Liuntean Society. 373 



lagica) abounded on the coast, most probably driven thither by the 

 state of the weather at that period. Mr. Couch had therefore no 

 difficulty in instituting a comparison between it and a specimen of 

 the common species in nearly equal condition, and the following is 

 the result. 



Weight of the stormy petrel 4 drams, 35 grains; of Wilson's petrel 5 

 drams, 2 scruples. 



Length 6 inches 7 inches. 



Spread of wings 14^ — 16^- — 



Wings extended beyond the tail ... \ — 1^- — 



With the legs extended, the toes ) . ,. , x1 L .. . _ .. 



extend short of the tail ) * llue ' ****** the tai1 * in ' 2 1,n ' 



The stormy petrel is feathered just to the basal joint ; but in 

 Wilson's petrel the feathers only approach within 4 lines of it. In 

 the former the tarsus is in length 1 line short of an inch, in the 

 latter 1 inch 4 lines, and equally slender with the former ; and the 

 hinder toe is so minute that it might escape any but attentive ex- 

 amination. In the bill the markings are more strongly denned, with 

 the terminal hook longer and sharper. The prominence of the fore- 

 head is less than in the more common species. Colour of the head 

 black, with a hoary tint, lighter on the throat. The back, belly, wings, 

 and tail are ferruginous, lighter on the wing coverts ; the rump white, 

 and a little of the same at the vent. Tarsi and feet black, with a 

 longitudinal stripe of sulphur-yellow, more of a golden at the bor- 

 ders or the web between each toe. 



The stouter configuration of this species enabling better to escape 

 the violence of a storm may be ascribed perhaps as a reason why it 

 is not more often found on our coasts. 



On examining the stomach of a stormy petrel Mr. Couch found 

 about half an inch of a common tallow candle, of a size so dispro- 

 portionate to the bill and gullet of the bird, that it seems wonderful 

 how it could have been able to swallow it. 



Read also Observations on the Cause of Ergot. By Mr. John 

 Smith, A.L.S. 



The nature and origin of the substance called ergot, which occurs in 

 the spikes of rye and many other grasses, have been involved in much 

 obscurity; and even that eminent Fungologist Professor Fries, appears 

 to be entirely unacquainted with its real structure, the discovery 

 of which is clearly due to the author of the present communication, 

 who has shown that the ergot is a morbid condition of the albumen, 

 occasioned by the attack of a minute parasitic fungus, the sporules 

 of which he supposes to be conveyed to the ovulum along with the 



