472 Birds of Celebes; Isectariniidae. 



Islands and H. porphyrolaema of S. Celebes and Togian, both of which it exceeds 

 in size, while H. sa7igirensis differs in having the metallic throat copjiery-bronze, 

 not pansy-purple, with the mantle and under surface purplish or brownish black, 

 not deep black slightly washed with bluish below. H. porphyrolaema has the 

 metallic throat dark violet, as against the much redder — sometimes, according to 

 the light, coppery — purple oi H.talautensis, and the metallic feathers do not extend 

 on to the jugulum in the South Celebes bird. In our original description of 

 H. talaute?isis a specimen labelled H. jwrphi/rolaema, but really belonging to a 

 new and undescribed species, was erroneously brought into comparison with 

 the Talaut bird under the name porphyrolaema. The metallic mantle of this 

 specimen and its uniform steel-blue throat, without a subrnalar edging of a 

 different tint, remove it to a different section of Hermotimia, but as is mentioned, 

 p. 465, it appears preferable for the present to abstain from giving it a name. 



Chalcostetha insignis (Jard.). The habitat of this species is Tenasserim 

 and Malacca to Sumatra, Java, Billiton (Vorderman), Borneo and Palawan. 

 Celebes has been included within its range in virtue of two specimens from 

 V. Rosenberg identified by Briiggemann at first with Hermotimia porphyro- 

 laema (Wall.), (Abh. Ver. Bremen 1876, V, 73), but afterwards ascertained by 

 him to be this species (in Shelley's Monogr. Nect. 89). Prof. W. Blasius 

 (J. f. O. 1883, 158) received one of these specimens for examination and points 

 out that it is labelled only "? Celebes". We consider the locality almost cer- 

 tainly erroneous. 



GENUS ANTHREPTES Sw. 



Bill a little longer than the cranium, or less, slightly decurved, keel of 

 lower mandible straight, operculum of nostril naked; tail shorter than wing, 

 square or slightly rounded; tarsus stout, with about 5 transverse scales. Form 

 stouter and stronger than in the other Nectariniidae occurring in Celebes. 



Ethiopian and Indian Regions as far as Sula. 



188. ANTHREPTES MALACCENSIS (Scop.). 



Brown-throated Sun-bird. 



The most logical way of handling this species, with its puzzling intergrading 

 local variations, seems to be to admit 3 subspecies where the more pronounced 

 racial characters come to a head. The interconnecting races we prefer to indi- 

 cate simply by a long hyphen connecting the names of the subspecies between 

 which they lie. With the exceiJtion that we find them to be subspecies (accord- 

 ing to the American definition) instead of species, the fair series in the Dresden 

 Museum confirms the results of Capt. Shelley. The extremes seem to be: 



