374 Miscellaneous. 



collar of dull maroon, all the feathers obscurely margined with 

 metallic purple ; chest also dull maroon, similarly obscured by 

 purplish margins, which become broader and more distinct on 

 the breast, which is black like the rest of the under surface, 

 the metallic margins disappearing on the flanks and abdomen ; 

 under Aving-coverts also dull brown, like the inner margin of 

 the wing. Total length 28 inches, wing 11'5, tail 16*5, 

 tarsus 3*4, pendent lobes 1*25. 



Hub. Mountains of Lanos, Northern Borneo. 



The unique specimen from which the above description has 

 been taken has been presented to the Trustees of the British 

 Museum by His Excellency H. E. Bulwer, C.M.G., Governor 

 of Labuan. The wattles and ornaments on the face are stated 

 to have been bright ultramarine in life. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Notes on the Varieties of the Western- American Weasels. 

 By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. &c. 



The British Museum has lately received several specimeus of these 

 animals. They show the variation in colour and markings that occur 

 in the same species and in specimens from the same locality. 



Mustela brasiliensis. 



There are specimens from Yeragua, Guatemala, and Costa Rica, 

 which generally have a white spot on the forehead between the eyes, 

 and an oblique white streak from the back of the orbit to the front 

 and underside of the ears ; these spots and streaks vary in breadth. 

 One specimen, from Veragua, has the head blackish brown, and with 

 only a very indistinct white spot in front of the ears ; and another, 

 from Columbia, has only the small white spot on the forehead just 

 between the eyes, and none on the side of the head. In another, 

 large one, from Costa Rica, the head is entirely blackish, without any 

 white spot or streak whatever. The specimens vary in the width of 

 the yellow on the abdomen. In general the underpart of the thighs 

 is yellow ; but in one from Costa Rica the yellow part of the abdomen 

 is narrow, and the whole underpart of the thighs is dark brown. 



None of the specimens with the abdomen and the inner side of the 

 thighs yellow has the yellow spot on the front upper margin of the 

 thigh as represented in Taczanowski's figure of Mustela macrura from 

 Central Peru (P. Z. S. 1874, pi. xlviii.), which is otherwise very like 

 a variety of Mustela brasiliensis ; and as the quantity of yellow seems 

 to vary in the specimens of that species, it may be only an individual 

 variety. There is a specimen of this species from Mexico which is 



