Letters, Announcements, S^'b. 537 



and a small spot on each side of the breast, scarlet ; forehead 

 greenish yellow shading into light blue, a line above and below 

 the eye bright blue ; the sides of the occiput, and whole neck 

 and nape, very dark green, tipped with crescents of bright 

 shining green ; upper plumage rich dark green, with the quills 

 brown as in all the other Megalcematince. 



In size it is rather larger than M. mystacophanus ; wing 3'9, 

 tail 2-7 in. 



Hab. Borneo. 



From M. mystacophanus it may be distinguished by the fol- 

 lowing characters : — 



Forehead. Throat. Superciliary Mystacial 

 streak. spot. 



M. mystacophanus . . Golden-yellow. Scarlet. Black. Yellow. 



M. humii Greenish-yellow, Pale green. Blue. Blue. 



shading into blue. 



Among the Asiatic species of the group the sexes do not differ, 

 and in the young bird the whole plumage is generally green, 

 the bright colours of the head being gradually assumed. It was 

 thought that the green throat of M. humii — an uncommon colour 

 in the adult bird, would turn into scarlet, and the greenish fore- 

 head into golden-yellow ; but the fact that in many specimens 

 the scarlet on the occiput was fully developed, while not a trace 

 had appeared on the throat, raised doubts in our minds. A few 

 weeks ago we received a specimen from Penang of the young 

 stage of the trueilf. mystacophanus, which had the scarlet on the 

 throat almost entirely developed, while the occipital spot was still 

 tinged with green and mixed with green feathers. This settles 

 the question of the distinctness of tlie species. 



All the specimens that we have as yet seen of M. humii are from 

 Borneo — M. mystacophanus being found in Malacca and Su- 

 matra. We have not seen enough examples to be able to speak 

 with any certainty on this point ; but the Bornean species, while 

 distinct, present in so many cases analogies to the correspond- 

 ing species of Malacca and Sumatra, that it is probable that this 

 gives one more instance of the generic similarity, and specific 

 distinctness, of the fauna of these districts. 



N. S. VOL. VI. 2 Q 



