304 Letters, Announcements, £fc. 



the same time writing to Dr. Sclater for information con- 

 cerning his new bird. 



3. Having received a short time afterwards^ through Dr. 

 Sclater^s kindness, a copy of his article in ' Nature/ I learnt 

 for the first time that his bird was also from the Arfak moun- 

 tains in New Guinea, having been discovered by Mr. d^Al- 

 bertis, and was immediately struck by the many similar points 

 of the two descriptions in question. Nevertheless I remained 

 in some doubt about their identity ; and as many instances 

 occur of two closely allied but different species living together 

 in the same locality, I resolved to wait till my collections, 

 which I expected every day, were in my hands, so as to be 

 enabled to make rigorous comparison. I therefore had no 

 reason whatever " to cancel my redescription " (as Dr. Sclater 

 expresses himself), besides it being only a copy of another 

 notice published some months before. 



4. When part of my birds at last arrived, later than I ex- 

 pected, and I unpacked some of them in Berlin (January 

 1874), I compared my Epimachus wilhelmince with the Dre- 

 panornis albertisi, Scl., and became quite convinced that they 

 were identical. I therefore immediately (Jan. 15th) sent a 

 note to the editoi* of the ' Journal fiir Ornithologie,^ in which 

 I stated this fact and withdrew my name, at the same time 

 transferring the specific name wilhelmince to a new little 

 Trichoglossus : see ' Journal fiir Ornithologie,' 1874, Heft i. 

 and ' Zoologischer Garten,^ 1 874 (a letter to the editor dated 

 Feb. 7th, Vienna).' 



As these facts, simple and convincing as they are, speak 

 for themselves without further comment, and as there now 

 remains no reason whatever to impute any " unfair " acts or 

 intentions on my part, I know Dr. Sclater himself will be 

 " fair " enough to acknowledge his satisfaction with my " ex- 

 planation," which he provoked, and to declare that there was 

 no question of an " attempt to obtain an unfair priority/^ 



Yours truly, 



Adolf Bernhard Meyer. 



