30 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OF 



tubes two-fifths as long as the culmeti, basally wide and depressed, termin- 

 ally high and compressed. Feet rather small ; tarsus much compressed, as 

 long as the inner toe without the claw ; about three-fifths the middle toe. 

 Wings and tail as in Fulmarus. 



This genus differs from Fulmarus in little except the bill ; in which, how- 

 ever, the distinction is well marked. The bill has, notwithstanding the 

 presence of the nasal tube?, an aspect which is Laridine to a degree not 

 found in any other genus of the family ; and the pattern of coloration in the 

 type of tlie genus is almost precisely that of a Larus. 



Two species are known to compose the genus. Intimately allied in form, 

 thair colors are more widely diverse than is usually found to be the case in 

 congeners of this family. 



Thalassoica glacialoides (Smith) Reich. 



Procellaria glacialis, Forster, Descr. Anim. ed. Licht. 1844, p. 25, No. 21. 



Nee Linn., nee auct. al. 

 Procellaria glacialis, Var. B., Gm. S. N. i. 1788, p. 563. Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. 



1760, p. 823. 

 Procellaria glacialoides, Smith, Illust. S. Afric. Bds. t. 51. 

 Thalassoica glacialoides, Reich. Syst. Av. Bonaparte Consp. Av. 1856, ii. 



p. 192. 

 Thalassoica glacialoides var. polaris, Bp. Consp. Av. 1856, ii., p. 192. 

 Thalassoica glacialoides var. tenuirostris, Bonaparte, Consp. Av. 1856, ii. 



p. 192. 

 Procellaria tenuirostris, Audubon, Orn. Biog., 1839, v., p. 333. Id. Birds 

 North Amer. vii. 1844, p. 210, (fig. nulla.) Lawrence, in Baird's 

 B. N. A., 1858, p. 826. 

 Procellaria Smithl, Schlegel, Monog. Proc. Mus. Pays Bas, 1863, p. 22. 

 Priocella Garnoti, Homb. et Jacq. Voy. Pole Sud, pi. 32, fig. 43 ; fide G. R. Gray. 



Habitat. — Southern hemisphere generally, apparently replacing the F. 

 glacialis. Columbia River and whole Pacific Coast of North and South Ame- 

 rica. Cape Horn. Cape of Good Hope. Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Africa. 

 Not in the North Atlantic ? 



The sulci on the sides of the bill, uniting the lateral laminae with the un- 

 guis, are remarkably narrow, shallow, and indistinct ; and the bill in other 

 respects calls forcibly to mind that of a small Larus argentatus. The colors of 

 the back, and of the primaries even to the white spaces on their inner webs, 

 and the size and shape of the feet and tail are rather those of a Laridine than 

 a Procellaridine bird. 



Nasal tubes a third the length of the culmen, basally broad and depressed : 

 terminally narrower and elevated ; their dorsal outline concave, subcarinated, 

 their tip deeply emarginated ; nasal septum very thin, and so short as not to 

 reach the end of the nasal tube. Culmen flattened from tube to unguis ; latter 

 much elevated and vsry convex. Shape of lower mandible that of Larus. 

 Tarsus much compressed, shorter than middle toe without its claw ; hardly 

 exceeding the inner toe alone. Outer toe without its claw longer than the 

 middle. Folded wings reach to end of tail. Primaries broad, tapering rather 

 suddenly to their rounded apices. Tail contained 2^ times in the wing from 

 the carpal joint. 



Bill yellow ; nasal tube, unguis and sometimes basal portion of superior 

 lateral mandibular laminae, bluish horn. Feet yellow. Upper parts uniform 

 clear pearl blue ; exactly the shade that obtains in some species of L^arus. 

 This color begins as a faint wash or shading on the nape, deepening as it pro- 

 ceeds backwards until on the interscapular region it has gained its full inten- 

 sity ; which continues undiminished over the whole back, rump, wing coverts, 

 tertials and tail coverts, to tlie tips of the rectrices themselves. The feathers 

 just along the edge of the wing, however, are grayish slate. Primaries black, 



[March, 



