100 MR. GOULD ON A NEW FORM OF PARROTS. [Mar. 12, 



the great length of the body in the new species, — a character, I be- 

 lieve, of considerable importance ; for, although Z. couchii is ex- 

 tremely liable to variation in the development of the basal membrane, 

 and in the size of the polypes, the proportion of length to breadth 

 is tolerably constant. Large specimens quite equal the present spe- 

 cies in breadth ; but their length is barely half what we here find, 

 even in the contracted state, and in this instance it would be increased 

 under expansion by at least a quarter of an inch. The variation to 

 which many of our marine polypes are subject should at all times 

 make us cautious in admitting new species ; but I think the above 

 characters will justify me in making the addition in the present case. 

 This specimen was dredged in 20 fathoms, on a bottom of sand, 

 pebbles, and broken shells, and did not afterwards sufficiently ex- 

 pand to allow more than the decided colour of the tentacles to be 

 made out. This unusual colour in a British species induces me to 

 propose for it the specific title of rubricornis. 



6. On a New Genus and Species of Parrakeet from West- 

 ern Australia. By John Gould, F.R.S. 



Geopsittacus occidentalis, Gould. 



All the upper surface grass-green, each feather crossed by irregular 

 bands of black and greenish yellow ; feathers of the crown and nape 

 with a streak of black down the centre ; throat and breast yellowish- 

 green, passing into sulphur-yellow on the abdomen ; spurious wings 

 brown ; primaries and secondaries brown, narrowly fringed with a 

 greenish hue on their external webs, with the exception of the first 

 three ; the primaries and secondaries have also an obHque mark of 

 yellow near their bases, which mark increases in breadth and in depth 

 of colour as the feathers approach the body ; two centre tail-feathers 

 dark brown, toothed on the edge of both webs with greenish-yellow ; 

 the next on each side dark brown, toothed on the other web only 

 with brighter and longer marks of yellow ; the remainder dark brown, 

 crossed by bands of yellow, which in some cases are continuous across 

 both webs, and in others alternate ; under tail-coverts sulphur-yellow, 

 crossed on their outer webs with narrow oblique and irregular bands 

 of blackish-brown ; bill horn ; feet fleshy. 



Total length 10 inches, bill ^, wing .51 tail 5, tarsi |. 

 Hab. Western Australia. 



Remark. — At a first glance this bird has the appearance of a Pezo- 

 porus formosus with an undeveloped tail ; but on a careful compari- 

 son it is found not only to differ from that species in some parts of 

 its colouring, but also in form — sufficiently so, indeed, to warrant the 

 opinion that it will be necessary to make it the type of a new genus. 

 Its whole contour and colour reminds one of Strigops. The points 

 in which it differs from Pezoporus are the possession of a thick 

 bluffy head, larger and more swollen nostrils, the total absence of 

 any red mark on the forehead, a much larger wing with more 

 rounded primaries, a very short tail the two centre feathers of which 



