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S C H L E G E L I A R E S P U B L I C A (C;,.).
Bare-headed Bird of Paradise.
Lophorina respichlica, Bp. Compt. Rend. xxx. p. 291 (February 1850, note).—Id. Rev. et Mag. dc Zool. ISSO,
p. 124, note.—Sclater, Ibis, 1877, p. 483.
DipkjUodes respiMca, Bp. Compt. Rend. xxx. p. 2!)1 (1850, note).—Id. Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 18U0, p. 242.—
Id. Consp. AY. i. p. 413 (1850).—Id. Compt. Rend, xxxviii. p. 2(>2 (1854).—Rosenb. Nat. Tijdselir.
Ned. Ind. xxv. p. 247 (18ÌÌ3).—Id. J. f. O. 18C4, p. 130.—Elliot, Mon. Farad, Introd. p. xxvii, pi. xiv.
(1873).—Meyer, Mittli. zool. Mus. Dresd. i. jjp. 5-7 (1875).—Gould, B. New Guin. i. pi. 20
(1870).—Cory, Beautiful & Curious B. pt. iii. (1881).
Paradisea wHsoni, Cass. Proc. Acad. Philad. 1850, p. 57 (Augus t ) .—Id. Journ. Acad. Pliilad. 1852, p. 133, pi. 15.
Gray, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 194.—Id. Cat. B. New Guin. pp. 30, 59 (1859),—Id. P. Z. S. 1801, p. 43li.—
Sci. P. Z. S. 1805, p. 405.—Scili. Nederl. Tijdschr. Dierk. iii. p. 249 (1800).—Id, Mus. Pays-15as, Coraces,
p. 87 (1807).—Finseh, J. f. 0 .1800, p. 130.—Gray, IIand-1. B. ii. p. 10, no. 0250 (1870).—Wagler, Zool.
Gart. 1873, p. 11, map 7.—Rosenb. Malay. Arch. p. 395 (1879),—Mussclienljr. Uagboek, pp. 189, 221
(1883).
Dlphjllodes wilsomi, Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soe. 1857, p. 0.—Id. Proc. Linn. Soc. ii. ji. 103 (1858).—Wallace, Proc.
Zool. Soc. 1802, p. 100.—Newton, Ibis, 1805, p. 343.—Wall. Malay Arch. ii. pp. 405, 419 (1809).—
Beccari, Ann. Mus. Genov.Yii. p. 713 (1875).—Sclater, Ibis, 1870, p. 251.—Nehrk. J. f. O. 1885, p. 34.—
Guillem. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1885, p. 054.—D'Hamonv. Bull. Soc. Zool. France, xi. p. 510 (1880).
Paradisea resp'ublica, Finsch, Neu-Guinea, p. 173 (1805).
Sdtkgelia calva, Bernst. Nat. Tijdschr. Nederl. Ind. xxvii. p. 79 (1864) .—Id. Nat. Tijdschr. Dierk. ii. p. 1 (1804).
—Id. J. f. 0 . 18C4, p. 401.—Id. Nederl. Tijdschr. Dierk. ii. p. 320 (1805), iii. p. 4, pi. 7 (1800).
Paradisea calva, Schl. Nederl. Tijdschr. Dierk. ii. p. 1 (1804).—Finsch, Neu-Guinea, p. 173 (1805).—Rosenb.
MT. orn. Ver. Wien, 1885, p. 31.
Schlegelia wilsoni, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. iii. p. 175 (1877).—Eudes-Deslongch. Ann. Mus. Caen, i. p. 34
(1880).—Witmer Stone, Proc. Philad. Acad. 1891, p. 448.
ScMec/elia respuhlica, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov. ix. p. 102 (1876).—Id. Orn. Papuasia, etc. ii. p. 642 (1881).—
Id. Agg. Orn. Papuasia, etc. ii. p. 162 (1890).
THIS woiiderful Bird of Paradise was described in August, 1850, Ijy tlic late Mr . John Cassiii from a specimen
iu imperfect condition wliicli liad been acquired in Paris by Dr . Wilson and presented by him to the Museum
of the Piiiladelpliia Academy of Sciences. It was named Paradisea mUsoni by Cassin, in honour of tlie domjr,
to whose liberality the Piiiladelpliia Museum owed so much. In February of tlie same year, however,
Bonaparte had published a sliort diagnosis of a new Bird of Paradise, whicli he called Lophorhia respuhlica-,
and in 1877, when I was describing the family in the ' Catalogue of Bird.s,' I pointed out that the only species
which answered to Bonaparte' s diagnosis, " fascieulo e plumis elongatis nuchae rubris," was Hhipidorms
guliclmi-tertii of Meyer , and I therefore restored the name of tcikom to the present species. In comment ing Lipon
my conclusions Dr . Sclater has given us the whole history of the transaction, and it seems that the specimen
described by Cassin in Pliiladel])hia was actually the same as the one seen by Bonaparte in Europe. The
following are Dr. Sclater's notes on the subject:—" The late Prince Bonaparte, having been allowed
to examine the (then unique) type specimen in question, before its transmission to Philadelphia, thought
t h e opportunity of describing a new Paradise-bird, and at tlie same time of pronudgating his republican
sympathies, too good to be lost, and in spite of the injunctions of the owner of the specimen, inserted the
name ' respublica,' with a short diagnosis (certainly erroneous, and probably drawn uj) from recollection), in
a footnote to a paper which he was at the time engaged upon for the ' Coniptes Rendus.' " Under the
circumstances thus detailed by Dr. Sclater there is no choice left hut to adojit the name of rcspuhlicu
for the s])ecies, as has been done by Count Salvadori ; but I am inclined to agree witli Mr. Wi tmer Stone
that "anyone would be justified in passing over such a descri]ition as Bonaparte's and adopting the
first clear diagnosis, which, in the case of the present bird, is that of Ciissin."
B e r n s t e i n was the first naturalist to discover the true liabitat of the jiresent sjiecies, which he met with
both in Waigiou and Batanta. He described it as a new genus and species of Bird of Paradise, and tlie
\\M\K oí Schlcgelia happily remains to remind us of Bernstein's prowess as a traveller and a naturalist,
and at the same time of the great Director of the Leiden Museum, to whom science is so deejily
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