NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 177 



eulmen 6-50 to 7-50;) its great breadth and strength ; width and concavity of 

 the eulmen; huge, strong unguis; peculiar convolutions of the naricorn ;* 

 the outline of the feathers, particularly on the side of the under mandible ; and 

 the uniform, very light yellowish color. These points will always separate 

 from brachyura specimens of every variety of size and color. 



The D. spadicea of Gmelin and Latham is now universally conceded to be 

 based upon the young of this species. Latham's spadicea var. B., however, I 

 consider to be the young brachyura, for reasons stated elsewhere. 



Moils. R. P. Lesson, holding that spadicea is distinct from exulans, commi's 

 the curious error of citing in support of his views a note sent him by Dr. 

 Garnot, which refers to Phocbetria futiginosa.f 



Diomedea adusta Tsch. seems hardly different from this species, to which it is 

 unhesitatingly referred by Dr. Schlegel. 



Diomedea brachyura Temm. 



Diomedea spadicea, var. B., Lath. Gen. Hist. Birds , 1824, vol. x. p. 52, No. 2, 



var. B. ; (cites PI. Enl. 903). 

 Diomedea brachyura, Temminck, PI. color. No. 554, adult, (cites PI. Enlum. 



963, as young.) Schlegel, Fn. Japon. pi. 66. (Young.) Gould B. 



Aust. vii. pi. 39, and of authors generally : excluding " brachyura juv." 



of Cassin and Lawrence, which is niyripes Audubon. 

 Diomedea epomophora, Lesson, Man. Orn. ii. 1828, p. 351. Id. Traite d'Ornith., 



1831, p. 009. Tschudi, Cab. Jouru. f. Ornith., 1850, p. 156. Bp. C. A., 



1855, ii. p. 185, [baud dubic ] 

 " Diomedea chinensis, IVmminck." 



Habitat. Pacific Ocean at large. Abundant in the China Seas, and on the 

 west coast of North America to a quite Lrgh latitude. 



As is the case with other species, this one is readily diagnosticable by its 

 bill alone. This is of the same fundamental characier as that of exulans ; but 

 it is smaller, weaker, more compressed, with a vastly less concave eulmen, less 

 elevated, robust, and more attenuated and decurved unguis; and there is a 

 very marked difference in the outline of the feathers around its base. 



Tbe frontal feathers embrace the bill in a near'y straight Hue as far as the 

 lateral sulcus; forming almost no concavity on the eulmen. Along the base 

 of the latericorn, they run slightly obliquely backwards to the commissure. 

 On the sides of the lower mandible they extend but slightly further than ou 

 the upper, having a scarcely convex outline. 



The bill is stout, being especially wide at its base, which is large and heavy. 

 Anterior to the nostrils, the culminicorn is compressed, and sometimes obso- 

 letely carinated ; posterior to them, it very rapidly flattens and widens, and 

 extends so far downwards on either side that there is allowed no projection of 

 the post ro- superior corner of the latericorn. Ttte latter, with the exception 

 of this feature, and of a straighter commissural edge, is much as in exulans. 



The dertrum is comparatively small : hardly rises above the level of tbe 

 r/ulmen; and is by no means so convex and hooked at the tip as in exulans. 

 The myxa is longer, narrower and more attenuated. 



The straigbtness of the commissure as compared with that of exulans; and 

 the different ou line of the feathers on the side of the lower mandible, are the 

 main points whercia the outline of the ramicorus of the two species differ. 

 The nostrils are as in exulans, but smaller. The variations in plumage of 



Existing, but to a less extent, in some other species. 



t Lesson, Man., 1828. ii. p 3?0. 'Cette e*pece" spadicea " a ete regarrie> comme le jeune 

 ftge du exulans ; mais nous ne partageons pas cette opinion. A ce sujet nous imprimeron. tex- 

 tuellement une note, que nous a remise M. le Docteur Garnot * * il sVxprime ainsi * 

 autour des yeux qui sont brun clair on voit un petite cercle de plumes blanches interrompu par 

 une tache noir a, Tangle interne de l'ceil; le bee est noir; la mandibule inferieure presente sur sen 

 faces deux ligues blanches membraneuses," etc., from which expressions it is palpable that a 

 specimen of fuliginosa furnished the subject of the note. 



1866.] 12 



