990 ON A BAMl BIRD HIOM I'lllil 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 ai-e the most webbed in all cases _; for in both feet of 

 II. 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 

 oE a rare bird from the Sandwich Islands, accompanied by the 

 following remarks : — 



I submit for exhibition the type specimen of Heteroi-hyncJnis 

 olivaceus, Lafresnaye (Magasinde Zoologie, 1839, pi. x. ; Eevue 

 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 brouglit 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 his) 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 Ilemiynatlms " (Annals and Magazine of Natural 

 History, ser. C, iv. pp. 400-402), he followed the example already 

 set him by Cassin (United States Exjjloring 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 looldng over the collection this year, one of ray assistants 

 found the IleterorhjncJms olivaceus, 5677 Ms, Lafresnaye Cata- 

 logue. Eemembering 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 i-eappeared. 

 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 



