species which we are unable to identify with any of the received generic types, and which presents sufficient structural peculiarities to found a new genus, for which we propose the following name and diagnosis :- STACTOLAMA. Type (S. anchietce (fig. 1, p. 119). 1. Rictal bristles rudimentary or wanting. 2. Bill with the margin smooth. 3. Culmen acute, inflated. The first and second features identify it with the subfamily of Capitoninae; the third distinguishes it from Caloramphus and the remaining genera. £. anchietce is the only species as yet known; it is one of the latest discoveries, and was described and figured in the 'Proceedings' of this Society for 1869, p. 436, as Buccanodon anchietce, by Prof. J. V. Barboza du Bocage. The genus Buccanodon of Verreaux belongs to the subfamily Megalaeminae, and has the rictal bristles fully developed; it is similar in form and appearance to Xylobucco of Bonaparte, with which we have included it,- Xylobucco, the older name, being retained, while Buccanodon sinks into a synonym (see figs. 3 & 4, p. 119). The genus Trachyphonus of Ranzani, contains two very distinct types,-T. margaritatus, on the one hand, having a comparatively slender, elongated, and much compressed bill, with a fully developed occipital crest (see fig. 5, p. 119); on the other hand, T. purpuratus (fig. 6), having a short stout bill, with the culmen strongly arched, |