NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 169 



rior groove. Anteriorly it is much more obliquely transverse than figured 

 by Cuvier : the posterior process of the periotic is only half as long as the 

 anterior, and the latter is cylindrical acuminate not spatuliform at the extre- 

 mity. From above, these processes are nearly parallel, while they are very 

 widely divergent, and equal in the auatralis ; the interior outline instead 

 of being truncate, has a massive acumination. On the posterior view the 

 anterior process is nearly concealed. 



The humerus is short and furnished with a large bicipital process, marking 

 one-third of its length. 



The points in which this species differs from the austral is, as yet im- 

 perfectly made known, are the more acuminate parietals, the presence of four 

 more vertebrae, where the last neural spine stands on the thirty-seventh in- 

 stead of the thirty-fourth ; and one more pair of ribs ; the considerably greater 

 breadth of the scapula, and strongly peculiar periotic bones. 



This species may readily occur on the European coasts, and is no doubt 

 allied to, or the same as, the species pursued by the Biscay whalers, which 

 Eschricht* says is related to the australis. This does not appear to have 

 been described, though catalogued without reference by Gray and Flower, 

 under the name of biscayensis. The former saysf its head is two-fifths the 

 length, by what authority does not appear, as he states that he has not seen 

 specimens. The characters which separate the genus Eubalaena of this au- 

 thor, from Balaena, appear to be very slight. 



Harlan, in Fauna Americana, includes a species Balaena glacialis Klein, or 

 Nord-Caper of some old authors. There is no real description of this ani- 

 mal extant, and Scoresby and Cuvier regard it, with good reason, as imaginary. 



The species above described maybe called Balaena cisarctica; its 

 skeleton will be more fully illustrated in a future publication. 



On some Conirostral BIRDS from Costa Rica in the Collection of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. 



BY JOHN CASSIN. 



1. Sporophila corvina, (Sclater.) 



Spermophila corvina, Sclat., Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1859, p. 379. 

 One specimen only, which is in adult plumage, and presents all the charac- 

 ters of this species given by Mr. Sclater, as above. San Jose, Mr. J. Carmiol. 



2. Phonipara pusilla, (Swainson.) 



Tiaris pusilla, Swains., Philos. Mag., 1827, p. 438. 

 San Jose, Mr. J. Carmiol. 



3. Pyrgisoma Kieneri, Bonaparte. 



Pyrgisoma Kieneri, Bonap., Consp. At. i. p. 486, (1850.) 

 One specimen only, which is in adult plumage, and is the first that I have 

 ever seen. This species is clearly distinct from P. biarcuatum, though strictly 

 of the same genus, being smaller, and having a strong character in the wide 

 transverse band on the breast. It is sufficiently described by the Prince Bona- 

 parte, as above. Dr. Cabanis' note on this species and P. biarcuatum in Journ. 

 Orn., 1860, p. 412, is to me difficult to understand, especially as he seems never 

 to have seen the latter bird nor the description of it in Voy. Venus, Zoologie, 

 vol. v. p. 216, (Paris, 1855.) The two species are quite distinct. Mr. J. 

 Carmiol. 



4. Melozone ledcotis, Cabanis. 



Melozone leucotis, Cab., Jour. Orn. 1860, p. 413. 

 Specimens in adult plumage. This species is not, in my opinion, of the 

 same genus as the preceding and P. biarcuatum. Angostura, Costa Rica 

 March 2, 1864. Mr. Carmiol. 



*Comptf s Rendus, 1860, p. 924. * Ann. Mag. Nat Hist. 1860, d 348 



1865.] P 



