84 KIXCiHORX & CAYLEY, Storm Petrels. KocT" 



that we consider it impossible to find si)ecific differences be- 

 tween them. 



The material before us as we com])ile this I'aper, besides a 

 large quantity of literature (nearly thirty volumes having been 

 consulted) consists of three sjiecimens of Frec/etfornis from 

 Lord Howe Is., as follows : — 



A. — A very dark si)ecimen with \ery little white on the ab- 

 domen, collected by Messrs. McCuUoch and Troughton in the 

 Erskine \'alley, February, 1921. This flew into a camj) after 

 dark, being attracted by either a light or noise. 



B. — A lighter specimen with a mere mottled abdomen. This- 

 was found, with a broken wing, by Mr. R. Ra.xter, (mi a beach 

 towards the end of 1921. 



C. — A specimen collected by I'rofesor T. H. Johnston in Oc- 

 tober, 1910, which is ])art of' the "H. L. White Collection" in 

 the National Museum, Melbourne. This specimen is very im- 

 portant ; it is the one which was described, but left "unnamed," 

 by Mathews. 8a So far as we can find. Mathews fails to make 

 further reference to this "unnamed" bird in any recent work, 

 so we are fortunate in having it before us as we write. 



Mathews and Iredale^, in a note at the end of the descrijnion 

 of F. grallarius, say "Examination of \'ieillot's type proves that 

 it is not the Lord Howe Island sub-species, but the South Ameri- 

 can." This must be a mistake, as we have consulted \'ieillot's 

 own original description,^^ in which he definitely states that his 

 bird came from New Holland. 



Mathews and Iredale^ ])lace F. iiniotuijiotiis in the synonymy 

 of F. (/rallariiis, and it is through this action that we are helped 

 in identifying Mathews' other nominal species. Such slight 

 colour variation as exists between F. royaiiiis. F. alisteri, F. 

 {itsitlaris, and F. ijuioiuinaliis is evidently due to some or all of 

 the several causes explained by Loomis,^ and cpioted by us in an 

 introductory ])aragraph. 



VARIATION OF FREGETTORMS GRALLARIUS. 



The nasal tube. — The bird collected by Professor T. H. John- 

 ston (Specimen C) was described by Alathews,^'- but was left 

 unnamed. He remarked that its greatest peculiarity was the 

 depressed or flattened nasal tube, which he thought might have 

 been soft in life; another feature was the approach of the fore- 

 head feathers to the culmen, which gave the bird a vulturine 

 appearance. We noted these peculiarities when we first exam- 

 ined the skin, and also observed that the s|)ecimen cai»tured by 

 Messrs. McCulloch and Troughton (specimen A) showed exactly 

 the same characteristics. We decided, however, to moisten the 

 nasal tube of one sjiecimen wilii si)irits and warm water, and 

 found that, so soon as it was thoroughly s(jaked it assumed an 

 ui>right i)osition, though it did not become cpiite so erect or re- 

 curved as in a specimen preserved in spirit (P.). which was col- 



