506 Letters^, Announcements, ^c. 



P. flavifrons, or an inlial)itant of another gi'oup of islands. 

 So far as we know, it is not found either in Samoa^ Tonga, 

 or Fiji. 



Mr. Whitmce identifies the Samoan " Green Dove " as 

 Ptilinopus fasciatus, Peale, and regards P. apicalis, Bp., as a 

 synonym of P. perousii, Peale. Herein I think he is mis- 

 taken ; and I think, by this time, having received P. fas- 

 ciatus sent from here, he will now agree with me. P. fas- 

 ciatus, though closely resembling P. apicalis, differs essen- 

 tially from it, as I have pointed out in a paper recently trans- 

 mitted to the Zoological Society, and does not, I feel sure, 

 extend its range to Samoa, though Drs. Finsch and Hartlaub 

 include it in their list of Samoan birds. I fear their authority. 

 Dr. GrafFe, was not, from all I hear, sufficiently careful in 

 recording the habitats of the species he collected ; for orni- 

 thology had by no means a first claim on his attention. 



The Samoan bird agrees with Bonaparte's curt description 

 of P. apicalis, as given by Finsch and Hartlaub, as far as it 

 goes ; but then whose description is this ? In the illustrated 

 catalogue of the Museum GodefFroy, which I saw in Samoa, the 

 Samoan bird is figured with the name of P. fasciatus, Peale. 



Now, Mr. Editor, my Fijian-killed specimens are in the 

 hands of Lord Walden and others; and Mr. Whitmee's Samoan 

 birds are in Canon Tristram's care ; I doubt not oriyinal de- 

 scriptions are accessible to you : will you help us wanderers 

 and sojourners in " foreign parts " to " unravel the tangled 

 skein of our doubts." 



Yours &c., 



E. L. Layard. 



P.S. There is no question that Lobiospiza notabilis, F. & H., 

 is the young of Erythrura cyanovir'ens, Peale. The same 

 peculiarities characterize the young of our Fijian E. pealii, 

 Hartl. 



Sir, — I have just received for inspection from Count Turati 

 a bird which, on the original label of the unknown collector, 

 bears written, " Tatare viridis ? , Viti Levu, Aug. 15." 



