144 



Remarks on Collections — also on a new species of Pheasant 

 — a species of Ambassis and Cestreus — a neiv genus of 

 Thoracic Fishes. By the Editor. 



The first dispatch of animals for the Zoological Society, 

 according to the new arrangements under the patronage of 

 Lord Auckland, to which we alluded in our last number, was 

 forwarded in February last on board the Duke of Argyll, 

 and consisted of a pair of green peafowl {Pavo muticus) to 

 which we referred before, obtained by Mr. C. W. Smith, 

 at Chittagong. This bird is about the size of the common 

 peafowl, Pavo cristata, but instead of the uniform metallic 

 green colours of the head and neck, so beautiful in the latter 

 species, the Pavo muticus has the extremities of each feather 

 terminated by a light golden green zone, while the head is 

 crossed transversely by two broad zones of pure gamboge 

 yellow and bright purple, and the crest, which in the com- 

 mon peacock consists of a tuft of feathers with naked shafts, 

 terminating in lunar vanes at the extremity, in this species 

 has each feather clothed laterally from its attachment to the 

 apex, which is narrow and pointed ; all the rest of the body 

 presents various shades of green. These birds are doubtless 

 known in England, but they are not known in southern or 

 central India, nor in Ceylon; Chittagong may therefore be 

 regarded as about their western limit. They are also un- 

 known in Sylhet and Assam. From Chittagong their pro- 

 vince in a wild state extends to the eastward, and as they 

 are commonly called Japan peafowl, we may suppose that their 

 eastern range is very extensive. 



The next species we have to notice is a pheasant, of 

 which Captain Bogle sent to Barrackpore five male and 

 two female birds, together with a third, which although des- 

 cribed by Mr. Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. Jan. 3. 1833, p. 

 13, as the lineated pheasant (P. lineatus, Lath.) is un- 

 questionably the female of some other species, which we 



