OCR Text |
Show 182 MR. J. GOULD ON A NEW PARRAKEET. [Feb. 14, collector. Some ardent "anthropologists" having requested him to procure them some Aino's skulls, he tried to procure them, was informed against by a foreign consul, who did not appreciate science, imprisoned in Japan, and then sent home in confinement. When I first saw him on his return he was almost a living skeleton, in a most pitiable state of bodily and mental prostration. Under good nourishment and nursing he has slowly recovered, and is about to proceed to the Peruvian Andes to continue his labours as a zoological collector. I may observe that there appear to be two very distinct Otters found in Formosa. Two imperfect skulls sent by Mr. Swinhoe certainly belong to two very distinct species. The most perfect skull, which wants the cutting-teeth, belongs to the first section of the genus, as defined in m y paper above referred to, with moderate-sized tubercular grinders, and a moderate-sized inner lobe to the flesh-tooth. The second, on the contrary, which only consists of the front portion of the upper jaw, with the teeth in change from the milk to the permanent series, has a very large square tubercular grinder and a very large rounded internal lobe to the flesh-tooth, as in the second section, which I have called Hydrogale, in the same monograph. I propose to indicate this species by the name of Lutra (Hydrogale) swinhoei. It is easily characterized by the small size of the upper cutting-teeth, the series forming only a width of 4\ lines ; while the series of most other Indian Otters occupy 6 lines or half an inch, or sometimes rather more. 2. O n a N e w Australian Parrakeet. By J O H N GOULD, F.R.S. &c Mr. Coxen, of Brisbane in Queensland, having forwarded correct drawing of a small species of Parrakeet, new to the Australian avifauna, I hasten to bring it under the notice of the Zoological Society, and to name the bird Cyclopsitta coxeni, in honour of the gentleman who has been the first to make us aware of the existence of the species. In size and in some other respects it is nearly allied to the Cyclopsitta diophthalma of Mysol, but differs in the absence of scarlet on the crown and the smaller extent of that colour on the cheeks. CYCLOPSITTA COXENI, Gould. General plumage green; across the forehead a narrow band of red, which unites through the lores with a large patch of the same hue on the ear-coverts, beneath which is a patch of blue ; primaries margined with blue ; a patch of red on the tertiaries near the body ; tail short and wholly green ; bill very stout and of a horn-colour. Total length 7| inches, bill f, wing 3|, tail 2, tarsi \. Remark.-In the note accompanying the drawing Mr. Coxen states that two examples of this bird were procured by Mr. Waller |