| OCR Text |
Show 578 MR. E. A. SMITH ON THE GENUS MYODORA. [Nov. 16, these localized species. The absence of any reddish-purple cross mark on the gular feathers, the red cap, and the general coloration are the same as in P. fasciatus ; but the tail-feathers have a deep-yellow apical band about 22 millims. in breadth. I have the pleasure of naming this species after Mr. Franz Herns-heim, Imperial German Consul at Jaluit (Marshall group), as a slight token of m y personal affection, and of my thankfulness for the great help he has rendered to m y scientific undertakings throughout my stay in the South Seas. 2. PTILOPUS PONAPENSIS, Finsch, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 779. During m y stay on the island of Ponape' I had the pleasure of examining a considerable series of specimens of this species, and may state that I found the diagnostic characters previously given quite constant, but that to them there should be added the following :-" A distinct dark-green ventral spot, changing in certain lights into dark violet." This ventral spot is always present, and occurs in both sexes. I should likewise say that Pt. ponapensis is not confined to the island of Ponape, but inhabits also the Ruk group (Hogoleu). Specimens collected by Mr. Kubary at the latter island agree in every respect with those from Ponape. 4. O n the Genus Myodora of Gray. By EDGAR A. SMITH. [Received September 2, 1880.] (Plate LIII.) This genus was indicated by Gray in the 'Synopsis of the Contents of the British Museum' published in 1840, and in the 'Annals of Natural History ' for the same year. In the latter work the name is printed Myadora, and in like manner on p. 136 of the former. Further on, however, on p. 150 in the same work, it is written Myodora; and in the Proc. Zool. Soc. for 1847, p. 191, the author also employs the latter spelling. This orthographic discrepancy is probably due to the printer's misreading of Gray's manuscript; for he was no calligrapher. In the last-mentioned work Gray questions Reeve's propriety in quoting Myadora as of Gray. On this account, and seeing that he himself there adopts the other spelling and that it has been more generally used by authors, although not the first actually published, I shall employ the same word in the present monograph. Considerable difference of opinion appears to have existed as to which is the right valve of shells belonging to this genus and which the left. Reeve, Philippi, Chenu, and Woods call the flat valve the right and the deep one the left. On the contrary, Woodward, Gould, and Hutton (copying^Woodward) say the left is flat and the |
