10 



As this species has never again been met with in the course of seventy years, we think 

 that it may (at least provisionally) cease to be enumerated as a distinct species of Lory. 



A description in Italian of the fine and undoubtedly distinct species Ch. insignis has 

 been most kindly sent me by Dr. Giacinto Martorelli. It is of course taken from the type 

 preserved at Milan and may be translated as follows: — "Dominant colour of the anterior 

 parts, chest, and neck dull reddish and purple ; greenish for a small space on the flanks in 

 front of the tibiae. The violet becomes darker, indeed almost black, on the hindermost part 

 of the abdomen ; about the anal aperture there are some crimson feathers and the tibiaB are 

 crimson in front and on either side. The inferior tail-coverts are fundamentally violet, but shot 

 with green. The forehead is dark red. The sides of the head and the chin are of a shining 

 very dark violet with crimson markings. The nape and the base of the neck are also violet 

 fundamentally, but the middle and terminal margins of the feathers are of a clear brownish 

 grey, which appears lilac in certain lights. Such greyish-lilac shades may extend themselves 

 to the scapulars, the hinder parts of which become of an intense maroon colour, as also the 

 posterior part of the back. The lesser upper wing-coverts are of a uniform dark brown, but 

 the median and the larger wing-coverts become maroon-coloured, esjiecially the more internal 

 ones. A shade of dark green shows itself in certain lights on some of these, and extends to 

 the more external secondaries, to the primary-coverts, and to the primaries themselves. The 

 more internal secondaries have their apices tinted with a dull yellowish olive, especially upon 

 the internal Avebs. The rump is of a clear violet-blue, bordered by dark violet, passing into 

 a greenish tint. The rectrices are, above, of a dark purple-red towards their base and of a 

 violet-lilac colour for the rest, except their apices, which are yellowish green. The three 

 external tail-feathers have their internal webs, towards the base of each, of a bright carmine- 

 red, but this colour extends but a short way. The under surface of the tail is bright carmine- 

 red at the bases of the feathers, and then a darker red, but greenish yellow towards the ends 

 of the feathers. The under surface of the tail, so looked at that the rays of light fall at a 

 very acute angle, shows vivid shades of gold colour and purple-red. The inferior wing-coverts 

 are of the same carmine-red as the tibiae ; the more external ones, towards the margin of the 

 wing, are more violet. The larger remiges are brownish black, with the basal half of the 

 internal web of a red colour, but less intense than that of the coverts." 



Dr. Martorelli assures me that though at first somewhat inclined to regard this species 

 as a hybrid between two others, yet having compared it with all the specimens within his 

 reach, and notably with a series of skins of Ch. ater and Ch. scintillatus, he has arrived at 

 the conclusion that it is a truly distinct form, in spite of the apparently intermediate 

 characters it presents, a condition which Dr. Martorelli has observed in other instances not 

 less remarkable. 



Count Salvadori's description is as follows : — " Purple-black ; pileum darker, nearly 

 black ; forehead and cheeks tinged with red ; concealed part of the feathers of the neck and 

 of the breast red ; tibiae red ; uropygium dark blue ; scapulars purple-brown ; the edge of 

 the wing and the under wing-coverts red ; quills with the base of the inner web red ; tail 

 above violet, with the base brown, and towards the tip greyish, beneath purple-red, towards 

 the tip golden ohve-yellow : bill, cere, naked skin of the chin, and feet black. Total length 

 11 inches, wing 7, tail 1-S7, bill 0"91, tarsus 0-78." 



