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Show 1881.] DR. A, B. MEYER ON A NEW ECLECTUS, 917 " I hope to be able to send you soon a detailed account of this experiment, which is, so far as I am aware, the first successful one, and which will put Dr. Meyer's discovery as to the sexual differences of Eclectus beyond any doubt." The following papers were read :-• 1. O n a new Species of. Eclectus from the Timorlaut Islands. By A. B. M E Y E R , M.D., C.M.Z.S., Director Royal Zoo-logical Museum, Dresden. [Eeceived October 18, 1881.] In a collection of birdskins which Mr. Riedel, the well-known Dutch Resident formerly at Gorontalo and Timor Kupang, and now at Amboina, has recently sent to the Dresden Museum from the islands of Sumba, Timor, and the smaller ones to the east as far as Aru, and on which I hope to be able soon to publish some notes, I immediately perceived, when unpacking them, the skin of a red Eclectus which differs from all others known to me. It may be described thus :- ECLECTUS RIEDELI, sp. nov. Fcem. Capite et collo coccineis; dorso, uropygio, supracaudali- Bus, tectriciBus alarum, remigiBus secundariis externe, suBalari-bus minoribus, pectore et abdomine ruBro-puniceis; margine alarum et pogonio externo remigum primariorum cyaneis ; suB-caudaliBus caudaque apice pulchre flavis; cauda supra ruBro-punicea, suBtusfiava, basin versus aurorescente; rostro pedibusque nigris. Long. tot. circa 360 millim., al. 220, caud. circa rostri30 (culmin. 40), tarsi 20. Hab. in ins. Timorlaut: Cera. Although no sex has been assigned to the specimen by the hunter, I nevertheless, judging from analogy, do not doubt the least that it is the female of a green Eclectus which still remains to be discovered; besides, on raising the red feathers, green spots and greenish tints come into appearance here and there. Eclectus riedeli resembles E. cornelia, Bp. (P. Z. S. 1849, pi. xi.), with the exception of the tail and under tail-coverts, which are rather those of E. roratus (P. L. S. Miill.) female (E. grandis auct.), with the difference only that the underparts of the tail are more yellowish than reddish. Its specific difference from the last-named bird is obvious at a glance, there being no violet at all on the back and belly in E. riedeli; and the same character distinguishes it from E. cardinalis (Bodd.) female, as well as from E. pectoralis (P. L. S. Miill.) female (E. linnai auct.), from which last species it stands furthest apart. The red hue of the head differs somewhat from that in all three species named. I cannot compare this hue with that of E. cornelia, of which no specimen is within my reach ; and as to the |