350 
Mr. H. E. Dresser on 
submedian nervure. Along the costa there are two streaks 
of grey alternating with brown. 
The hind wing is darker, with the streaks and patches 
grey. The hind margin has six brown spots, commencing 
from the first subcostal nervule to the first median nervule. 
Above this there is a submarginal border of grey. The yellow 
band of the upperside is indicated by a lighter brown band, 
having the outlines of pale yellow, the spot being the same in 
colour. There is a streak of grey from the base of the wing 
to the costal margin. 
Exp. 1*9 inch. 
Bab . Fantee (G. E. 8.). 
XLII. — Notes on the Racquet-tailed Rollers . 
By H. E. Dresser. 
Haying been lately engaged in working out the synonymy 
of the Boilers, I had occasion to examine all available speci- 
mens of the Bacquet-tailed Boilers, which are still extremely 
rare in collections, there being, so far as I can ascertain, but 
four specimens in Great Britain, viz. two in the British 
Museum, one in Captain Shelley’s collection (now purchased 
by the British Museum authorities) , and one in the collection 
of Canon Tristram, which he has kindly lent to me for 
examination. The three former of these have all been labelled 
by Mr. Sharpe as being referable to Coracias spatulatus , 
Trimen ; but on receipt of the specimen from Canon Tristram 
I at once saw that it was specifically distinct from the other 
three. In order to work out the question I compared them 
carefully with their nearest allies, Coracias abyssinicus and 
C. caudatus , and may point out that all the Bacquet-tailed 
Boilers differ from these in having the median wing-coverts 
cinnamon and in having all the tail-feathers conspicuously 
terminated with black and blue, whereas in C. abyssinicus 
and C . caudatus all the rectrices but the central and two 
lateral ones are pale blue throughout. The two adult birds 
in the British Museum, one from the Umvuli Biver, East 
Africa, and the other from Caconda, in West Africa, have 
the throat and breast blue, exactly as in Coracias abyssinicus ; 
whereas the third, from Pantamenka, East Africa, labelled as 
young, has the throat and breast somew T hat striped with pale 
blue, buff in general coloration on the sides, but otherwise 
pale turquoise-blue. The specimen from Canon Tristram, 
however, from Newala, East Africa, has the sides of the 
