N0VITATE8 ZOOLOGICAE.
Vol. XXXVIII, 1932-33.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE
H ^ouvnal of ZooioQ^
IN CONNECTION WITH THE TRING MUSEUM.
iujiA^ ».»*:!>^
EDITED BY
LORD ROTHSCHILD, F.R.S., Ph.D., Dr. ERNST HARTERT, and Dr. K. JORDAN, F.R.S.
Vol. XXXVIII, 1932-33.
(WITH TWO PLATES.)
Issued at the Zoologicai, Museum, Trino.
PRINTED BY HAZEM., WAT.SON & VINEY, Ltd., LONDON AND AYI.ESBUHY
1932-1933
CONTENTS OF VOLUME XXXVIII (1932-33).
GENERAL SUBJECTS.
PAGES
1. Journey to Algeria and Marocco in 1929. Ernst Hahtekt . . . 331 — 335
2. Crossing the Great Atlas in Marocco ill 1 930. Eknst Haeteet . . 336 — 338
AVES
1. The Birds of Tristan da Cunha. G. M. Mathews and J. G. Gordon . 13 — 48
2. Ornithologische Ergebnisse der Expedition Stein, 1931-32. Lord Roths-
child, E. Steese.m.ann and K. Palud.an ..... 127 — 247
LEPIDOPTERA
1. The Lepidopterous Genus Nobilia (Geometridae Subfam. Sterrhinae). L. B.
Prout ......... . . ] — 6
2. Some new .species of Thyrididae. R. J. West ..... 7 — 10
3. On the Geometridae of the Expedition of Ch. AUuaiid and R. Jeaniiel to
Central Africa. L. B. Prout ....... U — 12
4. The LjTiiantriidae of the Malay Peninsula (Plates I and II). C. L.
Collenette .......... 49 — 102
5. New exotic Geometridae. L. B. Prout ...... 103 — 126
6. On some new Eupterotidae . Lord Rothschild ..... 250 — 252
7. Spolia Mentawiensia : Geometridae. L. B. Prout . . . . 314
8. On a collection of Lepidoptera from Spanish Morocco. Lord Rothschild 315 — 330
9. Two new species of Mazuca. an African genus of Agaristidae (Lepidopteral
Karl Jordan .......... 339 — 341
10. A new Sphingid from Madagascar (Lepidoptera). K.arl Jordan . . 342
ANTHRIBIDAE.
1. Some new African Antliribidae. Karl Jordan ..... 295 — 300
2. Further records of Aiithribidao from Java. Karl Jordan . . . 301 — 304
3. New Oriental Anthribidae. Karl Jordan ...... 305 — 313
4. Now Oriental Anthribidae (Colcoptcra). Karl Jordan .... 362 — 383
vi CONTENTS OF VOLUME XXXVIII (1932-33).
SIPHONAPTERA
1. Tuttga bondari eine neue Art der Sandflohe. J. Wagner
2. Siphonaptera collected by Mr. Harry S. Swarth at At I in in British
Columbia. Kakl Jordan ........
3. Siphonaptera collected by Mr. J. L. 0. Jfuster.s in Norway on the I-emniing.
Karl Jordan ..........
4. Siphonaptera collected by Mr. C. Elton in Lapland. K.arl Jordan
5. Siphonaptera collected by Herr Georg Stein in the High Tatra. Karl
Jordan ...........
6. A new Xenopsylla from Hawaii. Karl Jordan .....
7. New Oriental Flea's. K.arl Jord.^n .......
8. Siphonaptera collected by Harold Stevens on the Kelley-Roosevelt
Expedition in Ymuian and Szechuan. Karl Jord.\n
9. Notes on Siphonaptera. K.\rl Jordan ......
10. Fotir new Fleas collected by Professor F. Spillman in Ecuador. Karl
Jord.\n ...........
11. Two new species of Ctcnophthalmus from Tropical Africa (Siphonaptera).
Karl Jordan ..........
12. Fleas collected by Dr. Max Bartels in Java. Karl Jordan .
13. Two new South American Bird-fleas. Ivarl Jordan ....
|
PAGES 248—249 |
|
|
253- |
-255 |
|
256- |
-257 |
|
258- |
-260 |
|
261- |
-263 |
|
264- |
-266 |
|
267- |
-275 |
|
276- |
-290 |
|
291- |
-294 |
|
343- |
-348 |
|
349- |
-351 |
|
352- |
-357 |
|
358- |
-361 |
INDEX 385-404
PLATES IN VOLUME XXXVIII.
PLATES I-II. Malayan Lymantriidse.
ERRATA. Pp. 25C to 258 reatl Lcmmus le.mmus instead of Lemnus lemnus. P. 292, line 1 from below read Aphropsylla instead of Archaeopsylla. P. 326, line 11 from below read Acontia instead of Acoutia. P. 334, line 16 from below read Carduelis instead of Cardaelis.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE.
H Journal of Zoology
EDITED BT
LORD ROTHSCHILD, F.R.S., Ph.D., De. ERNST HARTERT, and Dr. K. JORDAN, F.R.S.
XOL. XXXVIII.
No. 1.
Paqbs 1-314.
lesiTED December 30th, 1932, at the Zoological Museum, Tring.
PKINTED BY HAZELL, WATSON & VINEV. Ltd., LONDON AND AYLESBURV.
1932.
Vol. XXXVIII.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE.
BDITBD BT
LORD ROTHSCHILD, ERNST HABTERT, and KARL JORDAN. F.R.S.
CONTENTS OF NO. I.
1. THE LEPIDOPTEROUS GENUS NOBILIA
(GEOMETRIDAE subfam. STERRHINAE)
2. SOME NEW SPECIES OF THYRIDIDAE
3. ON THE GEOMETRIDAE OF THE EXPEDI-
TION OF CH. ALLUAUD AND R. JEANNEL TO CENTRAL AFRICA ....
4. THE BIRDS OF TRISTAN DA CUNHA
5. THE LYMANTRIIDAE OF THE MALAY
PENINSULA (PLATES I AND II)
6. NEW EXOTIC GEOMETRIDAE .
7. 0RNITH0L06ISCHE ERGEBNISSE DER
EXPEDITION STEIN 1931-32 .
8. TUNG A BONDARI, EINE NEUE ART DER
SANDFLOHE
9. ON SOME NEW EUPTEROTIDAE
10. SIPHONAPTERA COLLECTED BY MR. HARRY
S. SWARTH AT ATLIN IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
11. SIPHONAPTERA COLLECTED BY MR. J. L. C.
MUSTERS IN NORWAY ON THE LEMMING
12. SIPHONAPTERA COLLECTED BY MR. C.
ELTON IN LAPLAND ....
13. SIPHONAPTERA COLLECTED BY HERR
GEORG STEIN IN THE HIGH TATRA .
14. A l^EW XENOPSYLLA FROM HAWAII
15. NEW ORIENTAL FLEAS ....
16. SIPHONAPTERA COLLECTED BY HAROLD
STEVENS ON THE KELLEY-ROOSEVELT EXPEDITION IN YUNNAN AND SZECHUAN
17. NOTES ON SIPHONAPTERA
18. SOME NEW AFRICAN ANTHRIBIDAE
19. FURTHER RECORDS OF ANTHRIBIDAE
FROM JAVA
20. NEW ORIENTAL ANTHRIBIDAE
21. SPOLIA MENTAWIENSIA : GEOMETRIDAE
L. B. Prcmt R. J. West
L. B. Primt . G. M. Mathews and J. G. Gordon
C. L. Collenette L. B. Prout . . .
Lord Rothschild, E. Stresemann and K. Paludan
J. Wagner Lord Rothschild
Karl Jordan
Karl Jordan
Karl Jordan
Karl Jordan Karl Jordan Karl Jordan
Karl Jordan Karl Jordan Karl Jordan
Karl Jordan Karl Jordan L. B. Prout
1—6
7—10
11—12
13^8
49—102 103—126
127—247
248—249 250—252
253—255
256—257
258—260
261—263 264—266 267—275
276—290 291—294 295—300
301—304
305—313
314
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE
Vol. XXXVin. DECEMBER 1932. No. 1.
THE LEPIDOPTEROUS GENUS NOBILIA (GEOMETRIDAE subfam.
STERRHINAE).
By LOUIS B. PROUT.
XT' ROM the year 1897, when Warren described his nebulosa and obliterata, -*- until 1922, when Lord Rothschild (Proc. Ent. Soc. Lond. 1922, p. cxxxii) commented on the wide divergences in the genitalia of the forms passing as turbata Walk., very little attention appears to have been paid to the genus Nobilia Walk. It was tacitly assumed tliat there were four species, and four only ; a brief note which I published in 1917 (Nov. ZooL. xxiv, p. 307) is, so far as I am aware, the only intermediate reference in the literature, and this pays no attention to the morphology.
Naturally Lord Rothschild's observations excited my interest and a desire to subject the so-caUed turbata forms to a more searchmg analysis ; but until a few months ago my preoccupation with other studies equally or still more urgent has frustrated my intentions. Now that I have carried them out, I take the opjjortunity to offer a revision of this small but interestuig genus. I have to acknowledge with gratitude the ready help of Mr. W. H. T. Tams in making preparations of the genitalia of a number of specimens in the British Museum.
Nobilia Walk. {List Lep. Ins. xxiv, p. 1098, 1862), which is clearly one of the outliers of Scopida (Acidaliinae of Pierce), was treated by Hampson in his " Fauna of British India, Moths," as Sect. II B of Somatina, another outlier of the same group. His sectional characterization (ui, p. 465) runs : " Hind tibia of male shortened, and with the tuft from its base short ; the first joint of tarsus long, dilated, and with a fold containing a tuft of hair." The genus Somatina itself is distinguished in the Key to the Genera of the " Acidaliuiae " [Sterrhinae] in the same work by the non-elongate terminal joint of palpus, origin of vein 5 of both wings before the middle of the discocellulars, double areole of forewing and non-stalking of veins 6 and 7 of hindwmg. This classification affords a good frame-work, but leaves Somatina as a sort of supergenus, of almost world-wide distribution and susceptible of much further subdivision.
The principal characters of Nobilia are the following. Palpus with 2nd joint extending somewhat beyond the face, with densely compact scaling, 3rd joint in ^^ short ; $ with both these joints slightly longer than in ^. Antenna of cJ with dense fascicles of long cilia, usually arising from small triangular teeth ; intermediate fascicles much shorter and sUghter. Antenna of $ minutely ciliate. Hindtibia of ^ short and broad, spurless, with a dense hair-tuft from femoro-
1
2 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
tibial joint, hindtarsus of j' with 1st joint densely tufted ; $ with 4 spurs. Fore- wing with apex pointed, termen smooth, rather straight anteriorly, more curved posteriorly ; cell rather less than J, DC short, DC curved anteriorly (often rather sharply) ; areole double, with SC arising from stalk of SC'^*, R^ rather extremely placed, M^ well separate. Hindwing with termen slightly waved, bent (sometimes slightly toothed) at R", tornus well expressed ; cell rather short (f or less) ; C anastomosing with cell, usually at slightly more than a point, or at first not rapidly diverging, SC^ about connate, or quite shortly stalked, R^ scarcely before middle of DC, M' separate. Genitalia of (J complicated, highly fused, more or less asymmetrical ; uncus slight or obsolete, socii developed, valves specialized into strongly chitinized arms, dorsal and ventral, 8th sternite with an irregular plate, aedoeagus strongly chitinized. Apart from the genitalia, Nobilia differs from Somatina in shape and facies, more extreme position of R* of the forewing, details of hindleg structure, etc. ; from most of the allies (Craspediopsis, Orthoserica, Lissoblemina, Ignobilia) also in the non-pectinate ^ antenna, Craspediopsis, which is nearest to it in R" and in the angled hindwing, is farthest away in the scaling and pattern and is, according to these criteria, as well as the genitalia, much nearer to Scopula.
KEY TO THE SPECIES.
1. Wings beneath not more ochreous than above . . 2 Wmgs beneath bright ochreous .... 3
2. Wings above without white subterminal line . .1. obliterala Warr. Wings above with white subterminal line . . .2. cupreata Pagenst.
3. Forewing with median area concolorous with costal . 4 Forewing with median area concolorous with distal . 7. strigata Warr.
4. Prevailing tone cinnamon to hazel ; (^ socii apjjroxi-
mated ........ 3. sp.n. (India).
PrevaiUng tone darker ; cJ socii remote ... 5
5. Larger (48 mm.), rather brighter, aedoeagus large . 5. sp.n. (Celebes). Smaller, generally darker, aedoeagus normal . . 6
6. Hindwing scarcely toothed at R^ ; left socius not
conspicuously the larger ; Malayan . . .4. turbata Walk.
Hindwing well toothed at R' ; left socius conspicuously
the larger ; Papuan . . . . . .6. sp.n.
1. Nobilia obliterata \\'arr.
No'.ilia ohlitemla Warr., Nov. Zool. iv. 220 (1897) (Borneo).
The simplest species in markings. Forewing with apex scarcely at all produced, termen scarcely waved, the hindwing with the bend at R' weak, the termen very little waved. Rather uniform pinkish cinnamon (nearly 15" c of Ridgway), with very fine, almost regularly spaced whitish strigulae ; costal edge of forewing dark, not succeeded by the pale or drab area which characterizes all the other species except cupreata ; the wings otherwise marked nearly alike, with black cell-dot (that of forewing minute), faint pinkish cinnamon median shade, and fine, sinuous greyish postmedian, somewhat accentuated by blacker teeth outward on the veins. Underside sUghtly more pmkish, smooth and uniform, only with posterior region pale.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 3
Genitalia of ^J : posterior edge of dorsal plate even less prominent centrally than in No. 3 ; socii approximated, rather long, the left very decidedly longer than the right, down-curved, valve with the dorsal arm considerably longer than the ventral ; ventral plate posteriorly with two broad lobes, somewhat asym- metrical, but lacking the projecting thorn of No. 3.
Borneo and Perak.
2. Nobilia cupreata (Pagenst.).
Plulodes cupreata Pagenst., J. B. Nass. Ver. Nat. xli. 178 (1888) (Amboiiia). No'iilia ne'jvlosa Warr.. Nov. Zool. iv. 58 (1897) (Amboina).
In shape and colour rather similar to obliterata. Hindwing with the bend at R' still slighter. Forewing with costal edge less darkened, except at the base, the succeeding area with a suggestion of the pale streak of the rest of the species ; cell-spot small and weak ; proximal and distal areas — the latter also on hindwing — suffused with a slightly deeper, more coppery shade ; both wings with a fine white subtermmal line, slightly nearer termen than in turbata, some bluish-white admixture beyond it ; cell-mark of hmdwing nearly as in turbata. Underside as in obliterata.
Genitalia of ^ : distinguishable at once from all the others by having the dorsal plate produced centrally into a long, fine (pseudo-)uncus ; socii remote ; plate of 8th sternite with posterior arms long and slender, almost symmetrical. (Examination without dissection.)
Amboina.
This must be a rare species. I have seen only Warren's type cj, while Pagenstecher also described from a single cJ. Excepting the implications mvolved in his entuely erroneous generic location, the description by the latter author is good ; no doubt Warren's failure to recognize it and his consequent creation of a synonym are attributable to this erroneous location.
3. Nobilia avellanea sp.n.
{J$, 42-45 mm. Closely similar to turbata, but distinguishable by the tone of colour and nearly always by the postmedian line of the forewing. Very pale buff, very closely strigulated and reticulated with orange-cinnamon (general
aspect vinaceous-cinnamon to hazel), admixture of dark scaling slight.
Forewin-g with posterior patch rather broad, cut off rather suddenly at M, reap- pearing as a small spot or triangle in cell near the discal lunule ; discal lunule not broad, almost always well separated from postmedian line ; postmedian forming an acute angle at M^ ; extreme terminal area, excepting the costal
streak, concolorous with rest of extra-postmedian region. Hindwing with
extreme distal area almost concolorous with the rest at least to behind R-.^
Underside orange-buff or slightly deeper, the forewing suffused with flesh-ochre about the fold and narrowly at costa and termen.
Genitaha of (^ : Socii approximated, almost parallel, fairly long, straightish, only slightly asymmetrical. Valves (as in all the examined Nobilia) small, highly cliitinous, apparently rather strongly fused to the anellus ; costal arm slender, curved, ventral arm long, strong, arising from the innerside of the " sacculus." Plate of 8th sternite remarkably asymmetrical, its posterior edge quite irregularly tapering, not two-armed, a strong rose -thorn -shaped prong rising from its left-hand side near the end.
4 NoVITATES ZOOLOOICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
N. India : Darjiling and Assam, the type ^ from Cherrapmiji in coll. Tring Mus. Also known from Burma, Tonkin, Selangor, Penang, Singapore, Sumatra (Korintji) and Borneo.
This is the " Indian " Sobilia of Rothschild (loc. cit.) and is certainly com- moner there than elsewhere, but its range overlaps with that of turbata.
• 4. Nobilia turbata Walk.
Nohilia turbata Walk., List Lep. Ins. xxiv. 1098 (1862) (Sarawak).
Plutodes strigvlaria Snell. in Veth, Midilen-Suiiuilm iv. : 1 (2) 57 (1880) (Central Sumatra).
Plutodes (Omiza) strignluria Pagenst., Jahrh. Nass. Ver. Xat. xli. 178 (1888).
Smnalina turbata Hmpsn. (part.), Faun. Inrl. Moths, iii. 465 (1895).
Walnut brown largely suffused with Hay's brown, the general tone inclining
to cameo brown or chocolate. Forewing with posterior patch behind M
generally less broad than in ai'dlanea, not broken except by M itself, but with its continuation in front thereof more isabelline or light brownish olive, the dark spot near cell-mark wanting or reduced to a dot ; cell-mark rather broad, some- what reniform, its hinder edge commonly touching the postmedian ; postmedian less acutely angled at M= than in avellanea ; extreme terminal area generally
paler, at least posteriorly. Hindiving with extreme distal border almost
concolorous with the rest at apex, but soon (at least from cellule 6) becoming pale. Underside with the flesh-ochre suffusions broader than m avellanea.
Genitalia of (J : " Socii " extremely sundered (forming terminal jirocesses to the lateral flanges of the 10th tergite), asymmetrically curved, the right short, the left less so ; valve with costal arm much more highly developed than in avellanea, though still slender, ventral arm rather shorter than costal, broader. Plate of 8th sternite with long arms anteriorly (i.e. cephalad), also strongly emarginate posteriorly, though here with the arms less long than in No. 2 and No. 6.
E. Pegu, Tenasserim, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Borneo and Mindanao.
By the genitalia, there will almost certainly be some differentiable races, but more material and more study will be required before they can be estab- lished ; the more striking thing, and the first to demonstrate, is the general homogeneity, together with the great structural difference from avellanea. This (turbata vera) is the " Malayan " Nobilia of Rothschild, loc. cit.
It should be added that the discovery that the two closely similar species occur on Sumatra has raised some doubts as to my earlier synonymy, here pro- visionally retained. Snellen's type, a S from Silago, was described as " rust- brown," which would rather speak for avellanea, but tlie " narrow " grey median area and the confluence of the cell-mark with the distal area would favour turbata and it is obviously better, until the type can be studied, to keep the name sunk than to resuscitate it hazardously for the jireceding species.
5. Nobilia erotica sp.n.
(J, 48 mm. Larger than the other species, more cinnamon than in most turbata, though more dark-mixed than avellanea, some of the pale strigulae on
the outer area of the forewing apparently stronger than in any other Nobilia.
Forewing with postmedian line almost as acutely angled as in avellanea, the discal
NOVITATES ZoOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 5
lunule similarly removed from it. Hindwing with termen apparently slightly
more crenulate than in fiirhata ; terminal area between the radials more clouded with the ground-colour than in typical turbata.
Genitalia of ^J : similar to those of iurbata ; anal cone (in dried specimen) so strong as to be easily mistaken for an uncus ; " socii " nearly symmetrical, decumlient, rather slender and recurved, their edges appreciably serrate ; plate of 8th sternite less deejily emarginate at posterior edge than in lurhnia ; costal arm of valve strong, strongly curved ; aedoeagus much stouter than m the other species.
Celebes : Tondano (Weigall), 1 q in Mus. Tring (unfortunately worn, especially the right wings).
6. Nobilia aphrodite sp.n.
cj$, 42-48 mm. Very varialsle, sometimes extremely similar to turbata, though distinguishable by the shape of the hindwing. The pale parts nearly always with a more decided tinge of brown, the hindwing very generally with an appreciably pale band between the median and postmedian lines, though this
is never so clear as the corresponding part of the forewing. Foreiving with
the ceU-spot and often the postmedian line more as in avellanea than in turbata, the terminal area as in turbata or on an average even paler ; the dark parts in the (J commonly more clouded with black than in turbata, in the less clouded forms with the brown seen to be slightly less reddish ; $ more cinnamon, occa- sionally even much Uke avellanea. Hindwinrj termen with well-defined tooth
at R' ; terminal pale admixture generally as in turbata.
Genitalia of (^ : Dorsal plate (0th tergite) produced to an almost uncus-hke point (though less acute and much less long than that of c.upreata) ; "socii " widely sundered, the left-hand one the larger and less decumbent ; plate of 8th sternite almost H-shaped in the length of the arms both anteriorly and posteriorly. Valve with the arms not very unequal, perhaps more so m thickness than m length, the ventral broad and fairly long.
New Gumea, the type from Upper Aroa River m Mus. Tring ; also from Ron, the d'Entrecasteaux, Dampier, Vulcan and apparently throughout the Bismarck Archipelago.
A rather striking aberration, which may possibly prove a separate species, has the wings strongly suffused with violet-grey.
7. Nobilia strigata Warr.
Nobilia strigata Warr., Nov. Zool. iii. 112 (1896) (Borneo).
In its purplish colour very distinct from all the other species, nearest to the colour of the last-mentioned aberration, but much more freckled and with the
median and terminal areas of the forewing scarcely any paler than the rest.
Forewin,g with broad pale costal streak, otherwise not strongly marked, the scheme as m the turbata group, but with the jjostmedian broad and sinuous, the
pale subterminal weak or subobsolete ; discal lunule moderate. Hindwing
with termen rather strongly toothed at R^ apex slightly less pronounced than in the turbata group ; almost unicolorous, except for the white, black-tipped cell- mark and the rather weak postmedian.
6 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
Genitalia of ^ : Dorsal plate with posterior edge not very convex ; left " socius " produced into a slender downward-curved claw. Plate of 8th sternite elongate, roughly jjarallel -sided, irregularly and asymmetrically tapered poster- iorly, but not two-pronged, a rose-thorn-shaped process rising from its right-hand side near the end, preceded anteriorly on the same edge by some small serration. Valves fairly similar to those of turbata.
Borneo, the Malay Peninsula and S. Java, apparently pretty constant.
It is a curious coincidence, though it would be rash to give it any special significance, that the two otherwise very dissimilar species avellanea and strigata should have a very simOar " rose-thorn " on the plate of the 8th sternite, in the one case on the left side, in the other on the right.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII, 1932.
SOME NEW SPECIES OF THYRIDIDAE.
By R. J. WEST.
{Published by permission of the Trustees of the British Miiseum.)
1. Striglina synethes sp.n. cJ. Palpus sayal brown. Antenrui minutely ciliate. Head : frons and vertex sayal brown. Thorax: patagium and tegula sayal brown. Abdomen sayal brown, venter light buff tinged with sayal brown. Pectus light buff. Legs sayal brown, fuscous on tibia and tarsus of foreleg. Forewing sayal brown, strigulate with fuscous, a small fuscous spot on discocellulars, an oblique, fuscous line from vein 6 subtermLnally to inner margin medially. Hindwing concolorous with forewing, an oblique line forming continuation of that on forewing ; subter- minally, a fuscous spot between veins 5 and 6. Und,erside similar to upperside with fuscous spots more prominent.
Expanse 28 mm. (tip to tip 25 mm.).
Holotype S : 28.xii.1912, paratype ^ : 30. vi. 1913, Philippine Is., Luzon I., subprov. Benguet, Palali, 2,000 ft.
Nearest ally : 8. divisata Warr.
2. Betousa penestica sp.n.
$. Palpus light buff. Antenna minutely ciliate. Head : frons and vertex light buff. Thorax : patagium and tegula light buff. Abdomen light buil tinged with livid brown, venter light buff. Pectus and legs light buff. Forewing glossy, light buff, faintly strigulate with warm blackish brown, a prominent blackish brown spot in apical area. Hindwing similar in colour and markings to forewing, but having a tinge of hvid brown on inner margin. Underside similar to upperside, with markings more strongly defined ; a thickly scaled, warm buff streak through upper half of cell and just beyond on the forewing.
Expanse 21 mm. (tip to tip 20 mm.).
Holotype 9 : 2.vii.l9I3, Philippine Is., Luzon I., subprov. Benguet, Palali, 2,000 ft.
Nearest ally : B. subrosealis Leech.
3. Brixia hyphaema sp.n.
(J. Palpus light buff. Antenna ciliate. Head : frons and vertex light buff. Thorax : patagium and tegula light buff. Abdomen light buff above and beneath. Pectus and legs light buff. Forewing light buff tinged with fuscous on proximal half up to postmedial ; postmedial fascia consisting of a fuscous band obliquely incurved from costa to base of vein 6, straight to vein 2, then inwardly oblique to inner margin ; subterminal fascia consisting of a short fuscous band, obUquely excurved from end of postmedial on costa to termen at vein 5, below this band two wavy streaks, the lower one finishing at tornus. Hitulwing concolorous with forewing, an oblique fascia across middle of wing forming continuation
8
NOVITATES ZoOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
of postmedial on forewing. Underside similar to upperside, markings more defined.
Expanse 20 mm. [tip to tip 19 mm.).
$. Similar to (J.
Expanse 23 mm. (tip to tip 21 mm.).
Holotype ^ : 14.viii.l896, Japan, Shikoku, prov. lyo, Komatsu ; allotype $: 8.viii.l895, Kyushu, prov. Satsuma, Kure ; paratypes \ q : 3.vii.lS95, 1 $ : 3.ix.l895, Kyushu, prov. Osumi, Tarumiza.
Nearest ally : B. emblicalis Moore.
4. Brixia phaula sp.n.
cj. Palpus avellaneous. Antenna apparently simple. Head : Irons and vertex aveUaneous. Thorax : patagium and tegula avellaneous. Abdomen light buff suffused with aveUaneous, venter light buff. Pectus light buff. Legs light buff suffused with avellaneous, tarsi avellaneous, light buff at joints. Fore- wing glossy, light buff covered with a network of aveUaneous and fuscous lines, avellaneous along costa ; subbasal fascia consistmg of an aveUaneous Ime shghtly excurved ; antemedial fascia consisting of an avellaneous Une slightly incurved from costa to median nervitre, angled, then slightly incurved to mner margin ; postmedial fascia consisting of an inwardly obUque, fuscous Ime. Hindwing concolorous with forewing, antemedial fascia fuscous, inwardly obUque ; post- medial fascia obliquely incurved from costa to vein 3 near termen, then mwardly oblique and wavy to inner margin near tornus. Underside similar to upperside, with hnes in a suffusion of russet.
Expianse 28 mm. (tip to tip 26 mm.).
Holotype ^ : 8.iv.l912, Philippine Is., Luzon I., subprov. Benguet, Klondyke, 800 ft.
Nearest aUy : B. ypsilon Warr.
5. Brixia erythroides sp.n.
cj. Palpus ochraceous-tawny, suffused with fuscous. Antenna minutely ciUate. Head : frons and vertex ochraceous-tawny. Thorax : patagium and tegula cartridge-buff suffused with fuscous. Abdomen cartridge-buff above and beneath, with lateral suffusion of fuscous to Brazil red, anal tuft ochraceous- tawny mixed with Brazil red. Pectus cartridge-buff. Legs cartridge-buff hghtly suffused with fuscous, tarsi suffused with fuscous, cartridge-buff at joints. Fore- wing BrazU red on proximal half diffusing into ochraceous-tawny on distal haff, cartridge-buff on costa, a fuscous suffusion from base dividing into two streaks, one along subcosta, the other along median nervure, frmge fuscous edged with cartridge-buff. Hindwing Brazil red, frmge fuscous edged with cartridge-buff. Underside : fore- and hindwings, ground colour similar to upperside, irrorated with metaUic pale blue scales forming transverse bands defined by fuscous, more prominent on hmdwing.
Expanse 28 mm. (tip to tip 26 mm.).
Holotype (^ : 2.vii.l913; paratype q : 3. vii. 1913, Philippine Is., Luzon I., subprov. Benguet, Palali, 2,000 ft.
Nearest ally : B. uniformis Hmpsn.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 9
6. Brixia plinthochroa sp.n.
(^. Palpus first segment white, second segment army brown mi.xed with white, third segment army brown. Antenna minutely eiliate. Head : frons and vertex ferruginous suffused with army brown. Thorax : patagium and tegula ferruginous suffused with army browii. Abdomen ferruginous lightly suffused with army brown, venter cartridge-buff. Pectus cartridge-buff. Legs ferruginous suffused with army brown. Forewing ferruginous tinged with fuscous, cartridge-buff patches on costa, covered with faint, wavy, fuscous, transverse lines, interneiu'al fuscous-black spots on termen. Hindwing similar to forewing, with a prominent fuscous-black spot on discocellulars. Underside : forewing ferruginous, with transverse series of army brown patches ; a patch of fuscous-black and whitish raised scales in cell, three fuscous-black streaks from discocellulars along veins 6, 7, and 8, strigulate with fuscous-black in subterminal area ; hindwing light buff with transverse series of ferruginous patches, strigulate with fuscous-black.
Expanse 32 mm. (tip to tip 30 mm.).
HolotypeS'- 30. v. 1914; piaratypes \ ^ : 15.v., 1 ^ : 29. v. 1914, Philip- pine Is., Mindanao I., subprov. Lanao, Kolambugan (plains).
Nearest ally : B. uniformis Hmpsn.
7. Brixia lipara sp.n.
(J. Palpus bay. Anterma, minutely eiliate. Head : frons and vertex ochraceous-buff suffused with bay. Thorax : patagium and tegula ochraceous- buff suffused with bay. Abdomen ochraceous-buff above and beneath. Pectus ochraceous-buff. Legs ochraceous-buff suffused with bay. Forewing ochraceous- buff with a number of fine, transverse, wavy, bay lines ; a streak of white on costa densely irrorated with bay (mcreasing in width toward apex) in which is a wide, bay, V-shaped mark above discocellulars, the point reaching to below vein 6, a bay patch at apex. Hindwing concolorous with forewing, but lightly suffused with bay on distal half. Underside sunilar to ujiperside, but markings more defined.
Expanse 34 mm. (ti2) to tip 32 mm.).
?. Similar to (J.
Expanse 38 mm. (tip to tip 36 mm.).
Holotype ^ : 21.xii.l911; allotype^: 17.iv. 1912, Philippme Is., Luzon I., subprov. Benguet, Klondyke, 800 ft.
Nearest ally : B. atripunclalis Wlk.
8. Brixia allocota sp.n.
(J. Palpus white, fuscous above. Antenna minutely ciHate. Head : frons white, a triangular fuscous patch on upper haff, vertex white, fuscous patch in middle. Thorax : patagium and tegula white. Abdomen white above and beneath. Pectus white. Legs white, with fuscous patches. Forevnng glossy, white, a series of fuscous lunules on costa, three fuscous spots on inner margin, the proximal one small, the next a little larger, the distal one, large, oval, and placed obUquely, interneural spots on termen. Hind-wing concolorous with
10 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
forewing, interneural spots on termen, a spot on inner margin at one half. Underside : fore- and hindwings, glossy, white.
Expanse 38 mm. {tip to tip 36 mm.).
Hololype (^ : lO.vi. 1913, Philippine Is., Luzon I., subprov. Benguet, Baguio, 5,000 ft.
Nearest ally : B. pudicola Guen.
i). Brixia polyterpes sp.n.
S- Palpus fuscous, white inwardly and at joints. Antenna minutely eiliate. Head : frons and vertex fuscous tinged with old rose. Thorax : patagium fuscous, tegula fuscous, white posteriorly, rest of thorax white. Abdomen white above and beneath, some old rose spots laterally. Pectus white. Legs : coxae, femora and tibiae white with patches of old rose, tarsi fuscous, white at joints. Forewing glossy, white, faintly strigulate with old rose, a sufiusion of fuscous on proximal third of costa. Hindwing glossy, white, subbasal fascia consisting of an obUque old rose line ; postmedial fascia consisting of an old rose band formed by a number of interlaced, old rose lines. Underside : forewing white, suffused over the greater part with ochraceous-buff , veins old rose ; irrorated with old rose below costa on proximal half, cell filled with raised scales irrorated with fuscous-black and metallic white ; hindwing similar to upperside.
Expanse 30 mm. {tip to tip 28 mm.).
Holotype cJ : 2.vii.l913, Philippine Is., Luzon I., subprov. Benguet, Palali, 2,000 ft.
Nearest ally : B. separata Warr.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 11
ON THE GEOMETRIDAE OF THE EXPEDITION OF CH. ALLUAUD AND R. JEANNEL TO CENTRAL AFRICA.
By LOUIS B. PROUT.
TDY an unfortunate accident, due to a rearrangement of my manuscript, the '-^ Sterrhinae of the Traminda group were dropped out of my report on the above collection {Mem. Soc. Zool. Fr. xxix, pp. 375-512, 1932). As this in- cludes a new race of which the Paris Museum has been credited with the type, it is necessary to make good the omission ; in any case, it is desirable that the intention of giving a complete survey of the very valuable collection should not be frustrated.
The following are the species in question.
SuBFAM. STERRfflNAE Meyr. Chlorerythra rubriplaga extenuata n.subsp.
Type : a 5 from Taveta in Mus. Paris.
Smaller than r. rubriplaga Warr. (Nov. Zool. ii, j). 91, S. Africa), more weakly marked, the forewmg beneath with the rosy costal shading more re- stricted, generally leaving the cell as well as the posterior part of the wing whitish.
Kenya Colont : Taveta (alt. 7,500 m.), st. 65, 16-21 March 1912, 1 $ ;
Serengheti Desert : Landjoro (alt. 900 m.), st. 64, March 1912, 1 $ ; Mbujnini (alt. 1,150 m.), St. 63, March 1912, 1 $.
Also from Kibwezi (Kenya Colony) and Kongwa (Tanganyika Territory) in Mus. Tring. Probably the specimens which I have recorded from SomaUland (Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1916, p. 148) likewise belong here, but I cannot now compare them.
Traminda acuta pallida Warr.
T. (?) pallida Warr., Nov. Zool. vi, p. 296 (1899) (Kenya Colony : Kiboko River).
Kenya Colony : Taveta (alt. 750 m.), st. 65, March 1912, 1 ^, 1 ?;
Serengheti Desert: Mbuyuni (alt. 1,150 m.), st. 63, March 1912, 1 $; Voi,
September 1909, 1 $ (Ch. Allttatjd).
Known from the White Nile, the Uelle district, Kenya and Tanganyika Territory, I think also from British SomaUland.
Traminda atroviridaria (Mab.).
Thalera atroinriduria Mab., C.B. Soc. Ent. Belg. xxiii, p. xxii (1891) (" Madagascar"). Traminda ocellain Warr., Kon. Zool. ii, p. 100 (189.5) (S. Africa). Tratninda riifa Warr., Mop. Zool. iv, p. 65 (1897) (ah.) (Natal : Weenen).
Uganda : Unyoro, East Albert Nyanza, 1909, 1 $ (Ch. Alluaud). Widely distributed ; already known from Unyoro, Rhodesia, Transvaal, Natal and Cape Colony. I have never seen it from Madagascar and suspect a
12 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXX\aiI. 1932.
mistake as regards the type locality. The Alluatjd specimen Ls of the green form.
Traminda neptunaria (Guen.).
Thnandra neptunaria Guen., Spec. Gen. Lip. x, p. 3, t. xviii, f. 5 (1858) (Abyssinia).
Gna7nptolo-ma nepliiruiria Warr., Nov. Zool. ii, p. 95 (1895).
Traminda neptunaria Swinh., Tr. Ent. Soc. Lonil. 1904, p. 562 (1904) (Dar-es-Salaam).
Timandra neptunaria Hmpsn., Pror. Zool. Soc. Land. 1910, p. 477 (1910) (N.E. Rhodesia ; Portuguese
E. Africa). Traminda neptunaria Prout, Proc. Zool. Sor. Land. 1916, p. 148 (1916) (British Somaliland).
Kenya Colony : Serengheti Desert : Landjoro (alt. 900 m.), st. 64, March
-Voi (alt. 600 m.), st. 60, March 1912, 1 $. Occurs almost throughout tropical Africa, and even reaches Natal.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 13
THE BIRDS OF TRISTAN DA CUNHA. By GREGORY M. MATHEWS, with Notes by J. G. GORDON.
'X'RISTAN DA CUNHA is the general name for a group of three small volcanic ■'■ islands belonging to Great Britain, situated in the South Atlantic ; the summit of the largest being in 37° 5' 50" South by 12° 16' 40" West.
They were discovered in 1 506 by the Portuguese admiral, Tristan (or TrLstao) da Cunlia (1460-1540), who was nominated first Viceroy of Portuguese India in 1504, but owing to temporary blindness was unable to serve ; he was, however, placed in command of a fleet which operated on the east coast of Africa. After discovering the Lslands which now bear his name, he visited Madagascar, Mozam- bique, Brava and Sokotra.
Dutch vessels brought back reports on the islands in 1643 ; and in 1656 Van Riebeck, the founder of Cape Town, sent a ship from Table Bay to Tristan to see if it was suitable for a military station. Later in the seventeenth century ships were sent from St. Helena by the English East India Company, with the idea of forming a settlement.
A British naval officer visited the group in 1760 and named Nightmgale Island.
John Patten and his crew lived on Tristan from August 1790 to April 1791.
The first permanent inhabitant, however, was Thomas Currie, who landed there in 1810. Later an American named Lambert and another man named Williams made Tristan their home, till they were drowned in May 1812.
During the war between the United States and Great Britain, the islands were largely used as a base by American cruisers, sent to prey on British merchant ships. This and other considerations urged by Lord Charles Somerset, Governor of Cape Colony, caused the islands to be taken possession of as a dejjendency of the Cape. The formal proclamation of amie.xation was made on August 14th, 1816.
A mihtary detachment consisting of about fifty men, with a captain, two subalterns and a medical officer, left the Cape in the s.s. Fahnouth on November 2nd, 1816, with the necessary equipment of cattle and agricultural implements. Owing to adverse winds they did not arrive on Tristan till the 28th of the month. This small garrison was maintained there tiU November 1817.
At their own request WUliam Glass, a corporal of the Royal Artillery, with his wife and two children and two masons, were left Ijehind, and these began the present settlement. In 1827 five coloured women from St. Helena were mduced to migrate to Tristan to become the wives of the five bachelors. Later, coloured women from Cape Colony married residents on the island. Other settlers are of Dutch, Italian and Asiatic origin. The settlement was on the plain on the north- west of the island of Tristan da Cunha.
Over the commimity Glass (1817-53) ruled in patriarchal fashion. After Glass came Cotton, who was succeeded by Green. They now manage their own affairs without any written laws, the project once entertained of providing them with a formal constitution being deemed unnecessary.
Gough Island, or Diego Alvarez, discovered by the Portuguese in the sixteenth
14 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
century, has been claimed as a British possession since the annexation of Tristan. It lies 250 miles S.S.E. of this group. It was called by its present name after Captain Gough, the commander of a British ship which visited it in 1731. The birds of Gough Island were worked up by Clark in the Ibis for 1905, p. 247 ei seq., and, of course, are not included m this article.
The Tristan group he in lat. 37° 2' 48" South ; long. 12° 18' 20" West. From the Cape of Good Hope they lie westward 1,550 miles and about one-third farther from Cape Horn, lying nearly on a line drawn between the two capes. They lie 1,320 miles south of St. Helena. In October 1873 the islands were care- fully surveyed by the Challenger.
The islands rise from the submarine elevation which runs down the middle of the Atlantic. The depth between the islands is m some places over 1,000 fathoms.
Tristan, the largest and northernmost island, has an area of 16 sq. miles, is nearly circular in form, about 7 miles in diameter, and has a volcanic cone (7,640 ft.), usually capjjed with snow, m the centre. Precipitous cliffs, 1,000 to 2,000 ft., rise from the ocean on all sides, except the north-west, where there is an irregular plateau of about 12 sq. miles, 100 ft. above the sea. A stream crosses the northern end of the plateau, faUing over the clifi in a fine cascade. The crater of the central cone contains a fresh-water lake about 150 yards in diameter. This and other crater lakes are said never to be frozen over.
Inaccessible Island, the westernmost of the group, is about 20 miles from Tristan. It is quadrilateral in form, the sides being about 2 miles long, with cUSs about 1,000 ft. Its highest pomt (1,840) is on the west. At the base of the cliffs in some places are narrow frmges of beach.
Nightingale Island, the smallest and most southern of the group, is 10 miles from Inaccessible Island. Its area is not more than 1 sq. mile. Its coasts, imlike those of the other two islands, are surrounded by low cliffs, from which there is a gentle slope up to two peaks (1,100 ft. and 900 ft. high). There are two small islets, Stoltenhoff (325 ft.), called after two brothers of this name, marooned on Inaccessible Island, and Middle (150 ft.), and several rocks adjacent to the coast.
The rocks of Tristan da Cmiha are basalt, porphyritic basalt, dolerite, augite- andesite, palagonite, volcanic tuff and ashes. A block of gneiss in the crater indicates a continental foundation of the island. The caves m Nightingale Island mdicate that it has been elevated several feet. On almost all sides the islands are surrounded by a broad belt of kelp {Macrocystis pyrifera), through which a boat may approach the rocky shores even in stormy weather. There is no good anchorage in rough weather.
The prevailing winds are westerly. December to March is the fine season. The cUmate is mUd and on the whole healthy, the temperature averagmg 68° Fahr. in summer, 55° in wmter, sometimes faUing to 40°. Rain is frequent ; hail and snow fall occasionally on the lower ground. The sky is usually cloudy. The islands have a cold and barren appearance. The tide rises and falls about 4 ft. The greatest known depth of the ocean is midway between the islands of the Tristan group and the mouth of the Rio de la Plata. The bottom was here reached at a depth of 46,236 ft., or 8J miles, exceeding by more than 17,000 ft. the height of Mt. Everest.
NOVITATES ZOOLOOICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 16
The first published account of the natural productions of this group appears in the Trans. Linn. Soc. {Land.), vol. xii, p. 483 et seq., 1818. The paper was read before the Society on December 16th, 1817, by Captain Dugald Carmichael. This naturalist went with the expedition in November of 1816 and stayed tUl March 30th, 1817. He explored Tristan and gave an excellent description of the formation, etc. On January 4th, 1818, he, together with Dr. Evers and their servants and a guide, ascended the peak. On their return they encounted Iomi species of Albatross which breed on the island, viz. Diomedea spadicea,^ exulans, chlororynchos and fuliginosa. This author is the first to describe the nesting of Phoebetria fusca. He also described the nest of TJialassarche chlororhynchus. Of this latter bird he says that " it builds its solitary nest in some sheltered corner, selecting in particular the small drains that draw the water off the land into the ravines. There it runs up its nest to the height of ten or twelve inches, of a cylindrical form, with a small ditch round the base. A curious circumstance with regard to this bird is, that when irritated the feathers of its cheeks are separated so as to display a beautiful stripe of naked orange skin,- running from the corners of the mouth towards the back of the head.
" They nourish their young by disgorging the contents of their stomach. We could not help admiring the utter unconsciousness of danger displayed by them on oiu' approach. Their plumage is in the finest order, copious and without the slightest stam. They find great difficulty in getting on wing and must run twenty or thirty yards along the ground with expanded wings before they can get fairly under way."
Of Phoebetria fusca he says they are " at this season (January) gregarious, building their nests close to each other. In the area of half an acre I counted upwards of a hundred. They are constructed of mud raised five or six inches, and slightly depressed at the top. At the time we passed, the young birds were more than half grown, and covered with a whitish down. There was something extremely grotesque in the appearance of these birds standing on their respective hillocks motionless like so many statues, untU we approached close to them, when they set up the strangest clattering with their beaks, and if we touched them squirted on us a deluge of foetid oily fluid from the stomach."
He mentioned a species of Thrush, Turdus guianensis { = Nesocichla ereniita), a Bunting, Emberiza brasiliensis ( = Nesospiza acunhae) and a Moor-hen, Fulica cMorojyiis ( = Porphyriornis). These birds have spread over the whole island, and are found on the tableland as well as on the low ground. The Fulica con- ceals itself in the wood, where it is occasionally run down by the dogs ; the others fly amongst the cantonment.
He also mentioned that there are six species of ProceUaria, but only names Macronectes giganteus, Adamasior cinereus and Pachyptila vittata [keyteli).
He increased his list by adding Catfiaracta antarctica, Sterna vittata ( = varies very little from S. hirundo) and Anous stolidus, and he brings his total up to fourteen by the inclusion of Aptenodytes chry.wcoma ( = Eudyptes cristatus moseleyi).
Thus a list of the birds of Tristan containing fourteen species was started in 1818.
* Can spadicea be meant for vielanophrts ?
2 At the Natural History Museum on the 29th April, Mr. E. F. Stead, of New Zealand, told me that this exposed orange skin was a continuation of the gape, and that these birds could open their bill as wide as at an angle o£ 90 degrees.
16 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
The Challenger surveyed the group in 1873, and the birds collected then and during the famous cruise were worked up by Sclater, in the Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. for 1878, and this was again printed and many birds figured in part viii, Report on the Birds of the Challenger, 1881.
The two land birds depicted are Nesocichla eremila, pi. xxiii, and a figure of the biU, foot and wing given on p. Ill; and Nesospiza acunhae, on pi. xxiv, and a cut of the head, foot and wing given on p. 112.
In the Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1861, p. 260, pi. xxx, Sclater had added the Tristan coot, Gallinula nesiotis.
To the list of fourteen the Gallinula was added, and M egalo pier its (as Anows melanogenys), Pelagodroma tnarina and Oestrelata mollis, making now a total of eighteen.
The only Penguin from Tristan was figured on pi. xxx and worked up on p. 128.
Moseley, Notes by a Naturalist, 1892, p. 115, adds that Daption capensis and Macronectes breed on Tristan, and that Procellaria glacialoides was also obtamed (= Priocella antarctica). Total twenty.
From Inaccessible Island, Moseley writes of Eudyptes : " All night the penguins were to be heard screaming on shore and about the ship, and as parties of them passed by, they left vivid phosphorescent tracks behind them as they dived through the water alongside."
He comments on the action of these birds in the water : " they showed black above and white beneath, and came along in a shoal of fifty or more from seawards towards the shore at a rapid pace, by a series of successive leaps out of the water, and splashing into it again, describing short curves in the air, taking headers out of the water and headers into it again, splash, splash went this marvellous shoal of animals, till they went splash through the surf on to the black stony beach and there struggled and jumped up amongst the boulders and revealed themselves as wet and diipping penguins.
" In penguin rookeries the grass covers wide tracts with a dense growth like that of a field of standing corn, but denser and higher, the grass reaching high over one's head. The millions of pengums sheltering and nesting amongst the grass saturate the soil on which it grows with the strongest maniu'e, and the grass, thus stimulated, grows high and thick and shelters the birds from wind, rain and enemies, such as the i^redatory gidLs.
" The sulphur ])lumes lie close to the head when the bud is swimming or diving, but they are erected when it is on shore, and seem then almo.st by their varied posture to be used in the expression of emotion, such as inquisitiveness and anger.
" The bill is bright red and very strong and sharp at the point ; the iris is also red. The iris is remarkably sensitive to Ught ; they feed at sea at night as well as in the daytime.
" Most of the droves of penguins make for one landing-place, where the beach was covered with a coating of dirt from their feet, forming a broad track, leading to a lane in the tall grass about a yard wide at the bottom, and quite bare, with a smoothly beaten black roadway ; this was the entrance to the main street of this part of the ' rookery.'
" Other smaller roads led at intervals into the rookery to the nests near its border, but the main street was used by the majority of birds. It is called ' rock-
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 17
hopper,' from its curious mode of progression. The birds hop from rock to lock with both feet placed together.
" Naturally going through this horde of nesting birds was very difficult, as owing to the high grass one cannot see far and the ' roads ' join and bifurcate in all directions. The stench is overpowering and the yelling of the birds perfectly terrifying. The nests are placed so thickly together that you cannot help treaduig on eggs and young birds at almost every step.
"'A parent bird sits on each nest with its sharp beak erect and open ready to bite, yelling savagely 'caa-caa-urr-urr,' its red eye gleaming and its plumes at haK-cock, and quivering with rage. No sooner are your legs within reach than they are furiously bitten, often by two or three birds at once. Naturally your progress is slow and painful. The air is close in the rookery and the sun hot above.
" These penguins make a nest which is simply a shallow depression in the black dirt, scantily hned with a few bits of grass or not lined at all.
" They lay two greenish-white eggs, and both male and female incubate, in October, when eggs and young are found. The breeding season is probably September to November.
" One of the most remarkable facts about the penguins Ls that they are migratory ; they leave Inaccessible Island in the middle of April after moulting, and leturn, the males in the last week in July, the females about August 12th."
Moseley, loc. cit., on p. 105, from Inaccessible Island comments on the extreme tameness of the Thrush (Nesocichla) and the Finch (Nesospiza). The Thrushes could be knocked over with a stick, but they were not so tame as those on Tristan. The Finch seems to be extinct on Tristan.
Of the Porphyriorriis on Inaccessible Island, he says that it is much smaller than the Tristan form, with finer legs and a longer beak. This is true, as the bird is Atlantisia roger.si Lowe.
" On this island also the noddies, Megalopterus, were sitting on the tree-tops with the thrushes. These noddies breed also in St. Paul's Rocks in the Atlantic in August, when young and eggs were found. The nests were made of green seaweed {Caulerpia davifera), which grows on the bottom in the bay and around the rocks, and which, getting loosened by the surf, floats and is picked up by the birds on the surface. The weed is cemented together by the birds' dung, and the nests, havnig been used for ages, are now soUd masses, with a circular platform at the sunnnit, beneath which hang down a number of tails of dried seaweed. The older nests project from the cliffs on the sheltered side of the rocks, Uke brackets, having been originally commenced, as may be seen by the complete graduations existing, by a pair of birds laying an egg (always single) on a small projecting ledge of rock and adding a few stalks of weed.
" It is only the stronger and more vigorous noddies that are able to occupy and hold possession of a nest of this description.
' ' Prions and other sea birds have riddled the peaty ground underneath the trees in the Phylica wood in all directions with their holes. The burrows are about the size of large rats' holes and they traverse the ground everywhere, twisting and turning and undermining the grovmd, so that it gives way at almost every step."
Still on Inaccessible Island he says that Catharacla antarctica were plentiful. "These predatory gulls were quarrelling and fighting ovej- the dead bodies of
2
18 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
penguins. They quarter the ground when hunting, and when there is a kill assemble in numbers in the same curious way as vultures. They steal eggs, but their chief food is the prions, which they sometimes even draw from their burrows.
" On Nightingale Island the penguins were nesting in the tall grass, very much in the same way as those on Inaccessible Island. This island is the only one where there are caves ; these are so numerous as to form a striking feature.
" Here the Yellow-billed MoUymawk (chlororhynchus) made numerous nests amid the thousands of penguins' nests in the long grass. The ground of the rookery is bored in all directions by the holes of prions and petrels, which thus live under the penguins. Their holes are not so numerous in the rookery at Inaccessible Island as here. The holes add immensely to the difficulties of traversing a rookery, since when the ground gives way a fall into the black filthy mud amongst a host of furious birds, which have then full chance at one's eyes and face, is far from pleasant. One or two skuas also nested in the rookery. Truly a medley of birds. The skuas lay two eggs. There are about 400,000 penguins on Nightingale Island."
Wilkins [4] says that he collected between May 28th and June 1st, 1922, the eggs of Thalassarche chlorhynchus, Ardenna gravis, Eitdyptes cristatit^ and Catharacta antarctica. He also reports that Diomedea exulans, which used to breed on Tristan, is now only rarely found on Inaccessible Island. Phoebetria fusca nests in August and young birds leave the nest in April. P. palpebrata were hatched on January 15th at South Greorgia.
TJmlassarche chlororhynchus nests in August ; young leave the nest in April. T. chrysostoma were hatched on January 1st, at South Georgia.
Pterodroma macroptera moults in May and lays in July.
Pterodroma brevirostris ? lays in November.
Pachyptila vittaia keyteli lays in September.
Catharacta antarctica lays in September.
Sterna vittata lays in November.
Anoiis stolidu-s arrives in September and lays in November, but goes away for the winter.
Eiidyptes crislatus moults in March and leaves the island and comes again in August and lays its eggs in September.
Lowe [5] describes some new forms from this group, and on p. 522 gives a drawing of the head and wings of two Nesospiza. He also discussed the genus Nesocichla and gives text figures on pp. 526-7.
Apart from the foregoing works, the following should be consulted, as they bear upon the ornithology of the South Atlantic.
1. Clarke, Ibis, 1905 (April), pp. 247-68. " On the Birds of Gough Island."
2. Clarke, Ibis, 1 906 (January), pp. 145-87. " On the Birds of the South Orkney
Islands."
3. Clarke, Ibis, 1907 (April), pp. 325-49. " On the Birds of the Weddell and
Adjacent Seas, Antarctic Ocean."
4. Wilkins, Ibis, 1923 (April), pp. 474-511. "Report on the Birds collected
during the Voyage of the Q2iest " (pp. 495-501).
5. Lowe, Ibis, 1923 (April), pp. 511-29. " Notes on Some Land Birds of the
Tristan da Cunha Group, collected by the Quest Expedition " (pp. 519-29).
NOVITATES ZOOLOCICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 19
6. Lowe, Ibis, 1928 (January), jjp. 99-1.31. "A monograph on Atlantisia
rogersi : The Flightless Tristan RaU."
7. Lowe and Kinnear, British Antarctic {Terra Nova) Expedition, 1910.
Zoology, vol. iv, no. 5, pp. 103-93, " Birds, September 1930."
8. Stenhouse, Scottish Naturalis, 1924, pp. 93-6, " Notes on Rare Land Birds
from Tristan d' Acunha in the Royal Scottish Museum, Nesospiza acimhae."
9. Oliver, New Zealand Birds, 1930.
10. Kinghorn and Cayley, Emu, vol. xxii, pp. 81-96, October 1922.
11. Bent, Life Histories, North American Petrels, etc., 1922.
12. Rogers, The Lonely Island, 1926.
The following is a list of the birds made by P. C. Keytel on Tristan da Cunha, kindly sent me from the South African Museum by the Director, Dr. E. L. Gill. They are now in the South African Museum.
Eudyptes cristatus (with eggs).
Diomedea exidans (with egg).
Thalassarche chlororhynchus (with egg and photograph of bird on nest).
Phoebetria fusca (with egg).
Pterodroma macroptera.
Ardenna gravis.
Pachyptila viltatus (broad-billed) (with egg).
Catharacta antarctica (with egg).
Sterna vittata (with eggs), adult and juvenile.
Anous stolidus (with egg).
Porphyriornis nesiotis, adult and juvenile.
Nesospiza acunhae.
Nesocichla eremifa, adult and juvenile.
Atlantisia rogersi — not in Keytel's collection, but two specimens obtained by
South African Museum in 1932. Also FregeUornis grallaria.
Note. — I hear that about fifteen specimens of this Rail have been sent to different museums in America. It is sincerely to be hoped that the bird will not be exterminated by any evil-disposed person for the sake of money.
UP-TO-DATE LLST OP THE BIRDS OF TRISTAN DA CUNHA.
The page numbers represent the page in Syst. Av. Aethiop. Sclater.
*-f Eudyptes cristatus moseleyi — Rock Hopper Penguin. Oceanites oceanica oceanica — The Yellow- webbed Storm Petrel. *Pelagodroma marina 7tmrina — The White-faced Storm Petrel. ? [Garrodia nereis chubbi — Falkland Island Grey Storm Petrel.] ? [Fregetta melanogaster — Black-bellied Storm Petrel.] *-\Fregettornis grallaria — White-fringed Storm Petrel. Fregettornis melanoleuca — Black and White Storm Petrel. *'\Puffinus assimilis elegans — Gough Island Shearwater. *-\ Ardenna gravis — Greater Shearwater. Priocella antarctica — Silver-grey Petrel. *?f Adamastor cinereus — Great Grey Shearwater.
* Tristan breeding birds. f Gordon collection.
|
P. |
3. |
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p. |
5. |
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p. |
6. |
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p. |
6. |
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p. |
7. |
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p. |
8. |
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p. |
9. |
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10. |
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12, |
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13. |
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14 |
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15 |
20 NOVHTATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
P. 11. 1 [Procellaria aequinoctialis — Cape Hen.]
*^Pterodroma macroptera — Long-winged Petrel.
*'\Pterodroma incerta — Atlantic Petrel.
■fPterodroma externa — Juan Fernandez Petrel.
*fPterodroma mollis — Soft-plumaged Petrel.
? [Pterodroma brevirostris — Kerguelen Petrel.]
Daption capensis — Cape Pigeon.
*'\Pachyptila vittata keyteli — Tristan Broad-billed Prion.
Macronectes giganteus — Giant Petrel.
*Pelecanoides urinatrix dacunhae — Tristan Diving Petrel.
*'\Diomedea exidans exulans — Wandering Albatross. P. 16. ■\Thalassarche melanophris — Black-browed MoUymawk.
*'\Thalassarche chlororhynchus — Yellow-nosed Mollymawk. P. 17. *'fPhoebetriafusca — Sooty Albatross. P. 104. *'fAtlantisia rogersi — Tristan Rail. P. 109. *Porphyriornis nesiotis — Tristan Coot (extinct ?). P. 144. *?t Larus dominicanus — Southern Black-backed Gull. P. 147. *-fCatharacta antarctica — Antarctic Skua. P. 149. *1[ Sterna vittata — Kerguelen Tern. P. 154. *-fAnous stolidu-s — Atlantic Noddy.
P. 155. *Megalopterus mimitus atlanticus — Atlantic White-capped Noddy. P. 447. *'\Nesocichla eremita eremita — Tristan Thrush.
*'\Nesocichla eremita gordoni — Inaccessible Island Thrush. P. 833. *Nesospiza acunhae acunhae — Tristan and Inaccessible Island Bunting.
*Nesospiza acunhae questi — Nightingale Island Bunting.
*Nesospiza wilkinsi — Large-billed Bunting (Nightingale Island). P. 844. ^lonornis martinica — American Purple Gallinule.
Total thirty-six, of which twenty-two at least breed in the group.
In the following compilation I have endeavoured to bring together the main items of interest in the life history of those birds which have been recorded from this group of islands, together with the history of the discovery of the islands and subsequent occupation, taken from the published accounts.
Mr. Jack G. Gordon's notes are m square brackets.
[At all times, but especially when the potato crop fails, and suppUes rim low, the islanders dejiend largely on the various sea-birds and their eggs for food. All the species frequenting the islands, with the exception of Skuas and Penguins, are eaten, as are all eggs, those of the Penguin and Yellow-nosed Albatross easily outnumbermg all the rest put together. Unfortmiately the people are careless, and take no thought or care to conserve this very valuable source of supply, so several species have become scarce or have left the island. Both Mrs. Barrow and Mrs. Rogers give several instances of wholesale destruction, no less than 6,939 " Mollyhawks " being killed durmg March and April in one year " and 25,200 Penguins' eggs being taken in one season." On the 12th January, 1909, Mrs. Barrow writes: "Six men who had been to Inaccessible returned, and I am sorry to say that one of them purposely set fire to the tussac grass, which has been burning for three days. The fire can be seen from here 25 miles away. The men say that thousands of birds must have been destroyed,
• Tristan breeding birds. | Gordon collection.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1!»32. 21
as it is their nesting time. It is horrible to thinly of." She adds that it was still burning a month later ! Acts like this should be severely punished. At that time several men of a bad type came from Cape Town and caused much trouble in the generally peaceful community.
Also a great many dogs were kept, some families having as many as four, most of which had to find their own living, and the birds suffered in consequence. But this has been remedied. Until 1882 there were no rats on Tristan, but that year half a dozen managed to get ashore from the wreck of the Henry B. Page. Mr. Dodson, the missionary then, urged the men to kill them, pointing out what troulile they would cause. But they thought a few rats wouldn't hurt, and did nothing ! In later years these rats wrought great havoc among the crops, and were probably the cause ot all the land birds becoming extinct on the island.
Seemingly there are no rats yet on either Inaccessible or Nightingale Islands, and long may it continue so .
I had wished to get into touch with Tristan, and learn something of its birds. But it is well named " the lonely isle," for my first letter, written in 1910 and addressed simply to "the Chief man, Tristan da Cunha, S. Atlantic " took five years to get there ! and three more for an answer to reach me ! There were then letters from three " Chiefmen " and one " Chiefwoman." I have since received occasionally rough skins, and eggs (mostly broken), but many seem to go astray on the long journey. All are of great interest, several being first records for the group. The chief difficulty has been to get any data with the specimens. Though I have sent out scores of data cards, some already written up as guides, it seems impossible for them to do it correctly, and some of their efforts are very quaint. Here are some samples. " Mollyhawk egg, from Franks HiU, North West Point of Tristan da Cunha. We name this hill after a man by the name of Frank who got lost on the mountain and he made his h^^use on the mountain and slept there, and we call it Franks Hill." Nothing about the bird, nest or any- thing ! " The Peho egg, a blackliird with yellow on the beak. This bird make the nest near the edge of cliffs and it is very dangerous to get at their nests at times." This is a bit better. " These 6 eggs shell are call the ' Seahen,' we got them on the 14th of October 1920, and my boy had to go 9 miles for them and my boy's name is William and he is thirteen years of age and we got them the placewe call Sandypoint." Too much William and not "Seahen " about this effort!
Almost aU the skins are now in the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, and were verified by W. Eagle Clarke and Surgeon-Admiral T. H. Stenhouse. Gregory M. Mathews has also examined some of them.
I am greatly indebted to the books on the island, by Mrs. Barrow and Mrs. Rogers, for much urPormation regarding the birds and islands.]
1. EUDYPTES CRISTATUS MOSELEYI M. & I. The Rock-hopper Penguin
(Penguin).'
Eudypies serresianus nwseleyi Mathews and Iredale, Man. Birds Aicstr. vol. i, p. 11, March 9th, 1921. Inaccessible Island, Tristan da Cunha Group.
This species has a very wide range, extending from Prince Edward, Marion, Crozets, Kerguelen and Gough Islands : Tristan da Cunha to the Austro-New Zealand Region.
^ The second name given in a few instances is tlie name by which the Tristan islanders call the bird.
22 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
The typical form is from the Falkland Islands (figured in Cim. Phys. pi. 49). It is represented by this subspecies in the Tristan Group, which is figured in Yoy. Chall. pi. 30, 1881, and on Kerguelen by interjectus ; while the Austro- New Zealand subspecies must be called filholi, which I have figured and described in my Bird/i of Norfolk and Lord Howe Islatuli, pi. 32, 1928. The older-used name was chrysocome, but this is now considered indeterminable by up-to-date workers.
It spends a lot of its time at sea, only coming ashore to breed. It moults in March, then goes to sea in the middle of AprU, returning again in July or August. Mates, and commences nesting in September. In October eggs and young are found, and by November all or most of the eggs have been hatched.
The Austro-New Zealand form leaves Macquarie Island early in May, after moulting in AprU, and returns about the middle of October, and its breeding season is October to December.
They nest in colonies, in the long grass, making a nest which is just a depression, sometimes Ihied.
The eggs consist of two to the clutch, and are bluish white to greenish white, ovoid in shape and with a smooth surface, but pitted, and measure 65-5 by 56-5 mm. (Macquarie Island) and 70 by 57-5 (Campbell Island) (Oliver 9).
The breeding season is September to November.
[They are very numerous in the group, and at Tristan there are large rookeries, at " Stony Beach," " Trypot," " Seal Bay," " Sandy Point," etc., where they nest close to the sea, as a rule.
Last year young come in to moult in December, and Mrs. Barrow writes in January 1908 : " The poor penguins that land on this shore (i.e. near the settle- ment) have but a short Hfe, as the dogs hunt them out at once. While moulting they need no other food than that which Nature has provided in a store of oil from which they can dra^. They hide in holes, small caves, etc., during the time they are helpless."
The eggs are a great asset in hard times, but Mrs. Rogers states that the birds themselves are not eaten by the people. On the 24th September, 1906, Mrs. Barrow writes : " The men again went to Sandy Point for eggs. I wish they did not take them in such a wholesale way. They brought back shoals ! " While on the 19th September, 1907, she says : " The men went to the Penguin rookery to-day. Each man carries a box on his back holding 150 eggs, no light load ! When the birds are up for laying, the pairs keep together, the hen on the nest, and the cock standing by. They make a tremendous noise day and night. While in 1924 Mrs. Rogers records that Penguin eggs are used in great quantities in September and October, and that 25,200 were said to have been used that year, 7,200 being collected by the boats in a day round the island. While on the 21st September, 1925, 5,000 were collected. Little, if any, nest is made, and two eggs are the usual clutch, but they will lay several if the first are taken when fresh. The eggs are white, with a tinge of blue, and rather spherical in shape, and are often much stained, when the rookery is in peaty or damp ground. They vary greatly in size. My two largest sets taken 14/9/17 and 8/9/20 measure 72 x 57-5 and 71-5 X 55-5, and 72-5 x 57 and 70 X 55. While the smallest taken 8/9/20 is only 58-5 x 48 and 57-5 x 47. One egg taken 5/9/20 and " first egg the Penguin lay" measures 63-5 x 44 and is unlike a Penguin's in shape, bemg elongate and pointed.
Of Nightmgale Island the Rev. H. M. Rogers says, 31st January, 1924 : " The
NOVITATES ZooLoaiCAE XXXVIII. 1932. 23
1,000's of Penguins in their rookeries are a truly remarkable sight. Though moulting, they were fat and lively, but we noticed many dead young, and numbers of spoiled eggs. They nest right up, far ashore, here in the Tussac, which grows taDer than a man. Nothing molests them — men, rats, cats and dogs are all absent." There are large rookeries, too, on the small adjacent islets — " Alec's," " White," '■ Stoltenhoff , " and " Old Man." I have received several skins at various times.]
GARRODIA NEREIS CHUBBI Mathews. Falkland Grey-backed Storm Petrel.
This bird flies the southern oceans. It is figured by Godman in his Monograph, pi. 14, 1907. It is represented in the South Indian Ocean by the Kerguelen form, couesi, and the typical form occurs in the Soiith Pacific Ocean in the Austro-New Zealand region. This latter bird is figured by Gould, vol. vii, pi. 64, 1845, and by myself in vol. ii, pi. 69, 1912.
PELAGODROMA MARINA MARINA (Lath.). White-faced Storm Petrel.
This bird was originally described from the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, where it was collected, and a drawing made by Sidney Parkinson. It breeds on Nightingale Island.
There are four or five forms, the above being the typical subspecies ; it is represented by hypoleuca breeding on the Great Salvage, Canary and Cape Verde Islands. The Australian form is dulciae, figured in my Birds Austr., vol. ii, pi. 70, 1912, and the New Zealand bird maoriana, figured by Godman in his Monograph, pi. 15, 1907.
The nest is placed at the end of a burrow.
The clutch is one ; variable in size and shape. Sometimes pure white, at others the larger end is thickly speckled with minute rusty spots and others sparsely all over. Elongately oval to subrotundately oval. The measurements are 35-41 mm. x 25-28.
Bent [11] gives the average of the typical form as 36-20 x 22-03.
Breeding season November to January.
[In the Systema Aefhiopica, vol. I, 1924, this petrel is described as breeding at Nightingale Island. While Alexander's Birds of the Ocean, 1928, also records it from Tristan. I have not received any Tristan skins, nor have I had any in- formation from the natives regarding this kind. But they easily overlook species at all similar.
Eggs of the typical form are lacking ui my collection, but two from Mud Island, Victoria, of P. m. dulciae, the Australian form, measure 38-9 X 25 and 37 X 27-5. They are rather oval, and white with fine pale-red dots. Nest in a small burrow.]
OCEANITES OCEANICUS OCEANICUS (Kuhl.). YeUow-webbed Storm Petrel.
The bird breeds on Kerguelen and other islands in the Southern Ocean, such as the South Orkneys. Wanders north to Africa and Queensland in Australia. Europe.
The typical form was collected off the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, in South America. It was figured by Gould in vol. vii, pi. 65, 1846 ; Godman, in his
24 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXV'III. 1932.
Monograph, pi. 12, 1907, and I figured the Austro-New Zealand subspecies, in my Birds of Australia, vol. ii, jil. 68, 1912.
It nests (Clarke 2) on Laurie Island, in the South Orkneys, in the chfEs. A photo is given on pi. x, where on December 1 1th the first egg was obtamed.
" There was no attempt at nest making ; the egg was simply laid in a hollow in the earth in narrow clefts and fissures in the face of the cliff, under boulders and sometimes luider stones, on the screes sloping from the foot of the precipice at heights varying from 20 to 300 ft. above sea-level. Sometimes the egg was placed very far in. The searcher could hear the low hoUow whistle uttered every few seconds by the sitting bird. When caught on the egg the birds brought up a reddish fluid, which issued both from the mouth and nostrils.
" In addition to the low whistle, these Petrels had a harsh screaming chuckle. These noises they kept up almost continuously after dark, especially on still nights.
" They appear to return year after year to the same nesting places, for both eggs and dead young birds of previous seasons were numerous in the tenanted holes contaming the fresh egg.
" The eggs are elongated ovals, dull white, peppered with tiny dots of reddish- brown and underlying ones of hlac, mostly accumulated round one end, but occasionally sprinkled all over the surface. Eight eggs average 33'7 X 24 mm. The largest 36 x 24, and the smallest 32 x 23. Bent (11) gives the average as 32-2 X 23-2."
The Austro-New Zealand from exa^speratiis breeds at Cape Adare in January, where it forms a tunnel, at the end of which is an enlarged chamber, lined with feathers.
The clutch is one, elongated, dull white, sparingly dotted with reddish spots, and sometimes these spots form a ring round the larger end. They measure 33 X 23 mm.
Lowe and Kinnear (7) give a text-figure and say that these birds fly very close to and along the contour of every little wave, with outsjjread wings, very seldom flapping, but every now and again dropping the feet to touch the water and then picking up some small crustacean (?) from the surface. The feet, when the bird is on the wing, project about three-quarters of an inch beyond the taU, giving the tail a cuneate form which it does not reaUy possess, the taU being cut across more or less square. Dr. Wilson was impressed with the resemblance of this Petrel to a house martin.
[This species was observed near the group by the Quest Expedition in May 1922. But on questioning the people they were told that this Petrel was rarely seen at the islands.
I have only a single egg taken at Jason Island, Falkland Isles, on the 12th December, 1928, nest a few feathers imder a boulder. It measures 34 x 23, and is duU white, with a ring of tiny reddish spots.]
FREGETTORNIS GRALLARIA TRISTANENSIS. The Atlantic White-fringed Storm Petrel (or Storm Pigeon).
Mathew,s, Bull. B.O.C Hi, p. 123, April 5tli, lii:i2. liiaec;i.',s,siljU- Island.
This bird nests on Inaccessible Island, as reported by the Islanders, and this is the first record for the Atlantic Ocean. This and Pterodroma externa tristani
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 25
occur on the Tristan Group. The question arises, what is the connection between Juan Fernandez Island in the Eastern Pacific and the Tristan Group ?
The species is figured as Fregetta grallaria in my Birds of Australia, vol. ii, pi. 72, 1912, and in my Birds of Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands, pLs. 6 and 10, 1928.
In the American Museum Novilates no. 124, July 22nd, 1924, Dr. Robert C. Murphy proved that the type of grallaria did not come from Australia and re- stricted the type locality to the breeding form on Juan Fernandez Island. Now grallaria occurs commonly in the South Pacific Ocean, between Australia and South America, and we hav^three forms there. Wing of typical birds 153-9mm. ; innominatus, 160-8 ; titan, 181-6. In the same publication no. 322, July 14th, 1928, p. 4, Murphy named his large form, titun, when he had 17 males and 10 females ; he found the females slightly exceed the males in size ; in 63 skins measured from Juan Fernandez, the females also were slightly larger.
It was the finding of this species in the Atlantic, so near the type locality of leucogaster, that caused all the workers to mix up the two forms. A bird with white fringes to the feathers of the uppersurf ace and an all-white undersurface was to most men typical leucogaster ; hence they called leucogaster short-toed, as this trisfanensis is. Some workers speak of the short-toed leucogaster {= tristanensis) and the long-toed.
Writing of the typical form of grallaria, Bent (II), under leucogaslris, quotes Beck as saying that it breeds on Santa Clara Island, which lies about ten miles from the west end of Masatierra Island. " The nests were usually in rock piles inider a good-sized rock. The few nests examined were lined with straws or a few twigs from bushes. One nest with its downy occupant was plainly visible without moving the overshadowing rock. On January 19th, 1914, the date of my visit, I found more nests with young birds than with eggs. As with other species of petrels, the downy young is left alone during the day."
Eggs. — Clutch one. The eggs vary in shape from oval to broad elliptical ovate. The shell is smooth, but without lustre, and the colour is dull white, more or less discoloured. One has a wreath of small purphsh-brown dots near the larger end, and in one these dots form a cap over the whole of that end ; the other has a larger cap of such dots with many minute dots scattered over the egg. The three measure 34-5 X 24 ; 34 x 25 ; 32-5 x 25 mm. (average 33-6 X 24-66).
Breeding season December and January (Juan Fernandez Group).
Juvenils. — The new plumage, which shows under the quaker drab-coloured down, is much like the adult plumage, except that the scapulars and the wing- coverts, particularly the latter, are broadly edged with white.
An interesting characteristic of this bird is the manner in which it strikes the water with one foot. In a breeze or wind it was always the leeward leg that was used, the windward one being stretched out behind. As our schooner was always on the wind, the Petrels usually had but little use for the leg on the south- ern side of the body. When the birds flew directly into the wind either one or the other or both legs might be used.
[Local name " Storm Pigeon." This species is well known to the people and is not uncommon in the islands. Two skins have been sent me, one of which is labelled " Inaccessible Island, 28th April, 1923." I do not know if it ever breeds on Tristan itself, but it is said to do so on either Inaccessible or Nightingale, or possibly both, though no eggs have been sent as yet.
26 NOVITATES ZooLOCilCAE XXXVIII. 1932.
The egg is described as measuring 33-5 x 25, dull white in colour, slightly spotted with reddish brown at the larger end, while the nest is of dry grass in a burrow 18 in. long.]
FREGETTORNIS MELANOLEUCA. Black and White Storm Petrel.
This bird was said by Salvadoii to be from Tristan da Cunha. So far it remains unique. Its equUateral-shaped foot shows it to be a Fregettornis, but the size of the foot prevents it being any known form other than itself.
As we have no material on which to form an opinion, we must leave it as it is, and estabUsh it as a species, as I pointed out in my Birds of Norfolk and Lord Howe Inlands, p. 9, October 16th, 1928.
FREGETTA TROPICA MELANOGASTER (Gould). Black-beUied Storm Petrel.
This subspecies was described by Gould, from the South Indian Ocean, and figured by him, vol. vii, pi. 62, 1847, and in my Birds Austr. vol. ii, pi. 71, 1912, and by Godman on pi. 17, 1907, from the South Indian Ocean, breeding on Kerguelen and the Crozets : and the Austro-New Zealand bird is australis breed- ing on the Auckland Islands off New Zealand.
It breeds on Laurie Island in the South Orkney Islands, in December (Clarke 2), in a crevice in a rock, placed about 15 ft. above the sea-level. The female was sitting. The eggs measured 36 x 25-5 mm. The Kerguelen egg (clutch one) is duU white sparingly dotted all over with small pink dots and measures 37 x 27 mm.
The Austro-New Zealand form constructs a small burrow in the bare earth, about 18 in. long, at the end of which is an enlarged chamber, Hned with a good handful of dried grass.
The clutch is one egg, which is elliptic, blunt at each end ; white with a pinkish tinge and a broad ring of maroon speckles in or above middle. The measurements are 38-5 by 27 mm. (OUver 9) ; 37 by 27 (Stead, June 13th, 1932).
Breeding season January and February, Auckland Island.
Lowe and Kinnear (7), pp. 126-8, go fully into the species, and doubt if melanogaster can be separated from tropica.
PUFFINUS ASSIMILIS ELEGANS G. and S. Gough Island Shearwater.
In my Birds of Australia, vol. ii, pp. 50-71, pi. 73, 1912, 1 gave the full history of this species, and for the first time showing clearly the differences between assimilis and Iherminieri, which up to then had been mixed up by all workers ; later Dr. Murphy, in the Artier. Mus. Novit. No. 276, September 8th, 1927, also discussed these forms.
Godman, in his Monograph, pi. 36, 1908, figured the type skin of elegans, which had already been figured by Salvin in Rowley's Miscell.. pi. 34, in 1876. The type came from S. Lat. 43° 54' ; E. Long. 9° 20'.
It was found breeding (Clarke 1) on Gough Island. The nesting burrows were deep and situated on the steep grass-covered bank flanking the side of the ravine. The locality was honeycombed with their holes.
The typical bird's egg (the clutch is single) is white, oval in shape, smooth and without gloss, and the average measurements are 50 x 35 mm.
NOVITATES ZOOLOOICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 27
[This form wa.s found breeding on Gougli Island by the Scotia Expedition.
It seems little known in the Tristan Group, however, but a single skin was found in the collection sent in 1919, which is possibly the first record for the island. With it was an egg said to be of the same species, taken from a burrow, but with no data. It is oval and white and measures 51 x 35-8.
I have two eggs of the typical form taken at Lord Howe Island on the 30th July, 1929. They are smooth, pure white and rather oval, and measure 50 X 35-3 and 48 x 33 ; while two of the form P. a. kermadecensis from the Ker- madecs are 50-8 x 33-2 and 49-8 x 35-8.]
[PUFFINUS Lri^RMINIERI. Brown-backed Little Shearwater.
Bent (11), under Iherminieri of Lesson, says that the birds breed in colonies in holes or crevices of the rocks, but seldom more than a foot from the surface.
The single egg is laid on the rock or in a loosely constructed nest of twigs or dried grass.
The egg is white, fragile and not highly jjolished. The average measurements are 62-5 x 36-2 mm. The four extremes measure 57-3 x 40-8, 49-2 x 35-2, 50 X 34 mm.
The breeding season on the Bahama Islands is April.
Incubation is carried on by both parents, and before the egg is laid both occupy the hole together. The parent does not brood the young, but merely sits beside it duruig the first day or two of its existence, after which it is left alone during the daytime.
This species does not occiu' in Tristan, but is added for comparison.]
ARDENNA GRAVIS (O'Reilly). Greater Shearwater (Petrel).
This bird is figured by Godman in his Monograph, pi. 25, 1908. It flies the Atlantic Ocean from Greenland to South Africa and South America.
On Night mgale Island Wilkins (4) says that many burrows of this bird were dug out, but m May they showed no sign of mating.
They breed on both Nightingale and Inaccessible Islands m November, where at night they flock in by the hundreds. A few were caught in their burrows.
Bent (11) says that this bird is called the hag, hagdon or hagdown by sailors. He quotes Jomdain, who describes the eggs (the clutch is single) as white, with no trace of markings, though slightly stained by the soil. The shape is a pointed oval ; and they are entirely devoid of gloss. The smooth surface, being covered closely with minute granulations. The average measurement of eight eggs is 77-7 X 48-6 mm., and the breeding season given me by this latter contributor is May on Tristan Group, March on Nightmgale Island, September on Inaccessible Island ; surely a varied season.
" The flight of the Greater Shearwater is extremely graceful and very characteristic. With long, sharply pointed, sUghtly decurved whigs they scale along close to the waves, sailmg into the teeth of the wind by skilfully taking advantage of the air currents deflected upwards from the surges. Now they turn on their side with one wing just grazing the water, the other high in the air. Again they take a few quick whig strokes and land themselves just above a breaker, but so close that one expects to see them overwhelmed in the foam.
28 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1032.
One cannot help noticing the shape of their bodies, cylindrical and tapering posteriorly, a cigar-shape well adapted for rapid passage through the air without ' dragging.'
" Owing to the great length of their wings, Shearwaters need a strong wind to rise from the surface of the water, and even then they often make the surface foam as they climb uji the waves paddling vigorously with alternate feet. In perfect calms the advent of a swift-moving steamer in the midst of a flock becomes for these birds a matter of serious concern. They flap along the siu-face heavily, using both feet and wings, and as they struggle they ' lighten ship ' by vomiting up the contents of their crops and stomachs. Some, unable to rise above the water, endeavour to hide themselves below the surface by vigorous actions of both wings and feet, but in this, as in the case of the proverbial ostrich in the sand, they are only partially successful. Like Petrels, the Shearwaters occasionally skip along the surface of the water on their feet, using their wings to balance and support them.
" The Greater Shearwater is on occasions an active diver, and is able to swim well under water. It dives from the surface of the water on which it first alights.
" Two that had been caught walked as well as ducks and made no pretence of sitting on their rumps. . . . When set at liberty they launched towards the water, dived several yards obliquely, and on coming to the surface splashed and washed themselves for several minutes before they took to wing.
" The vocal performances of the Greater Shearwater are limited to harsh cries and screams which they emit when eager for food.
" The eagerness of these birds for food is so great that they seem to be devoid of all fear of man and recklessly approach close to the boat from which the food supply comes.
" The cylindrical, tapering body, the long curved and pointed wmgs and gracefid flight make the recognition of this Shearwater an easy one. The black biU, white breast and belly, the greyish -brown back and dark head, the white patch at the base of the tafl, and the dark bars on the sides and flanks are all points to be noticed in its recognition."
The eggs vary in measurements, the largest being 81-7 x 47-4 from Inacces- sible Island, September, and the smallest 70-3 < 46-9 ; the widest is 80-2 X 52, Nightingale Island (March), the narrowest 71-6 x 44-3, Inaccessible Island.
It seems unlikely that this bird breeds on the same group in March, May, September and November. Perhaps the islanders who collect these eggs get the dates wrong. I suggest the breeding season as September to November.
[Local name. " Petrel." This is the correct local name among the Tristan people, and not " Pediunker," as has been stated elsewhere, the latter name referring to Adamastor cineretis. About a dozen skins have been sent me at different times, two from Inaccessible being dated 26th April, 1923. The Great Shearwater is plentiful round Tristan, Nicol stating, on the 17th January, 1906, that " it was seen in some abundance, and nearly always two together, so probably breeds there. But it does not appear to nest on this island, though it does so in large numbers on both Inaccessible and Nightingale. The Quest E.xpedition records that on the 21st May, 1922, " many burrows of this species were found on the hillsides on both islands, but that between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. very few were occupied. And although many were dug up, there was no trace of a nest, nor did the few birds captured, betrayed by their grmiting, show any sign of
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 29
being near the mating period. At night they seemed to flock in by the hundred. The Tristan Group is, curiously enough, the only known breeding place of this common Shearwater, though the eggs in some older collections come from some weird and unlikely places, as Greenland ! Seemmgly the first authentic eggs were four or five obtained with skins by P. C. Keytel on Inaccessible in November, 1908. (It is stated by Mrs. Barrow, in her book, page 174, that the Rev. J. G. Barrow and a boat's crew from Tristan visited Inaccessible from 5th to 11th November, 1907, and "were able to get a few 'Petrels'' eggs, but digging these out of the nest holes was wet and muddy work.")
The first egg I obtained was collected by John Class at Inaccessible on the 11th November, 1917, and was taken from a burrow on a hillside there. It is a small egg measuring only 70-3 x 46-9. The Rev. H. M. Rogers most kindly sent me a dozen eggs all taken at Inaccessible on the 14th November, 1924. The nests were made of a little dry grass at the end of a long burrow in hiUsides, and several of the birds were caught at home. Unfortunately most of these eggs arrived smashed, but I have been able to measure ten which average 77 x 49. The 1917 egg is slightly the smallest, while one long pomted egg measures 84-5 X 50.]
PRIOCELLA ANTARCTICA (Stephens). SUver-grey Petrel.
This bird was observed on Laurie Island m November and December, and it was considered highly probable that a few pairs were nesting there (Clarke 2). It was said (Clarke 3) to nest at Cape Roquemaurel, on the west coast of Louis Philippe Land.
The maxilla and mandible are tipped with black, the middle portion of the bill pale flesh coloured and the base and nares pale cobalt-blue. Feet pale flesh, the webs washed with yellow, claws black. Iris dark brown and the pupil blue- black. It was recorded by Moseley ; and Wilkins (Ibis, 1923, p. 497) from Tristan.
Lowe and Kinnear (7) say the bird moults in March, and reports it common at sea.
The bird is figured by Gould, vol. vii, jjI. 48, 1848, and in Godman's Mono- graph, pi. 43, 1908, and in my Birds of Austr. vol. ii, pi. 82, 1912.
It breeds at Penguin Point, Haswell Island, and Stillwell Point, Adelie Land, in December [and January ?]. The biu-rows may be formed in firm snow or in niches among the boulders or ensconced in bowers excavated beneath the snow.
The clutch is one, white, dull f*id lustreless ; oval to pointed oval ; the shell is fine grained, with numerous irregularly shaped pittings over the surface. They measure 70, 75 and 84 x 46-5 mm., 48 and 49. Average of three, 76-3 X 47-6 (North).
ADAMASTOR CINEREUS (Gm.). Great Grey Petrel (Pediunker).
This bird has a vast distribution, breedmg on Gough Island in the Atlantic and Round Island near Mauritius and Kerguelen Island ; also Macquarie Island, off New Zealand. It occurs around the Antarctic Circle.
This bird was discovered on Cook's voyage, off New Zealand, and beautifully described by Solander as Procellaria ■pallipes. It is figured by Gould, vol. vii, pi. 47, 1848, Godman's Monogr., pi. 41, 1908, and in my Birds of Austr., vol. ii, pi. 81, 1912.
30 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
In life from Gough Island the maxilla is dull pea-green ; the nostrils, culmen and unguis are black ; the mandible with apical i)late and cutting edge is black, the lower plate pea -green. Tarsus and toes pinkish grey, darker or blackish at the joints, the webs yellowish (Clarke 1).
Lowe and Kinnear (7) give a cut of the bill, showing a different coloured bill for the Austro-New Zealand bird, and say that it dives into the water after the garbage thrown overboard, with its wings haK outspread from a position as if it was just about to settle on the water. WUkins (4) found them in burrows on the hillside about 1,800 ft. up on Gough Island, between May 28th and June 1st, 1922.
The Austro-New Zealand bird differs from the Gough Island form in the colour of its bill. The Austro-New Zealand bird has the tips of both mandibles horn-colour ; the apical plate pale horn-colour, not black ; the lower plate dull white, not pea-green. It nests in a burrow on the mountain of Tristan da Cunha in April. The white eggs measure 79-85 x 57-58 mm.
[Local name, " Pedimiker " or " Paddyunker," which is the correct Tristan name for this species, and does not refer to the Great Shearwater, which Ls locally known as " Petrel."
In the Appendices to Mrs. Barrow's book the following rather mixed account appears, which from the breeding date, etc., undoubtedly refers to this bird, and not to the Great Shearwater, which nests in November.
" 10 The Pediunker lays in May and June ; it is Uke a Petrel. We think it must be the Shearwater [Priofimis cinerems] of which we were told at the South African Museum, Cajie Town, that it frequents Scotland and that its nesting- place was unknown until Mr. Keytel brought a specimen of it and its eggs from Tristan in 1909." I received one skin from Tristan in 1919, and two labelled " Paddyiuiker," " Inaccessible," 26th April, 1923. Three eggs have also been sent me, one said to be from a burrow with the first skin. One data reads, " ' Paddyunker ' eggs from burrows from the side of the moiuitain, Tristan da Cunha, 6th April, 1923." These eggs measure 85 x 58, 81 x 53 and 79 x 57. They are dull white, without gloss, the ends being rounded. One is considerably earth-stained. Colonel R. Sparrow has also three Tristan taken eggs which measure 85-2 X 55, 84 x 56-5 and 83-5 X 57-5, but they are without date. [Are these the eggs of Procellaria ? See next species. — G. M. M.]
Although this species has been recorded as breeding at Gough Island, there is, I believe, no record m hterature of its occurrence in the Tristan Group. If these are correct, there is something seriously wrong with the eggs recorded previously. Eggs accompanied by a skin of the bird were collected on Macquarie Island in the latter part of November 1896 by Joseph Burton. A. J. Campbell gives the average of seven of these eggs as only 70-6 X 51-4, the largest being 71-5 X 51-4, and describes them as either roundish or broad oval ; texture of shell close, but coarse, surface very sUghtly glossy, and colour pure white, but become nest-stained.]
PROCELLARIA AEQUINOCTLALIS AEQUINOCTIALIS (L.). Cape Hen or
White-chinned Petrel.
There is another well-known Petrel to the early travellers. It occurs off the Cape, the Falklands and the Southern Ocean, up to South America and New Zealand.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 31
Godman figured it in his Monograph, pi. 44, 1908, from Valparaiso — this is brabo2irnei ; and I figured the Austro-New Zealand form steadi in my Supplement to the Birds of Norfolk and, Lord Howe Islands. The typical form breeds on the Falklands or South Georgia, while mixta breeds on Kerguelen and the Crozets. In my Birds of A ustralia, vol. ii, p. 111,1912,1 give a text figure of mixta, showmg the white extending down the tliroat, and on p. 112 the very small chin spot of the Austro-New Zealand bird. Gould, in vol. vii, pi. 46, 1848, figured the form known as conspicillata, and so did I, in vol. ii, pi. 79, 1912, of which the type locality is Cape Seas, where the bird I figured was caught at sea by Mr. Richard H. W. Leach, somewhere about 1863, on his voyage to Australia. In spite of what Gould says, this form does not occur off the Australian-New Zealand waters, and must be removed from the list.
" On Kerguelen they nest in burrows on the sloping sides of a hill, frequently with an inch or two of water at the entrance. The nesting chamber is spherical in shape and rather large ; the nest is composed of mud and pieces of plants arranged m the form of an m verted saucer, three or four inches high, sUghtly hoUowed out on the top, a space bemg left between its base and the sides of the chamber."
Egg. — Clutch one, white, nearly equally pointed at both ends, and measures 81 X 52 mm. Breeding season, December.
" Both sexes sit on the egg, the males by day. Duruig the period previous to nesting, the birds make an extraordinary cackling in the burrow at night. When dug out of their nests, if handled the birds utter a high-pitched cry and frequently inflict a severe wound with their beak and claws. They make no attempt to fly, unless chased, but waddle back to their burrows."
On Antipodes Islands the burrows are the same, the egg is laid in December and the young fully hatched m May.
" On Auckland they nest in January and February. Nests consisting of a considerable accumulation of dry grass, placed in an enlarged termmal chamber, at the end of a bm'row about three feet long. In the wet peaty bank, the upward sloping burrow opened at its inner end into a chamber about a foot and a half in diameter. The mud from the floor of this chamber had been raked up into a heap in the centre of it, leavmg a perfectly formed dram all round, from which the water trickled out down the burrow. The nest was built of grass, as before, and placed in a shallow depression in the central heap, two or three mches above the water in the smrouncUng drain. I later ascertained that the birds build those heaps by standing knee deep in mud in the middle of the nest chamber and raking the mud mwards with their bills (Stead in OUver 9)."
Egg. — Clutch one, white and ovoid, 80-83 x 53-5-55 mm.
Breeding season, December to February. Young fully fledged in May (Oliver 9).
Lowe and Kinnear (7) tell us that when feeding they go completely mider water, with their feet and wings outspread, and come up again with the wings still spread, exactly as do the Shearwaters.
[The Quest Expedition m May 1922 saw this species in the vicinity of the group, but the peoj)le, when questioned, said that they were seldom seen, and that they did not think they nest at the islands. I have had no skins, nor have the people mentioned it to me.
I have no eggs of this bird myself, and the only description I can find of them
32 NoVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVllI. 1932.
is that of the Rev. A. E. Eaton, who accompanied the Trartsit of Venus Expedition to Kerguelen I.sland.
He describes the breeding season as from November to January, and the nest as a burrow on a slophig hillside with a spherical chamber at the end ; the egg as an elongated oval, coarse in texture, slightly glossj' and pure white in colour, measuring 86 x 52.
This is much nearer the size and description of the eggs taken on the mountain in April and sent to Col. R. Sparrow and myself, the largest bemg 85 X 58 ; but the skins are certamly A. cinereus, and both skins and eggs are labelled " Paddyunker."]
PTERODROMA MACROPTERA MACROPTERA (Smith). Great-winged Petrel
(Black Eaglet).
This bird breeds on Tristan da Cunha in June and July, not high upon the mountain-side, where it forms a burrow in the ground, at the end of which it lays its egg, oval in shape, white, with no gloss ; measurements 68-69 X 48-49 mm.
It is figured by Godman in his Monograph, pi. 46, 1908, and I figure the New Zealand form gouldi in vol. ii, pi. 83, 1912, which breeds on the island north of New Zealand ; the eggs measurmg 65-5-67 >; 48-5-49 mm. The Western Australian form albaiii is found on Rabbit Island.
Lowe and Kinnear (7) give a text figure showmg the bird in flight.
Dr. R. C. Murphy suggests that " Eaglet " is a corruption of " Haglet," which is a common name for Petrels amongst American whalemen.
[Local name, " Black Eaglet." This is a common Petrel at Tristan, and well known to aU the people.
Mrs. Barrow states that it comes in to moult in May, and lays in the first week of July. But she also ^Tites on the 24th May, 1906 : '' Glass brought back some Eaglets' eggs from the ' Bluff,' they are about as big as a Duck's and white. We had them for supper, they have a sUghtly fishy taste." On the 13th June she continues : " Diu-ing a picnic to the ' Base ' some 2,000 ft. up my husband looked for Eaglets' eggs, but only found one. The hen was caught but liberated agaui, when unfoi'tunately the dogs got it." On the 22nd of that month she adds : " Rob the collie also learned to hunt for Eaglets, which nest in holes, but had to be restrained, as he killed the birds. We had scrambled Eaglets' eggs for break- fast to-day." But from the dates I fear that she must have had scrambled cliff- Petrels, as well as their eggs ! ! She also writes on the 7th October, 1906 : " The men, in their spare time just now, hunt for young Eaglets, which they are bringing in in large quantities." The only mention of them in Mrs. Rogers' book is, '■ Black Eaglets are got in June and July, and we foiuid them good eating."
I have received several Tristan skins, one of which is labelled " Seal Bay, Tristan, 1st June, 1923."
On Tristan they breed plentifully on the hillsides above the " Base," at an elevation of some 2,000 ft., making a sUght nest in a buirow. The egg is very white and smooth, without gloss, and rather oval in shape. Six eggs average about 68-8 x 48-2, my largest being 69 x 49. They also breed on Inaccessible and Nighthigale.]
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVTII. 1932. 33
PTERODROMA INCERTA (Sclilegel). Atlantic Petrel.
This bird was obtained on Tristan da Cunha, and is figured by Godman in his Monograph, pi. 53, 1908, where he considered that it may be a brown phase of lessoni, as it has the blackish mark in front of and round the eye. It is prac- tically the same size.
In my Birds of Australia, vol. ii, p. 148, 1912, I discuss Procellaria alba GmeUii (see also Ibis, 1913, p. 231). However, Loomis, in the Auk, 1920, p. 88, is quite satisfied that alba is the parvirostris of Peale = wortheni of Rothschild, and should be called by the older name.
The Procellaria sandaliata of Solander, the description of which I reproduced on p. 1.51, Ls probably this bird, collected off the east coast of South America, at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata. As sandaliata was put as a sjaionym of arminjoniana in the Catalogue of Birds, vol. xxv, p. 413, 1896, it cannot be again used.
[I do not know of any local name for this Petrel, and only one or two of the people recognize it ; though Nicoll states that on the 17th January, 1916, it was observed off Tristan, and possibly nests there also. He describes it as about the size of a large pigeon, dull brown on the back, with almost golden neck, and white underparts. I have only received one skin of this species, from Tristan, and a single egg said to have been taken from a burrow on a hillside at the " Bluff " in June 1918. This egg is dull white, bluntly oval, with a very thin shell, and measures 61-5 x 48.] [Is this the first description of the egg of this species ? — G. M. M.]
PTERODROMA EXTERNA TRISTANI Mathews. Juan Fernandez Petrel.
Pterodroma externa trislani Mathew.s, Bull. B.O.C. Hi, p. 63 (19.31). Tristan da Cunlia.
This bird breeds on the Juan Fernandez Group. It is figured by Godman in his Monograph, pi. 62, 1908 ; it Ls replaced in the Kermadec Island Group by the subspecies cervicalis which breeds on Sunday Island. This subspecies is also figured by Godman on pi. 63 ; the Catalogue of Birds, vol. xxv, pi. 6, 1896, and by BuUer in his Supplement, pi. iv, 1905. The egg is j)ure white, broadly ovoid, and measures 64-68 x 57-48. The egg is laid at the end of a burrow in December and January, on Sunday Island. In November they are found in their burrows. The young leave the island in June (Oliver 9).
The discovery of this bird on Tristan is most peculiar, as it is a Pacific Island form. Compare ante under Fregettornis grallaria.
In working up the distribution of the Petrels, I find that latitude is most important. That is to say, that the birds in the same latitude resemble each other more closely, although sejiarated by many mUes, than do bu'ds separated by many degrees of longitude.
PTERODROMA MOLLIS MOLLIS (Gould). Soft-plumed Petrel (White-breasted
Black Eaglet).
This bird was foimd breeding on Tristan da Cunha in November of 1917. This is the tirst time the eggs have been described (see Ibis, 1932, January, p. 165). The bird forms a burrow and lays a smgle egg at the end, which is enlarged into a chamber. The egg is white, duU with no gloss and measures 63-5 x 49-8 mm.
It is represented by a subspecies feae, which breeds in Madeira and occurs at
3
34 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
the Desertas and Cape Verde Islands. The Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain writes me that the eggs of this subspecies measure 55-5 x 41-2 ; 52-7 ;< 40-2 ; 59 x 42 ; the average being 56-4 x 41-1 ; one weighed 2-45 g., another 2. -95 g.
The typical form occurs in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, east to St. Paul's and Amsterdam Island, and on the west coast of Australia, where three occurrences have been recorded.
It is figured by Gould in vol. vii, pi. 50, 1848, and Godman Monograph, pi. 54, 1908, and I figured a supposed Australia bird, vol. ii, pi. 86, 1912.
The Challenger Expedition obtained two specimens on Nightingale Island on 17th October, 1873, and three examples were secured off Gough Island, and the egg obtained was believed to be of this bird (Clarke 1, p. 202) ; it measures 61 X 42 mm. It will be noted that this egg is smaller than the Tristan one and larger than those of feae. The average of the five eggs is 58-2 X 43-04 mm.
Lowe and Kinnear (7) record one taken off Cape Town and one at sea N.W. of Tristan da Cimha, and on pi. vi give a coloured drawing of the head and leg.
WOkins (4) found them in their burrows in the hillside near the beach on Gough Island, from 28th May to 1st June, 1922. Many others were observed coming inland in the late evening, and their croakuigs could be heard throughout the night. He also observed them at sea on the voyage from Gough Island to Tristan.
[Local name. White-breasted Black Eaglet. All Mrs. Barrow says of this species is " that it lays in November." However, it seems to be quite well known to the Tristan people, though it was some years before we could make out for what species the above local name stood. However, in 1919 a skin arrived with this local name attached, which proved to be mollis. Unfortunately I have no information as to whether this species is jilentLfuI or not at Tristan, but believe that it is found on all three islands. Two eggs have been received at different times, one taken at Tristan in November 1917 and the other in November 1923. They are duU white with no gloss, rather spherical in shape and measure 64 x 49-6 and 63-5 x 49-8. The nests were at the end of burrows on a slope. Does it also breed at Gough Island ?]
In the Bird Room of the Natural History Museum is a bird of the same size as mollis from South Lat. 36° 8' and East Long. 88° 55'. It is uniform dark grej'ish ; the chin and upper throat are mottled, like the lores and forehead. It can be called Pterodroma deceplornis. Type 43-7-14-34. The nearest land is New Amsterdam and St. Paul's Islands.
PTERODROMA BREVIROSTRIS (Less.). Kerguelen Petrel.
This bird breeds on Kerguelen Island. It is figured b}' Godman m his Mono- graph, pi. 60, 1908.
The nest, placed at the end of a burrow of varying lengths, is in an enlarged chamber and composed of damp and decayed vegetable matter. The egg is single, white and measures 50 ■; 38 mm. The breeding season is from October to December. Young found in January.
It was recorded from 69° 33' South and 15° 19' West (Clarke 3), and from Australia by Campbell from a specimen washed up in Western Australia on 6th June, 1926. I figured and described it in my Birds of Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands, p. 102, pi. 38, 1928.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. ■ 35
[Local name, " Night-hawk " ( ?). There is no mention of this Petrel in either Mrs. Barrows' or Mrs. Rogers' books. The people have not mentioned it in any of their lists, but then they have a habit of forgetting species that are quite common there. Nor have I received any skins in any of the collections sent.
The Quest Expedition in May 1922, from questioning the people, include it with a query, as breeding there in November, but they did not see any themselves.
W. B. Alexander, in Birds of the Ocean, 1928, says that it breeds at Tristan da Cunha and Kerguelen. On what authority I do not know.
Among some eggs sent to Col. R. Sparrow from Tristan in 1929 by R. Glass, but with very scanty data, are .4. cinerea, P. gravis, P. macroptera, etc., and a single egg which Glass considers distinct, and named " Night-hawk." It is very white, oval and pointed and measures 69-5 x 53-5.
I have no eggs of this Petrel myself for comparison.] [Are these the eggs of Adamastor ? — G. M. M.]
DAPTION CAPENSIS (L.). Cape Pigeon or Spotted Petrel.
It is also called the " Pmtado " bird, of which the genus name is an anagram.
This widely distributed bird occurs in the Antarctic oceans and northward almo.st to the equator. It is figured by Gould, vol. vii, pi. 53, 1847 ; Godman, in his Monograph pi. 80, 1909 ; and in my Birds of Australia, vol. ii, pi. 90, 1912. The Austro-New Zealand subspecies probably breeds ofi New Zealand.
The Pintado bird of the world's early navigators is probably the best known of all the Petrels to travellers. Its eggs, however, were not found tiU 2nd December, 1903, at the South Orkneys (Clarke 2).
" The three nests from which eggs were obtained were placed on open exposed edges of cliffs on the west side of Uruguay Cove, Laurie Island, at heights of from twenty to one hundred feet above sea-level.
" The nests were composed of a few small angular fragments of rocks and a little earth, and contained single eggs, which were quite fresh.
" When approached, the sittmg birds ejected an evil-smelUng reddLsh fluid, of semi-digested crustaceans, with great precision for a distance of six or eight feet. They did not, however, leave their nests, and were captured while sitting.
" They seemed of a sociable nature and nested together, but isolated nests were not uncommon. Both sexes were often found sittuig side by side, one on the nest and the mate close alongside, and cooing and clucking to each other.
" Eggs were taken also in January. On the 18th of this month a chick five days old was taken, and others were still m down on 5th February.
" The adult, before laymg its egg, sits close on the nest for about a month and then entirely disapjieared for some ten days, when it returned and laid its egg.
" The eggs, which are pure white, vary from oval to elongate ovate in form. The former measure 56-5 X 43 mm. ; and the latter 67-2 x 43-3 ; the average being 62-35 by 43-11. The length varies from 56-5 to 67-2, and the breadth from 46-5 to 40-5.
" The numerous nests fomid were placed either on ledges of cliffs, or, though these were few, in hoUows in the earth and among small stones on steep scree - slopes, and all were quite open. Whereas on Kerguelen they nest in burrows and grottoes. It is also thought to breed at South Georgia. About 20,000 birds of this species nest on Laurie Island. The chick in down, five days old, is slaty- grey above, and paler and sooty on the undersurface.
36 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
" A young bird has the head and body clad in down, with feathers developing on the wings and scapulars. The down on the uppersuiface is sooty, darker on the head and cheeks, and paler and greyish on the underparts. The wing-quiUs, the largest of which are two inches in length, are black, some of them with the inner webs white towards the base. The feathers of the scapulars are black and white. There are no signs of tail feathers. Wing eight inches.
" They leave the breeding place in April, and the first of the spring migrants returned on 1st October, and became plentiful by the 23rd."
Further notes were added by Clark (3) ; Lowe and Kinnear (7) do not admit a subspecies, and quote WUson's note : " I saw one dip entirely, with half -spread wings, to get a piece of garbage, and reappear with a splash like a Shearwater. To rise from the water it had to rim on the surface, four or five splashing steps.
PACHYPTILA VTTTATA KEYTELI (Mathews). Tristan Broad-billed Prion
(Nightbird).
This bird lays its eggs on the stones at the back of a dark cave on Inaccessible Island in September (lOth, 1917) (c/. Ibis, 1932, January, p. 165).
It is recorded for Gough Island (Clarke 1) with a wing of 220 mm. The lower plate of the mandible was pale blue and the remamder of the bill black ; tarsus and toes cobalt-blue, webs black. Wilkins (4) says it lays in September. He also dug them out of deep burrows on the hillside near the beach on Gough Island between 28th May and 1st Jime.
[Local name, " Nightbird." This species, once common, seems to have become scarce at Tristan. Mrs. Barrow writes, 17th September, 1908: "Mr. Keytel, my husband and Rapetto went by boat to'visit Freshwater Cave in search of Nightbirds. The cave Ls about 100 yards in length. At the far end is a pebbly beach where the birds were supposed to be. Between it and the mouth was water which had to be crossed. They saw about a dozen Nightbiids and got seven eggs." Mrs. Rogers also visited this cave in 1923, and writes : "There is a shingly beach, and a small dark cave at the end at one time the haunt of Night- birds, but they seem now to have completely deserted it. Indeed, these birds seem to be leaving Tristan now. They used to be easily caught by the curious expedient of lightmg fires in the caves, which attracted them down. Their eggs are very good eating. Near by is ' Guano ' or ' Dry ' Cave, also about 100 yards long and fairly lofty. The floor is of sand mixed with guano, and quite dry. But the buds have now deserted it also." However, they stLU breed m some numbers on both Inaccessible and Nightingale. One skin was received from Tristan in 1919, and two obtained at Inaccessible on the 26th April, 1923. I have only two eggs, white and smooth and rather oval in shape. One taken at Fresli- water Cave on the 10th Sejitember, 1917, measures 52-5 x 35, and the other at the same place on the 20th September, 1922, is 51-5 x 35.]
MACRONECTES GIGANTEUS (Gmel.). Giant Petrel.
This large dimorphic, ugly-billed Petrel, the Nelly of sailors, has a bad repu- tation, as it catches and swallows whole, the Prion, on the wing.
It is figured by Gould, vol. vii, pi. 45, 1848 ; Godman, in his Monograph, pi. 76, 1909 ; and in my Birds of Austr. vol. ii, pi. 89, 1912.
If we consider giganteus to be the Staaten Land form, including the South
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 37
Orkneys, and breeding on Graham's Land ; and treat the Falkland Island form (solanderi) and the Kerguelen Island breeding bird (halli) as wandering in the off season up the we.stern coast of South America (forsteri), as sjnionynis, we must admit the Austro-New Zealand .subspecies alhus, with the Ross Sea bird (wilsoni) and the Australian form (dovei), as synonyms.
This makes the Tristan breeding bird also giganteiis, which seems wrong ; perhaps solanderi would be more correct.
This bird breeds on Gough Island (Clarke 1), where it lays its egg in the middle of September. It enters the Penguin rookeries and carries o£E the young ; and it pulls Petrels out of their holes. The egg is ovoid to elliptical, white, shell coarse and granulated and rough with no indication of gloss.
" Breeding season, South Georgia, November, December and January ; Falkland Islands, October and November ; Gough Island, September.
" Five thousand birds nest on Laurie Island, South Orkney Islands (Clarke 2). They nest in rookeries, and the nests consist of great piles of small angular stones and measiu-e two feet in diameter. The clutch is single, and the average (80 eggs) is 103-8 x 65-7. mm.
" The bird had to be f)ushed off the nest to get the egg. They showed no fight, and usually sat down a yard away. They did not shoot oil from their nostrils, but vomited the contents of their stomachs, not as defence, but to lighten them- selves before taking to the wing."
A photo appears of nest, egg and adult on pi. xi.
Lowe and Kinnear (7) devote twelve pages to this bird, of which four and a half are measurements of tarsus and the length and depth of the bills. In all about a hundred birds are measured. They admit no subspecies, although two are indicated. They prove that the white phase starts life in white down and the dark phase in dark down. That is, age had nothing to do with colour ; this I have always thought to be the case. Young Diomedia exulans can always be distinguished from Macronectes by the fact that exulans at aU ages has the under- wing white, with a black tip and edging, whereas all dark phases of Macronectes have the under wing dark. Otherwise both are very dark on the ixpperparts and show no white.
[It is stated in Sclater, Syst. Av. Aethiop. i, p. 15, 1924, that it breeds at Tristan. Alexander, in Birds of the Ocean, 1828, repeats this. However, no skins, or eggs, have been sent me by the jjcople as yet, nor has it been mentioned in any of their letters, and it seems strange that, if these large, conspicuous birds breed at all commonly at the islands, no one seems to know it.
It breeds commonly at Gough Island, some 250 miles away. Two eggs of the M . g. solanderi, which is said to be the subspecies occurring m these seas, from the Falkland Islands measure 102-3 x 63 and 101 >; 65-2, and are very white and rough in texture ; while two eggs of the typical race from South Georgia are 106 x 65 and 100 x 66.
The nest is just a hollow on the ground.]
PELECANOroES URINATRIX DACUNHAE Nicoll. Tristan Diving Petrel
(Flying Penguin).
This form breeds on Tristan ; the Austro-New Zealand bird is figured by Gould, vol. vii, pi. 60, 1844 ; Godman figured a form in his Monograph, pi. S6,
38 NOVTTATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
1910, and the Kerguelen bird exsul, \)\. 87 ; and I figured the Chatham Island subspecies, vol. ii, pi. 94, 1912. There are about half a dozen forms.
It is recorded from Gough Island (Clarke 1). It breeds on Nightingale Island in November ; the clutch is single, white, dull with no gloss, and oval in shape. 36-5 X 30 mm. ; 38 x 29. The egg is placed at the end of a burrow.
[Local name, " Flying Penguin." This Diving Petrel is pecuhar to the Tristan group, and was first recognized by Nicoll on the 17th January, 1906, off Tristan, who remarks : " a new species, half a mile from the shore they were on all sides." However, since that date very little seems to have been recorded about this bird, and neither Mrs. Barrow nor Mrs. Rogers mention it in their books. No skins have been foimd in any of the collections received, nor have any of the natives mentioned it in their lists or notes of species found in the islands.
Among the last eggs given me by the Rev. H. M. Rogers is one supposed to be that of this little Petrel. It is white, rather stained, and roundish in shape, and measures 38 x 29. It was taken from a small bvu-row hned with feathers, etc., at Inaccessible on the 14th November, 1924.
In January 1930 Colonel R. Sparrow, who had obtained some eggs from Tristan (mostly broken), most generously gave me an egg of this bird taken by R. Glass at Nightingale in 1929. Unfortunately his data is very vague. All he says is, " No. 5 The Flying Penguin, one of the most important birds which lay on Nightingale Island, which I went especially across with my boat for to collect Seabirds' shells." This egg measures 36-5 x 30, and is much like the other but rather rounder and more stained.]
DIOMEDEA EXULANS EXULANS L. Wandering Albatross (Gony).
This bird formerly bred on Tristan da Cunha, now only on Inaccessible Island in this group. Gould figured it in vol. vii, pi. 38, 1844 ; and Godman, pi. 89, 1910 ; and I figured the Austro-New Zealand form in vol. ii, 95, 1912.
It also breeds on Gough Island (Clarke 1) in December (end) and January. The young stay on the island till they are ten months old before they go to sea. Numbers are killed by the Nellies and Skuas, only about 5 per cent, reach maturity.
Lowe and Kinnear (7) give a text figure showing a scarlet mark on the head behind the eyes, like a red collar. They give the plumage changes from nestling, through four changes, to adult, and consider chionoptera to be the Kerguelen Island subspecies.
[Local name, "Gony." Mrs. Barrow writes, 9th February, 1907: " Yesterday the men went out in a boat to shoot Albatrosses, and got seven. Once they nested on the island, but now nests are not to be found nearer than Inaccessible Island." Mrs. Rogers also remarks in 1923 : " Albatrosses have entirely left the island."
Four skins were received in 1919 from John Glass and Tom Rogers, but an egg they also sent, with others, never arrived !
However, the Rev. H. M. Rogers sent me a single egg taken on Inaccessible Island on the 1st November, 1924. with the remarks : " Nest cone-shaped, and over a foot high, among grass. Only a few breed here now." This egg, con- siderably stained and seemingly unmarked, measures 134 x 76 mm. How it
NOVITATISS ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 39
arrived here unbroken is a marvel, as it was half out of the box when I received it from the postman ! !]
THALASSARCHE MELANOPHRIS MELANOPHRIS (Tcmm.). Black-browed
Mollyniawk.
ThLs bird is found off South Africa and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans ; breeding at the Falkland and Kerguelen Islands. It includes belcheri from Kerguelen and richmondi from the west of South America as synonyms, and is replaced by impavida from the Australian waters.
It is figured by Gould, vol. vii, pi. 43, 1844 ; and Godman, pi. 97, 1910 ; and I figured the Australian form in vol. ii, pi. 96, 1912.
This bird was not found on Gough Island (Clarke 1), but was collected on Tristan. Lowe and Kinnear (7) give a coloured figure of the head, and say that this bird settles on the water when things are thrown overboard, and then from that position dives completely under after them if necessary. It dives into and under water with three-quarters expanded wings, coming up with the wmgs still half open. After examining and measuring a long series, they admit two sub- sjiecies as above. It appears not to breed on Tristan.
[This species does not seem to have been recorded by any writer from the Tristan group, nor is it recognized by the inhabitants. But there is a single skin in the collection sent me by John Glass and Tom Rogers in 1919 which seems to be the first obtained there. However, the Quest Expedition state that it was seen at Gough Island, and also at the Tristan group in May 1922. So that it is not unlikely that it breeds unobserved on one of the islands.
Eggs of the typical form from the Falkland Islands, where it breeds plenti- fully, are rather narrow as a rule, the spots and blotches being more liver-coloured than red. Eight eggs average 105 x 66 mm.
It is interesting to note that the eggs of these three species can be separated in a series with fair certainty. Those of T. chlororhynchiis being the smallest, while P. f. fusca eggs are much wider, and those of T. melanophris average con- siderably longer.]
THALASSARCHE CHLORORHYNCHUS CHLORORHYNCHUS (C!m.). YeUow-
nosed MoUymawk (Mollyhawk).
From the Cape all over the Southern Ocean, this bird is seen at some season of the year. It breeds on the Tristan Group, probably Nightingale Island, where it was found resting (Wilkins 4) on the grass in an open glade near the summit of that island. It was quite tame and allowed itself to be caught. • It is figured by Gould in vol. vii, pi. 42, 1844 ; by Godman, pi. 102, 1910 ; and by myself in vol. ii., pi. 98, 1912. The form carteri was also figured by Godman, pi. 102a, and myself, pi. 99. Lowe and Kinnear (7) consider that there are only two forms of this bird, and put eximiiis from Gough Island, and carteri, an acci- dental visitor to west coast of Australia, as synonyms. The Australian sub- species they call bassi, and give the reason for their decision.
Australia. — Adult: head, entire neck and underparts pure white ; mantle greyish brown ; ocular streak and loral smudge famt. When freshly moulted a slight tinge of bluish grey suffuses the sides of the head, nape and hind neck.
Tristan da Cunha. — Top of head white ; sides of face, nape and hind neck
40 NOVITATES ZooLoaiCAE XXXVIII. 1932.
very distinctly washed with grey ; chin, throat and iinderparts white ; mantle greyish brown ; ocular streak and loral smudge of a darker and more decided tone.
Moseley, writing of this MoUyma\^■k (chlororhynchus) from Nightingale Island, says that it is about the size of a goose, the bill is black with a yellow streak on the top and with a bright yellow edge to the gape, which extends right back under the ej^e. Carmichael says that when irritated the feathers of its cheeks are separated, so as to display a beautiful stripe of naked orange skin, rumiing from the corners of the mouth towards the back of the head, which is a continuation of the gape.
It seems strange that well over a century has passed and stUl we have no drawing showing this yellow line.
" The birds make a cjdindrical nest of tufts of grass, claj' and sedge, which stand up from the groimd. The nest is neat and round. There is a shallow con- cavity on the top for the bird to sit in, and the edge overhangs somewhat, the old bird imdermining it during incubation by pecking away the turf of which it is made. The nest is fourteen inches in diameter and ten niches high. The bird lays a single egg, elongate, with one end larger than the other, as are all albatross eggs.
" The egg is held m a sort of pouch, whilst the bird is incubating. Thus the bird has to be driven right off the nest before it will drop the egg out of its pouch.
" The birds, when approached, sit quietly on their nest or stand by them and never attempt to fly ; indeed, they seem, when thus bent on nesting, to have almost forgotten the use of their wings.
" When bullied with a stick or handled on the nests, the birds snap their bills rapidly together with a defiant air, but they may be pushed or poked oS with great ease. Usually a pair is to be seen at each nest, and then by standing near a short time one may see a curious courtship gomg on.
" The male stretches his neck out, erects his wings and feathers a bit, and utters a series of high-iiitched, rapidly repeated somids, not milike a shrill laugh ; as he does this he puts his head close up against that of the female.
" Then the female stretches her neck straight up and, tm-ning up her beak, utters a similar sound, and rubs biUs with the male again. The same manoeuvre is constantly repeated.
" Sometimes they nest right in the middle of a penguin road, or they take up their abode in separate pairs anywhere in the rookery, or under the trees where there are no pengums, which latter situation they seem to prefer."
[Local names, "'Mollyhawk" or "Mollymawk." This appears to be the common Albatross in the group, and occurs in large numbers on all three islands ; and although Mrs. Rogers states that the flesh is very strong and mipleasant, many are eaten by the people. They are hunted from January to March, and in 1923, whUe 2,139 were taken in January, no less than 4,800 were killed in March. The Rev. H. M. Rogers tried to keep statistics of the various birds' eggs taken for food, etc., diu^ing his stay.
They come to nest in August, lay during October, and leave again in April. The eggs are also used in large numbers for food, and on the 7th October, 1906, Mrs. Barrow writes : " Mollyhawk eggs are just in, and nearly every man has been out on the mountain after eggs. John Glass got 162. The men say that this bird never lays more than one egg each season. In time I fear that these beautiful birds will be driven from the island."
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 41
On the 6th February, 1 !)07, she also says : "While sitting on the cliffs at Sandy Point, a pair perched within a few feet of us. They are exceedingly handsome birds, for the most part white, their bUls black, with a bright yellow stripe down the middle. They have the most graceful movements, and this pair bowed, and clicked their bills together, and made love to each other in the most charming way. They cannot rise off flat ground unless there is wind, only from a hiU or cliff edge. On the 5th January near the ponds among bushes and fern," she con- tinues, " we came across a good many MoUyhawks sitting on their nests, which they seem to frequent after the young ones have flown. We also saw 1 or 2 of the young, which are covered with a fluffy blue down. While on the 24th of April, also near the ponds, we saw many young ones, sitting near their nests, and looking white in the undergrowth." There are several large breeding colonies on Tristan, the nests being cones of peat, etc., placed among the bushes and fern, specially near the ponds and above the base.
The single egg is more or less dusted and freckled, or ringed with reddish spots at one end. Twenty eggs average 96-5 x 62-5.
They also breed at Inaccessible. While at Nightingale Island the Rev. H. M. Rogers wrote, on the 31st January, 1924; '" The Mollymawks thrive here, both in the tussac and in the open valleys, as well as on the cliffs. I saw one rookery in a beautiful but swampy valley, containing over 500 of these handsome birds, right in the middle of the Island."
Three skins have been sent me from Tristan.]
[THALASSARCHE CHRYSOSTOMA Forster. Grey-headed MoUymawk.
The eggs of this bird were found on South Georgia (Wilkins 4) for the first time. Not recorded from the Tristan Group.
Young. — Just hatched. Light grey down, slightly darker on the wings, becoming darker with age. Bill dark horn-colour ; iris light brown ; feet light grey.
Nest. — Cone-shaped, twelve to fourteen inches high ; about a foot wide at the top and about twenty inches at the bottom, with moss and earth, Uned with gra.ss.
The nests are used each year for breeding purposes. The young birds have to be pushed off, in order that the parents may lay a new season's egg.
Egg. — Clutch one, dull white ; average measmements 101 X 74 mm.
Breeding Season. — December and January, South Georgia. Young hatched on January 1st.]
Although this form does not occur on the Tristan Group, it is included for comparison.
PHOEBETRIA FUSCA FUSCA (Hils.). Sooty Albatross (Pe-o).
This species and the former {chlororhynchus) were described as nesting on Tristan as far back as 1818. The bird is figured by Gould, vol. vii, pi. 44, 1848 ; Godman, pi. 103, 1910 ; and I figured it in my Birds of Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands, pi. 41, 1928.
It is reported as breeding on Gough Islaild (Clarke 1), bill " dark, \\ith a yellow stripe on each side." It is common, ^ut does not breed in rookeries ; it places its nests separately on cliffs or projecting rocks, where it is most difficult
42 NoviTATES Z001.0GKAE XXXVIII. 1932.
to get at them. The bird commence.s to lay by the middle of September, and while sitting keeps up a continual cry similar to that of a young goat. This is the only Sooty Albatross seen at Tristan (WUkins 4), although a watch was speci- ally kept for palpebrata. Lowe and Kinnear (7) give a coloured figure of the head of ■palpebrata. In the A.O.U. Check List, 1931, p. 366, auduboni is con- sidered a South Pacific Ocean bird, and therefore becomes a synonym of P. palpebrata huttoni.
[Local name, " Pe-o " or " Pe-ho." Common on Tristan, though not nearly so numerous as T. chlororhynchus. It comes in to nest in August and leaves again in April. This species, which is well known to the natives, is described as a " brown bird with yellow on the bill."
I received two TrLstan skins in 1819.
They breed on the island during October in some numbers, but not in large colonies in the grass and fern Uke the " MoUyhawk," the cone-shaped nest being usually placed in dangerous situations on the edge of cliffs on the coast or inside the crater on the mountain.
Curiously enough, I have no records from either Inaccessible or Nightingale, though they probably occur there too.
Eggs vary in shape and size, some being almost unmarked, while others are spotted, ringed or speckled with reddish.
Eight eggs average 100 x 67.]
ATLANTISIA ROGERSI Lowe. Tristan RaU (Island Cock).
We owe the discovery of this bird to the Rev. H. M. C. Rogers, acting Resident- Chaplain on Tristan da Cunha, who forwarded two skins to the British Museum in 1923. Later he forwarded the body of a bird in spirits.
Dr. P. R. Lowe described it as a new genus and species, and later {Ibis, 1928) gave an exhaustive monograjjh, with a coloured figure. He says that it is the smallest flightless bird known to exist, or to have existed. It is said to live in burrow, under the talus slopes on Inaccessible Island, and to be a fast runner.
In the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, vol. xlviii, p. 121, July 10th, 1928, Lord RothschUd described the eggs.
Clutch three (?) ; greyish milk-white tinged with buff; dotted all over sparingly with rather small chocolate -rufous spots and underlying ones of lavender-mauve ; all markings are considerably more concentrated round the apex. The measurements are 35 x 25 mm.
The eggs are typical Rail's eggs and very large for the size of thabird, and almost indistinguishable from some varieties of the eggs of Crex crex.
Breeding season, October and November.
Mrs. Rogers (12) says that it can run with great speed, shelters in the tussocks and Uves in a burrow.
ThLs bird occurs only on Inaccessible Island, where Mr. Philip Lindsay discovered the nest in 1927 and 1928.
[Local name, " Island Cock."
On the 2nd February, 1923, the Rev. Rogers visited Inaccessible with three boats' crews and succeeded in obtaining two specimens, now in the British Museum. He described this Rail a^s unable to fly, but runs with great speed, and shelters in the tussac. It lives in a burrow, and feeds on insects and worms.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAJE XXXVIII. 1932. 43
Tom Rogers sent me a single skin, now in the Royal Scottish Museum, labelled "'Island Cock,' Inaccessible Island, 5th May, 1923. They are the hardest little birds to catch."]
PORPHYRIORNIS NESIOTIS NESIOTIS (8cl.). Tristan Coot.
This bird is figured at the original description ; and notes on the Gough Island subspecies are quoted in the Ibis (Clarke 1) under the name P. comeri Allen. The two forms are very smiilar.
LARUS DOMINICANUS DOMINICANUS Licht. Southern Black-backed Gull.
Tills bird ranges from >South Africa to Kerguelen ; South America and the Southern Ocean ; Tristan, Crough Island, etc., and is represented in New Zealand by a subspecies antipodus, which is figured by Buller in his first edition, pi. 20. The typical form is figured in Gray and Mitchell's Genera of Birds, vol. iii, pi. 180, 1845.
It is not recorded from Gough Island (Clarke 1), but breeds on Laurie Island, South Orkney Island (Clarke 2), where some remam all the year round, the return of the spring immigrants commencing in mid-October. The birds were paired on 3rd November and the first eggs laid on the 15th. The first young mentioned, 19th December. Fresh eggs marked on 3rd December were found chipped on the 28th, an incubation period of about twenty-five days. Young in down as late as 30th January.
" The nests were placed on raised beaches, small screes and rocks within a few yards of the shore. The nest was a well-bmlt structure of seaweeds, mosses, lichens and feathers, and was usually surrounded by great quantities of limpet- shells, this moUusk being evidently a favoiu-ite food of the bird. The eggs were usually two in number, but sometimes three and occasionally only one. Wilkins (4) did not consider that they nested on Nightingale Island, although he pro- cured an immature male there on 21st May, 1922."
The New Zealand eggs (clutch two or three) vary from green to stone and dark stone, with large dark and pale-brown blotches, chiefly at the larger end, and measure 69-72 x 47-50 mm. It breeds in scattered colonies on shingly river beds and coastal rocks and beaches. The nest is sometimes a mere hollow in the sand, with a few pieces of grass or sedge as lining ; at others they are large and made entirely of leaves. The upper portion of the nest is composed of dry leaves ; the base consists of more or less decomposed leaves and earth — apparently the birds forming a new nest on the old one of the year before. November is the usual laying month and three the most common number of eggs (Oliver 9).
[Surprisingly little seems to be known in Tristan regarding the status of this species, and I have only received a single immature skin in the collections sent.
However, the Quest Expedition, on the 21st May, 1922, saw many immature birds at Nightingale Island, and obtained one, a juvenile male of the year, which they thought must have been bred on the island, as it seemed much too young to have travelled any great distance. But no adults were seen, and the natives, when questioned, did not think that any bred in the group, although adidts were sometimes observed. This species is very destructive to eggs and yomig of other birds, and wiU also attack a weakly lamb. I have no Tristan eggs, but in Appendix II in Mrs. Rogers' book, in the list of Natural History specimens
44 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
collected by them at TrLstan, and now in the British Mu.seum, appears No. 6 egg of the Southern Black-backed Gull {Larit^s dominicanus), but I fear some mistake. The nest is placed on a rock, or near the shore, and Ls composed of dry grass, or seaweed. Two or three eggs are laid, generally stone-colour sjiotted with brown and black. This species has a very wide breeding range. C/2 from Cape Colony measure 75 x 48 and 72 x 49. A c/3 from Buenos Aires are 74-5 X SO, 70 X 49-5, 60 X 52. C/2 from Megellanes measure 70-5 x 52 and 69-5 x 50. A c/3 Falkland Isles are 73 X 51-5,73 x 52,74 x 51. But a, cl2Lariisd.antipodus from New Zealand are very dark narrow eggs and measure 72 x 47 and 70 X 47.
CATHARACTA ANTARCTICA ANTARCTICA (Less. ). Antarctic Skua (Sea-hen).
This hawk amongst gulls frequents the southern area, breeding on the Falkland Islands ; it occurs at Gough Island and Tristan, and has wandered to AustraUa. The Indian Ocean form, intercedens, breeds in Kerguelen ; clarkei occurs in the South Orkneys, South Shetlands and South Georgia ; lonnbergi is the Austro-New Zealand bird ; and tnaccormicki is from Antarctica, breeding at Victoria Land.
I have figured the Austro-New Zealand form in my Birds of Australia, vol. ii, p. 122, 1913, and maccormichi in my Birds of Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands, pi. 42, 1928, and the Australian example of the typical bird in the Supplement not yet published. On Gough Island they commence to lay in the middle of September (Clarke 1) : when the Penguins lay, the Sea-hens come ashore in large numbers and get their living by robbing the nests and catchmg the young. They also kUl the young albatrosses. They nest on Laurie Island, South Orkney Islands (Clarke 2). They leave durmg the whiter months after 28th April and return on 16th October. The first eggs were laid on 2nd December and young were out by 22nd January. By 11th February dark feathers were appearing on the wings and sides of the breast of those youngsters. Incubation period about six weeks ; next year, 1904, they returned on 21st October, and the first eggs were found on 27th November.
" The nests were usually placed on the tops of mossy rocks, or on plateaux from 100 to 400 feet above the sea, and consisted of well-made hollows in the moss, while teased-out fragments of moss formed the Unmg. Occasionally nests were found on the tops of moraines and were then hoUows in the earth lined with lichens.
" The eggs were two m number, on which the bird sat very close, her mate usually remaining near at hand. When approached, the owners screamed defiance and the sitting bird had to be forcibly ejected from the nest. The nests were surrounded by many shells of eggs and remains of young penguins. The young soon wandered from the nest and were most difficult to detect among the moss. Wilkins (4) said that they were seen in great numbers about each island of the Tristan group."
Lowe and Kinnear (7) have published eleven pages on this bird, five of which deal with measurements ; they make all forms subspecies of Caiharacta skua and admit seven forms. They go carefully into the plumages, from the cinnamon- red to the straw or lighter-coloured feathers.
[Local name, " Sea hen." This well-known species is resident and plentiful on all three islands. They are great robbers and devour the eggs and young of
NOVITATES ZOOLOOICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 45
other species, and Mrs. Barrow has seen them attack and kill a weakly lamb more than once.
I have received four or five skins, one of which is dated 17th April, 1923. Antarctic Skuas breed during August and Sejatember, singly as a rule, and the nests are just scrapes lined with a little grass or weed, and placed near the shore. Two eggs are laid, showing considerable variation, even in a clutch, being pale olive, greenish, or dark brownish, more or less sjjotted with dark brown at the larger end, and rather dumpy in shape. Ten eggs are very uniform in size and average 70 x 51, whUe four eggs from the Falkland Islands average 69'5 x 49, being slightly shorter and distinctly narrower. For comparison, 100 eggs of the British bird average 70-59 X 49-37.]
STERNA VITTATA VITTATA Gmel. Sub-Antarctic Tern (Kingbird).
This bird occurs m the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean and off South Africa ; it breeds on St. Paul's Island and Tristan da Cunha, and is represented in New Zealand by the subspecies bethunei. The typical form is from Christmas Harbour, Kerguelen. I have figured it in the Supplement to my Birds of Norfolk and Lord Hoive Islands. It occurs in Gough Island (Clarke 1 and Wilkins 4).
[Local name, " Kingbird." Of this species Nicol writes, 17th January, 1906, " Very like our common Tern, and judging from the numbers of young just able to fly, there must be a considerable nestmg colony." While all that Mrs. Barrow says about them is : " Comes in September, and lays m November." I have received several skins, two of which, one adult and the other immature, were shot at Tristan on the 15th February, 1923. All my eggs come from Sandy Point, on the east side of the island, but they may breed elsewhere. One or two eggs are laid on the bare sandy ground, with a few straws at times for Uning. Six eggs taken on the 14th November, 1923, and 16th November, 1924, average 46 X 32 mm., the largest bemg 47-5 x 33. Four are stone colour with small grey, brown and blackish sjjots, mostly at the larger end, while two are much darker and more heavily spotted.]
ANGUS STOLIDUS STOLIDUS (L.). Noddy (Wood Pigeon).
This Tern is distributed throughout the tropical seas, in the Atlantic Ocean breeding at St. Helena, Ascension and Tristan ; off Africa from the Gold Coast to the Congo. The Indian Ocean has the subspecies, rousseaui, from Madagascar ; plunibeigularis occurs m the Red Sea ; pileatus is from the Philippines, Liu Kiu Islands and China ; unicolor from the South Pacific ; galajMgensis from the Galapagos Islands ; ridgwayi from the west coast of Mexico ; and the Australian bird is gilberti, of which antelius is a synonym. Gould figured it m vol. vii, pi. 34, 1846, and I in vol. ii, pi. 115, 1912. It occurs on Gough Island (Clarke 1) and nests at Tristan.
[Local name, " Wood Pigeon." Comes in September, lays in November, but goes away for the winter. ThLs species seems rather scarce at Tristan, although I have received one or two skins. On the 14th November, 1907 Mrs. Barrow writes: " My husband and Rapetto went off to the ' Hardies,' some rocks, in the sea, beyond 'Hottentot Pomt,' in search of 'Wood Pigeons,' eggs. This is a seabird, in spite of its land-sounding name. They had to swim to a high rock a short distance from the shore, and then cUmb to the top of it. It was
46 NOVHTATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
rather too early for eggs, and they only found one, but satisfied themselves of its identity. These rocks, the ' Hardies,' are the only actual nesting-places that I know of, though there are probably others, and only a few breed there." These eggs, taken on the 24th November, 1023, and 20th November, 1924, at these rocks measure 51 x 35, 49 x 36 and 48 X 34 ; two are slightly spotted with grey and reddish brown, while the middle one is almost unmarked.
The Rev. H. M. Rogers reported large numbers on Nightingale Island on the 31st January, 1 924, and remarks : The ' Wood Pigeon ' is a big bird, black and grey, with a long beak, and utters a rather cawing note.']
MEGALOPTERUS MINUTUS ATLANTICUS Mathews. White-capped Noddy.
This form occurs in the Atlantic, breeding on Ascension Island, St. Helena and Inaccessible Island. The Australian form is minutus and the Philippme one is worcesteri ; Marcus Island has marcusi ; while from Cocus to Clippeaton diamesus occurs ; and americanus is from the Caribbean Sea.
Gould figured it in vol. vii, pi. 36, 1846, and I m vol. ii, p. 117, 1912.
[It is stated in the Syst. Av. Aethiop. i, p. 155, 1924, that it occurs on In- accessible Island of the Tristan group.
No skins have been sent me, nor have I any record of it, but I do not think that the Islanders can distinguish between these two rather similar Noddies, even though their nests are so unlike. Mr. Rogers does not mention any Noddy at Inaccessible, though on the 31st January, 1924, here marks on the large numbers seen at Nightingale Island.
The nest is composed of fresh seaweed sUghtly hollowed and firmly cemented to the branch of a tree or side of a rock.
The egg is whitish stone with a few grey dots, the larger end being spotted with reddish brown. It measures 45-47 x 31'5-33.
I have one very small Noddy egg, only 47-9 x 34, with a few grey and brownish dots at the top, taken 18th November, 1917, in the group.]
NESOCICHLA EREMITA EREMTTA Gould. Tristan Thrush (Starchy). NESOCICHLA EREMITA GORDONI Stenh. Inaccessible Island Thrush.
The tyjjical form is confined to Tristan and is said to be extinct ; a subspecies occurs on Inaccessible and Nightingale Islands. In the Challenger Report, p. iii, we are told that seven skins were collected on Tristan, and the coloured tigiu'e on pi. xxiii was made for the first time. A cut of the leg, wing and bill from the above is also given. The subspecies gordoni was collected on Inaccessible as told by Stenhouse. The sexes are alike. They are found in all jDarts of each island (WUkins 4). They seemed to prefer the more open glades, where the tussock grass grows rankly. More often than not they perched on the branches of trees when disturbed in feeding on the flies and insects found by the edge of streams and near the beach. They were not seen on Gough Island.
In Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. vi, p. 332, 1881, Sharpe considered this a true Thrush, which Seebohm had not admitted in vol. v., p. 404, 1881. In Ibis for 1923, pp. 523-9, Dr. P. R. Lowe has given us a detailed account of the structure, and gives a text-figure of the peculiar tongue, the sternum and a front and back
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 47
view of the pterylosis. And on pp. 528-9 gives measurements of the wing, bill and tarsus of examples from the three islands in the group. The Tristan bird is smaller in the wing, and is paler and more fulvous than those from the other two islands, which are similar to each other (gordoni).
[Local name, "Starchy." On the 10th August, 1907, Mrs. Barrow writes: '' William to-day brought in a bird which he calls a ' Starchy,' but which is just like our old friend the garden thrush. He says that there are lots on the hill. They have no song." In Mrs. Rogers' book there is no mention of it at Tristan. When the QueM called there in May 1922, it was reported to be extinct. So that the two Tristan specimens I received in 1919, and now in the Royal Scottish Museum, are probably among the last of their race. No eggs seem to be known from Tristan.
In 1924 the late Surg. -Admiral J. H. Stenhouse separated this race from the Tristan form on the strength of larger size, darker plumage, and especially the larger, deeper bill. The three skms sent were collected at Inaccessible on the 26th April, 1923, where the bu-d is stiU plentiful ; it also occurs at Nightingale. Eggs, though described to the Challejiger Expedition m 1 873 by the Stoltenhoff brothers, were unknown until 1923, when the Rev. H. M. Rogers discovered two nests on the 3rd February at Inaccessible. The nests were cup-shaped, of various dry grasses, etc., one in tussac and the other in an " island tree." The eggs are blue with rusty spots and freckles. Both nests contained two eggs. No. 1 measuring 29 X 23 and 29 x 22, whUe No. 2 is 31 x 21 and 29 x 22, one egg being rather elongated.]
NESOSPIZA ACUNHAE ACUNHAE Cab. Tristan Bunting (Canary). NESOSPIZA ACUNHAE QUESTI Lowe. Nightingale Island Bunting.
The first occurred only on Tristan, where it is believed to be extmct and the latter stLU lives on Nightingale Island.
The typical form is figured in the Challenger Report, p]. xxiv, from Inacces- sible, and on p. 112 a cut of the foot, wing and side view of the head is given.
This bird was described in 1 873 by Cabanis from an old skin acquired by the BerUn Museum, from the sale of the Bullock collection.
This bird " builds in the bushes, and lays four or five eggs very like those of the Common Canary." WiUdns (4) says that the birds are very tame and are found in considerable numbers in all parts of the two islands. Nightingale and Inaccessible. On the beaches and the uplands they were feeding on the flies and insects found in damp places ; also on the seeds of tussocks gras.s. Lowe (5), workmg up this material, p. 519, gives an account of the bird, and on p. 520 described a new subspecies from Nightingale, and on p. 521 gives measurements of the Inaccessible and Nightingale Island birds, showmg the smaller size of the latter ; on p. 522 is a text-figure of the head and wing of this and imlkinsi.
The bird described by Cabanis at the same time as the above, that is C'rithagra insularis, in the Journ.J. Ornith. 1873, p. 153, as supjiosed also to be from Tristan, has been a stumblmg-block to many. However, Dr. E. Stresemann, who has examined the type, tells me that it is a synonym of Serinu-s Jiaviventris (Swainson 1 828) from South Africa, and the locaUty guessed (cf . Ornith. Monatsber. 1923, p. 142). Crithagra of Swainson, in Cat. Birds Brit. Mas. xu, p. 348, 1888, is placed as a synonym of Serinus, but it may be a good genus.
48 NOTITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
NESOSPIZA WILKINSI Lowe. Nightingale Island Large Bunting. This new species from Nightingale Island is a giant of the former bird. It has the same colourmg a.s tlie others (questi), but is a much bigger and heavier bird in every way (Wilkins 4). Lowe, in the Ibis for 1923, p. 521, described it as a new species ; the drawing of the head and wmg on p. 522 will show that it differs from Nesospiza m the formation of the bUl.
lONORNIS MARTINICA (L.). American Purple Gallinule.
In Bull. B.O.C. xhv, p. 72, 1924, Dr. Percy R. Lowe records that he had received at the British Museum, from the Rev. H. M. C. Rogers, an immature example of this bird, which had been taken on the island of Tristan da Cimha. This is the first record for the island. A second example is recorded by Stenhouse in the Scottish Naturalist for 1924, p. 96.
In the Birds of Massachusetts, vol. i, November 1925, p. 364, Forbush has given a good description, and on pi. 24 a coloined figure of the adult in breeding plumage. He says that it breeds in swamps and marshes, and the nest is a platform of rushes, etc., like a shallow basket suspended among, and woven into, marsh vegetation.
Eggs. — Clutch 6 to 10, soiled white, creamy or pale buff, sparsely spotted, chiefly about the larger end with brown, umber and neutral tints. They measiu'e 1-63-1-54 X 1-16-1-13 inches.
Breeding season, April to June (October).
Incubation period, 23 to 25 days.
In the " Life Histories of North American Marsh Birds," Bulletin 135, p. 339, 1926, A. C. Bent gives a dehghtful account of this bird. He says that the clutch is 6 to 8, usually ovate in shape, and the shell is smooth with little or no gloss. Pale cinnamon-pink or pale pinkish buff to cartridge-buff. They are lightly and mievenly marked, with very small spots and fijie dots of bright browns and pale drabs. Average measiu-ements of 56 eggs, 39-2 x 28-8. Extremes, 42-7 X 30-2, 39 X 30-2 and 34-6 X 26-2.
Breeding months, April, May and June.
[Two have been obtained at Tristan, and seem to be the only specimens recorded from the Aethiopian Region.
An immature specimen of this species was included among the skins sent me in 1919. It was obtained (date not recorded) by Tom Rogers, who wrote: " It is the only one we ever saw on the island, and I only got it by chance when gomg to the other side of the island called the ' Rooky.' I did not have a gun, but knocked it down with a stone." A second specimen, also immature, was obtained by the Rev. H. M. Rogers at Tristan, and is now in the British Museum.
These birds must be " some travellers," when immature specimens can cross the 2,000 miles of ocean to Tristan.]
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 4&
THE LYMANTRIIDAE OF THE MALAY PENINSULA.
By C. L. COLLENETTE.
(Plates I and II.)
T HAVE been aware for some time past that the Malayan Lymantriidae had been much neglected, and in going through the material in the Britisli Museum, the majority of it collected by H. N. Ridley in Singapore, it further became evident that several species were misidentified and that in some cases (J (J of one species were associated with $? of another.
An analysis of localities given in the Indo-Australian section of Seitz showed Java to have been credited with 77 species, Borneo with 69 and the Malay Peninsula with only 39, while Van Eecke in his Heterocera van Sumatra (Zool. Med. Leiden, Deel xi, p. 78, 1928) reached a total for that island of 91 species.
The present paper, undertaken mainly to fiU the evident deficiency, gives a total for the Malay Peninsula (excluding Peninsular Siam) of 153 species, of which 49 are new.
This advance has been rendered possible by a generous response to my appeal for material, a large collection having been received from the F.M.S. Museum, Kuala Lumpur, the great majority of the specimens obtained by the personal collecting of Mr. H. M. Pendlebury, who has worked " light " in a very thorough manner in a number of localities.
I have worked tlirough the British Museum collection and that of the Zoological Museum, Tring, and am grateful for the loan of insects from the Hope Department, Oxford University Museum ; the Zoological Museum, Berlin ; and the Imperial Institute of Entomology (Malayan Agric. Dept.).
Although I believe that the specimens examined are fairly representative for the neighbourhoods of Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, it Ls evident from the number of species represented by single specimens that many more forms remain to be discovered m the hills, both in the interior and near the coast. I have drawn attention in the text to a number of deficiencies, especially of cases in which one sex of a species is well known and the other sex undescribed.
By a careful examination of type specimens, of which I have seen nearly all, it has been possible to clear up a number of difficulties which have puzzled earlier workers who did not have access to the types.
A number of specimens in the collection, especially in the genus Leucoma, have been left unidentified, by reason of their poor condition. Without doubt new species are present among these, but I have refrained from making types out of rubbed and damaged material unless some easily recognized marking or characteristic existed to make the description intelligible.
Although Seitz's Orossschm. d. Erde has given us a foundation, much work still remains to be done on the generic classification of the Lymantriidae. In the present paper I have in some cases refrained from corrections which will eventually have to be made, because such corrections would involve many other species quite outside the scope of the paper. At the present time it is hardly possible to examine a Lymantriid and run it down to its genus. So many species
4
50 NOVITATES ZOOLOOICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
are out of place, so many genera badly defined and so many divergent opinion.? expressed as to the types of the genera, that I have sometimes hesitated from expressmg my own opinion for fear of adding to the confusion. It is plain that this work must eventually be attempted as a whole rather than genus by genus. Each genus and each species must be critically exammed, and I look forward to the time when I shall feel competent to attempt the revision.
In this paper the Comstock-Needham system has been employed for the wing-neuration, and Ridgway's Color Standards and Color Nomenclature, 1912, for descriptions of colour in new species.
I have to acknowledge my great mdebtedness to Mr. W. H. T. Tams for advice and assistance during the writing of the j)aper, and wish also to pay tribute to the reliable work of Mr. van Eecke in the above-mentioned Heterocera van Sumatra, which has considerably lightened my labours.
I. Leucoma singaporensis Strand.
Leucoma singaporensis Strand, in Seitz, Macrolep. oj the World, x, p. 310, pi. 39b (1914).
Type, o, Singapore, in coU. Seitz.
II cJcJj 2 ??, Singapore ; 1 $, Penang ; in British Museum. 2 ^J^J, Penang ; 1 (J, Padang Rengas ; 1 (J, Gunong Ijau ; in Tring Museum. 1 $, Perak ; in Zoological Museum, Berlin. ^ SS> Singapore ; 1 (J, near Jitra, Kedah ; 1 (^, 3,500 ft., Lubok Tamang, Pahang ; in F.M.S. Museum.
The origmal description of this species appeared in the English edition of Seitz, where it is dated 14.xii.l9I4. The corresponding page in the German edition was not published until 31 .iii. 1915.
The greenish hue m the veins of the forewing, noted by Strand as present in the ^J, is visible also in the $.
2. Leucoma discirufa Swinh.
Leucoma discirufa Swinh., Trans. Ent. Soc. Land., p. 384 (1903) ; Seitz, Grossschm. d, Erde, x, p. 309, pi. 39b (1915).
Type, (^, Pulau Laut, S.E. Borneo ; in British Museum.
1 cj, at Ught, 11 .iii. 1924, Kuala Lumpur (E. Seimund) ; in F.M.S. Museum.
The single Malayan (^ is much worn and discoloured, but agrees well in structure with the type, and can be assigned to this species with some confidence. In the F.M.S. Museum is a further ^J of the species from Khao Luang, Peninsula Siam.
[Leucoma lactea Moore.]
Eedoa lactea Moore, Lep. Coll. Atk., p. 46 (1879).
Leucoma lactea Moore, Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 309, pi. 39a (1915).
Type, ?, Darjeeling, m BerUn Museum (see remarks in Seitz, I.e., p. 309). Paratype $, Darjeeling, in British Museum.
A single $, with the printed label " Singapore," is in the F.M.S. Museum, and appears exactly to match the paratjrpe § from Darjeeling. As L. lactea is large and conspicuous, and does not appear to have been recorded previously from Malaya or the East Indies, it seems best to regard this locality label with suspicion, and not to include the species in the Malayan list for the present.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 61
3. Leucoma ecnoinoda Swinh.
Leucoma ecnonwda Swinh., A.M.N.H. (7), xx, p. 77 (1907); id.. I.e. (8), xviii, p. 215 (1916) (?) ; Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erie, x, p. 309 (1915).
Holotype (J, Java, in British Museum. Neallotype $, Sumatra, in British Museum.
2 (^cJ, 1 $, Singapore ; in British Museum. 1 (^, Tengah Mts., Pahang ; in Tring Museum. 4 c?c?, Singapore ; 5 (^^, Pulau Pisang, Johore ; 4 (J (J, 2 ??, Kuala Lumpur ; 3 ^S, 3,500 ft., Bukit Kutu, Selangor ; 1 •?, 3,200 ft., Kedah Peak ; m F.M.S. Museum.
I have compared specimens from Java, Sumatra and Malaya, and can see no difference in facies or the cJ genitalia which would justify their separation.
Van Eecke, in Zool. Med. Leiden, xi, p. 141 (1928), has sunk L. ecnomoda to L. saturnioides Snell (1879), which latter species was described from a $ from Takalar, Celebes. In the British Museum are two Celebes ^J^J, one of them from Macassar close to Takalar, and evidently of this species. These two ^JcJ are larger (40-41 mm.) and paler than ^JcJ of L. ecnomoda, and in both fore- and hindwing the hyaline portion approaches nearer to the termen. Moreover, the genitalia of the Macassar specimen appear distinct from those of Javanese L. ecnomoda, with, among other distinctions, plainly marked serrations down the dorsal margin of the valve in the former, which are present only in a very dimin- ished form on a portion of the margin in L. ecnomoda. I have therefore treated L. ecnomoda Swinh. as a separate species from L. saturnioides SneU.
Van Eecke has also stated (Ent. Ber., vi, p. 176, 1923) that he considers L. fenestrata Hamps. (1893) and L. thyridophora Hamps. {Fauna of Br. India, i, p. 488, 1893) to be one and the same species. There is here an unfortunate similarity of name to L. thyridoptera Hamps. (Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc, xx, p. 114, 1910), which has caused confusion. I have pubUshed my conclusion {A.M.N.H. (10), vii, p. 510, 1931) that L. thyridoptera Hamps. sinks to L. fenes- trata Hamps., as they are plainly the $ and (^ of the same Ceylon species. L. thyridophora Hamps., of which the type $, Sikkim, is in the Tring Museum, is a rare insect, of which I have seen no (J ^J; and it seems best to retain it as a separate species until specimens of this sex can be studied.
4. Leucoma perfecta Wlkr.
Redoa perfecta Wlkr., Journ. Linn. Soc. Land. (Zool.), vi, p. 128 (1862). Leucoina perfecta Wlkr., Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 309 (1915).
Type, ^, Sarawak, in Oxford Museum.
3 (?(^, Penang ; 5 (^^, Singapore; in British Museum. 3 ^J^J, Bukit Kutu, Selangor ; 1 ,^, Gunong Tahan ; 2 (J^J, Penang ; in Trmg Museum. 11 (^(J, Kuala Lumpur ; 1 ^, 2,000-2,700 ft., Gunong Angsi, Negri SembOan ; 1 (J, Pulau Pisang ; 15 ^^, 3,450-3,500 ft., Bukit Kutu, Selangor ; 1 ^, Gintang Sempak, Pahang ; 2 ^$, 4,000-4,200 ft., Eraser's Hill, Pahang ; 2 cJ^J, 4,800 ft., Cameron's Highlands, Pahang ; 1 <^, The Gap, Pahang ; 3 cJcJ, 3,300 ft., Kedah Peak ; m F.M.S. Museum.
Although the ^J is evidently commonly taken throughout Malaya, the $ does not appear to be known. It must be a large and conspicuous insect.
In Seitz, x, p. 309, it is stated that Leucoma divisa WUtr., List Lep. Ins. B.M ., p. 836 (1855), occurs at Singapore and Penang. This is probably a misidentifica-
S2 NOVITATES ZOOLOC.ICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
tion of the present species. The type of divisa, a 5 from Nepaul, is a Euproctis with a dark abdomen and yellow anal tuft, resembling E. latijascia Wlkr. (1855).
5. Leucoma submarginata Wlkr.
Redoa suhmarginata Wlkr., List Lep. Ins. B.M. iv, p. 826 (1855). Leucoma suhmarginalti Wlkr. Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 310 (1915).
Type, (J, Silliet, in British Museum.
1 (J, 2,000-3,500 ft., Perak ; m British Museum. 1 J, 2,000-3,000 ft., Gunong Ijau, Perak ; 1 ^, Ipoh ; in Tring Museum. 4 (JrJ, Kuala Lumpur ; 1 cj, Ulu Lengat, Selangor ; 3 cJcJ. 1 ?. 3,400-3,500 ft., Bukit Kutu, Selangor ; 1 cJ, Kuala Teku, Pahang ; 1 (J, 4,800 ft., Cameron's Highlands, Pahang ; 1 (J, Lankawi Islands ; 1 $, near Jitra, Kedah ; in F.M.S. Museum.
The type of L. submarginata has unfortunately lost the abdomen, but the Malayan insect appears to match it exactly in facies.
L. submarginata bears considerable resemblance to Leucoma (Redoa) transiens Wlkr. (1862), but appears to be distinct. The type of L. transiens is said in the original description to come from Sarawak, and this statement has been copied by Walker himself (List Lej3. In.s. B.M . xxxii, p. 343), and also by Kirby and Swinhoe. The insect labelled as type in the British Museum Ls a ^J answering to the original description, and on the pin is the printed name cut from vol. xxxii, p. 343. It also bears a label in Wallace's handwriting " Aru," and a museum label with " Aru Isl." on one side and " 58.48 " on the other, which latter corre- sponds to Wallace's Aru Island donation in 1858. The Sarawak collection was donated in 1857. After a careful but unsuccessful search in the British Museum for another specimen with which this type might have been confused, I have come to the conclusion that an Aru specimen was mixed with the Sarawak collection which Walker was describing, and that the type of Redoa transiens Wlkr. comes from the Aru Islands and not Sarawak.
6. Leucoma hipparia Swinh.
Leucoma hipparia Swinh., A.M.N. U. (6), xii, p. 213 (1893); Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 310 (1915).
Type, cJ, Singapore, in British Museum.
In the material before me there are a number of ,^<;J from Malaya which cannot definitely be separated from this species by any external character. I have examined the genitaha of some eight specimens, and not only is it impossible to match any with L. hipparia. but they show great divergence among themselves. I have come to the conclusion that in this case the genitalia cannot be relied upon for separating the species, and that bred series should be obtained before further forms are described.
7. Leucoma flavescens Moore.
Redoa flavescens Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lottd., p. 600 (1877).
Leucoma flavescens Moore, Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 311, pi. 39c (1915).
Type, cJ, S. Andamans, in British Museum.
7 cj(^, Kuala Lumpur ; 2 ^^, \ '^, 3,500 ft., Bukit Kutu, Selangor ; 1 $, 4,900 ft., Cameron's Highlands, Pahang ; 1 <^, 1,800 ft., Batang Padang, Perak : in F.M.S. Museum.
I
NOVITATES ZoOLOr.ICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 53
The type of L. flavescerus is unique, and in rather poor condition. It appears to agree with the series from Malaya, but fvirther material may show subspecifio difference.
The $ exhibits the same pattern on the f orewing as the <J, but is less heavily scaled.
8. Leucoma riguata Snell.
Leucoma riguata Snell., Iris, viii, p. 138 (1895) ; Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, p. 310 (1915).
T3T)e, cJ, Sumatra, in Leiden Museum.
1 c?> Singapore ; in British Museum. 1 ^J, 1 $, Penang ; in Tring Museum. 2 (JcJ, Singapore ; 1 $, Kuala Lumpur ; 1 (J, 3,400 ft., Bukit Kutu, Selangor ; 1 ?, Taiping, Perak ; in F.M.S. Museum.
I have compared the two Malayan c^,^ with a Sumatran (J determined by Mr. van Eecke, and they appear to be conspecific.
9. Leucoma phrika sp. nov. (plate I, fig. 23).
cJ. Palpus slightly upturned, snuff-brown, mixed towards the base with white. Antennal .shaft white, mixed towards the tip with snuff-brown ; pectina- tions Sudan brown. Head bistre, the lower part of the frons whitish. Thorax and abdomen, above and beneath, white. Legs white ; a patch of bistre proximally on tibia and tarsus of foreleg and tarsus of middleleg ; distal segments of all tarsi pale orange-yellow. Forewing white, iridescent, with a " watered silk " effect over the whole wing ; a small fuscous spot on the discocellulars ; costa narrowly orange-buff ; fringe white, between veins R4 and C'u2 Saccardo's umber, this colour also invading the wing area as interneural termmal patches. Hindwing white ; fringe white at apex and anal angle, the remainder white mixed with Saccardo's umber. Underside of both wings white ; fringes as on upperside.
$. Resembles ^, but with the forewing less iridescent ; the orange-buff on the costa of forewing, and Saccardo's umber on termen and fringe of forewing and fringe of hindwing, almost absent.
Expanse : ^^ 26-29 mm., $? 32 mm.
1 J (holotype), Penang, 2,260ft., 27.iii.I898 (S. S. Flower) ; 1 ^ (paratype), Singapore, 6.ii.l908 (G. Meade Waldo); British Museum. 1 $ (allotype), Kedah Peak, 3,300 ft., 25.iii.1928; 1 ^ (paratype), Sungei Renglet, Pahang, 3,500 ft., 13.iii.l925; 1 (J (paratype), Tanah Rata, Cameron's Highlands, 4,800 ft., 20. V. 1931 ; 5 c?c? (paratypes), Kuala Lumpur, February, April and October ; 4 <5'^ (paratypes), Bukit Kutu, Selangor, 3,500 ft., March and April ; all taken at light by H. M. Pendlebury ; 3 J,^ (paratypes), Bukit Kutu, 3,400 ft., August 1915 ; 1 ^ (paratype), Ginting-Sempak Pass, Pahang, May 1927 (C. F. Constant) ; F.M.S. Museum. I ^ (paratype), Bukit Kutu, 3,450 ft., April 1915 ; Tring Museum. Allotype presented to British Museum.
This species is considerably smaller than L. riguata Snell (1895), and has the " watered silk " effect on the forewing considerably more marked. It is also quite distinct from L. flavescens Moore (1877), which has no discoceUular sjjot on the forewing.
54 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
lu. Leucoma poecilonipha sp. nov. (plate I, fig. 27).
(J. Palpus slightly upturned, orange-buff, at the base whitish. Antennal shaft white, pectinations pinkish buff. Head tawny, the lower part of the frons whitish. Thorax and abdomen white, the latter thinly scaled. Legs, pectus and venter whitish, a patch of bistre proxinially on tibia and tarsus of fore- and middJeleg, distal segments of aU tarsi orange-buff. Forewing white, covered with shinmg opalescent scales and in some lights showing a duU antemedial and postmedial fascia ; a conspicuous fuscous spot on the discocellulars ; distal half of costa orange-buff ; fringe white at apex and tornus, the remainder Saccardo's umber, this colour also invading the wing area as intemeural terminal patches. Hindwing white ; a limited number of shining opalescent scales towards the anal angle ; fringe white at apex and anal angle, the remamder Saccardo's umber. Underside of both wings dull white ; costa of forewing, and frmges of both wings, as on upperside.
$. Strongly resembles the (J.
Expanse : cJ(J 29-34 mm., ? 42 mm.
1 (^ (holotype), Taiping, Perak (E. Seimund) ; 1 c? (paratype), Kuala Lumpur, 28.x. 1921, and 1 ^ (paratype), Bukit Kutu, Selangor, 3,500 ft., le.iii. 1931, both at Ught (H. M. PencUebury) ; F.M.S. Museum. 1 $ (allotype), Ipoh, Perak (F. Hankin) ; Tring Museum. Holotype presented to British Museum.
This beautiful species is easily distinguished by the opalescent sheen, and may be placed near to L. phrika CoUnt.
11. Leucoma semihyalina Swinh.
Leucoma semihyalina Swinh., A.M.N. H. (7), xiv, p. 421 (1904) ; Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 310, pi. 39c (1915).
Type, cJ, Sumatra, in British Museum.
1 c?, Kuala Ketil, Kedah ; in British Museum. 6 c?c?. * ??. Kuala Lumpur ; 1 $, Kuala Tahan, Pahang ; in F.M.S. Museum.
The $ closely follows the J in markings, and has an expanse of from 29 to 38 mm.
12. Leucoma camurisquama sp. nov. (plate I, fig. 22).
(J. Palpus porrect or slightly upturned. Mars yeUow. Antennal shaft whitish, pectinations cinnamon-buff. Head whitish, vertex Sudan brown. Abdomen above and beneath, pectus, and legs whitish, fore- and middleleg with a Brussels-brown spot frontally at the proximal end of both tibia and tarsus. Forewing shining white ; a small fuscous spot on the centre of the discocellulars ; beyond the end of the cell, and beyond the origins of veins M2 to Cu2, a " dull " patch caused by the scales being directed towards the apex and costa instead of towards the termen, almost at right angles to the normal direction ; when the wing is turned in a different direction the patch becomes bright and the remainder of the wing dull ; distal half of costa narrowly Mars yellow ; fringe Sudan brown, at the point of the apex, and between vein Cu2 and the toi-nus, whitish. Hind- wing dull white ; fringe Sudan brown, from vein Ml to the apex and at the anal angle whitish. Underside of both wings dull white ; fringes as on upperside.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 55
$. Resembles the ^J, but with the forewing somewhat less shining.
Expanse : <^(^ 28-34 mm., $$ 36-41 mm.
1 (J (holotjqje), 1 $ (allotype), 3 ^^ and 1 $ (paratypes), Singapore (H. N. Ridley) ; 1 ^ (paratype), 2,000-3,500 ft., Perak (W. Doherty) ; British Museum. 1 cJ, Penang (Curtis), and 1 (^, Malay Peninsula (paratypes) ; Tring Museum. 1 J (paratype), 7.ii.l924, Kuala Lumpur (E. Seimund) ; 1 $ (paratype), 27.xii. 1922, Singapore (J. C. Moulton) ; 1 ? (paratype), at light, 4,200 ft., 2.vii.l931, Eraser's HiU, Pahang (H. M. Pendlebury) ; F.M.S. Museum.
1 have examined a number of Lymantriidae which show " watered silk " markings on the forewing, but in no case other than the present is this due to the scales being directed in a different direction from those on the remainder of the wing. These scales do not appear to differ from the others in shape or in the angle of attachment to the wing surface, and are present in both sexes. The species is somewhat similar in appearance to Leucoma submarginata Wlkr. (1855), with which it has hitherto been confounded.
13. Leucoma marginalis Wlkr.
Redoa marginalis Wlkr., Journ. Linn. Soc. Loni. (Zool.), vi, p. 128 (1862). Leucoma marginaUs Wlkr.. Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 311, pi. 39c (1915).
Type, ($, Sarawak, in the Oxford Museum.
2 (J (J, Smgapore ; 1 (J, 2,260 ft., Penang ; in British Museum. 1 ^, Penang ; in Tring Museum. 2 ^^, Kuala Lumpur ; 1 ^, 3,450 ft., Bukit Kutu, Selangor ; m E.M.S. Museum, Kuala Lumpur.
Some of these ,^^ have a distinct greenish hue in the veins of both wings, as in L. singaporensis Strand.
14. Leucoma phasmatodes sp. nov.
$. Palpus pale pinkish buff, darker at the tip. Antennal shaft whitish, pectinations warm buff. Head whitish (discoloured in type), on the frons below the antenna Prout's brown. Thorax and abdomen white, the latter thinly scaled. Pectus, venter and legs whitish, fore- and midlegs with a Prout's brown spot proximally on the outer side of tibia and tarsus, and a further spot at the junction of femur and tibia. Wings semi-hyaline, whitish ; iridescent scales on the discocellulars, also above and below the anal vein and over the distal one- fourth of the wing ; these scales on the hindwing are somewhat less prominent than on the forewing ; fringes whitish. Underside of both wings, and fringes, whitish.
Expanse : $? 49-58 mm.
1 ? (holotype), 15. v. 1931, and 1 ? (paratype), February 1931, Kuala Lumpur; 1 ? (paratype), Bukit Kutu, Selangor, 3,500 ft., 16.iii. 1931 ; all taken at light by H. M. Pendlebury ; F.M.S. Museum. Holotype presented to British Museum.
Resembles Leucoma diaphana Moore (1879), but is a much smaller insect. I have also compared it with ,^rj of L. marginalis Wlkr. (1862), but it Ls evidently distinct.
15. Leucoma niphobola sp. nov. (plate I, fig. 26).
(J. Palpus cartridge-buff, the tip tawny olive. A small aborted proboscis. Antennal shaft cartridge -buff, pectinations Prout's brown. Thorax cartridge-
gg NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
buff. Abdomen above and beneath whitLsh, thinly scaled ; anal tuft cartridge- bufi. Pectus and legs cartridge-buff, the latter banded with Prout's brown. Wings semi-hyaline ; on the forewing a patch of white shining scales in the centre of the cell, a further patch on the discocellulars, patches interneurally near the origins of 1/3 to anal vein, and a postmedial series of long interneural patches with a few scales of Prout's brown at their distal ends ; costa narrowly cartridge- buff mixed with Prout's brown ; fringe whitish. Hindwing similar to forewing in markings, but with no colouring on the costa, and with cartridge-buff on the inner niargm ; fringe whitish. Underside of both wings without markings ; fringe whitish.
Expanse : <J<J 29-31 mm.
1 tj (holotype) and 2 cjcj (paratypes), Taipmg (E. Seimund) ; F.M.S. Museum. 1 S (paratype), Padang Rengas ; Tring Museum. Holotype pre- sented to British Museum.
16. Leucoma nivosa Wlkr.
Lmcoma nivosa Wlkr., List Lep. Ins. B.M., xxxii, p. 344 (1865) ; Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 312 (1915).
Type, ? (not cj as stated in the original description), Mt. Ophir, Malacca, in Oxford Museum.
1 $, Singapore (H. N. Ridley) ; in British Museum.
This species much resembles L. singaporensis Strand, but (m the $) there is no trace of greenish colour in the veins of the forewing. L. nivosa has a rather heavier and less transparent appearance and, in spite of its specific name, the forewing is creamy white as compared with the snowy white of L. singaporensis. In structure the two species appear to be very similar, although I have not compared the genitalia.
17. Leucoma micacea Wlkr.
Redoa micacea Wlkr., Journ. Linn. Soc. Land. (Zool.), vi, p. 127 (1862). Leiicoma micacfa Wlkr., Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 311, pi. 39d (1915). Leucoma pulverulenia Snell., Iris, viii, p. 138 (1895) ; Seitz, x, p. 310 (1915).
Type, (S, Sarawak, in British Museum.
1 cJ, Penang ; in Trmg Museum. 1 <3, near Jitra, Kedah ; 1 (J, 3,400 ft., Bukit Kutu, Selangor ; 1 S, 1,500 ft., Batang Padang, Perak ; 1 ^, Ginting- Sempak, Pahang ; 1 ?, 500 ft., Kuala Teku, Pahang ; in F.M.S. Museum, Kuala Lumpur.
18. Leucoma flora Swinh.
Leuccnna flora Swinh., Tran.?. Ent. Soc. Lond.. p. 383 (1903); Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 312, pi. 39g (1915).
Type, cJ, Pulau Laut, in British Museum. 1 (J, Singapore (H. N. Ridley) ; in British Museum.
This (S agrees m appearance and venation with Bornean specimens, but is much smaller than the type, 23 mm. as against 28 mm.
19. Leucoma egerina Swinh.
Leucoma egerinn Swinh., .4.M.N.H. (6), xii. p. 213 (1893); Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde. x. p. 311, pi. 39c (1915).
Type, (J, Singapore, in British Museum. 7 (5cJ, 3 $?, Smgapore ; 1 $, Semangho, Selangor; in British Museum.
NOVITATES ZOOLOOICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 57
1 ,:J. Singapore ; 1 $, Penang ; in Tring Museum. 2 $$, Kuala Lumpur ; in F.M.S. Museum.
The $ resembles the (J in general appearance.
20. Caviria impressa Snell.
Leucoma impressa Snell., Tijdschr. v. Ent., xx, p. 8, pi. 1, fig. 1 (1877). Caragola impressa Snell.. Seitz. Grossschm. d. Erde, x. p. ,313 (1915).
Type, 9, Java, in Leiden Museum.
2 (S<S. 3,500 ft., Bukit Kutu, Selangor ; 1 ?, Cheras, Selangor ; 2 ??, Kuala Lumpur ; 1 $, Kuala Tahan, Pahang ; in F.M.S. Museum, Kuala Lumpur.
21. Caviria ochripes Moore.
Stilpnolia ochripes Moore, Lep. Coll. Atk., p. 45 (1879).
Caragola ochripes Moore, Seitz. Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 313, pi. 39d (1915).
Type, $, DarjeeKng, in Berlin Museum.
1 ?, 20.vii.l915, Kuala Lumpur ; in F.M.S. Museum, Kuala Lumpiir. The Malayan specimen corresponds well to the original descriiDtion, and I have little doubt that it is correctly determined.
22. Perina nuda Fabr.
Bomhyx nuda Fabr., Manl. Ins. ii. p. 119 (1787).
Perina nuda Fabr., Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, ii. p. 134, pi. 21d (1910).
Type, (^, India, in British Museum (Bankes collection).
1 c?. Singapore ; 1 $, Penang ; m British Museum. 1 $, Perak ; in Zoolo- gical Museum, Berlin. 1 ^, Kuala Lumpur ; 1 ^, 3,500 ft., Bukit Kutu, Selan- gor ; 1 $, 3,500 ft., Lubok Tamang, Pahang ; in F.M.S. Museum.
23. Porthesia subnotata Wlkr.
Orvasca siihnotala Wlkr., List Lep. Ins. B.M. xxxii, p. 502 (1865). Euproctis subnotata Wlkr., Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, ii, p. 139 (1910).
Type, $, Hindostan, in British Museum.
5 ?9, Singapore ; 2 5$, Kuala Lumpur ; in British Museum. 1 cJ, Penang ; in Tring Museum. 1 ?, Singapore ; 4 ^^, 12 $?, Kuala Lumpur ; 1 ?, 3,500 ft., Bukit Kutu, Selangor ; in F.M.S. Museum.
Malayan specimens are probably indistinguishable from the Indian form, but in the British Museum the available material of the latter is too small for detailed comparison.
24. Porthesia scintillans similis Moore.
Artaxa similis Moore, Cat. Lep. Mus. E.l.C. ii, p. 351 (1859).
Euproctis similis Moore, Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 352, pi. 44c (1918).
Type, ?, Java, in British Museum.
4 $5, Singapore ; in British Museum. 2 $$, Penang ; m Tring Museum. 4 cJcJ, 1 $, Kuala Lumpur ; 1 (J, 3,300 ft., Kedah Peak ; 1 (J, 1 ?, 3,500 ft., Bukit Kutu, Selangor ; in F.M.S. Museum.
Considerably darker in both sexes than P. scintillans Wlkr., and the yellow on the fore wing reduced in area.
58 XOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 11132.
25. PorUiesia limbata Butl.
Arlaxa limljala Butl., III. Het. Br. Miis. v, p. 53, pi. sc, fig, 3 (1881). Euproctis lim'iata Butl., Seitz, Grossschvi. d. Erde, ii, p, 139 (1910).
Type, $, Darjeeling, in British Museum. 1 (^, Kuala Lumpur ; F.M.8. Museum, ex coll. Agric. Dept. On the material available it is not possible to say whether the Malayan race should be separated from the Indian.
26. Porthesia virguncula Wlkr.
Euproctis virguncnla Wlkr., Lut Lep. Ins. B.M. iv, p. 836 (18.55).
Porthesia inrgiincula Wlkr., Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 333, pi. 45b and c (1915).
Type, cJ, Punjab, in British Museum.
1 cj. Malacca ; in Zoological Museum, Berlin.
27. Porthesia orphnaea sp. nov. (plate I, fig. 8).
$. Palpus porrect, light buff. Antennal shaft ochraceous-buff, pectinations lighter. Head ochraceous-buff. Thorax ochraceous-buff to ochraceous-tawny. Abdomen above and beneath bone brown, anal tuft ochraceous-buff. Pectus light buff. Legs light buff to warm buff. Forewing drab, irrorated rather faintly over the whole wing with tawny olive and fuscous ; on two of the para- types there are traces of an antemedial and a postmedial fascia, indicated by a decrease in the irroration ; fringe drab. Hindwing hair brown, fringe drab. Underside of both wings, and fringes, uniform drab.
Expanse : ?? 36-42 mm.
1 ? (holotype), 12.iii.l931, 1 $ (paratype), 17.iii.l93I, 1 $ (paratype), 16. iv. 1926, at light, 3,500 ft., Bukit Kutu, Selangor (H. M. Pendlebury) ; 1 ? (paratype), Sungei Renglet, Pahang, at light, 3,500 ft., 27. ii. 1925 (H. M. Pendle- bury) ; F.M.S. Museum. Holotype presented to British Museum.
28. Euproctis atereta sp. nov. (plate I, fig. 18).
cJ. Palpus upturned, warm buff. Antenna tawny oUve. Head and pata- gium orange-buff, remainder of thorax snuff-brown. Abdomen fuscous, towards the base snuff-brown ; anal tuft light orange-yellow. Pectus, venter and legs warm buff mixed with light buff, front of pectus orange-buff. Forewing saj-al brown irrorated sparsely over the whole wing with fuscous ; on the termen three large semicircular cream-buff spots, one at the apex, another between veins Ml and Ms, another from vein Cul to below vein Cu2 ; fringe sayal brown, cream- buff opposite the terminal spots. Hindwing bistre, terminal area narrowly cream-buff ; fringe cream-buff. Underside of forewing and fringe cream-buff. Underside of hindwing cream-buff ; the area between the cell and inner margin, and as far as the anal angle, bistre ; fringe cream-buff.
Expanse : ^^ 29-37 mm.
1 S (holotype) and 3 ^^ (paratypes), 3, .500 ft., April 1926 and March 1931 ; 1 <S (paratype), Tanah Rata, Cameron's Highlands, Pahang, 4,800 ft., 20. v. 1931 ; all taken at light by H. M. Pendlebury ; F.M.S. Museum. Holotype presented to the British Museum.
This species has much the same appearance as Porthesia similis Moore (1869), but has the venation of an Euproctis.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 59
29. Euproctis atomaria Wlkr.
Artaxa atomaria Wlkr., List Lep. Ins. B.M. iv, p. 796 (1855).
Euproctis atomaria Wlkr., Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, ii, p. 138, pi. 21h (1910) ; Van Eecke, Zool. Med. Leiden, xi, p. 126 (1928).
Type, 9, North India, in British Museum. It should be noted that the insect mentioned in the original description under the heading " female " bears the data " 43.10. North India," while " var. (5 " bears the data " 43.43. East Indies."
1 9, Gunong Tahan (J. Waterstradt) : in Tring Museum.
The Malayan $ is rather larger (expanse 38 mm.) than the type from N. India, with broader and darker forewing. In the absence of further specimens it Ls not possible to decide whether it belongs to a separate race.
30. Euproctis varians Wlkr.
Artaxa varians Wllcr., List Lep. Ins. B.M. iv. p. 796 (1855). Euproctis varians Wlkr., 8eitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, ii, p. 137 (1910).
Type, 9, N. China, in British Museum.
1 (J. 1 ?> Ulw Gombak, .5.x. 1929, larvae on Oryza sativa L. ; \ ^, LHu Langat, 30.x. 1929, larva on 0. sativa ; 1 ^, Serdang, 27.iii.1928, larva on Con- bera odullurn ; 1 $, Kuala Lumpur, 3.x. 1928, larva on Citriis aurantiaca, all G. H. Corbett ; British Museum, ex Imperial Institute of Entomology. 1 cj, Padang Rengas ; 3 c^c?, 2 ?$, Kuala Lumpur ; in Trmg Museum. 1 ^, Malacca ; in Zoological Museum, Berlin. 1 ^^,1 ??, Kuala Lumpur ; in F.M.S. Museum.
31. Euproctis dyssema sp. nov.
c?. Palpus upturned, tawny olive. Antennal shaft pinkish bu£F, pectina- tions tawny olive. Head and thorax ochraceous-bufif. Abdomen bistre, basal segments and anal tuft ochraceous-bufF. Pectus and venter ochraceous-buff. Legs fringed with long hair-scales, jjale yeUow-orange, mixed on foreleg with ochraceous buff. Forewing light yellow-orange, slightly darkened medially below the cell by scattered scales of tawny olive ; a very faint postmedial fascia, lighter than the ground colour and roughly parallel with the termen ; fringe light yellow -orange. Hindwing and fringe light buff, inner marginal area slightly shaded with tawny olive. Underside of both wings light buff, slightly darker in the costal areas ; fringes light buff.
$. Resembles the ^, but forewmg practically without markmg.
Expanse : ^^ 29-37 mm., ?$ 31-37 mm.
1 S (holotype), 1 ^J and 2 $9 (paratypes), Kuala Lumpur, October 1921 (3) and l.i.l931 (1); 2 ,$^ (paratypes), Bukit Kutu, Selangor, 3,450-3,500 ft., 12.iii.l931 and 16. iv. 1926 ; 1 S (paratype), Ginting-Sempak Pass, 21.x. 1921 ; 1 9 (paratype), near Jitra, Kedah, 8.iv.l928 ; F.M.S. Museum. 1 9 (allotype) and 1 (^, 1 9 (paratypes), Singapore, H. N. Ridley ; 1 9 (paratype), Malacca (J. Waterstradt), 1904; British Museum. 3 99 (paratypes), Perak ; Tring Museum. Holotype and one S paratype presented to British Museum.
This species can be distinguished from E. varians Wlkr. by the dark abdomen and larger size. The 99 in the series are rather small as comparefl with the f^,^, but appear to be conspecific. There is no trace of a spot on the discocellulars in either sex.
gQ NOVITATES ZoOLncIOAE XXXVIII. 1932.
Among several small yellow Eiiproctis from Malaya which are before me and which are not in good enough condition for identification, there appears to be at least one additional new species. Bred series of these difficult insects would greatly help in clearing up present uncertainties.
32. Euproctis bipunctapex Hamps.
Somena hipunclapej: Hamps., III. Hel. Br. Mvs. viii, p. 57, pi. cxl, fig. 1.3 (1891). Euproctis bipunctapex Hamps., Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, ii, p. 137, pi. 21h (1910).
Type, ?, Nilgiris, in British Museum. In the original description Hampson apparently refers to Nilgiri specimens of both sexes, but there is no .} from this locality m the British Museum. The ? figured is labelled by him as type of the species.
2 cJt^, 4 9$, Smgapore ; 1 <S, 2,000-3,500 ft., Perak ; in British Museum. 2 (Jc?, Gunong Tahan ; 2 S^, Penang ; in Tring Museum. 1 S, - ??. 3,500 ft., Bukit Kutu, Selangor ; 1 ^, 2 ??, Kuala Lumpur ; 1 S, Taiping ; 1 (J, near Jitra, Kedah ; in F.M.S. Museum.
I have seen no ^ from Southern India, but judging from a comparison of the ?$, Indian and Malayan specimens do not differ.
33. Euproctis bigutta Wlkr.
Euproctis bigidta Wlkr.. List Lep. Ins. B.M. iv, p. 837 (1855) ; Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, ii, p. 138 (1910), and x, p. 337 (1915). Type, cJ. Canara, Malabar Coast, in British Museum.
3 .^^, 2 $?, Singapore ; in British Museum.
The 3 ^ cJ of this series have a small spot on the discocellulars of the fore wing, as in the type. The 2 $$ are without this spot.
34. Euproctis digramma Boisd.
Bombyx digmmma Boisd., in Gu6r., Icon. Regne Anim. de Cuvier, p. 508, pi. 86, fig. 4 (1844). Euproctis digramma Gu&., Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, ii, p. 138 (1910).
Type, (J, Java, in British Museum.
1 $, 2,000-3,500 ft., Perak; m British Museum. 6 cJcJ, Penang; 1 ?, Ipoh, Perak ; in Tring Museum. 2 ??, Kuala Lumpur; 1 ?, 1,800 ft., Batang Padang, Perak ; in F.M.S. Museum.
In addition to the two conspicuous black spots on the forewing between veins Ri-Ro and J/ 1-71/2, some of the above specimens of both sexes show smaller spots between veins iJ3-iJ4 and R5-MI. This is also the case with Javanese specimens.
35. Euproctis bimaculata Wlkr.
Euproctis bimaculata Wlkr., List Lep. Ins. B.M. iv, p. 836 (1855); Moore, Lep. Ceylon, ii, p. 89, pi. 112, figs. 6 and 6b (1883) ; Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, ii, p. 138 (1910).
Type, $, Ceylon, in British Museum.
1 9, Malacca (expanse 44 mm.) ; in Zoological Museum, Berlin.
This species, which is evidently rare, is represented m the British Museum by 2 99 and 1 ^ from Ceylon. They are uniform, showing a cream-colour fore- wing, a white hindwing, and on the discocellulars of the forewmg a very large and almost round black spot, measuring nearly 2 mm. in diameter. The two
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 61
illustrations in Seitz, on pi. 21h of vol. ii and pi. 45h of vol. x, are misleading. The species apjiears to be quite distinct from E. bigulta Wlkr. (1855).
The evidence for the occurrence of the species in Malaya rests on the specimen mentioned above, which has no data other than " Malacca."
36. Euproctis protea sp. nov. (plate I, fig. 13).
(J. Palpus and head ochraceous-buff. Antenna warm buff. Patagium and base of tegula ochraceous-buff, remainder of thorax pinkish buff. Abdomen Verona brown ; anal tuft ochraceous buff, Hght buff at the base. Pectus and venter ochraceous buff mixed with light buff ; legs light buff. Forewing warm buff ; on the discocellulars a conspicuous fuscous spot ; fringe warm buff. Hind- wing light buff mixed with drab, lighter in the costal and terminal areas ; fringe light buff. Underside of both wings, and frmges, light buff.
Expanse : (^^J 34—37 mm.
1 cJ (holotype), Provmce Wellesley, Distant ; in British Museum, ex Joicey collection, 'i <SS (paratypes), Penang, March-April 1897 and 1898 (Curtis) ; 1 (J (paratype), Ipoh, Perak (F. Rankin) ; 1 (^ (paratype), Kasoon Mountains, November 1896 (Curtis) ; in Tring Museum.
There is considerable variation in this species, both in the size of the fuscous spot on the forewing, and also in the ground-colour of fore- and hindwing.
37. Euproctis hapala sp. nov. (plate I, fig. 16).
$. Palpus porrect and rather long, antiinony-yeUow. Antenna and head antimony-yeUow. Thorax much worn, but apparently antimony-yeUow, and with some long spatulate benzo-brown scales tipped with white in patagium and tegula. Abdomen fuscous, mixed with light buff dorsaUy at the base. Pectus and venter light buff, legs light buff to pinkish buff. Forewing Najales yellow ; a broad central band of benzo-brown occupying more than a third of the wing, produced inwardly below the cell to the base of the wing, cUstaUy reaching the postmedial area where it is bounded narrowly with white, and produced between veins MS and C'ul almost to the termen ; along the inner margin some long spatulate benzo-brown scales tipjied with white ; in the apex a small fuscous spot between veins iJ4 and E5, and a large rounded fuscous spot between veins R5 and Ml ; fringe Naples yellow. Hmdwmg light buff, fringe pale pinkish buff. Underside of forewing pale pmkish buff, the central band and Naples-yeUow areas faintly indicated towards the costa and apex, and the two fuscous spots plainly marked in the apex ; fringe Najjles yellow mixed with pale pinkish buff. Underside of hindwmg and fringe pale pinkish buff.
Expanse : 28 mm.
1 ? (holotype), Eraser's Hill, Pahang, at light, 4,200 ft., 5.vii.l931 (H. M. Pendlebury) ; F.M.S. Museum. Kindly presented to British Museum.
Somewhat resembles in facies E. dispersa Moore (1879), but considerably smaller, and without the prolongation of the dark area in the forewmg towards the termen between vems Ml and M2.
38. Euproctis plagiata syngenes subsp. nov. (plate II, fig. 30). $. Palpus porrect, pinkish buff, with a patch of Natal brown on the outer- side. Antennal shaft pinkish buff, pectinations cinnamon-buff. Head and
62 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
patagium Mars yellow, tegiila somewhat lighter. Abdomen above and beneath fuscous, anal tuft, and basal segments dorsally, Mars yellow. Pectus and legs antimony yellow mixed with Mars yellow. Forewing sayal brown, irrorated over the whole wing with fuscous ; a large almost rectangular patch of pale orange-yellow, free of irroration, occupying the origin of veins J/2 to Cu2, and measuring approximately 5x3 mm. ; terminal area for a depth of about 3i mm. pale orange-yellow irrorated with fuscous ; some long lanceolate fuscous scales along the basal half of the inner margm ; fringe pale orange-yellow. Hindwing pale orange-yellow mixed rather heavily with sayal brown and fuscous ; cell pale orange-yellow ; some dark bushy hair -scales between cell and inner margin ; terminal area for a depth of about li mm., and fringe, pale orange-yellow. Underside of forewing pale orange-yellow irrorated with sayal brown, terminal area free of irroration for a depth of about 5 mm., also more narrowly along the inner margin ; frmge pale orange-yellow. Underside of hindwing pale orange- yellow irrorated with sayal brown, terminal area free of irroration for a depth of about 4 mm. ; on the discocellulars a faint dark striga ; frmge pale orange- yellow.
Expanse : 66 mm.
1 $ (holotype). Tana Rata, Cameron's Highlands, Pahang, 4,800 ft., 16. vi. 1926 (D. Kedit) ; F.M.S. Museum. Kindly presented to British Museum.
Can be separated easily from E. plagiata Wlkr. by the presence of dark irroration on upper- and underside of hindwing. The genitaUa appear to differ very little, and I infer that this $ represents the Malayan race of the N. Indian species.
39. Euproctis biplagata Heyl.
Antipha biplagata Heyl., C. R. Soc. Ent. Bdg. i, p. 10 (1892).
Euproctis biplagata Heyl., Van Eecke, Zool. Med. Leiden, xi, p. 125, pi. x, figs. 9a-9c (1928).
Euproctis biplagalana Strand, Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 352 (1918).
Euproctis renifera Swlnh., Trans. Ent. Soc. Land., p. 12 (1895).
Type, (J, Praeanger, Java, in Leiden Museum.
Tjrpe (E. renifera), $, Cherra Punji, Assam, m British Museum.
2 $$, Smgapore ; 1 $, Kuala Lumpur ; in British Museum. 1 $, Padang Rengas ; 1 $, Gunong Ijau, Perak ; in Tring Museum. 1 9, 1,800 ft., Jor Camp, Batang Padang, Perak ; 1 (J, Kuala Lumpur ; 1 $, 3,500 ft., Lubok Tamang, Pahang ; 1 ?, 3,400 ft., Bukit Kutu, Selangor ; 1 ?, 3,300 ft., Kedah Peak ; in F.M.S. Museum.
1 have identified these Malayan $$ with the Javanese and Sumatran E. biplagata Heyl. on the strength of van Eecke's description and figures, which support the original description.
A comparison of the genitalia of a Javanese ^J and of a (J from Assam shows no distinction, and E. renifera Swinh. should sink to E. biplagata Heyl., as already suspected by van Eecke.
40. Euproctis atrisignata Swinh.
Evjiroclis atrisignata Swinh., Trans. Ent. Soc. Land., p. 423 (1903) ; Seitz, Grossschm. d, Erde, x, p. 339, pi. 44c (1915).
Type, cJ, Singapore, in British Museum.
2 (?(?. 1 ? (neallotype), Singapore ; in British Museum. 3 cJ(J, Kuala Limipur ; in F.M.S. Museum.
I
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 63
The 9, which has not hitherto been described, resembles the cJ, but the white spots along the termen of the forewing are barely visible, and there is a somewhat heavier irroration of dark scales on the forewing. This irroration of dark scales Ls not mentioned in Swinhoe's original description of the ,^, but is nevertheless present in the type and in the other specimens enumerated above.
41. Euproctis minutissima Swinh.
Euproctia minutissima Swinh., Trans. Ent. Soc. Land., p. 425 (1903) ; Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 339, pi. 44c (1915).
Type, cJ, Singapore (H. N. Ridley), in British Museum. 42. Euproctis chirunda Swinh.
Euproctis chirunda Swinh., Trans, Ent. Soc. Lond., p. 422 (1903) ; Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 349, pi. 44a (1918).
Type, 9, Sandakan, in British Museum.
1 9, Singapore ; in Zoological Museum, Berlin. 1 $, Kuala Lumpur ; in F.M.S. Museum.
There is a further $ in the British Museum from Lebong Tandai, Benkoelen, Sumatra, but I have seen no ^JJ.
43. Euproctis hemicyclia Collnt.
Euproctis hemicyclia Collnt., Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., p. 69 (1930).
Type, (^, Sumatra, in British Museum.
1 ?, at light, 4,200 ft., Fraser's Hill, Pahang, 2 . vii. 1931 (H. M. Pendlebury) ; in F.M.S. Museum.
This species was described from a series taken in S.W. Sumatra, at a height of 5,000-7,300 ft., and may prove to be confined to high elevations.
44. Euproctis ruptata Wlkr.
Ariaxa (?) ruptata Wlkr., Joum, Linn. Soc, Lond, (Zool.), v\. p. 126 (1862). Euproctis ruptata Wlkr., Seitz, Grossschm. d, Erde, x, p. 349 (1918).
Type, (J, Sarawak, in Oxford Museum.
1 (?, at light, 3,500 ft., 7.vi.l923, Lubok Tamang, Pahang ; and 1 (J, 1 ?, at light, 13. vi. 1931 and 20. v. 1931, Kuala Lumpur (all taken by H. M. Pendle- bury) ; in F.M.S. Museum.
The type is in poor condition and without an abdomen, but the Malayan specimens appear to correspond.
The insect which I take to be the $ has similar venation, and the same pattern can be traced on the forewing, but in a more diffuse and less clear-cut form. The abdomen is dark, with a large, light-coloured anal tuft, and there is dark irroration over the whole of the hindwing. Expanse 28 mm.
45. Euproctis lyclene Swinh.
Euproctis lyclene Swinh., Trans, Ent, Soc, Lond., p. 144 (1904) ; id., Sarawak Mus, Journal, iii, p. 141 (1926) (o') ; Seitz, Grossschm, d, Erde. x, p. 349 (1918).
Type, $, Kuchmg, Borneo, in British Museum. Neallotype, J, Mt. Poi, Sarawak, in British Museum.
64 NOVTTATES ZOOLOOICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
1 ?, at light, 1,800 ft., 20.1.1925, Jor Camp, Batang Padang, Perak (H. M. Pendlebury) ; iii F.M.S. Museum.
I have seen only the two type specimens and the present 9 from Perak, all of which are in poor condition. The Malayan specimen is probably shown correctly under this name, but is much larger than the type — 34 mm. as against 23 mm.
46. Euproctis stenopa sp. nov. (plate II, fig. 29).
cJ. Palpus upturned, warm buff, on the outer side cinnamon-brown. Antemial shaft light buff, pectinations buckthorn-brown. Head warm buff. Thorax ochraceous-tawiiy, shading posteriorly to drab. Abdomen above and beneath fuscous, anal tuft tawny olive. Pectus and legs light buff. Forewing pale pinkish buff, irrorated fairly heavily with fuscous, more lightly in the apical area ; basal third of wing lightly shaded with drab ; three conspicuous fuscous subtermuial spots, one on vein Ml, another between veins J/3 and Cul, and another just above the anal vein ; fringe pale pinkish buff mixed sparsely with fuscous. Hmdwing drab ; fringe pale pinkish buff, this colour slightly invading the wing area near the anal angle. Underside of both wings snuff-brown, gradmg to pale pinkish buff in the distal third of each wing ; fringes pale pinkish buff.
Expanse : ^JcJ 34-37 mm.
1 (J (holotype), 11. ix. 1929, and 1 ^ (paratype), 16. iv. 1926, at light, 3,450-3,500 ft., Bukit Kutu, Selangor (H. M. Pendlebury) ; 1 (J (paratype). The Gap, Pahang, March 1921 ; 1 t^ (paratype), Kuala Lumpur, at light, 6. iii. 1918; F.M.S. Museum. Holot5rpe presented to British Museum.
47. Euproctis cheela Swinh.
Euproctis cheela Swinh., Trans. Ent. Soc. Land., p. 412 (1903) ; Seitz, Qrosssckm. d. Erde, x, p. 341 (1915).
Type, (J, Singapore, in British Museum.
3 (J J, Singapore ; in British Museum.
The 9 of this species appears to be unknown.
48. Euproctis flavociliata Swinh.
Euproctis flavociliata Swinh., AJl.N.H. (7). vii, p. 465 (1901) ; Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 342, pi. 44a (1915).
Type, 9, Perak, in British Museum.
1 $, Singapore ; in British Museum. 1 $, Penang ; 1 ?, Perak ; in Tring Museum. 1 $, Kuala Lumpur ; in F.M.S. Museum.
I have not been able to identify the ^ of this species.
49. Euproctis singapura Swinh.
Artaxa singapura Swinh., Cat. Lep. Het. Oxford, i, p. 189, pi. vi, fig. 19 (1892). Euproctis singapura Swinh., Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 343 (1915).
Type, cj, Singapore, in Oxford Museum.
Other than the type, I have seen no specimen of this insect. It appears to be quite distinct from E. varians Wlkr., having an expanse of 28 mm. (lyV inches) as against 18-22 mm. in the series of 15 Malayan cJ(^ of £. varians in the present paper.
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 65
50. Euproctis callipotama .sp. nov. (plate I, fig. 4).
9. Palpus long and poriect, [)mkish buff, tipped with tawny. Antenna pinkish buS. Head and thorax pinkish buff, mixed on vertex and patagium with ochraceous-buff. Abdomen above and beneath fuscous, anal tuft ochraceous- buff. Pectus and legs pinkish buff to pale pinkish buff. Forewing cream-colour, irrorated thickly with bone-brown, but with basal and costal areas almost free of irroration ; an antemedial fascia, indicated by an absence of irroration, runs from the origin of vein Cu2 oblique inwardly to the inner margin ; a patch free of irroration is situated at the origin of veins M2 to Cul ; occupying the apex is a patch free of irroration, having a conspicuous fuscous spot at its centre and extending downwards to vein R5 ; a further free patch occurs between veins Ml and 312, extending inwards to about 3 mm. from the termen ; fringe cream- colour, mixed with bone-brown except from the apex to vem R5, Ml to M3, and Cul to Cu2. Hindwing drab, with a narrow border of cream -colour along the termen ; fringe cream-colour. Underside of forewing drab ; inner marginal area below the anal vein pale pinkish buff ; the two light areas on the termen of the upperside are reproduced and rather extended in area, but without the fuscous spot ; fringe pale pmkish buff to cream-colour, mixed with drab. Under- side of hindwmg, and fringe, pale pinkish buff, shading to drab in the basal third of the wing.
Expanse : 43 mm.
1 ? (holotype), Sungei Renglet, Pahang, at light, 3,500 ft., 4.iii. 1925 (H. M. Pendlebury) ; F.M.S. Museum. Kindly presented to the British Museum.
This insect is nearly related to an umiamed (J and $ in the British Museum, from Assam, and also to E. kanshireia Wileman (1910).
51. Euproctis singapura Swinh.
Artaxa singapura Swinh., Cat. Lep. Het. Oxford, i, p. 189, pi. 6, fig. 19 (1892) ; Seitz, Grosasehm. d. Erde, x, p. 343 (1915).
Type, cJ, Singapore, in Oxford Museum.
I have seen no Malayan specimens of this species other than the type.
52. Euproctis javana epirotica subsp. nov. (plate II, fig. 37).
$. Palpus, head, patagium and base of tegula warm buff, remainder of thorax benzo-brown. Anteimal shaft warm buff, the pectinations darker. Abdomen above and beneath benzo-brown ; anal tuft large, tawny oUve, at the base warm buff. Pectus and legs hght buff mixed with warm buff. Forewing cinnamon-brown ; a semicircular patch of buff-yellow above the end of the cell ; a fuscous spot on the discocellulars just mside the cinnamon-brown area ; terminal area buff-yellow, the cinnamon-brown reachmg the termen at the apex and at vein J/ 3 ; frmge buff-yeUow. Hmdwing benzo-brown ; fringe, and termen narrowly, buff -yellow. Underside of both wings, and fringes, much as on upperside, but with costa of forewing narrowly buff-yeUow, and without the fuscous spot on the discocellulars.
Expanse : 46 mm.
1 $ (holotype), Kampong Padang, TembiUng River, Pahang, at light, 27. ii. 1923 (H. W. Wooly) ; F.M.S. Museum. Kindly presented to British Museum.
5
66 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
In examples of E. javana Aiiriv. the black spot on the discocellulars of the forewing is in the centre of a semicircle of yellow, but in the Malayan $ described above it is just inside the cinnamon-brown area. This and other differences seem to indicate subspecific rank for the Malayan form, but this should be revised when (J (J are avaUable.
Euproctis varia Wlkr. (1855), illustrated on pi. ixa, fig. 5, of Moore's Cat. Lep. Mns. E.I.C. ii, is a very distinct form from E. varia var. javana Auriv., Ent. Tijskr., p. 174 (April 1894), and I now raise the latter to the status of a species. The insects represented on pi. ix, figs. 12 and 12a of Zool. Med. Leiden, Deel xi, belong to the form which I recognize as E. javana Auriv.
1 have compared the genitalia of the tjrpe J of E. oreosaura Swinh., A.M .N.H. (6), xiv, p. 4,35 (December 1894), with those of specimens of E. javana and find a considerable difference, especially in the shape of the valve. I therefore regard E. varia Wlkr. (N. India), E. oreosaura Swinh. (Cherra Punji) and E. javanu Auriv. (Java) as distinct species.
53. Euproctis ormea Swinh.
Euproctis ormea Swiah., Trans. Ent. Soc. Land., p. 426 (1903) ; Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 347, pi. 44f (1918).
Type, 9, S.E. Borneo, in British Museum.
2 $?, larva on Aleurites montana, Kuala Lumpur ; in British Museum.
54. Euproctis postnigra Swinh.
Euproctis postnigra Swinh., Trans. Ent. Soc. Land., p. 421 (1903); Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 348, pi. 43d (1918).
Type, $, Matang, Borneo, in British Museum.
1 $, 1920, The Gap, Pahang ; in F.M.S. Museum.
The Malayan specimen has the ochreous ground-colour of the forewing less bright than in the type, and the hindwing is of a lighter tint of brown. This may be due to fading.
55. Euproctis xanthomela Wlkr.
Euproctis xanthomela Wlkr., Jmirn. Linn. Soc. Land. (Zool.), vi, p. 128 (1862) ; Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 348 (1918).
Type, cj, Sarawak, in Oxford Museum.
1 <J, 3,300 ft., Bukit Kutu, Selangor ; in British Museum. 2 c^^, 3,400- 3,500 ft., Bukit Kutu ; 1 S, Kuala Tahan, Pahang ; in F.M.S. Museum.
In the original description Walker remarks that E. xanthomela " is most allied to " E. atomaria. He refers here to E. atomaria Wlkr., List Lep. Ins. B.M . iv, p. 837, 1855 (nom. praeocc) = E. catala Swinh. (1903), and not, as stated by Strand in Seitz, to E. atomaria Wlkr., List Lep. Ins. B.M . iv, p. 796 (1855).
56. Euproctis cincta Swinh.
Euproctis cincta Swinh., A.M.N.H. (7), xvii, p. 541 (1906); Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 348 (1918).
Type, (J, Kina Balu, in British Museum.
1 (J, 1 .ii.l923, Singapore (C. J. Saunders) ; in F.M.S. Museum. The Singapore specimen has the distal third of the hindwing yellowish white, but at least one ^ in the British Museum series from Kina Balu matches it in
NOVTTATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 67
this respect. As the determination is based on only one (^ it is not without doubt, but a comparison of the genitalia gives no clear characters for separation.
57. Euproctis moalata Swinh.
Euproctis divisa Wlkr., Joum. Linn. Soc. Land. (Zool.), vi, p. 129 (1862) (nom. praeocc). Euproctis moalata Swinh., A.M.N. H. (8), xviii, p. 216 (1916). Euproctis divisdla Strand, Seitz, Grossschm. d. Erde, x, p. 347 (1918).
Type, <J, Sarawak, in Oxford Museum.
2 cJ(J, 3,450-3,500 ft., Bukit Kutu, Selangor ; in F.M.S. Museum.
In the F.M.S. Museum is a 9from Kuala Lumpur, taken at light on 7.ii. 1931 by H. M. Pendlebury, which may belong to this species. It resembles the (J, but has a faint dark spot on the discocellulars of the fore wing, while the ochreous border of the hindwing is confined to the fringe. Expanse 47 mm. Further material is required to verify the determination.
The majority of cJc^ from Sarawak have a faintly marked light spot on the discocellulars of the fore wing.
58. Euproctis inunda Wlkr.
Euproctis munda Wlkr., Joum. Linn. Soc. Land. (Zool.), vi, p. 129 (1862) ; Seitz, Orossschm. d.Erde, X, p. 348, pi. 44h (1918).
Type, c?. Sarawak, in British Museum.
6 (J (J, 1 5, Singapore ; 5 $$, Kuala Lumpur ; in British Museum. 2 (J (J, Penang ; in Tring Museum.
A comparison of the genitalia of the type ^ and of 2 Singapore (^^ shows no difference on which they should be separated.
There is considerable variation in the forewing of both sexes, from that which in the words of the original description is entirely " very pale fawn-coloiu" or nankeen colour," to a form in which the wmg is darker, with a border of buff-yellow some 1 J mm. broad along the termen and less plainly along the distal half of the costa, where it tends to merge into the ground-colour. These forms are satisfactorily linked together m the series of 5 $$ from Kuala Lumpur, where both are present in insects reared from larvae feeding on Canangium odoratum.
59. Euproctis leucophleba sp. nov. (plate II, fig. 31).
$. Palpus porrect, pinkish buff. Antennal shaft verona brown, pectma- tions Mars yellow. Head and thorax Mars yellow ; some long spatulate hair- scales with light tips in patagium and tegula. Abdomen above and beneath Saccardo's umber, anal tuft ochraceous-tawny. Pectus and legs pale pinkish buff to clay-colour. Forewing yellow-ochre, irrorated evenly and rather thickly with fuscous ; all veins whitish exceptmg in the basal half of costal area ; on the discocellulars an oblong fuscous spot, below which, embracing the origin of veins M2, Jf 3, Cu\ and Cii2, is a large and conspicuous patch of white ; fringe yellow- ochre, mixed with fuscous interneurally. Hindwing Saccardo's imiber, fringe hght buff. Underside of both wings snuff-brown, grading in the subterminai areas to light buff irrorated with snuff-brown ; fringes light buff, mixed inter- neiu'ally in the forewing with fuscous.
Expanse : ?$ 39-45 mm.
68 NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932.
1 $ (holotype), Lebong Sandai, Benkoelen, S.W. Sumatra ; British Museum (ex Joicey collection). 1 $, Padang Rengas, Perak ; Tring Museum.
The Malayan specimen, which Ls not in such good condition as the type from Sumatra, agrees well in facies but is smaller in expanse.
Somewhat resembles E. posinigra Swinh. (1903), in which, however, the light patch on the forewing is beyond the discocellulars instead of below.
60. Euproctis corbetti Tams.
Xygmia corhetli Tams, A.M.N.H. (10), i, p. 626 (1928).
Type, (J, Kuala Lumpur, in British Museum. Larva feeding on Aleurites montana.
1 $, Singapore, originally described as the allotype of Euproctis ridleyi Swinh. ; in British Museum. 1 $, Kuala Lumpur ; in Oxford Museum.
Both sexes have three pairs of faint white spots on the termen of the fore- wing, arranged as in E. atrisigmita Swinh. (1903). There is also a black spot on the discocellulars of the forewing, plainly visible in the 5$, but indistmct in the (J holotype owing to the rubbed condition of the specimen.
61. Euproctis tamsi sp. nov. (plate II, fig. 38).
cj. Palpus short, upturned, tawny-olive, mixed laterally and above with fuscous. Antemial shaft drab, pectinations ochraceous-tawny. Head and thorax tawny-ohve. Abdomen above and beneath Prout's brown, anal tuft ochraceous-buff. Pectus and legs light buff to warm buff. Forewing pinkish bufP, irrorated with fuscous and orange-buff ; a rather large fuscous spot on the discocellulars ; a broad postmedial fascia composed of interneural fuscous spots, running at right angles from the costa down to vein M 1 , thence slightly bowed inwardly to the inner margin at a httle more than one-half ; fringe pinkish buff mixed with fuscous and orange-buff. HLndwing snuff-brown, grading to pinkish buff in the termmal and costal areas ; fringe pmkish buff lightly mixed with snuff -brown. Underside of forewing pinkish buff, mixed in and beyond the cell with snuff-brown ; fringe pinkish buff. Underside of hindwmg pinkish buff, mixed m the basal half of wing with snuff-brown ; fringe pinkish buff.
Expanse : 44-47 mm.
1 cJ (holotype), Bukit Kutu, Selangor, at light, 3,500 ft., 13. iv. 1926 (H. M. Pendlebury) ; 1 ^J (paratype), Bukit Kutu, 3,400 ft., August 1915 ; 1 (^ (para- type), Kedah Peak, at light, 3,300 ft., 19.iii. 1928 (H. M. Pendlebury) ; m F.M.S. Museum. Holotype presented to British Museum.
A distmct species, which cannot be confused with any other.
62. Euproctis erema sp. nov. (plate I, fig. 25).
$. Palpus and head pale yellow-orange, palpus porrect, third segment downturned. Antenna cinnamon-buff. Thorax light buff mixed with ochra- ceous-tawny. Abdomen fuscous, the basal segments lighter ; anal tuft rather large, pinkish buff. Pectus and venter light buff ; legs TpaAe yellow-orange. Forewing antimony-yellow, irrorated with ochraceous-tawny and fuscous ; a broad medial band formed by an increase in the fuscous irroration, bordered proximally by a light-coloured almost straight antemedial fascia running at right angles to the inner margin, and bordered distaUy by a Ught-coloured postmedial
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXXVIII. 1932. 69
fascia bowed (convexity terminad) from costa to vein Cu2, thence parallel with the termen to the inner margin ; two large circular preterminal fuscous spots, one between veins i?4 and i?5, the other between veins Ml and M2 ; fringe antimony-yellow mixed with ochraceous-tawny. Hindwing drab ; fringe tilleul- bufl. Underside of forewing drab ; terminal area lighter ; fringe antimony- yellow. Utiderside of hindwing tilleul-bu£F slightly shaded with drab ; fringe tilleul-buff.
Expanse : 31 mm.
1 9 (holotype), Bukit Kutu, Selangor, at light, 3,500 ft., 18.iii.l931 (H. M. Pendlebury) ; F.M.S. Museum. Kmdly presented to British Museum.
Resembles E. icelomorpha Swmh. (1906) and E. perplexa Swinh. (1903), but with a broader medial band in the forewing, and without the whitish line joining the antemedial and postmedial fascias.
63. Euproctis acodes sp. nov. (plate I, fig. 2).
(J. Palpus upturned, cirmamon-brown. Antennal shaft cinnamon-brown, pectinations ochraceous-tawny. Head ochraceous-buff. Thorax sayal-brown. Abdomen above and beneath snuff-brown, somewhat lighter dorsally towards the base ; anal tuft ocliraceous-buflf, lighter