130 



have greener and darker heads," and that " the underside of the hocly is of a darker 



green." 



Heer Biittikofer has erected forms found in Flores into a distinct species, P. weberl, and 

 he has given an excellent coloured figure of a specimen in the memoir above quoted. His 

 well-merited fame as a zoologist inclined us at once to accept this proposed species as distinct 

 simply on his authority. But a careful examination of the numerous skins of P. euteles 

 preserved in the British Museum has led us to believe that P. weberi can nevertheless 

 be but a marked variety. Of these skins no less than four are from Flores. Amongst the 

 distinctive characters assigned to P. weberi, one is the greater size of the bill ; but the bill 

 of the British-Museum sjjecirnens from Flores does not always attain the size of the bill of 

 some from Timor. In none of the Flores skins are there blue points to the feathers of 

 the forehead as described and represented in P. loeberi. One striking character of this last- 

 named variety is the bright yellow tint of the breast as contrasted with the green of the 

 throat and abdomen. In the British-Museum shins from Flores there is no such contrast at 

 all, but the whole of the underside of the body is of a darker green than in the Timor skins. 

 There is, indeed, a considerable amount of variation in the specimens of P. euteles; among 

 other points, they differ in that the margins of the feathers of the hreast and abdomen form 

 more distinct transverse bands in some individuals than in others. 



