Abyssinian birds and those from British Central Africa were 

 so Treli ruarked ihat tljey seemed to constitute t^vo distinct 

 forms. Tlie tail of Z-. porjjhyrojAeriis Djeasured 7"7-7"8 inches, 

 bnt that of L. brevicaudus only reached 5 '05-5 '9 inches. 

 (C/. Sharpe, Ibis, 1891, p. 240.) 



Mr. John Whitehead sent for exhibition a series of 

 specimens of tlie genus Dendrophila from the Philippine 

 Islanils, and pointed, out the foJlo^ving interesting facts: — 



The Philippine species of Dendrophila couid be divided into 

 two sections^ viz. those with a white loral spot and a greenish 

 bill^ and those with black lores and a red bill. To the last 

 section belonged the birds from. Pala«'au and Balabac, called 

 D. frontalis by Sharpe. D. corallijjes from Borneo^ with its 

 red bill and red legs^ -was quite distinct. 



All the Philippine birds had a white loral spot^ greenish 

 bill;, and dark greenish-brown legs. Two species had been 

 described, D. an odd amy s, Sharpe, and D. mesoleuca, Ogilvie 

 Grant. The former had been described from a Guimaras 

 specimen of Prof. Steere's. JMr. Whitehead showed that the 

 same form was found in Cebu, Kegros, and Panay, but that in 

 Samar, Leyte, and Basilan a very much darker form occurred, 

 which was worthy of separation on account of the suffusion of 

 dark lilac over the "R'hole of the under surface of the body. 

 He proposed to call the Samar form 



Dendrophila lilacea, n. sp. 



D. similis D. (sno chlamydia sed gastraso toto vivide lilascenti- 

 vinaceo, nee lilascenti-brunneo, distinguenda. 



Mr. Whitehead also showed that D. mesoleuca from the 

 highlands of Luzon looked, at first sight, distinct enough ; 

 but on comparing a series from different elevations, it was 

 clear that the bird from the coast-region and the lower ele- 

 vations of the mountains showed very little difference from 

 D. anochlarnys, but that, as higher elevations were reached, 

 there appeared more and more white on the back, and 

 more white on the breast, until typical D. mesoleuca was 

 reached. 



