145 
who possesses the deepest knowledge of each and every class of ver- 
tebrate animals, and whose literary and truly philosophical attain- 
ments are only equaled by his practical and thorough acquaintance 
with species, the only solid base of our science. ; 
Hab. In Insulis Moluccis ; most probably from Ceram. 
The total length of this Parrot is 1 English foot 2 inches, the wings 
measuring 83 inches, and its tail 53 inches. The bill is black, as in 
the other Noble-Lories (£ec/ecti), and the small portion of the cere 
that remains uncovered by the red feathers of the front is greyish ; 
the red colour on the head is brighter than on the rest of the plumage, 
and somewhat lighter than in the other species ; the naked ring around 
the eye is very narrow and grey, without the small blue feathers that 
surround it in Helectus puniceus only ; the iris is stramineous and ex- 
teriorly of a reddish colour; the pupil, excessively dilatable, is blue- 
black. The feet are grey, with the granular little scales blackish ; 
the nails black. The quills are greenish internally, reddish externally, 
but with their point of a shining blue; on the under surface they are 
entirely blackish ; the under wing-coverts are red, intermixed with 
blue. The tail-feathers are of a dull red, with black shafts, and in- 
ternally somewhat greenish. The bottom of the whole plumage is 
lead-colour. 
The absence of blue on the back and abdomen at once distinguishes 
our new Parrot from both its congeneric species, the red colour pre- 
vailing so much on its plumage that even the under wing-coverts are 
variegated with that colour, and not pure blue as in the others. Our 
which are 20 (21 and 19 in the others), whilst the new species agrees with afri- 
canus in hie number of sacral vertebrz (4), and with indicus in that of the caudal 
ones (34). ; 
Of the Birds I shall only mention Agelastes meleagrides, Temm., a lesser Tale- 
galla, furnished with a strong spur, very rounded wings, and a flat tail. The head 
and neck are naked; avery broad white collar; all the rest of the plumage black, 
finely undulated with white. 
In the Reptiles a new Viperine may be spoken of with great interest, consti- 
tuting certainly an independent genus (Chloroechis, Schlegel), and showing that 
Nature takes pleasure in hiding under the similarity of tints the snares of a de- 
testable animal, as the innocence of the females of showy birds affords them pro- 
tection against the tyrants of the air. The green colour of this poisonous Ser- 
pent from Ashantee, as well as its forms, recall the Dendrophidine, and make it, 
though a true Viperine, lead an arboreal life, and conceal its perfidious power 
among the foliage of the trees. 
From the Amphibians a dozen of undescribed Hyladine will prove Africa not so 
deficient of these elegant Frogs as it has been supposed to be; whilst another 
small Batrachian from New Holland (Myiobatrachus paradoxus, Schlegel) has 
the general appearance of a Bombinator, but with the body rounded and the legs 
and toes shortish, somewhat connected or at least entangled by the marginal skin of 
the flanks. It is rendered remarkable in the whole class of Amphibia by two long 
curved canine teeth situated towards the end of the superior jaw, and much re- 
sembling fangs. 
Among the Fishes I have particularly admired a Percine from the Cape, allied 
to the dnthias buphthalmos of my ‘ Fauna Italica,’ and called by Schlegel Anthias 
gibbiceps . . .. But what, if hundreds of new species of that class (and I am still 
dazzled by the sight of many and many even of my favourite Pleuronectide) would 
by their being well known greatly benefit our science, and alone give convincing 
proof of the propriety, nay, I may add, of the urgent necessity, of the publication ? 
No. CXCIX.—Proceepinés or THE Zoo.oeicat Society. 
