.00 



5. LORIUS RUBIENSIS. 



(THE LORY OF RUBIE.) 

 [Plate XVIII. Fig. 2.] 



Lorius erythrothorax rubiensis, Meyer, Abhandl. u. Ber. kouigl. zool. u. anthrop. Mus. 

 Dresden (1892-1893), no. 3, p. 10. 



Pileum black with a shade of purple ; no yellow baud across the crop-region ; under wing-coverts red and 

 black ; a red band below the occiput. 



Habitat. The region of Rubie. 



This is the newest kind of Lory yet described, and no skin of it exists amongst those preserved 

 in our National Collection. The types are in the Museum at Dresden, and we have again to 

 thank Dr. Meyer for most kindly sending us one so that our artist has been enabled to 

 represent it from nature and to give what I believe to be the first figure ever published, and 

 that of a type of this form of Lory. 



Dr. Meyer only reckons it as a subspecies, and says as New Guinea gets better known it 

 is probable that more connecting subspecific forms will be found. But as it has a distinct 

 name and requires representation by us, and as it has not only distinctions as to colour but 

 is also of a smaller size than L. jobiensis, we prefer to describe it separately. We do this tbe 

 more willingly because (as we have before observed with regard to, and shall have to remark 

 respecting, other species) we much doubt the real specific distinctness of various forms of 

 Loriidce which have been regarded as belonging to separate species. 



Its coloration is very similar to that of L. jobiensis, and the red ends of the feathers 

 of the back form an interscapular transverse red collar (in addition to the suboccipital one), 

 though this does not appear in our Plate on account of the position of the right wing of 

 the fi<mre. 



It differs from L. jobiensis in having the purple patch on the interscapular region 

 extending further backwards, and in having this region, the nape, and the scapulars of a more 

 decided cobalt-blue. The sides of the body are all red with no black band. The under 

 wing-coverts are red and black (instead of blue and black as in L. jobiensis), and the 

 axillaries are red. The yellow of the quills is also less bright. The under tail-coverts are 

 bluish, but with a shade of green. 



Total length 11-75 inches, wing 6 - 25, tail 3 - S, culmen 11. 



