450 Birds of Celebes: Dicaeidae. 



Five males in the Sarasin Collection and one in the Dresden Museum have 

 the wing 48 — 51 mm; two females in the former collection: wing 48. 

 Distribution. Celebes — Minahassa ("Wallace a I, a 11; Meyer a 9, etc.); Gorontalo Distr. 

 (Meyer a 9); Lembeh Id. and Banka Id. (Nat. Coll.); S. E. Peninsula — Kandari 

 (Beccari a 8); W. Celebes (Doherty 5); S. Celebes (P. & F. Sarasin .3, Everett 4, 

 Doherty 5). 



This little Flower-pecker was discovered by Wallace in the mountains of 

 the Minahassa, where it haunts low bushes and shrubs and feeds on fruit (a I). 

 Meyer, Guillemard, and Platen, like Wallace, met with it at an elevation 

 of upwards of 2000 feet in the same neighbourhood; but the first-named also found 

 it at liimbotto, which is low land, and the Sarasins and Everett found it at 

 Macassar as well as on the hills of the south. It is most nearly related to 

 P. sangirensis of Great Sangi, from which it may be distinguished by its yellow 

 sides and flanks, not grey tinged with yellow, and by the brighter, yellower 

 tint of its olive-green upper surface. The only other known species which seems 

 at all nearly related to them is Mr. Biittikofer's A. annae of Flores (1). 

 A. vincens (Sclat.) of Ceylon is dull steel-blue above, where the forms of the 

 Celebesian area are olive-green, and it has the three lateral tail-feathers tipped 

 with white. A. quadricolor of Panaon, Philippines, is black above with a red 

 back and olive-yellow rump. 



The genus Acmotiorhynchus was set up by Mr. Gates (Faun. Brit. Ind. II 

 1890, 381), for A. vincens of Ceylon, in consequence of its having 9 primaries, 

 instead of 10 as in Prionochilus and Pachyglossa. Mr. Biittikofer shows (1) 

 that A. quadricolor, A. aureolimbatus, A. sangirensis and A. annae belong to the 

 same genus. It is most nearly allied to Piprisoma, which also has 9 primaries 

 and which Mr. Gates only distinguishes by its bill which "viewed from above 

 is nearly an equilateral triangle with the two sides sinuated", for the square tail 

 and nostrils free from hairs are points not sufficient to separate it from the 

 Celebesian species. Mr. Biittikofer is of opinion that Piprisoma modestum of 

 Burmah and Tenasserim may really belong to Acmonorhgnchus, but, if this be 

 true, Acmonorhynchus as a genus would be broken down, and Acmonorhynclms 

 aureolimbatus (a large name for so small a bird!) would have to be called Pipri- 

 soma aureolimbatum. 



There are one or two facts known in connection with Acmonorhynchus and 

 the allied genera, Piprisoma, Pachyglossa and Prionochilus, which seem to be 

 instructive. Mr. Gates shows (1. c. 375) that in Prionochilus there is a small 

 first primary about equal in length to the tarsus; in Pachyglossa it is reduced, 

 being not longer than the hind toe; in Piprisoma and Acmonorhynchus it is gone. 

 As the normal number of primaries is ten, it follows that Piprisoma and Acmono- 

 rhynchus have lost a quill and represent, therefore, in respect of the wing a 

 recent modification of structure. Further, though we are unable to speak of 

 Piprisoma, Acmonorhynchus seems to display recent modifications of colour. Ac- 

 monorhynchus vincens of Ceylon is so like Pachyglossa, of which only one species 



