Zoological Society. 141 



locality, I believe, than has been hitherto recorded against these spe- 

 cies. The fishes of this island also claimed a portion of my atten- 

 tion, several species of which I procured and preserved. 



" We crossed the equator on the 7th of July, having been more 

 than twenty days within the tropics, part of which time our vessel lay- 

 becalmed. This portion of the ocean's surface was also inhabited by 

 Storm-Petrels, but of a distinct species from any I had hitherto ob- 

 served, and which I believe to be new to science. These birds, with 

 now and then a solitary Rhynchops and Frigate Bird (^Tachypctes)^ 

 were all of the feathered race that I observed in these heated lati- 

 tudes, a part of the voyage which always hangs heavily upon those 

 destined to visit these distant regions ; by me, however, it was not 

 so much felt, the monotony being relieved by the occasional occur- 

 rence of a whale, whose huge body rolled lazily by ; by a shoal of 

 porpoises, who sometimes perform most amusing evolutions, throw- 

 ing themselves completely Out of the water, or gliding through it 

 with astonishing velocity ; or by the occasional flight of the beautiful 

 Flying Fish, when endeavouring to escape from the impetuous rush 

 of the Bonito or Albacore. 



" On the 20th of July we reached the 26th degree of south lati- 

 tude, and were visited for the first time by the Cape-Petrel {Procel- 

 laria Capensis of authors). On the 23rd, lat. Sl° 10' S., long. 24° 

 W., we found ourselves in seas literally teeming with the feathered 

 race. Independently of an abundance of Cape-Petrels, two other 

 species and three kinds of Albatrosses were observed around us. 

 The latter were Diomedea exulans^ D, chlororhyncha, and D.fuli' 

 ginosa. A few days after this we commenced running down our 

 longitude, and from this time until we reached the shores of Van 

 Diemen's Land, several species of this family (^ProcellaridcB) were 

 daily in company with the ship. Whenever a favourable opportunity 

 offered. Captain McKellar obligingly allowed me the use of a boat, 

 and by this means enabled me to collect nearly all the species of this 

 interesting family that we fell in with. 



" As I had every reason to expect, I found the Australian seas 

 inhabited by their own peculiar Storm-Petrels { TJialassidroma), four 

 distinct species of which I have already observed since leaving the 

 Cape. 



" From the westerly winds which prevail in the southern hemi- 

 sphere, between the latitudes 35° and 55°^ I am induced to believe 

 that a perpetual migration is carried on by several of the members 

 of this oceanic family continually passing from west to east, and cir- 

 cumnavigating this poiiion of the globe. This remark more par- 



