167 



10. HYPOCHARMOSYNA DIADEMATA. 



(THE DIADEMED LORY.) 

 [Plate LIV v both Figures female.] 



Psitteuteles diaclema, Verreaux et O. Des Murs, Bev. et Mag. de Zool. 1860, p. 390, & 1362, 



p. 132; Oustalet, Bull. Soc. Philom. Paris, iii. p. 218 (1879). 

 Trichoglossus diaclema, G. R. Gray, Hand-list, ii. p. 157 (1870). 

 Trichoglossus diadematus, Einsch, Papag. ii. p. 867 (1868). 

 Glossopsittacus diadematus, Salvadori, Cat. of Birds in Brit. Mus. xx. p. 68 (1891). 



Crown blue ; forehead green ; cheeks and throat yellow ; a red spot on the crissum. 

 Habitat. New Caledonia. 



This beautiful species was first described by MM. Verreaux and O. Des Murs in 1860, and 

 tbey regarded it as a species of Psitteuteles, while Dr. Einsch considered it to be a 

 Trichoglossus. Count Salvadori placed it in tbe genus Glossopsittacus, but with doubt, 

 saying, " I am not at all sure about its genetic characters, and it may possibly belong to the 

 genus Sypocharmosyna." M. E. Oustalet (Dr. es Sciences, Assistant au Museum d'Hist. 

 Nat., Jardin des Plantes, Paris) was of opinion that this sj>ecies, on account of the form of its 

 quills, ought rather to be placed in the genus Charmosyna than in that to which Salvadori 

 thought it might possibly belong. 



No specimen exists in the British Museum, and the type of the species, a female skin, is 

 preserved in the Colonial Collection in the Palais de l'lndustrie at Paris. M. E. Oustalet, 

 however, at the request of Professor Milne-Edwards, has been so very kind as to send us this 

 specimen, and thus we are able not only to figure the bird for the first time, but thereby also 

 to figure the type of the species. 



On its receipt we were very anxious to arrive at a correct judgment respecting the generic 

 affinities of the bird, as to which such high authorities in ornithology as Count Salvadori and 

 M. E. Oustalet have taken different views. Being extremely diffident as to our own judgment 

 in the presence of these conflicting opinions, we had recourse to our esteemed friend Dr. B_. 

 Bowdler Sharpe, E.L.S., who thereupon was kind enough to study the question with 

 special care, comparing the specimen with all those of the genera Glossopsittacus, 

 Sypocharmosyna, Charmosynopsis, and Charmosyna preserved in the National Collection. 

 He came to the conclusion, after full consideration of the shape of the feathers of the 

 wing and all other points, that it should be placed in the genus Mypocharmos-yna . 

 Belying therefore on the preponderance of authority thus produced — for no single opinion 

 could be more worthy of esteem than that of the distinguished ornithologist of the 



