274 MR. A. R. WALLACE ON THE [June 28, 
suspect that it may contain within its limits a portion of the country 
to which the Psittacine order was at one period restricted. Let us 
therefore examine its productions a little more carefully. 
Undoubtedly the most highly organized form of Parrot is the Tri- 
choglossine or Brushtongue family, i in which the whole structure is 
modified to enable these birds to derive a considerable portion of their 
subsistence from the nectar of flowers. The bill is unusually small, 
elongated, and compressed, so that it may readily enter the corolla ; 
the tongue is large, long, and very extensible, and can be thrust 
down to the very bottom ‘of the nectary ; and the papillee of the ter- 
minal portion of the upper surface are developed into erectile fibres, 
forming a double brush, which rapidly gathers up all the honeyed 
secretions of the blossom. In correlation with this structure the 
species are mostly of small size, of graceful forms, and have power- 
fully grasping feet—qualities that enable them to climb actively 
among the twigs and branches, and to cling in any position to the 
waving sprays of blossom. They have also elongated wings and a 
powerful flight, which give them the means to traverse the whole 
area of their range, and discover at the right moment the flowering 
trees which are so attractive to them, the period of blossoming in 
tropical regions being very limited for each species. These ex- 
tremely interesting birds are spread over the whole Australian region, 
while not one of them has been found beyond its limits; but it is in 
the Austro-Malayan district only that they are very abundant and 
of the most varied forms ; for it is here that four out of the six genera 
are exclusively found. Three of these genera form a natural sub- 
division of the family, which may be called the Loriine, and comprise 
all those beautiful birds the ground-colour of whose plumage is vivid 
crimson, and which are commonly known as Lories. Of these the 
genus Hos may be considered the most typical, since the species have 
completely lost the green colouring which is so characteristic of Par- 
rots generally, and by their activity, elegance, and more powerful 
flight show that they are the most highly developed in the Tricho- 
glossine series. The vivid red colour which is so characteristic of 
the Lories here reaches its maximum in such species as HZ. rubra 
and £. cardinalis. This fine group, consisting of three genera and 
at least eighteen distinct species, has a singularly restricted range, 
being confined to an elongated tract comprising New Guinea and 
the islands east and west of it, from the Moluccas to the Solomon 
Islands. If we look at this area marked out upon a map*, we must 
be at once impressed with the idea that we have here roughly indi- 
cated the much greater extent at a recent period of the large island 
of New Guinea, the north-western portion of which seems even now 
to be undergoing a still further segmentation. This idea receives 
confirmation from the fact that almost every bird found in this area 
has its closest allies in New Guinea; and as we approach the central 
mass, the variety of forms becomes greater. The genera Monarcha 
and Mimeta here have their maximum development; and Tanysi- 
* The red line on the accompanying map encloses the area to which the crim- 
son Lories are restricted. 
