312 Dr. P. L. Sclater on the known Species of Dacnis. 
The twelve species of the genus Dacnis with which I am now 
acquainted may be divided as follows:— 
a. Ventre csenileo: mento 
nigro . 
a. Ventre et crisso^ 
concoloribus .. ' 
/3. Ventre albo .. -j 
y. Ventre nigro.. 
5. Ventre flavissimo . .. . ] 
e. Ventre albicante 
b. Ventre albicante;) 
crisso rufo . .. . (. 
1. D. cay ana. 
2. _D. coerebicolor. 
3. I), nigripes. 
4. D. melanotis. 
5. D. angelica. 
6. D. venusta. 
7. I). egregia. 
8. D. faviventris. 
9. D. pulcherrima. 
10. D. plumbea. 
11. _D. leucogenys. 
12. D. speciosa. 
They are all easily characterized species, as will be seen by the 
short characters which I have appended to each. I should men¬ 
tion that Dr. Cabanis, who has lately obtained for the Berlin 
Museum a species of my Dacnis hartlaubi (described P. Z. S. 
1857, p. 251), has convinced me that this bird, although it 
closely resembles Dacnis melanotis in colouring, is a true Cal- 
liste. I have therefore not included it in my present list. 
The genus Dacnis and its congeners of the family Coerebidte 
seem to represent the Nectariniidse of the Old World in the 
Neotropical Region. They may, however, be easily recognized 
by the entire absence of the first spurious primary, which is pre¬ 
sent in Nectarinia , Dicceum , and their affines. In this respect 
they agree with the Tanagridse and Mniotiltidse, with some forms 
of each of which families Dacnis may be easily confounded. But 
from the former Dacnis may be separated by its sharp-pointed 
bill and the entire absence of any notch in the upper mandible, 
and from the latter by the want of rictal bristles. The feathered 
tongue of the Coerebidse is a characteristic which, if observable in 
a skin, easily distinguishes it from both these groups. 
The range of Dacnis is restricted to the hot tropical forests of 
South America, one species only extending up to the Isthmus 
of Panama. The valleys in the neighbourhood of Bogota appear 
to produce a greater number of species than any other locality 
we are acquainted with; but this may probably be owing to the 
fact that no other part of the Andean range has been so 
thoroughly worked. Six species occur in Bogota collections. 
Western Ecuador produces only two, both of which vary slightly 
