ON THE GENUS MYZOMELA. 71 



The abnormal tufted tongue, the retention of the furcula, and the sharp 

 pointed wings may be regarded as adaptations to its tree- and flower- 

 loving modes of life, and not as due to any consanguinity with the 

 TrichoglossinaB. Lathamus may be a more or less modified remnant of a 

 group that branched off from the common stock with the progenitors of 

 the more typical Platycerci, and of which all the others have become extinct 

 (perhaps due to the competition with the more specialized Trichoglos- 

 sinae) ; or it may be a member of the Platycercine group that has become 

 specialized to modes of life like those of the true Lories and Lorikeets, 

 and so has come to resemble them in some few superficial particulars. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE I. 



Figs. 1, 2. Back and side views of Lathamus discolor, showing pterylosis. 

 3, 4. The same of Platycercus pennantii. 

 5, 6. The same of Trichoglossus concinnus. 



7. Mandible, deprived of horny sheath, ofEosrubra. 



8. The same of Lathamus discolor. 



9. Skull, seen from above, of Eos rubra. 



10. The same of Lathamus discolor. 



11. Pelvis of Lorius tricolor. 



12. The same of Lathamus discolor. 



16. A SYNOPSIS OF THE MELIPHAGINE GENUS P. z. s. 1879, 

 MYZOMELA, WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF TWO NEW p>266 ' 

 SPECIES.* 



(Plates II. & III.) 



THE genus Myzomela t was instituted by Messrs. Vigors and Horsfield 

 in their paper on Australian birds in the Linnean Society's ' Transactions ' 

 for 1826 (vol. xv. p. 316, note), Myzomela sanguinolenta, Lath, (for 

 M. cardinalis, Grm. apud Vig. & Horsf. I. c., is clearly not that species, 

 but the smaller Australian one), being the type. 



Lesson (Traite d'Orn. p. 298) in 1831 established a " sous-genre " 

 PhylidonyriS) in which were included Certhia sanguinolenta, Ginnyris 

 rubrater, and Cinrtyris eques; but this name must be, as he himself 

 observes, regarded as merely a synonym of Myzomela. 



Beichenbach in 1851 (Handb. d. spec. Orn. p. 283) made Cinnyris 

 eques the type of a new genus Cosmeteira, which he included amongst the 

 Nectariniidae, its dull colours, with no metallic gloss, being apparently 

 the chief reason for the separation. This species, however, in tongue, 

 bill, feet, and, in fact, in all points is a true Myzomela, though it has 



* Proc. Zool. Soc. 1879, pp. 256-279, Pis. XXIV. & XXV. Bead Mar. 4, 1879. 

 t pi><i>, I suck in, /ieAi, honey; hence Myzomela. 



