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Show 1901.] ON THE PTERYLOSIS OP THE GIANT HUMMING-BIRD. 311 Two specimens from the foot of Gunong Inas : one, very young, I caught running on the trunk of a tree, the other, a female, on the ground ; its dimensions are : - Length of head 11 mm. „ body 35 „ tail 75 „ ,, fore limb 20 „ ,, bind limb 20 „ Breadth of head 5 „ I have much pleasure in naming this species after Mr. Stanley Flower, to whose work on the Keptilian fauna of the Malay Peninsula I am much indebted. LYGOSOMA CHALCIDES (Linn."). L/p/osoma chalcides, Boulenger, Cat. Liz. iii. p. 340 ; S. S. Flower, P.Z.S. 1899, p. 652. Malay name, " Ular Berkaki " or legged snake. Specimens were collected at Ban Kong Bab in Patalung and at Khota Bharu, Baman. The natives regard it as the young of Typhlops or Cylindrophis, and say that its legs gradually grow smaller and smaller until they finally disappear. 3. On the Pterylosis of the Giant Humming-bird (Patagona gigas). By Professor D ' A R C Y W E N T W O R T H T H O M P S O N, C.B., F.Z.S. [Eeceived April 2, 1901.] (Text-figures 77-82.) Our know lege of the pterylosis of the Humming-birds is extremely scanty. It is based mainly on Nitzsch's very brief notes, supplemented by some observations of Dr. Shufeldt's. Nitzsch's very elementary figures are the only ones that I am acquainted with. The following account is based on the examination of a spirit-specimen of Patagona received lately by the Museum of University College, Dundee, from Mr. Alexander Kodger of the Perth Museum. THE PTERYLOSIS OF THE HEAD. The feathering of the head may be most simply described as starting backwards from the base of the bill in three lateral lines and a median ventral one. The three lateral lines start respectively (a) from the base of the upper mandible, above the nasal flap or cover ; (b) from the neighbourhood of the nostril below the level of its cover; (c) from below the gape parallel to tbe line of the jaw. The upper lateral baud (a), corresponding to the fronto-parietal area of Pycraft, forms a closely feathered triangle (text-fig. 77, fr.tr.) over and behiud the nasal valve, after which it narrows so as to leave a moderately wide space in front of and over the eye ; then, the interspaces between its feathers becoming much wider, |