7/2 DR. O. FINSCH ON A COLLECTION OF [NuV. 20, 



erroneously given the Fijis as a locality. It is true that all the 

 specimens I have seen from the islands of Viti-Levu, Vanua-Levu, 

 Loma-Loma, and Kandavu belong to the much more brightly 

 coloured P. splendens ; but through Mr. Layard we now learn that 

 the island of Taviuni possesses another bird which shows the same 

 dark pur])lish-red colour (^atro-purpureus) as P. tabuensis. A 

 specimen from Taviuni before me differs, not only in the smaller 

 size, but also in the total absence of the blue neck-collar, of which 

 not even the slightest trace is visible. But I hesitate to declare 

 this difference of specific value, as Cassin mentions in P. atrogularis 

 a broad, in P. annce a narrow blue collar ; and as both these birds 

 were collected on the Fijis, although without exact locality, they 

 evidently belong to one and the same species. 



The dimensions of 20 specimens of P. tabuensis from Eua are as 

 follows. 



Wings. Tail, 



in. lin. in. lin. in. lin. in. lin. 



83 98 78 93 



whereas in the Taviuni bird the wings measure only 7" 8'", the 

 tail 6" 8'". 



If the smaller size of the Fiji bird should turn out to be constant, 

 it ought to be regarded as a different species, to which belong the 

 three dark races pointed out by Mr. Layard' as differing in the 

 extent of the blue collar. The synonymy of this Fiji form of P. 

 tabuensis will be as follows : — 



PlATYCERCUS ANNiE. 



Comirus anna, Bourj. Perr. t. 38. 



? Platycercus tabuensis, Jard. & Selb. 111. of Ornith. ii. pi. Ixxiv. 

 (fig, pess., without blue collar). 



PL atroguhiris, Peale, Unit.-St. Expl. Exped. (1848) p. 129, 

 pi. XXXV. ; Hartl. Wiegm. Arch. 1852, p. 106. 



Aprosmictus tabuensis et A. anna, Cass. Un.-St. Expl. Exp. 2nd 

 edit. (18.58) pp. 234, 236. 



PL anna, Gray, List Psitt. p. 11. 



PL atriyularis, Scl. P. Z. S. 1864, p. 158. 



PL tabuensis, Gough, P. Z. S. 1849, p. 14 ; Finsch, Mon. Papag. 

 ii. p. 231 (upper part). 



PL taviunensis, Layard, Ibis, 1876, p. 141, et PL splendens, 

 second race (from Mathuata), third race (from Koro), and fourth 

 race {taviunensis, from Taviuni), ib. p. 143. 



3. DOMICELLA FRINGILLACEA. 



Domic ella fringillacea (Gm.) ; Finsch, Papag. ii. 747; Layard, 

 P.Z. S. 1876, p. 501. 



Native name Hega (Hiibner, Graffe). 



Three specimens from Eua. Sexes alike. No difference is ob- 

 servable in specimens from the Navigators' and Wallis Islands. 

 One specimen shows the green front stained with bluish. 



1 Ibis, 1876, p. 141. 



