ON THE " PERROQUET MASCAR1N " OF BRISSON. 99 



specific name; and, at Prof. Newton's suggestion, I propose that of 

 duboiti, in memory of the French voyager Du Bois, who visited Mada- 

 gascar and Bourbon in 1669-72, and described the various Parrots Ibis, 1879, 

 observed by him on the latter island, including one which is clearly the p ' 307> 

 present bird (cf. Ibis, 1. c. p. 286). 



As regards the systematic position of Mascarinus duboisi, the available 

 material is so scanty that we shall probably never (for the bird is certainly 

 extinct) be able to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion about it. In the 

 form of the beak, the feathered nostrils and lores, the narrow orbital ring, 

 and the structure of its feet, it more resembles the genera Tanygnathus 

 and Palceornis than any of the African genera of Parrots now existing 

 (Psittacus, Coracopsis, PceocepTialus, arid Ayapornis) ; and the forms of the 

 wings and tail point to a similar conclusion. In its general coloration 

 it is decidedly aberrant ; but the fact of its beak being red is also a con- 

 firmation of its Palaeornithine affinities, Prof. Garrod having shown 

 (P. Z. S. 1874, p. 598) that none* but species with normal carotids (a 

 group including Palceornis, Tanygnathus, &c., but not Coracopsis, Psittacus, 

 and Pceocephalus) have their beaks so coloured. We already know that 

 in both Mauritius and Rodriguez a very different genus t of Parrots 

 existed in each island, along with a species of Palceornis, and therefore 

 there is no primd facie reason against a similar state of things having 

 also been the case in Bourbon. On the other hand there is no evidence 

 that Coracopsis ever occurred in a state of nature on any of these three 

 islands. 



To briefly recapitulate, then, I submit : 



(1) That the "Perroquet mascarin" of Brisson belongs to a genus, 

 Mascarinus, distinct from Coracopsis. 



(2) That, failing any older name that can with propriety be applied to 

 it, it may be termed Mascarinus duboisi. 



(3) That, so far as can be judged from the material that exists, Mas- 

 carinus is allied rather to such Palaeornithine genera as Palceornis and 

 Tanygnathus than to Psittacus, Coracopsis, or allied forms. 



Cambridge, May 8, 1879. 



nudis rubris," about which Hasselquist, in his very lengthy description, says nothing 

 so that they are probably only a paraphrase of Brisson's phrase " oculorum ambitu 

 nvdo, coccineo" suggest that his diagnosis was compounded by grafting on part of 

 Brisson's diagnosis an abstract of Hasselquist's description. 



* Pionus corallinus is the only exception to the above rule that I have yet met with. 



t Lophopsittacus and Necropsittacus. 



H2 



