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Show 262 MR. W. A. FORBES ON THE GENUS MYZOMELA. [Mar. 4, tectricibus alarum et uropygio brunneis; fronte anguste gulaque rubris ; alis caudaque fuscis, pennis anguste flavido limbatis ; et subcaudalibus flavo-albidis ; rostro pedibusque cornels. Hab. in insula Banda. This species is confined to the island of Banda, where it is not uncommon, according to Muller, in the nutmeg-plantations. The male resembles M. erythrocephala (ex insulis Aru), but differs from it in the black and white colours being purer and more contrasted. The female is extremely like that of M. adolphince, but is smaller, has the breast greyer, the forehead redder, and the yellowish-olive margins to the quills more conspicuous. The iris is "brown" (S. Muller ; Murray). 6. MYZOMELA ERYTHROCEPHALA. Myzomela erythrocephala, Gould, P. Z. S. 1839, p. 144 ; id. B. A. iv.pl. 64 ; id. Handb. B. A. i. p. 556 (nee Meyer, Sitzungsber. Wien. Akad. lxx. pp. 204-206). eS capite, dorso inferiore et uropygio intense coccineis; pallio, dorso superiore, alis caudaque cum torque pectorali fuliginosis, remigibus subtilissime olivaceo limbatis ; abdomine et subcaudalibus sordide olivaceo-griseis ; subalaribus et margine interna albis ; macula anteoculari nigra ; rostro nigricante, pedibus nigro-corneis. Long, tota circa 4*0, al. 2*4, caud. 1*75, rostr. •55, tars. *55 (poll. Angl.). Hab. in Australia septentrionali, insulis Aru, et Nova Guinea me-ridionali. There is some doubt as to the exact range of this species, and as to whether one or more species have not been included by various writers under the same name. Unfortunately I have not been able to see a sufficient number of specimens to clear up the question, the solution of which must wait till a larger series from different parts becomes available for comparison. Myzomela erythrocephala was first described by Mr. Gould from specimens from Port Essington, and was characterized as " intense fusca, capite et uropygio coccineis." This description agrees well enough with the figures in his folio work, and with the skins in the British Museum from Aru collected by Wallace. In the text, however, as also in the ' Handbook,' the general colour of the plumage is described as " deep chocolate-brown," a term which can hardly be said to agree either with " intense fusca " or with the figures. In one of his expeditions to Southern New Guinea, Signor D'Al-bertis obtained a single male (nearly or quite adult) of a Myzomela at Mon, Hall Bay, of which Count Salvadori, in the account of the collection (Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. vii. p. 825, 1875), says that it in no way differs from one from Australia with which he has compared it, and further remarks that Gould's plate is inaccurate in representing the back &c. as almost black, instead of only slightly darker than the under surface. In a letter to me, however, he says that now he is " not quite satisfied as to this bird being the same as the Australian species ; this and the Aru bird seem to me much |