Type: collector's No. 4983. Congo Exp. A. M. N. H. ♂ ad. Avakubi Ituri District, Belgian Congo, August 13, 1913.

Description of Adult Male (type).—Throat, upper breast, lores and forehead glossy wall-green, in certain lights with violet reflections; upper tail-coverts much the same, but nape and back brilliant peacock-green. Lower breast, sides, belly, and under tail-coverts bright scarlet-red; feathering of legs dusky, with faint green gloss and slightly bordered with whitish. Primaries fuscous-black, the outer ones margined with white and the inner ones white at the base. Alula and primary-coverts blackish; lesser wing-coverts blackish, broadly margined with green; middle coverts with less green and vermiculated with white. Greater coverts and secondaries blackish vermiculated with white, the former narrowly edged with green, the secondaries only very faintly. Three middle pairs of rectrices blackish, slightly glossed with violet-blue and margined with green; outer three pairs white, with bases black faintly glossed with blue, this blackish color extending out furthest on inner webs, and finally breaking up into small dusky spots.

Iris red-brown; distal portion of bill light greenish gray, base of bill and two naked patches beneath eye light cadmium-yellow, naked skin above eye lemon-yellow; bare skin of foreneck (covered in life by plumage) light blue; feet pale pink.

Length (skin) 254 mm.; length of bill (culmen from base) 18 mm.; height of bill at nostril 9.5 mm.; greatest width of maxilla, near gape, 16 mm.; wing (measured with dividers) 113 mm.; tail 146 mm.

In some of the other male specimens the green borders on the secondaries are lacking, and the exact intensity of the white vermiculation is of course variable. The measurements of a series of 11 adult males are: bill, 17-18.5 mm.; wing, 108-115.5; tail, 136.5-151. This is smaller than any Apaloderma heretofore described.

Adult Female. Crown, back, and rump brilliant peacock-green, upper tail-coverts viridian. Lores, forehead, and ear-coverts more brownish; throat and upper breast snuff-brown, sometimes with glossy green at sides of neck or a few narrow green borders on the chest. Lower breast cinnamon, sometimes finely barred with dusky; belly somewhat lighter and rosier than that of male; feathering of legs dusky. Tail similar to that of male; but the vermiculation on the wing-coverts and secondaries is very much finer, and light ochraceous-buff, not white.

Iris red-brown; naked cheek-patches lemon-yellow, base of bill slightly deeper yellow; culmen dusky, bill light green below; feet flesh-color, claws gray.

Measurements of three adult females: bill (culmen from base), 17-17.5 mm.; wing 104.5-113 mm.; tail, 140-149 mm.

An immature male has the green of the upper breast broken by irregular bars of cinnamon. The lower breast is cinnamon mixed with rose, and barred at the sides with green, and shades to light scarlet-red on belly and under tail-coverts. The greater wing-coverts and three inner secondaries bear each a large spot of light ochraceous buff, extending across the whole width of the innermost secondary, and most of the secondaries are vermiculated or speckled on their outer webs with buff.