Vol. 36, pp. 59-62 March 28, 1923 PROCEEDINGS OF THK BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON STATUS OF SPERMOPHILA SCHISTACEA LAWRENCE. BY THOMAS E. PENARD. In comparing some Gray Seed-eaters from Surinam with a large series of Sporophila intermedia Cabanis ( = S. grisea of authors) from various parts of northern South America, I have particularly noted the shallowness of the maxilla, the darker color of both male and female, and the longer wing and shorter tarsus of the Guiana birds, all suggestive of kinship to the bird described by Lawrence (Ann. Lye. N. Y., VII, 1862, p. 474) as Spermophila schistacea, and listed by Ridgway (Birds of North and Middle America, I, 1901, p. 566) as a subspecies of Sporo-phila grisea under the name Sporophila grisea schistacea (Law-rence) . Through the kindness of Dr. Frank M. Chapman of the American Museum of Natural History, I have also been able to compare the Surinam specimens with the type of Spermo-phila schistacea which originally came from Lion Hill Station on the Panama Railroad. These investigations show that S. schistacea is not a form of S. intermedia, but a different species, represented in Surinam and French Guiana by a distinct form. In addition to the charac-ters distinguishing S. schistacea from S. intermedia already pointed out by Ridgway (I. c), I find that the wing formulas of the two species are entirely different, affording an excellent means of identification. The structural characters may be briefly summarized as follows: Sporophila intermedia. — Maxilla deeper, culmen strongly convex; wing rounded and shorter (less than 60 mm. in the male); first (outermost) primary comparatively short — shorter than fifth; tail long; tarsus long (15 mm. or more). 8— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. 36, 1923. (59)
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