266 TANAGEID^. 



Subfam. TAN AGEING. 



CALLISTE. 



Calliste, Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 974 (type Tanagra tricolor, Gm.) ; Scl. P. Z. S, 1856, p. 344, et Mon. 

 Call. (1857). 



Mr. Sclater has made the study of the genus Calliste so peculiarly his own that, in 

 our account of the fragment of the group occurring within our fauna, we have followed 

 almost exactly his treatment of the subject. Not only has Mr. Sclater published an 

 illustrated monograph of the genus, but he has also, from time to time, given a short 

 summary of our increase of knowledge since that monograph was finished. These 

 recapitulations are to be found in ' The Ibis ' for the years 1863, 1868, and 1876. In 

 the last of these the number of known species of Calliste is stated to be sixty. Since 

 then Mr. Lawrence has described one from the island of St. Vincent as C. versicolor, 

 and Herr v. Pelzeln another from Brazil as C. albertince ; so that sixty-two species 

 represent the specific strength of the genus according to our present knowledge. Of 

 these, nine occur within our region. Four of these are peculiar to it, not having as 

 yet been found outside our limits. Three do not pass far into the southern continent, 

 whilst the remaining two are of wider range, C. guttata reaching Guiana and C. gyro- 

 loides Bolivia. 



The genus Calliste originally formed part of Tanagra of Linnaeus until it was sepa- 

 rated by Boie in 1826 ; since then it has been further split into a number of genera, 

 chiefly by Bonaparte in 1851 (Eev. Zool. p. 142). Mr. Sclater has adopted many of 

 these names as sectional headings ; and this we believe their best use ; for though the 

 diversity in the coloration of the members of the genus taken as a whole is very great, the 

 genus itself is, notwithstanding, structurally very uniform. Viewing the nine Central- 

 American species by themselves, no difficulty whatever arises in distinguishing them ; but 

 it -may be as well to point out to which of the sections they severally belong. Thus : — 



C.florida is the sole representative oi Calliste. 



C. guttata „ „ Ixothraupis. 



C. icterocephala „ „ Chrysothraupis. 



C. gyroloides ] * 



a lavinice \ 'represent Gyrola. 



C. cabanisi j 



C. dowi I 



C.inornata \ " Procnopis. 



C. larvata j 



The last named is the least uniform of these groups. 



The bill in Calliste is straight, rather short, and slender ; the culmen curved down- 



