HEMIGNATHUS OLIVACEUS. 



AKIALOA. 



Heterorhynchus olivaceus, Lafresnaye, Mag. de Zool. 1839, Ois. pi. x. ; id. Rev. Zool. 1840, p. 321; 



Florent-Prevost, Voy. Venus, Ois. pi. i. figs. 1, 2 (18— ?). 

 Vestiaria heterorhynchus, Lesson, Rev. Zool. 1840, p. 269; id. op. cit. 1842, p. 209. 

 Drepanis olivacea, G. R. Gray, Gen. B. p. 96 (1847). 

 Hemignathus lucidus, Peale, U.S. Expl. Exped., Birds, p. 153 (1848) ; Bonaparte, Consp. Av. i. 



p. 404 (1850) ; Hartlaub, Arch. f. Naturgesch. 1852, i. p. 110 (partim) ; Florent-Prevost & 



O. DesMurs, Voy. Venus, Zool. p. 191 (185-) (nee Liechtenstein) . 

 Hemignathus olivaceus, Reichenbach, Handb. sp. Orn., Tenuirostres, pp. 223, 313 (1853), pi. 591. 



figg. 4010,4011; Cassin, U.S. Expl. Exped., Mamm. & Orn. p. 179 (1858); Dole, Proc. 



Bost. Soc. N. H. xii. p. 298 (1869) ; id. Hawaiian Alman. 1879, p. 45; Sclater, Ibis, 1871, 



p. 360; id. op. cit. 1879, p. 92 ; Sharpe, Cat.B. Br. Mus. x. p. 4 (1885) ; S. B. Wilson, Ann. 



& Mag. N. H. ser. 6, iv. p. 400 (1889) ; id. Ibis, 1890, p. 191. 

 Drepanis (Hemignathus) lucida, G. R. Gray, Cat. B. Trop. Isl. p. 9 (1859) ; id. Hand-1. B. i. 



p. 112 (1869), partim. 



This short-billed Hawaiian species was brought to the knowledge of ornithologists at 

 a much later date than many others from the Sandwich Islands, having been unknown 

 to the earliest writers on the group. Lafresnaye, who was the first to specify the bird, 

 described and figured it as forming a subgenus of " Heorotaire " (i. e. Drepanis), under 

 the name of Heterorhynchus olivaceus, in the ' Magasin de Zoologie ' for 1839, from 

 an example bought (for 25 francs) of Dupont, a dealer in Paris. In 1848, in his 

 account of the United States Exploring Expedition, Peale mistook it for H. lucidus, 

 the corresponding form of Oahu, and thereby led astray various authors down to 

 G. R. Gray in 1869, who combined the two species under one heading ; the error, 

 however, had no serious consequences, as Cassin, in his revision of Peale's work, put 

 the matter on a proper footing, and has been followed by Judge Dole and more 

 recent authorities. Meanwhile MM. Florent-Prevost and DesMurs had given another 

 description and figure in the Zoology of the Voyage of the ' Venus,' a French frigate 

 sent round the world for purposes of exploration : they named the bird correctly on 

 the plate, though assigning the specific name to " Lichtenstein " — a mistake followed 

 by many writers ; but in the letterpress, having possibly seen Peale's book meanwhile, 

 they referred it to H. lucidus. Lesson, considering it congeneric with Vestiaria, 

 changed the appellation to V. heterorhynchus, and G. R. Gray placed it under Drepanis ; 

 but the distinctness of the genus Hemignathus of 1838 being finally settled, that term 

 takes precedence over Heterorhynchus of 1839 ; moreover, it is clear that while in any 

 case the latter can only be applied to the short-billed forms, the former will cover those 



