990 ON A RARE BIRD FROM THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. [Dec. 15, 
foot of II. appear, together with a descriptive note by Mr. Teget- 
meier, in the ‘ Field, 1896, vol. 88, p. 464. 
Attention was called to the fact that it is not the same pair of 
digits which are the most webbed in all cases ; for in both feet of 
TI. the web was developed chiefly between digits 3 and 4, while in 
I. the greatest development was between digits 2 and 3. 
Prof. Newton, F.R.S., sent for exhibition a mounted specimen 
of a rare bird from the Sandwich Islands, accompanied by the 
following remarks :— 
I submit for exhibition the type specimen of Heterorhynchus 
olivaceus, Lafresnaye (Magasin de Zoologie, 1839, pl. x. ; Revue 
Zoologique, 1840, p. 321), which has been entrusted to my 
care by the courtesy of the authorities of the Natural History 
Society of Boston, and the kindness of the Curator of its Museum, 
Professor Alpheus Hyatt. 
Soon after the return, in the winter of 1888-9, of Mr. Scott B. 
Wilson from his first visit to the Sandwich Islands, he brought the 
collection of bird-skins he had there made to Cambridge that it 
might be worked out. I gladly gave him all the help I could, and 
my applications to that end for the loan of specimens were 
generously granted by the custodians of several museums. One 
of the specimens I was most anxious for Mr. Wilson to see was 
the type of Lafresnaye’s species above mentioned. This was 
included in the lithographed catalogue of that ornithologist’s 
collection (No. 5677 bis) and was presumably in the Museum at 
Boston ; but all Prof. Hyatt’s efforts to find it were vain. Conse- 
quently Mr .Wilson had to do the best he could without examining 
it, and, as may be seen in his paper “ On three undescribed Species 
of the Genus Hemignathus” (Annals and Magazine of Natural 
History, ser. 6, iv. pp. 400-402), he followed the example already 
set him by Cassin (United Staves Exploring Expedition, Mamm. & 
Orn. pp. 179, 180), by Mr. Sclater (Ibis, 1879, p. 92), and by 
Dr. Sharpe (Cat. B. Brit. Mus. x. p. 4) in keeping Lafresnaye’s bird 
distinct from the Hemignathus lucidus of Lichtenstein (Abhandl. k. 
Akad. Berlin, 1838, p. 451, tab. 5. figs. 2, 3). 
Towards the end of last summer I received a letter from Prof. 
Hyatt, referring to our former correspondence and telling me that, 
“In looking over the collection this year, one of mv assistants 
found the Heterorhynchus olivacevs, 5677 bis, Lafresnaye Cata- 
logue. Remembering the fact that you had applied for it, and 
looking up the matter and consulting your communication, I 
thought it best to inform you that this specimen had reappeared. 
It was misplaced, and consequently could not be found at the time 
it was needed.” 
At my request Prof. Hyatt obtained leave to send this specimen 
to me, and before returning it to Boston it seems desirable to 
exhibit it at a meeting of the Zoological Society, as I believe that 
no adult male example of this extinct species has been before seen 
