364 Annals of th^ Carnegie Museum. 



Petrels. This is another excellent distinctive character between Puf- 

 finiis and yEstrelafa. The bone in P. parvus is remarkably straight 

 and slender, being longitudinally grooved for tendons both anteriorly 

 and posteriorly, more markedly so in front. The intercondylar emi- 

 nence is prominent, and the condylar cavities upon either side of it 

 are deep and circular in outline. The Jiypotarsus is short, the inner 

 section of it being twice as long as the outer, which latter is once 

 pierced for tendinal passage. A similar passage is to be found be- 

 tween the two sections, but it is not quite closed posteriorly. 



Middle third of the shaft is somewhat compressed from side to 

 side; indeed, the entire bone shows something of this transverse 

 compression — even the trochle?e of the distal extremity. With re- 

 spect to these, the middle one is the longest, the outer next in length. 

 and the inner one of the three the most elevated. Rather high up on 

 the outer side, we note the usual foraminal perforation for the passage 

 of the anterior tibial artery. The shaft of the bone, proximally, is 

 also twice pierced in the antero-posterior direction, just below the 

 head, as we find it to be in nearly all birds. 



I have given this new and extinct form of Shearwater the specific 

 3iame of parvus for the reason that it is probable that, when the 

 ■species was in existence, it had few, if any, members in the same 

 genus that were smaller than it. The name Pitffiiius was an attempt 

 -on the part of the early writers upon ornithology to latinize the word 

 puffin. Very early in ornithological history and literature Fratercula 

 ^arctica and its near allies were called puffins, for the reason that, 

 ^when they squatted down upon the rocks where they lived, they 

 appeared to be puffy or puffed up — hence " Puffin." Shearwaters at 

 that time were also called " pufiins," as they were frequently observed 

 in the same localities. However, the vernacular term was soon 

 dropped in their case, while the early writers, in looking up the scien- 

 tific name for them, hit upon Puffinus as a justifiable way in which 

 to perpetuate the name puffin, without being really guilty of confusing 

 them with the true birds bearing that appellation (Piiffiuincc). 



