1879.] MR. W. A. FORBES ON THE GENUS MYZOMELA. 265 



remigibus olivaceo-Umbatis, subalaribus albis ; rostro nigra, pedi- 

 bus plumbeis. 



Hah. in iiisulis Saloraonis. 



This species was obtained by tbe 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 'Voyage:'-^" Je trouve dans celle-ci quelques in- 

 exactitudes. Les proportions de I'oiseau ont e'te un peu exagere'es : 

 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 has, 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 XXV. fig. 2.) 



cJ corpore supra, alls caudaque fusco-nigricantibus, capite satu- 

 ratiore, plumis dorsi inferioris apice Jlavidis ; remigibus, alarum 

 tectricibus et rectricibus externe oUvaceo-Jiavo limbatis ; gula 

 splendide coccinea ; corpore subtus griseo-jtavido, gutture sordi- 

 diore ; subalaribus et margine interna remigum albis ; rostro ni- 

 gra, pedibus obscuris. Long. tot. circa 4'5, al. 3'65, caud. 1'7, 

 rostr. '6, tars. ".55 {poll. A>igl.). 

 Hah. 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 

 Pachgcephalce, 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, from the absence of red feathers on any other part, and from the 

 singularly bright and shining colour of those on the throat, I have little 

 doubt that it has very nearly or quite attained its full plumage. 

 Myzomela sclateri hardly admits of being compared with any other 

 species of the group, the entirely dark upperside and the red being 

 confined to the throat rendering it quite unlike any species yet known 

 to us. 



1 1 . Myzomela nigrita. 



Myzomela nigrita, G. R. Gray, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 173; Salvadori, 

 P. Z.S. 1878, p. 97. 



Myzomela erythrocephala, Meyer (nee Gould), Sitzungsber. Wien. 

 Akad. Ixx. p. 204 (1874). 



