298 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1890. 



cealing the nostrils or else permitting them to be seen only as a narrow 

 slit beneath the lower edge of the feathering. 



Fig. 13. — Head of Hylocharis sapphirin%, show- 

 ing naked nostrils, with overhanging mem- 

 brane. 



Fig. 14 — .Head of Eugeniaimperatrix, showing dense 

 feathering over nostrils. 



Variations in the form of the wing. — As already stated (see page 289), 

 the first primary is invariably the longest, except in two genera, Aithu- 

 rus, in which it is decidely shorter than the second, and Atthis, in 

 which the first and second are abont the same length. 



Fig. 15.— Wing Aithurus polytmus. 



Fig. 16. — Wing of Hylonympha macrocerca. 



Usually, the outer primary is not different in shape from the second ; 

 but occasionally it is quite different, as in the genera Lafresnaya and 

 Agwlactis, in which it is very narrow for the entire length, the tip 



Fig. 17.— Wing of Atthis ellioti. 



Fig. 18. — Primaries of Selasphorui platycerus. (Under 

 side showing peculiar form of first aud second 

 quills.) 



curved inward or upward ; and in certain species of Selasphorus, in 

 which the tip is contracted and curved outward, as shown in the ac- 

 companying diagrams: 



Fig. 19.— Wing of Lafresnaya flavicaudata. 



Fig. 20 — Wing of Aglceactis cupieipennis. (Under side, showing very narrow outer quill.) 



