We select the _Tellina latirostra_ of Lamarck for our first subject. As a species it has not been figured; while the original description, which we have transcribed, is so slight, that some uncertainty exists as to the precise species intended by the writer. That to which we here apply the name, is certainly very like, as Lamarck observes, to _T. rostrata_; although his description, in other respects, is applicable to other species now before us. Our _Tellina latirostra_ is not common, although we once received a considerable number from Amboyna. Its surface is very smooth, but the delicate striæ, which can scarcely be seen by the naked eye, become perfectly clear under a common lens. The Manchester Nat. Hist. Society is in possession of a lovely series, exhibiting the following variations of colour: 1, pure white; 2, rose-coloured round the umbones, paler beyond; 3, entirely rose colour; 4, blush white, with a rosy shade on each side the umbones; 5, pale orange; 6, buff yellow, resembling _T. depressa_. In all these the points of the umbones are invariably white. * * * * * * [Illustration: _Blue-winged Parrakeet._] NANODES venustus. _Blue-fronted Parrakeet._ ---- Family Psittacidæ. GENERIC CHARACTER. Bill entire; the lower mandible short, deep, thick, and rounded; nostrils very large, fleshy, naked; wings pointed; tarsi, toes, and claws very slender--the former manifestly longer than the hind toe; tail cuneated; the feathers narrow and lanceolate. _Nob._ Type.--_Psittacus pulchellus._--Zool. Ill. 2, Pl. 73. ---- SPECIFIC CHARACTER. _Sides of the head yellowish; front with a blue band; wing-covers and tail blue, the latter tipt with yellow; throat and breast deep green; belly yellow._ Psittacus venustus. _Linn. Trans. (Temm.) xiii. p. 121._ ---- chrysostomas. _Kuhl. Nov. Act. p. 51, Pl. 1._ Nanodes venustus. _Linn. Trans. (Vig. and Hors.) xv. 274._ ---- The Ground Parrakeets of Australia, of which this is one of the most beautiful, form a small but richly coloured group of birds, remarkable for the peculiar structure of their feet, which leads them to frequent the ground more than any of their family. In the form of their bill, wings, and tail, they exhibit a close resemblance, in miniature, to the Maccaws of the New World, and may justly be supposed to represent those birds in the Southern hemisphere. We received two specimens of the Blue-fronted Parrakeet, some years ago, from Van Dieman's Land; yet even there it is considered scarce; nor did we observe it in any of the collections in Paris.