"206 GENEEA ASD SPECIES. 



minimus of Linnaeus, Buffon, Edwards, and 

 Latham, which is stated to measure only 1^- in 

 total length, and to which Mr. Bullock apparently 

 alludes in the following words ? " In Jamaica I 

 procured the smallest species known, which is 

 considerably less than some of the bees." We 

 can only answer that we have never seen this 

 species, but the Prince of Canino puts it into 

 his restricted genus MELLISUGA. It is there 

 recorded as Trochilus minimus, Swains, ex Linn. 

 Least Humming-bird, Sloane, Jamaica, t. 264. i. 

 Edwards's Birds, t. 105 ? Brisson, Ornith. iii. t. 

 36. i. Prom the Antilles. In its colouring it 

 resembles the Vervain Humming-bird. We may 

 jere remark, that Sloane describes his Least 

 Humming-bird as about li inch long, from the 

 end of the bill to that of the tail ; while in his 

 figure the bill alone measures f of an inch, and 

 the whole bird 2f . Now, with this fact before 

 us, can we trust to vague admeasurements, to 

 vague observations, and after all may not Grosse's 

 Vervain Humming-bird, and Sloane' s Least 

 Humming-bird, be identical ? 



Gtenus SELASPHOBTJS, Swainson. 



A splendid group, in which the gorget con- 

 sists of large scaly feathers, of intense metallic 

 lustre. The beak is fine and straight ; the tail 

 feathers are narrow, and the wings delicate. 

 These birds are Les Rubis of Lesson. 



As examples we may refer to the Nootka 



