ON THE GENUS PTILOPUS. 343 



Mr. A. R. Wallace (' Malay Archipelago/ vol. ii. p. 367), speaking of 

 Carpophaga tumida, says \—" I was also much pleased to obtain a fine series 

 of a large Fruit-Pigeon with a protuberance on the bill (^Carpophaga tumiday, 

 and to ascertain that this is not, as has been hitherto supposed, a sexual 

 character, but was found equally in male and female birds/' 



Dr. Cabanis and Dr. Reichenow have placed this strange Pigeon in a 

 new genus, CEdirhinus— and justly so, as appears to me ; for though there are 

 various others in which the germ of a protuberance appears, yet in (Edirhinus 

 insolitus we may fairly suppose that it has reached its maximum of develop- 

 ment {cf. the plate in Gray's 'Genera,' vol. ii. GolumUnce, 118) ; nor can it 

 be said that in any of these cases there is much resemblance to the one 

 before us. 



Compare now Carpophaga rubricera with (Edirhinus insolitus : — 

 (Edirhinus insolitus. 



Total length 8f inches. The protuberance extends very nearly to the 

 eye, is broad on the top of the skull ; for this is essentially a square-headed 

 bird, and not of the dolichocephalic or long-headed type. 



Carpophaga rubricera. 



Total length 15 inches. The protuberance does not extend beyond the 

 base of the beak, or ascend the forehead ; it rises up perpendicularly ; is 

 only half the size in proportion to that of the former bird. The distance 

 between the eye and the protuberance is considerable. In the plumage of 

 the two birds there is no resemblance. 



It is worthy of remark that the colour of the protuberance in (Edirhinus 

 insolitus is much the same as that of the patch on the underpart of the 

 Pigeon (viz. orange) ; and in these birds frequently the colour on the head 

 coincides with that of the underparts. 



VOL. II. 3 a 



