ARTICLES 



261 



to find violet and blue laid down on the back more often than 

 on the under parts, and vice versa for red. For purposes of 

 classification the bird's body is divided into three areas according 

 to the lighting, as shown in fig. 1. 



Two families of birds were chosen for analysis, the Nectari- 

 niidae (monograph Shelley, London, 1876 to 1880) and the 

 Loriidae (monograph Mivart, London, 1896). 



Table No. 10 gives the occurrences of violet, blue, and red 



40 



30 



MALES 



10 



-1 mninii 



R 



O 



W 



Bl 



Br 



FEMALES 



30 



10 



R 



O V 



Satyrinae (36) 



Diagram No. 9. 



W Bl Br 



in these areas. In the Nectariniidae these colours occur only 

 in the male ; and the table shows that in them violet and blue 

 occur more often on the dorsal than the lateral surfaces, and 

 more often on the lateral than on the ventral ; and that red 

 has the opposite distribution. In the Loriidae the sexes are 

 alike, but the colour distribution is similar to that of the Nec- 

 tariniidae, with the exception that there is no difference between 

 the lateral and ventral surfaces as regards the number of times 



