AT^ INSULAK FORM OF MEUiUREPTUS BREVIROSTKIS — NORTH. 21 



feinaU' is shorter, the under surface is more distinctly tinged with 

 brown, and the wing measurement is 2-8 inches. There is only a 

 slight indicati(jn of the white cheek stripe in the other male. 

 Wing measurement, 2-75 inches. The bill of the type is mea- 

 sured as are the bills of all the specimens in the already (juoted 

 Catalogue from the end of the feathers at the base of the forehead 

 to the tip, with a pair of finely-pointed calipers irrespective of 

 any curve of the culmen. 



Types. — To be placed m the South Australian Museum, Ade- 

 laide. 



Co-ty])e. — Australian Museum, 8ydney. 



Habitat. — Kangaroo Island, South Australia. 



These birds with the larger bills constitute a well-defined and 

 apparently constant insular form, ^\■hich I propose in contradis- 

 tinction to specifically distinguish under the name of Mpliflircpfus 

 maytiirostris, the Large-billed Honey -eater. 



The figures in the accompanying plate are of the natural size, 

 and ai'e reproduced from a ])hotograpli of two bird skins laid side 

 by side. One is of an adult male of Jlelithreptus hrevirostris, 

 Vk;. and Horsf., from the collection of the South Australian 

 Museum, Adelaide, procured by Dr. A. M. Morgan at Laura, 

 South Australia ; the other of the type, an adult male, of Mdi- 

 thrrpfiis nuu/nirdstris, obtained by Mr. F. R. Zietz on Kangaroo- 

 Island. 



