

male of this bird, and are perfectly constant. Its most marked features are perhaps its larger 

 size, as shown by the greater length of the culmen and tail, and the throat being pure steel-blue 

 with no lilac shade. 



In the British Museum I have compared specimens collected by Mr. Wallace from Ceram, 

 Amboyna, Goram, and Matabello islands ; and they all belong undoubtedly to this species ; th 

 culmen measured in all the five adult male specimens - 85, and the tail from 1*7 to T9, while 

 in seven fine specimens of C. aspasice I have found the measurements never greater than the 

 following — culmen 0'7, tail 1*5. 



The Nectarinia aspasia mentioned by S. Miiller from Banda Island should, no doubt, belong 

 to this species ; but as I have not been able to examine a specimen from there. I have entered 

 the locality as doubtful. 



In the Marquis of Tweeddale's collection I have examined a typical specimen of this bird 

 labelled " Aru Islands ;" but as there is no indication on the label by whom it was collected, I 

 think the locality must be wrong ; for it appears to me impossible that a species like the present 

 one, which is really barely more than a constant local variety, should be found so apparently out 

 of its geographical district as the Aru Islands, when it appears to be absent, and replaced by an 

 entirely distinct species (C. theresice) in the intervening Kei Islands. I have therefore taken no 

 notice of this specimen in the range which I assign to the present species. 



C. aspasioides is distinguished from C. proserpince by the scapulars and greater series of 

 wing-coverts being metallic. 



Mr. G. R. Gray, who first distinguished this bird from C. aspasice, nevertheless appears to 

 have confounded it with C. proserpince in his ' Hand-list of Birds ;' for he there gives the locality 

 Bouru for this species, which would appear to have been taken from some specimen in the 

 British Museum. But in that collection there are no specimens of any Sun-bird from Bouru 

 except C. proserpince ; I have therefore excluded that island from the range assigned to this 

 species. 



