ON THE GENUS MYZOMELA. 81 



mens from Matuku are in the British Museum (Rayner). Its occur- 

 rence in the Samoan group has not yet been confirmed (cf. Whitmee, 

 Ibis, 1875, p. 447). Hombron and Jacqumot indicated their " Myzomele 

 solitaire" as being from the "lies Salomon " with some doubt; and, 

 relying on them, Mr. Sclater included " M. solitaria " in his list of 

 Solomon-Island Birds (P. Z. S. 1809, p. 124), where, however, only M. 

 lafargii, so far as is yet known, occurs. 



9. MYZOMELA LAFAKGII. 



Myzomela lafargii, Hombr. & Jacq. Yoy. Pole Sud, Zool. iii. p. 98, 

 t. 22. f. 5 (1853). 



Oorjpore supra cum capite, gutture et pectore superiore nigris ; occipite 

 coccineo ; abdomine flavido-olivaceo ; alis caudaque nigris, remigibus P- z - S- 1879, 

 olivaceo-limbatis, subalaribus albis; rostro nigro, pedibus plumbeis. 



Sab. in insulis Salomonis. 



This species was obtained by the French Expedition to the South 

 Pole ; and the type specimen in the Paris Museum remains, I believe, 

 unique in Europe. M. Oustalet, to whom I wrote for information 

 about it, kindly replies to me, on comparing it with the figure in the 

 Atlas to the ' Yoyage : ' " Je trouve dans celle-ci quelques inexactitudes. 

 Les proportions de 1'oiseau ont ete un peu exagerees : le noir de la gorge 

 a ete trop etendu et trop marque. L'oiseau type est plus petit, et il a le 

 haut de la gorge seulement noir, le bas, vers la poitrine, etant un peu 

 mele de jaune verdatre." 



M. lafargii is somewhat allied to M. jugularis of the Fijis, but differs 

 from the latter in having the red confined to the top of the head, and in 

 the throat and chest being black. 



10. MYZOMELA SCLATERI, sp. n. (Plate III. fig. 2.) 



cJ corpore supra, alis caudaque jusco-nigricantibus, capite saturatiore, 

 plumis dorsi inferioris apice flavidis ; remigibus, alarum tectricibus 

 et rectricibus externe olivaceo-flavo limbatis ; gula splendide coccinea ; 

 corpore subtusgriseo-flavido, gutture sordidiore ; subalaribus et margine 

 interna remigum albis ; rostro nigro, pedibus obscuris. Long. tot. 

 circa 4'5, al. 3*65, caud. 1*7, rostr. *6, tars. *55 (poll. Angl.). 

 Hab. in Nova Britannia. 



A few weeks ago Mr. Sclater, after whom I propose to name this new 

 species, lent me for examination a single specimen of it, marked " male/' 

 which he had recently received in a letter together with two Pachycephalce, 

 from the Rev. G. Brown, C.M.Z.S., of the Wesleyan Mission at present 

 established on the Duke-of-York Islands. The exact locality given on 

 the label is " Palakiiru Island, New-Britain coast." I have not been 

 able to find Palakiiru Island on any map ; but it is probably only an 

 islet lying close to the shores of the larger island. 



At first I had some doubts as to this individual being adult ; but now 



G 



