Bill short, triangular, base very broad, dilated, towards the end contracted; both mandibles notched, the margins bent inward; upper mandible slightly curved and carinated above; lower mandible straight and shortest. Nostrils broad, basal, nearly naked, the aperture much nearer the tip than the gape of the bill. Tongue very short, narrow.
Mouth very large, opening beneath the eye. Feet formed for perching.
Wings moderate.
Generic Type _Carunculated Chatterer_. Latham.
OBS. MM. Temminck and Lagier had just before us, and without our knowledge, published this bird under the name of Procnias Ventralis, (Pl. 5.) by which name in right of priority it should stand in the system.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
_P. (in maribus) caerulea; fronte, jugulo, temporibusque nigris; corpore subtus in medio albo, lateribus striis transversis nigrescentibus._
_(Foem.) viridis; mento temporibusque griseis; corpore infra flavescente, striis obscure-viridibus transversis._
(Male) blue; front, throat, and temples black; middle of the body beneath white, the sides with blackish transverse striae.
(Female) green; chin and temples grey; body beneath yellowish, transversely striated with dusky-green.
The birds of this genus are remarkable for the enormous width of their mouths, which in some species exceeds that of the Swallow family, thus enabling them with ease to swallow the large berries of the _Melastomae_ and other tropical shrubs, on which they alone subsist; not on insects, as Cuvier a.s.serts. Although in the construction of their bills they perfectly resemble the Swallows, their wings are not formed for long or rapid flight; and their feet are much stronger, and calculated for searching among branches for their food, in which situations I have frequently seen them.
The term "_pedes ambulatorii_," or walking-feet, is applied too generally, and should be confined to the gallinaceous and Pigeon tribes.
This genus was formed by Count Hoffmansegg, and the present is the smallest species known: our figure is of the male bird. Total length about five inches and a half. The bill from the angle to the tip measures seven lines; but from the nostrils only three lines and a half. The middle of the body, vent, and under tail-covers in the male are pure white; in the female yellowish, with a line of olive-green down the middle of each shaft; the quills, wing-covers, and tail-feathers are black, margined in the male with blue, and in the female with green: the tail is slightly forked. The nostrils round and bare; the base of the bill has a few weak setaceous hairs. The legs resemble the true Chatterers, having the outer toe rather longer than the inner, and attached to the base of the middle.
This is a scarce bird, apparently not hitherto described; I met with it only three times in Bahia; but it appears more frequent in the southern provinces of Brazil, specimens having been sent me from Minas Geralis and Rio de Janeiro.
Pl. 22
[Ill.u.s.tration]
TERIAS Elvina.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
_Antennae breves, clava subtruncata, compressa. Palpi brevissimi curvati, vix ultra caput producti, ad linguam compressi, densis squamis imbricatis in totum tecti apice nudo. Abdomen elongatum, gracile, in maribus 6-articulatum, articulo ultimo duobus uncis incurvatis approximantibus; valvis latis, incra.s.satis, truncatis, aduncis. Alae utroque s.e.xu similes; latae, obtusae, rotundatae, integerrimae._
Typus Genericus _Papilio Hecabe_. Linnaeus.
Antennae short, the club somewhat truncate and compressed. Palpi very short, curved, hardly projecting beyond the head, closely compressed on the tongue, entirely covered with close imbricate scales, the tip naked. Body elongated, slender, in the male six-jointed, the last with two approximating incurved hooks; valves broad, thickened, truncate, and hooked. Wings in both s.e.xes alike, broad, obtuse, rounded, very entire.
Generic Type _Papilio Hecabe_. Linnaeus.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
_T. alis subdiaphanis, sulphureis, subtus immaculatis. Anticis supra apice nigris, posticis (in maribus) margine antico basi gibbosis. Foem.
----?_
Wings sub-diaphanous, pale sulphur; beneath immaculate. Anterior, above with a black marginal tip; posterior (in the male) with the fore-margin gibbous at the base. Female ----?
Pieris Elvina. _G.o.dart in Encycl. Method, p._ 158. _no._ 67.
This is one of the smallest of b.u.t.terflies, and from the extreme delicacy of its form seems to sanction with truth the poetic idea of living "but for a day." It is found in Brazil, inhabiting only the deepest forests, as if fearful its little life would be endangered by the scorching rays of a tropical sun: in these sombre shades it is seen to fly slowly and feebly near those spots where a ray of the sun has partially entered the thick canopy of foliage above, which is frequently fifty or sixty feet from the ground.
The genus I have now placed it in belongs to the _Coliadae_, and appears to connect that family with the _Pieridae_: their distinctions are obviously marked and very constant in all the species I have yet seen, and which are tropical: of these, seven I discovered in Brazil; three or four more are natives of the southern extremity of North America; and Dr. Horsfield has four or five from Java. I know of none from Africa. Their size in general is very small.
I think this species is the _Pieris Elvina_ of G.o.dart; although the insect he mentions as the female is in reality that of his _Pieris Neda_. The true female I have never seen; I suspect it will want the gibbous curve on the hinder wings of the male, which s.e.x is, indeed, not common, and is generally much smaller, and sometimes half the size only, of the figure.
_Papilio Nicippe_ of Cramer (tab. 210. fig. C. D.) strictly belongs to this genus, though placed in that of _Colias_ by G.o.dart, as well as his _Pieris Agave_, _Hecabe_, and doubtless many others not now before me.
Pl. 23
[Ill.u.s.tration]
MITRA vittata.
_Ribbon Mitre._
CHARACTER GENERICUS.
_Testa inaequaliter fusiformis, spira producta attenuata; labio exteriore intus edentato. Columella plicata_.
DIVISIONES.
I. _Apertura angusta, linearis, supra angulata, infra subcontracta._
_Mitrae vulpecula, plicata, &c._
OBS. _Testa plerumque longitudinaliter plicata, aequaliter fusiformis, labio exteriore laevi leviter undulato, interiore ad apicem intra cra.s.sato; gula striata._
II. _Apertura supra ac.u.minata, infra angusta, extrinsecus curvata._
_Voluta mitra-abbatis._ Chemnitz, &c.