NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 139 



whereby we may recognize liis genus. I am therefore constrained to unite 

 the so called genus with ^Eslrelata.* 



This fuliginous section, then, of yE.ttrelata, comprehends some four or five 

 species, very widely distributed, as regards latitude ; though, so far as we now 

 know, cliiefiy occurring in the tropical and temperate portions of the Atlantic. 

 A new species from Jamaica is bein^ published as I write. f 



With the exception perhaps of A. Buliccri, these are only distinguishable by 

 size and some points of coloration of the feet. 



This latter species differs from the type of " Pterodroma " in the somewhat 

 more elongated and decidedly cuneiform tail, which is hardly contained twice 

 in the wing from the carpal joint ; and perhaps in having comparatively 

 slightly smaller feet. The difference iu the tail is no greater than that existing 

 among" unquestioned species of ^E.^treLita : and in all other points there is an 

 absoliate identity of form. This sijecies is the type of Bonaparte's genus 

 Btilweria, and by him it is placed among the Thalassidromines ; upon what 

 grounds I am at a loss to conjecture. J The " genus " seems to me to bear 

 exactly the same relation to Fterodroma that Tliiellus, Gloger, (as defined by 

 Bonaparte to include sjilienurus Gould, and cJdororh)jnchus Lesson), does to 

 Nectris. 



The genus Coohilaria, founded by Bonaparte upon the Pr. Coohii, Gray, has 

 not even an apology for characters whereon to base claims to recognition. A 

 diagnosis is not attempted by its author ; and a few weeks subsequently the 

 name is dropped ; § and Rhaiitistcs\\ substituted, although the species collo- 

 cated under the latter designation are by no means the same as those pre- 

 viously included in Cookilaria. 



The other partial synonyms quoted at the head of this article are merely 

 instances of the reference to them of some of the species included in the genus 

 as it is here defined and limited. Of the several names at our disposal, 

 u-Estrelata has, so far as I can ascertain, the priority. The species given in 

 the following pages include all I have been able to learn of, through specimens 

 or books, as having just claims to recognition. Very possibly some valid ones 

 are omitted ; and perhaps some now retained may hereafter help to swell the 

 list of synonyms ; that wearisome and vexatious, but inevitable, mass of rub- 

 bish, repelling inquiry, and retarding progress, under the burden of which 

 ornithology now labors. 



^STKELATA HiESITATA (Kuhl) CoueS. 



Procellaria hcesitata, Kuhh Mon. Proc. Beit. Zool., 1820, p. 142, No. 11. [Excl. 



synon.] — Temminck, Planches Colorees,No.416. — Lesson, Traite Ornith. 



1831, p. 611, [Excl. synon.]— Newton, Zoologist, x. 1852, p. 3G91. — 



Schlegel. Mon. Proc. Mus. Pays-Bas, 1863, p. 13. 

 Alstrelala diaholica, Bonaparte, Consp. av. ii. 1835, p. 189. ex '^Procellaria 



diaholica, L'Herminier." 



* This procedure may seem inconsistent with the course followed in a previous paper of mine 

 upon the Puffins. It is there, however, explicitly stated that the difference between i\>c<m or 

 Tliiellus, &nii Puffinus, is scarcely auirht than that of color, and that these genera " are hardly 

 worth retaining, except it be for convenience's sake." (Page 117 ; and see also pp. 1"22, 128, 142, 

 143.) The recognition of genera founded upon fuliginous color in this family is perhaps peculiarly 

 to be deprecated; since some species are known to pass from a fuliginous unicolor to a bicolor 

 state of plumage with incrt-asing age ; and moreover.it is by no means incontrovertibly proven 

 that Some supposed fuliginous species are not merely immature plumages of others. I most 

 willingly relinquish the position above referred to ; and am now indisposed to degrade, even upon 

 a plea of utility, so harmonious a group as every natural genus forms. 



y Pterodroma carrihiei Carte, V. Z. S. of which I learn through the kindness of Dr. Sclater, but 

 of whose characters I have no means of judging. 



X The species is al.so included in the genus Thalassidroma by 6. R. Gray. Examine in this con- 

 nection my remarks p. 89, of the Proc. Phila. Acad, for 18(54, where its affinities are shown to be 

 with the •I'istrelatean genus Pterodroma. By a lapsus calami the word " i'ulmareaj" there appears 

 instead of '■•^Ji'sirelaiex." 



? Comptes Kendus, Apr., 1856., xlii. p 7C8. 



II This is merely a misuse of a name of Kaup's founded in 1829 upon the Pr.glacialis, Linn., and 

 therefore a synonym oi Fulmarus, Leach, of 1825. (Steph., Shaw's Gen. Zool. 1825, xiii. p. 233.) 



1866.] 



