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Show 126 DR. O. FINSCH ON A RARE PARROT. [Feb. 11, non-existent in Australia. Two species of it occur in New Guinea (G. dumonti and G. anais). Of the former of these we meet with a beautiful representative in the present collection from the Solomons. Again, the existence in the Solomons of two species of true Lorius and one of Geoffroius is quite sufficient to show the Papuan tendencies of the fauna ; and from these facts alone Mr. Wallace has already included the Solomon Islands in his Austro-Malayan region*. The subsequent discovery of a second species of the peculiar Papuan type Nasiterna in the Solomons has materially strengthened Mr. Wallace's argument from what was then known of the Psittacine fauna of these islands. O n the whole, therefore, it is manifest that the results derivable from the study of the present collection serve only to confirm the views Mr. Wallace has already put forward upon the avifauna of the Solomons, namely that these islands constitute an eastern outlier of the Papuan subregion. It need hardly be added that this makes the further investigation of their fauna still more desirable. Where such forms as Nasiterna pusio and Gracula kreffti occur, it is reasonable to expect that other brilliant representatives of Papuan types likewise remain to be discovered. It would not be surprising if even new species of Paradiseee were yet to be found in some of these islands, or in the adjacent lands of N e w Ireland or N e w Britain, the latter of which has already produced to us a very remarkable form of one of the most characteristic of Papuan types (Casuarius bennettii). Under these circumstances, I trust that our Corresponding Member Mr. Krefft and other numerous friends in Sydney will use their best endeavours to persuade the owners of the vessels which, as I understand, are trading between Sydney and these islands to lose no opportunity of acquiring specimens of their natural productions. And I trust that the time may not be far distant when it may be possible to fit out a regular expedition for the investigation of this rich but hitherto comparatively neglected district. 2. O n a very rare Parrot from the Solomon Islands. B y Dr. O . F I N S C H , C.M.Z.S. (Plate XI.) Amongst the species of Parrots which are more or less obscure there is scarcely one rarer than the Lori cardinal of M M . Hombron and Jacquinot, which is only known by the figure published in the A-Ulas of Dumont-d'Urville's 'Voyage au Pole Sud' (pl. 24 bis. fig. 2) in the year 1843. This plate represents a Lory belonging apparently to the subgenus Eos, Bp., being throughout of a brilliant scarlet, therefore an unmistakable species. The descriptive part of the zoology of the French voyage, published ten years later, by * Cf. P. Z. S. 1864, p. 278. |
