^°'j™] Correspondence. 255 



1910. Taken In- T. Harvey jolnislon. First record for I. .H.I." 

 I sent this skin to Mr. Gregory Alathews, who described it in his 

 ^'Birds of Australia," vol. ii., pt. 1, p. 42 (1912), expressing his 

 opinion that it was a distinct species, but he refrained from giving 

 it a name. In writing to Mr. Tom Iredale, who was assisting 

 Mathews, I commented upon the rather unusual procedure 

 ado[)ted by the latter, and received a rei)ly to the effect that the 

 bird was not named, but only described, and there was notliing 

 to prevent me from remedying the defect and giving it a name ! 

 As I did not agree with the conclusion that it was a new species, 

 I did not adopt the suggestion. Tlie skin subse(|uently was ac- 

 quired by Mr. H. L. White, and is now in the collection of the 

 National Museum, Melbourne, and is Specimen C referred to 

 by Kinghorn and Cayley. Mathews later obtained several skins 

 of Storm Petrels from Lord Howe Island, four of which he de- 

 scribed and named. One, doubtless similar to mine, was desig- 

 nated, with somewhat sardonic humour, "innominatus." 



When Messrs. McCulloch and Troughton brought Specimen A, 

 referred to in the paper under review, from Lord Howe Island, 

 they submitted it to me for identification. At first I was inclined 

 to regard it as a new species, but upon obtaining Specimen C from 

 Melbourne, and making a careful comparison, besides studying 

 the literature, I came to the conclusion that the new skin was 

 merely a juvenile F. (jrallaria, in which the white abdomen was in 

 process of development. This opinion I conveyed to Mr. Cayley. 

 When Specimen B came to hand, I understood that Mr. Cayley 

 was convinced that there were several species represented in the 

 material contained in the two Museums (Sydney and Melbourne), 

 and that he proposed to describe and figure two new species. 

 That he has altered his opinion and arrived at the same con- 

 clusion as myself is very gratifying to me, and my congratula- 

 tions are tendered to him and his collaborator for the veiy con- 

 scientious piece of work they have produced. — Yours, etc., 



A. F. BASSET HULL, C.F.A.O.U. 



Svdnev, 2nd December, 1922. 



To the Editors of " The Eniuy 

 Sirs, — A paper on Storm Petrels, by Messrs. Kinghorn and Cayley 

 appeared in the second part of ''The Eviu' (vol. xxii.), pp. 81 

 et seq. I am very glad to see new workers taking such an in- 

 terest in those small birds. But I would like to comment on 

 two matters connected therewith. 



Those authors say that I have confused leucof/aster with 

 grallaria. Had they read my article in the "Birds of Australia," 

 vol. ii., on grallaria, this statement could not have been made. As 

 a matter of fact, it was I who pointed out' the dilTerences between 

 those birds ; on ]ja^e 40 of my work I say that "Gould's T. leiico- 

 gaster is a dififerent species . . ." and on p. 44 I .say that "F. 

 grallaria is distinct from F. leucogaster." This does away also 



