140 
Appendices 
par les plumes sur le bord du frontJ in which he included, besides 
the present bird, two species of Eclectus and a Tanygnathus. 
Mascarinus is obviously a Latinised form of the epithet * mas- 
carin ’; and although an Eclectus is mentioned first in the list of 
species included, there can be little doubt that in reality Lesson 
had in view, when he made the genus, the bird at present under 
2 
discussion, which must therefore be considered the type of 
Mascarinus. 
As regards the specific name, at various times three names 
have been proposed for, or applied to, this bird —mascarinus of 
Brisson, . . . madagascariensis of Lesson, . . . and obscurus of 
Linnaeus. . . . 
This being the case, there is no other course open than to 
use a new specific name; and, at Professor Newton’s suggestion, 
I propose that of duboisi ’ in memory of the French voyager Du¬ 
bois, who visited Madagascar and Bourbon in 1669-72, and 
described the various Parrots observed by him on the latter 
island, including one which is clearly the present bird. 
[Origin of the name ‘Mascarin.’— ‘The island of Bourbon 
is in the Ethiopian or Indian Ocean, almost under the Southern 
Tropic, to the east of the island of Madagascar, from which it is 
distant about 80 leagues. It does not appear that the Ancients 
had knowledge of it; moreover, no inhabitants were found there 
when the Portuguese, after having doubled the Cape of Good 
