1880.] LORD WALSINGHAM ON NEW TINEID.E. 77 



Sclater, /. c. p. 622) universally present, as far as I have yet seen, 

 in that group, as also in the absence of powder-down feathers, very fre- 

 quently, though not invariably, present in those birds, though absent 

 in the other Psittaci with " normal " carotids. In the Cockatoos, 

 too, the orbit is completely encircled by bone ', and, as a rule, doubly 

 so {vide P. Z. S. 1874, pi. Ixxi.)- \i\ Nasiterna, as already stated, it 

 is not so. Of the other " PalcBornithidx," as defined by Prof. 

 Garrod, the TrichoglossincB form a well-marked group, characterized 

 by numerous features to which there is no approach in Nasiterna, 



Its nearest allies must therefore be in the remaining forms of that 

 family, which I propose to call Eclectinte, including all those not 

 either Cacatuine or Trichoglossine, with the exception, perhaps, of 

 the ground-frequenting forms, Stringops, Pezoporus, &c. The spiny 

 tail-feathers of Nasiterna are, no doubt, very peculiar, and with its 

 cnrious beak and diminutive size must always make this a very well- 

 marked genus. But I fail to see in its spiny tail sufficient importance 

 to elevate Nasiterna into a special subfamily, as suggested by Mr. 

 Sclater. Chcetura is not separated on similar grounds from the other 

 ChcBturincB ; nor has the spatulate tail of Prioniturus been advanced 

 as entitling that genus to form a special subfamily. 



The anatomy of the small short-tailed genera Cyclopsitta, Psit- 

 tacella, &c. is as yet unknown ; but I believe that it is amongst 

 these forms — related, as far as can be judged from external ap- 

 pearance, through this last to Pezoporus, Geopsittacus, &c. — that 

 Nasiterna has its nearest allies. Agapornis and Psittinus are also 

 not very distantly related, though I believe that the loss of its 

 furcula by Ayapornis, in which it resembles Nasiterna, is probably 

 due to independent causes^. That the loss of the furcula is not 

 exclusively correlated with terrestrial habits is shown by its absence 

 in three such essentially arboreal genera as Agapornis, Nasiterna, 

 and the Neotropical Psittacula. 



3. On some new and little known Species of Tineidce. By 

 ThomaSj Lord Walsingham^ F.Z.S. 



[Eeceived February 17, 1880.] 

 (Plates XL, XII.) 



Genus Adela, Latreille. 



Mr. Walker in his ' Catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera in the 

 British Museum,' part xxviii. p. 501, 1863, described three species 

 of the genus Adela — A. purpurea and A. bellela from North Ame- 

 rica, and A. albicornis from Natal. The first of these {A. purpurea) 

 has since been described by Prof. Zeller under the name of Adela 



1 This was not the case, however, in a specimen of Calyptorhynchus fwnereus 

 lately examined by me. 



* Judging by its behaviour in captivity, Agapornis is extremely sluggish in 

 its movements. 



