ALISTERUS. 
be the least doubt that these are very closely related to the Alisterus group, 
and in this case we have undoubtedly an example of the age of coloration as 
contrasted with “ structural ” differences. When we examine this series 
we find that all the birds are larger than those of Alisterus , have larger bills 
and these have lost the distinctive gap shown by the bill in that genus. 
Furthermore the restricted habitat of the various species has caused deteriora- 
tion in their flight capabilities and this is obvious from the altered wing 
formation. The wing has become more rounded and six, not five, primaries 
constitute the tip : of these, the third, fourth, and fifth are sub equal and 
longest, the second being very slightly shorter, while the sixth is nearly as long 
and longer than the first. Moreover the evolution has proceeded so that the 
immature and female bear the same plumage as the male. 
For this group, typified by Psittacus tabuensis Gmelin (of which Psittacus 
hysginus Forster is an absolute synonym, notwithstanding the remarks of 
Salvadori and Sharpe to the contrary) I propose the generic name 
LAYARDIELLA 
in honour of E. L. Layard, whose long and earnest study of the Fijian Avifauna, 
I desire to emphasize. 
The genus name Pyrrhulopsis Reichenbach, which was accepted by 
Salvadori, must be altogether rejected. In the Av. Syst. Nat., pi. LXXXII., 
1850, Reichenbach gave a figure of a small parrot head and a figure which may 
have been meant for halt a wedge- tail : to these was attached the name 
Pyrrhulopsis , which was not otherwise defined. From this work it is 
certainly not applicable to the present place and must be discarded. As a 
matter of fact in the Rev. Mag. Zool ., 1854, p. 152, Bonaparte used “ Pyrrhu- 
lopsis Reich ” for a series of South American birds, hueti Temm, purpuratus 
Gm., etc. In the same place he included tabuensis in Aprosmictus and pro- 
posed Prosopeia, p. 153, for per sonata Gray. \ 
Gray in the Cat. Gen. Subgen. Birds , 1855, transferred Pyrrhulopsis to 
the Prosopeia group, and apparently Salvadori accepted this without examina- 
tion, as the head figured disagrees altogether with the head of personata. It is 
obvious that if two such different ideas could be perpetrated, no determination 
of Pyrrhulopsis is possible. The name would not suggest anything like the 
species personata for which Prosopeia must be revived. 
Prosopeia personata is a large parrot of about the same size as tabuensis 
but of entirely different coloration. It cannot, in view of the facts already 
given, be considered as a near relation of Layardiella from colour values 
alone. It is all green above with a black face, greenish below with yellowish 
on the breast and orange on the middle of the abdomen and the primaries 
pale blue : the immature and both sexes are coloured alike so that I cannot 
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