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Show 990 ON A RARE BIRD FROM THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. [Dec. 15, foot of II. appear, together with a descriptive note by Mr. Teget-meier, in the ' Field,' 1896, vol. 88, p. 464. Attention was called to the fact that it is not the same pair of digits which are the most webbed in all cases ; for in both feet of II. the web was developed chiefly between digits 3 and 4, while in I. the greatest development was between digits 2 and 3. Prof. Newton, F.R.S., sent for exhibition a mounted specimen of a rare bird from the Sandwich Islands, accompanied by the following remarks:- I submit for exhibition the type specimen of Heterorhynchus olivaceus, Lafresnaye (Magasin de Zoologie, 1839, pl. x. ; Revue Zoologique, 1840, p. 321), which has been entrusted to my care by the courtesy of the authorities of the Natural History Society of Boston, and the kindness of the Curator of its Museum, Professor Alpheus Hyatt. Soon after the return, in the winter of 1888-9, of Mr. Scott B. Wilson from his first visit to the Sandwich Islands, he brought the collection of bird-skins he had there made to Cambridge that it might be worked out. I gladly gave him all the help I could, and m y applications to that end for the loan of specimens were generously granted by the custodians of several museums. One of the specimens I was most anxious for M r . Wilson to see was the type of Lafresnaye's species above mentioned. This was included in the lithographed catalogue of that ornithologist's collection (No. 5677 bis) and was presumably in tbe Museum at Boston ; but all Prof. Hyatt's efforts to find it were vain. Consequently M r .Wilson had to do the best he could without examining it, and, as may be seen in bis paper " O n three undescribed Species of the Genus Hemlgnathus" (Annals and Magazine of Natural History, ser. 6, iv. pp. 400-402), he followed the example already set him bv Cassin (United States Exploring Expedition, Mainm. & Orn. pp." 179, 180), by M r . Sclater (Ibis, 1879, p. 92), and by Dr. Sharpe (Cat. B. Brit. Mus. x. p .4) in keeping Lafresnaye's bird distinct from the Hemlgnathus lucldus of Lichtenstein (Abhandl. k. Akad. Berlin, 1838, p. 451, tab. 5. figs. 2, 3). Towards the end of last summer I received a letter from Prof. Hyatt, referring to our former correspondence and telling m e that, " In looking over the collection this year, one of m y assistants found the Heterorhynchus olivaceus, 5677 bis, Lafresnaye Catalogue. Remembering the fact that you had applied for it, and looking up the matter and consulting your communication, I thought it best to inform you that this specimen had reappeared. It was misplaced, and consequently could not be found at the time it was needed." At m y request Prof. Hyatt obtained leave to send this specimen to me, and before returning it to Boston it seems desirable to exhibit it at a meeting of the Zoological Society, as I believe that no adult male example of this extinct species has been before seen |