Laterallus Gray antedates Creciscus Cabanis

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a published letter irom a correspondent, dato 1 16 Feb. 1857, shows that part 24 must haVe made iis appea rance Some timeastor that date. This mouid s00m to dispose of Creciscus and open up the Wayior tho employment of ei ther Rufiralius or Laterirallus, Sinuethe w00kly paris of the Comptes Rendues in Whicli those names were published appeared on schedule So far as known. There is, hoWever, a Stili earlier name, Lateralius G. R. Gray. The historyof this name is as tollows. Bonaparte published one of his numerous Conspecti V in Ann. Sci. Νat., ZOOl. , Ser 6, 1, 1854, p. 105-152. On p. 150 he lisis the genera os Rallidae and undergonus 2012 Hypotaenidia Reich. he proposes subgenuS d, Laterassus Ep. This nume is an absolute nomen nudem at this appeti rance, haVing no included species and no diagnosis, butwas validaled by G. R. Gray, Cat. Gen. and Subgen. BdS.

1855, p. 120, Who, though he credited the name to Pr. B. V, designated Rallus melanophaia Vieillos as the type of the genus. Lateralius appears to have been lost si glit os, though it is listodas of Bonaparto 1854 in Waterhouse Index Generum Avium 1889 and Richmond montions it in his third List os Genserie Thruis of Birds,V 1917, p. 571. Just how Gray discovered What species Bonaparte intendedio include in his genus is not clear but he must have had somelnkling through Bonaparte himself, for in the Compi. Rend. 43, 1856, p. 599, Bonaparte lisis the species under the genera Rufiralius and Lateriralius sic), the lalter no doubi an emendation os Lateraltus, and there the first species under Lateri ratiusis Gallinula albi frons Swa inson, whicli is a synonym os Rallus melanophatus melilol. Αs long as Rallus jamaicensis Gmelin and Rallus melanophatus Visiillot are kept in the sume genus, the proper generie nameior the group is Laterallias Gray. In concluding I Would add that Hails as a Whole present a problem to any one With a tendency to lump genera. Αn ancientand widely distributed group, eaeli species ShoWS certain eXternat structural characters that Seem to be os more than specificvalue, yet is these characters are to be considered os generio worth w0 aro faued with a multiplicity of monotypic genera that wili completely Obscure the close relationships that appear