256 TEOCHILID^. 



b'. Maxilloe tomia tantum distincte serrata ad apicem ; corpus subtus plerumque 

 (Phaeoptila excepta) plumis nitidis ornatum. 



c". Spatio inter mandibulce ramos nuda, culmen usque ad basin quogue nudum, 

 tegulce nasales nullo modo plumatce. 



a'". Mostrum longius, sensim decurvum. 



a'^. Sexus dissimiles. 



lACHE. 



Circe, Gould, Mon. Troch. v. t. 338 (May 1857) (nee Mert.). 



lache, Elliot, Syn. Troch. p. 234 (vice Circe) ; Salv. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xvi. p. 59. 



In this genus the bill is comparatively longer than in Chlorostilbon and not quite so 

 straight, being slightly decurved ; the culmen is bare to the base, the nasal covers 

 fully exposed, and the inter-ramal space nude. The sexes are very differently coloured, 

 the males having the under surface more or less bright, the females greyish white. 



Four species are included in the genus, some of which are not well defined ; these 

 are separable into two groups, one of which contains larger birds, having the crown the 

 same colour as the back ; in the other the single species is smaller and has the crown 

 glittering blue or greenish blue. The range of lache is restricted to Mexico, one 

 species reaching the confines of Arizona and thence spreading over the whole of the 

 Mexican uplands to the valley of the city of Mexico. This species, /. latirostris, also 

 reaches the coast of the Pacific in the State of Sinaloa. The other birds all belong to 

 Western Mexico and range from Mazatlan and the Tres Marias Islands to the Isthmus 

 of Tehuantepec. 



This genus was first separated by Gould in 1857, and called by him Circe. This 

 name having been previously used in zoology, Mr. Elliot substituted lache for it in 

 1879. 



a. Pileus dorso concolor ; tectrices subcaudales albce. 



1. lache latirostris. 



Cynanthus latirostris, Sw. Phil. Mag. new ser. i. p. 441 '. 



Circe latirostris, Gould, Mon. Troch. v. t. 338 (May 1857) ' ; Scl. P. Z. S. 1858, p. 297'; 1859, 



p. 367*; 1864, p. 177'; A. Duges, La Nat. i. p. 141°; Villada, La Nat. ii. p. 366'; 



Lawr. Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 292'; de Oca, La Nat. iii. p. 65°; Boucard, Ann. 



Soc. Linn. Lyon, xx. p. 281 " ; Sumichrast, La Nat. v. p. 250" ; Sanchez, An. Mus. Nac. 



Mex. i. p. 96 "; Henshaw, in Wheeler's Geogr. & Geol. Surv. v. Zool. p. 380". 

 lache latirostris, Elliot, Syn. Troch. p. 235^*; Salv. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xvi. p. 60'°; Herrera 



La Nat. (2) i. p. 322 ". 

 Ornismya lessonii, Delattre, Rev. Zool. 1839, p. 15 ". 



