BICJEUM GEEEVINKIANUM, Meyer.
DICTUM GEELVINKIANUM, Meyer.
Geelvink-Bay Dicjeum.
Dicmm geelvinkianum, Meyer, Sitzb. k. Akad. Wiss. Wien, lxx. p. 120.
Dicceum jobiense, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, vii. p. 945 (1875).
My friend Dr. A. B. Meyer kindly submitted to me the types of the species described by him as Dicceum
geelvinkianum, and I have figured them on the accompanying Plate. The species was originally described
by him from the islands o f Jobi, Misori, and Mafoor, in Geelvink Bay; and the following are his remarks
on the su b ject:—
“ F rom the above-mentioned islands come some forms o f a Dicceum which vary slightly among themselves
according to locality, but which I nevertheless unite for the present under the name o f D. geelvinki-
anum, as they all three differ from D. pectorale, Muller and Schlegel, o f the mainland, in the red colour
of the forehead, crown, and rump, though they otherwise entirely agree with this species, as well as in size.
“ Examples from Mafoor, of which three males are before me, collected by myself in Marcb 1873, and
all agreeing perfectly together, have an olive-coloured upper surface, brownish red forehead, crown, and
rump, while the breast-spot is large and fiery-red.
“ Examples from Misori (o f which I have three males, agreeing perfectly together, shot in March 1873)
have the upper surface more grey, the head coloured as in specimens from Mafoor, but the rump is somewhat
more brilliant red ; the breast-spot is small, and of a darker red.
“ Lastly, on the island o f Jo b i, where I obtained a male and female in April 1873, the upper surface is
somewhat shining metallic bluish, the crown, forehead, and rump are beautiful deep red, and the breast-
spot is o f moderate size and o f the same colour as the head and rump. The female is uniform greenish
grey above, clearer grey below, with a greenish cast, shading into yellowish white on the belly.
“ The material at my disposal being all obtained a t one season, I am not in a position to decide whether
these differences are constant according to locality; nevertheless I consider th at they are. Should this turn
out so in the course of time, it will prove a not uninteresting example o f the different variations o f one and
the same type in distinct isolated districts such as islands. I f one does not admit the isolation as a cause
o f the difference, one is compelled to allow th at the reasons for this variation are utterly unknown.”
I have quoted Dr. Meyer’s remarks thus fully, as the nomenclature o f the species is somewhat involved,
by reason o f Count Salvadori having received speciraeus from all three o f the islands visited by Dr. Meyer,
and having a t once separated them as distinct species, giving the names o f Dicceum maforense, D. misoriense,
and D. jobiense, and saying, truly enough, th at Dr. Meyer has not indicated which of the three species he
would retain as D. geelvinkianum in the event of the other two proving distinct.
As will be seen from the accompanying Plate, it is the Jo b i bird which Dr. Meyer has sent me as his
Dicceum geelvinkianum; and as such I have figured it, and have added Dicceum jobiense o f Salvadori as a
synonym. I have little doubt th at the view o f the latter ornithologist is the correct one, and that there are
three distinct species confounded under the heading o f D. geelvinkianum by Dr. Meyer. The figures in the
Plate represent a pair o f birds, drawn o f the natural size, from specimens in the Dresden Museum lent me
by Dr. Meyer. I adopt the name of geelvinkianum here, as I am forced to do so by the fact o f my Plate
having been thus lettered, and the copies printed, before I received notice of Count Salvadori’s nomenclature
for the species.