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Show I 1879.] MR. W. A. FORBES O N THE GENUS MYZOMELA. 273 22. MYZOMELA LIFUENSIS. Myzomela lifuensis, E. L. and L. C. Layard, Ibis, 1878, p. 258. cf capite, dorso uropygioque coccineis; alis, cauda et corpore subtus toto cum macula anteoculari fuliginoso-nigris; alis caudaque nitore nonnullo metallico ; remigum margine interna albida ; rostro nigro, pedibus nigro-corneis. Long, tota circa 4*2, al. 2*5, caud. 1*75, rostr. *55, tars. '68 (poll. Angl.). Hab. in Lifu, ex insulis " Loyalty " dictis. Canon Tristram having kindly submitted to me two skins (now in his collection, both marked " males " and adult) collected by the Messrs. Layard, who first indicated this species, I can give a more complete account of it, and say that it is certainly a very good species. It is nearly allied to M. nigriventris and M. cardinalis of the Samoas and New Hebrides respectively, more particularly to the last, but is at once distinguished from both by the red below not extending beyond the head, the breast being sooty-black like all the rest of the lower parts. It is also a considerably smaller bird ; the bill is shorter and more slender; the tarsi are not so stout, and the claws smaller. From Myzomela erythrocephala it is easily distinguishable by the uniform black of the lower parts. Mr. Layard notes the " beak black, legs very dark brown, iris dark brown," and food " insects." Both specimens were obtained at Hepenehe, the chief town in the island of Lifu, the largest of the Loyalty Islands. Whether M. erythrocephala of Marie's list (Ibis, 1877, p. 362) is this bird, remains uncertain ; as yet, M. caledonica is the only Myzomela certainly known to be found on New Caledonia itself. 23. MYZOMELA CHERMESINA. (Plate XXV. fig. 1.) Myzomela chermesina, Gray & Mitch. G. B. i. pi. 38 (1840) (fig. mala) ; Gray, Cat. B. Trop. Isl. p. 11 (1859) ; Forbes, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 352. cf ad. fusco-nigricans, alis caudaque nitore nonnullo metallico ; mento, gula, pectore lateribusque abdominis, cum dorso uropygioque nitide coccineis, plumis ad basin nigris; subalaribus nigris, remigum pogonio interno griseo ; rostro nigro, pedibus brunneo-cornels. Long, tota circa 4-|, al. 3, caud. 2, rostri -|, tarsi | (poll. Angl.). Hab. in insulis Pacificis Rotumah et Mallikollo. This species was first figured by Messrs. Gray and Mitchell in their ' Genera of Birds ;' but no description was given, the species being only mentioned in the list of the species of Myzomela ; nor was any habitat indicated. Bonaparte, and Gray later on, in his ' Handlist' (vol. i. no. 1989), gave " N e w Guinea ?" as the locality, without any apparent reason for so doing. The bird was never recognized again till last year, when Mr. Sclater received two specimens, an adult male and a nearly adult female1, from the Rev. G. Brown, C.M.Z.S., of the Wesleyan Mission, together with some other birds, from the small 1 These birds are now in the Paris Museum. PROC. ZOOL. Soc-1879, No. XVIII. 18 |