298 



REPORT OP NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1890. 



cealing the nostrils or else permitting them to be seen only as a narrow 

 slit beneath the lower edge of the feathering. 



FIG. 13. Head of Hylocharis sapphirinz, show- FiG.14 .Head of Eugenia imperatrix, showing dense 

 ing naked nostrils, with overhanging mem- leathering over nostrils, 



brane. 



Variations in the form of the wing. As already stated (see page 289), 

 the first primary is invariably the longest, except in two genera, Aithu- 

 rus, in which it is decidely shorter than the second, and Altliis, in 

 which the first and second are about the same length. 



FIG. 15. Wing Aithurus polytmus. 



FIG. 16. Wing of Bylonympha macrocerca. 



Usually, the outer primary is not different in shape from the second ; 

 but occasionally it is quite different, as in the genera Lafresnaya and 

 Agcelactis, in which it is very narrow for the entire length, the tip 



FIG. 17. Wing of Atthis cllioti. FIG. 18. Primaries of Selasphorut platycerus. (Under 



sido showing peculiar form of first and second 

 quills.) 



curved inward or upward; and in certain species of Selasphorus, in 

 which the tip is contracted and curved outward, as shown in the ac- 

 companying diagrams : . 



FIG. 19, Wing of Lafresnaya flavicaudata. 



FlG. 20 Wing of Aglceactis cnpreipennis. (Under sido, showing very narrow outer quill.) 



