4 



10 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 

 The principal synonymy and characters of A. heloiscc are as follows: — 



ATTHIS HELOIS^. 



Ornvmya heloiscc, Less. & Delattk., Rev. Zool. 1839, 15 ( Jalapa and Quatepu, S. E. 



Mexico). 



Mellisuga heloiscc, Gray, Gen. B. i, 1849, 113, sp. 62. 



Tryphcena heloisce, Bonap., Rev. et Mag. Zool. 1854, 257. 



Selasphorus heloisce, Gould, Monog. Trochilid. iii, 1852, pi. 141. 



Atthis heloisce, Reichenb., J. f. 0. 1853, App., 12.— Gould, Iutrod. Trochilid. 8vo 

 ed. 1861, 89— Elliot, Illustr. Am. B. i, 1869, pi. —.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. i, 

 1870, 361 (El Paso, Texas; Mexico).— B. B. & R., Hist. N. Am. B. ii, 1874, 465, 

 pi. 47, fig. 6 (El Paso, Texas; Mexico). 



Specific Characters. — Adult male : — Outer primary very narrow, the 

 end abruptly attenuated. Gorget violet-purple, with changeable tints 

 iu varying lights. Jugulurn wholly white; middle of the abdomen 

 white; sides light rufous, slightly glossed with golden-green; crissum 

 white, tinged with light rufous. Upper parts metallic golden-green, 

 more bronzy than in A.ellioti. Tail with the basal half (approximately) 

 clear cinnamon-rufous, the subterminal portion black, with the three 

 outer feathers (on each side) tipped with rusty-white; middle pair of 

 feathers glossed with golden-green on the upper surface to the extreme 

 tip. Wings uniform dusky, the smaller coverts golden-green. Wing, 

 1.30-1.5J; tail, 0.95-0.10; culinen, 0.48-0.50. 



Of the three adult males of A. heloisCB now before me, the two from 

 Jalapa are much alike; but that in my own collection , which is evi- 

 dently from another part of Mexico, although, unfortunately, the pre- 

 cise locality is not stated on the label, differs in several very noticeable 

 particulars. The bill is very much more Blender, the wing shorter (about 

 1.30, instead of 1.50), and the general size decidedly less. What is most 

 conspicuous, however, is the fact that the lateral feathers of the gorget 

 are not elongated as in the Jalapa specimens, in which they are 0.25 to 

 O.:;o of an inch longer than the longest feathers of the middle portion, 

 while there is a mixture of bluish violet in the gorget not observable in 

 the other specimens. It is barely possible that the longer lateral plumes 

 of the gorget have been lost from this specimen; but iu any event, the 

 differences are quite sufficient to characterize a well-marked local race. 



Januaky 29, 1876. 



B'0*S3I, .HOIiLl'NKN I'KOTI EjATKB IIBTIABBI OF CALIFORNIA. 



By W. II. DALL. 



The National Museum has recently received from Mr. Ilenry Hemp- 

 hill a series of fossil shells collected by him from the later Tertiary 

 deposits of the Californian coast. Some of them are from the viciuity 

 of Santa Barbara, but the majority are from San Diego, part of them 



