306 Mr. W. A. Forbes on the 



tioned first in the list of species included, there can be little 

 doubt that in reality Lesson had in view, when he made the 

 genus, the bird at present under discussion, which must there- 

 fore be considered the type of Mascarinus. 



As regards the specific name, at various times three names 

 have been proposed for, or applied to, this bird — mascarinus 

 of Brisson (Orn. iv. p. 315, 1760, " Psiitacus mascarinus"), 

 madagascariensis of Lesson (Traite, p. 189, 1831, "Masca- 

 rinus madagascariensis"), and obscurus of Linnseus (S. N. i. 

 p. 140, 1766, " Psittacus obscurus"). If the bird is to be 

 placed in a genus Mascarinus, the first of these specific names 

 obviously cannot be applied. As regards the second, atc 

 already know from the Messrs. Newtons^ excellent article on 

 the Mascarene Psittaci (Ibis, 1876, p^ 285) that there is no 

 evidence to show that the " Mascarin " ever occurred else- 

 where than in Bourbon, and hence " madagascariensis " is 

 equally inapplicable. The Psittacus obscurus of Linnseus was 

 founded on the description of a Parrot in captivity observed 

 by Hasselquist during his travels in the east (Iter Pal. p. 236, 

 1757), and about which no subsequent information has ever 

 been obtained. Hasselquist^s description does not fit any 

 species of Parrot at present known, and certainly not Mas- 

 carinus ; and as Linnreus's diagnosis, " Psittacus macrourus, 

 fuscus, genis nudis rubris, vertice cinereo-nigrescente vario, 

 Cauda cinerea " (S. N. i. p. 140, 1766), is equally inapplicable, 

 the name "obscurus" had better be relegated to the region 

 of mysteries, and entirely dropped^. 



This being the case, there is no other course open than to 

 use a new specific name ; and, at Prof. Newton's suggestion, 

 I propose that of duboisi, in memory of the French voyager 

 Du Bois, who visited Madagascar and Bourbon in 1669-72, 



* Linnseus, indeed, quotes Psittacus mascariiius of Brisson as a synonym 

 of his P. obscurus ; but the words " capisirum nigrum,^^ after the diagnosis, as 

 well as " ffcnis nudis rubris,'' about which Hasselquist, in his very lengthy 

 description, says nothing — so that they are probably only a paraphrase of 

 Brissou's phrase " oculorum amhitu nudo, coccineo,'' — suggest that his dia- 

 gnosis was compounded by grafting on part of Brisson's diagnosis an abs- 

 tract of Hfisselquist's description. 



