Mr. D. (r. Klliot on the Troclulida;. 405 



Petasophora coruscans, 



Petasophora coruscans, Gould^ P. Z. S. 1846, p. 44; id. 

 Mon. Troch. vol. iv. pi. 226 ; id. Intr. Troch. (8vo ed.) p. 125. 

 sp. 251. 



Hub. ? 



For a long time this bird has been a puzzle to me. 1 do not 

 altogether like its appearance as a species; but at the same time 

 I cannot exactly understand what may have caused, the pecu- 

 liar coloration of the throat. I have only seen two speci- 

 mens — one in Mr. Gould's collection, from which his figures 

 were taken, and one in my own, precisely similar^ as was 

 proved on comparing the two together. These are the only 

 examples, I believe, that have ever been procured ; and the 

 locality of neither is known. My specimen came in a large 

 lot of about 4000 birds, nominally from Bogota ; and there 

 was no other in any way resembling it, although careful 

 search was made. I have tried the effect of heat upon other 

 specimens of Petasophora, to see if I could change the green 

 metallic colours to the red so conspicuous on the throat of 

 P. coruscans, but without success ; and I know of no acid with 

 which the bird in life or the skin afterwards would be likely 

 to have come into contact, that would produce the change. 

 With only a single specimen for us to form an opinion, we 

 should, not unnaturally, decide that it was a curious individual 

 variation ; but with two exactly alike, it would seem strange 

 that so peculiar a difference should have been produced acci- 

 dentally; and i£ it had been, the thought naturally arises. Why 

 does it not occur oftener among the thousands of specimens 

 of the different species of Petasophora constantly brought to 

 Europe ? That a similar style does exist, in one other in- 

 stance, is proved from the fact that I have an example of 

 Petasophora in my collection smaller than coruscans, and 

 evidently not the same species, which has the entire throat 

 a bright metallic red. This colour does not spread to the 

 chest, as is the case with the similar colour in P. coruscans, 

 but is restricted to the centre of the throat, which it entirely 

 covers. Now if P. coruscans is a distinct species, this unde- 



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