120 proceedings: biological society 



H. C. Oberholser: Recent additions to the list of North American 

 birds. 



Mr. Oberholser said that the period from 1910 to 1916 inclusive 

 was one of great ornithological activity. During this period fully 125 

 species and subspecies were added to the list of birds known from 

 North America. Most of these additions resulted from the descrip- 

 tion of new subspecies or the revival of hitherto unrecognized forms, 

 which together amount to over 100, among the most interesting being 

 five new subspecies from Newfoundland. Two distinct species were 

 described from North America during this time: Aestrelata cahow 

 from the Bermuda Islands, and a remarkable new gull, allied to Larus 

 calif ornicus, called Larus thayeri, from Ellesmere Land. Also a num- 

 ber of extralimital forms were for the first time detected within our 

 boundaries, among the most notable of which might be mentioned 

 Puffinus carneipes taken in California; Totanus totanus from Green- 

 land; Calliope calliope camtschaikensis and Hypocentor rusticus, both 

 from Kiska Island, Alaska; Nyroca ferina, Marila fuligula, Clangula 

 clangula clangula, Cryptoglaux funerea funerea, Coccothaustes cocco- 

 thaustes japonicus, and Fringilla montifringilla, all from the Pribilof 

 Islands; Poecilonetta bahamensis from Florida; Petrochelidon fulva 

 pallida from Texas; and Tyrannus melancholicus satrapa from Maine. 



William Palmer: The fossil seacow of Maryland. 



Mr. Palmer exhibited the fifth thoracic neural arch of a sirenian 

 which was shown to be unlike that of the manatee and to agree abso- 

 lutely, except in size, with a similar bone of Steller's seacow (Hydro- 

 damalis) from Bering Sea. The specimen was found, freshly fallen, 

 under a cliff of the Calvert Miocene on the western shore of Maryland. 

 It was suggested that the species was living during the period follow- 

 ing the first erosion of the Cretaceous and the deposition of the Eocene, 

 as all the specimens so far found in the Miocene were clearly redeposits 

 from an earlier age. 



M. W. Lyon, Jr., Recording Secretary. 



