DE. ST, GEOllGE MITAET ON SOME LORIES. 621 



appears to me to be very problematical. It certainly cannot be 

 needed as a " recognition mark," since its otherwise entirely black 

 plumage alone constitutes a complete and ample distinction 

 between it and the three other species of Lory {Lorius lory, 

 Trichoglossus cijanogrammus, and Hypocharmosyna placens), which 

 appear to be the only other species inhabiting Mysol. 



Another species ( Ch. insignis), which, so far, has only been found 

 in the small island of Amberpon, has acquired a bright red tiut 

 on the under surface of the wings and tail. This is the more 

 remarkable because up to this time we have no evidence that 

 any other Lory inhabits Amberpou. 



Eos reticulata seems only to be found in the Tenimber Islands 

 and Timor Laut, while iu the former locality certainly, and in the 

 latter not improbably, no other species has been obtained save 

 Psitteuteles euteles, the simple green plumage of which renders 

 the elaborate markings of Eos reticulata quite needless as 

 recognition-signs. 



Much more striking, however, is the fact that the very excep- 

 tional species the Cherry-red Lory {Eos riihiginosa) is confined 

 to the small island Puynipet in the Caroline Archipelago. Its 

 remarkable coloration cannot be needed to enable the sexes to 

 recognize each other, for no other species of Lory exists (so far 

 as yet known) in this Archipelago. 



Two species ( Vini australis and Vini Kulili) dwell, each of 

 them, in a habitat which no other Lory shares. The former 

 species dwells in Samoa and the Prieudly Islands, while the latter 

 is exclusively an inhabitant of Washington and Fanning Inlands. 



The Fiji Islands are inhabited by two Lories, Calliptilussolitarius 

 a.uA Hypocharmosyna aureocincta. Theformer is the only species of 

 a distinct genus, and is so extremely divergent from the latter in its 

 appearance that its coloration is indeed distinctive far beyond any 

 need there might be for it to serve as means of sexual recognition. 



Most remarkable of all, however, is the extremely exceptional 



distribution of the most exceptionally coloured of all the Lories, 



namely the Blue Lories — the two species of the genus CoripMlus. 



One of these, G. taitianus, was known to and was described by 



Buffon in 1779 under the name of L'Arimanon *. It is found 



(as its name implies) in the Society Islands, and is the only Lory 



there found. The other species, C ultramarinus, is the only one 



inhabiting the Marquesas Islands, and it is to be found nowhere 



else. 



* Hist. Nat. Ois. tI. p. 175. 



