18 The strange case of Athene cliiaradise. 



described, does not appear to me to strengthen the sup- 

 position that they belong to a new species ; on the contrary, 

 those very differences appear to me to furnish the key to 

 explain how the strange anomaly has been produced — an 

 anomaly which I am inclined to consider one of the many • 

 forms of allocroism, because whilst on one hand we have here 

 albinism caused by the disappearance of pigment, on the 

 other we have melanism by its condensation in other parts 

 of the same feather." 



I am sorry not to be able to agree with my friend Prof. 

 Martorelli, who has my full esteem as a very competent 

 and conscientious ornithologist. But, as I have already 

 remarked, the two first specimens of A. chiaradice do not 

 differ and are perfectly alike ; and although I do not pro- 

 fess to be a specialist as regards the evolution of pigment in 

 the feathers of birds, I cannot see any traces of albinism 

 or of melanism in the singular small Owl which I call 

 A. chiaradice. 



In this case the question of its being a good species or 

 not is of second-rate importance, and besides, in my opinion, 

 it cannot at present be either upheld or denied. The very 

 remarkable new form generated deserves to be kept distinct 

 in the interest of a scientific problem of much greater im- 

 portance than the mere addition to the Systema Avium of a 

 new species. 



I believe that neogenesis gives a logical explanation of 

 the strange case of A. chiaradia. But neogenesis, which 

 appears to be of frequent occurrence amongst plants, has 

 rarely been noted in animals, and I believe never before 

 amongst Vertebrata in a wild state. 



Finally, as I have said before, neogenesis may or may not 

 lead to the establishment of a new species. 



Royal Zoological Museum, Florence, 

 25th August, 1902. 



