142 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP 



name hcesita'a by Forster was to indicate a very different bird ;* not an ^stre- 

 lata at all, but one of the Puffinece. These unfortunate citations have ever 

 since been the cause of a sort of double employ of the name by ornitholo- 

 gists. The synonyms at the head of this article, taken in connection with 

 those given under Adamastor cinereus, (Pr. A. N. S., 1864, p. 119,) contain 

 most of the references of consequence which bear on the question. 



One must not fail to consult in this connection Mr. A. Newton's very 

 thorough and lucid exposition of the bibliography, as well as an accurate 

 description, of this species, given in the "Zoologist,'' as above cited, on the 

 occasion of the first introduction of the bird into the British Avifauna. Some 

 very important corrections and verifications are there presented. 



The name hcesitata Forst. had been long in existence, in manuscript, for a 

 species very different from the present; but being first published, (in 182(t, 

 when we iirst gained the right of recognizing it,) by Dr. Kuhl, for the 

 species now under consideration, it must necessarily stand in this connection. 

 I do not see, therefore, why Bonaparte supersedes it by diaholica of L'Her- 

 minier. This latter quotation, as well as the reference to a Puffinus UHer- 

 minieri of Lesson, I present on the authority of Bonaparte, not having the 

 opportunity of verifying them personally. The name " rubritarsi " of Mr. 

 Gould is to be suppressed as unpublished by him, and, moreover, as con- 

 veying an erroneous impression regarding the color of the feet. 



The hcesitata of Lesson's Traite, p. 611, is this species ; but the author 

 erroneously cites hcesitata Forst. and leucocephula Forst. as synonyms. 



I have before me the type specimen of Procellaria meridionalis, kindly 

 transmitted to me for examination by Mr. Lawrence. It is an example of 

 ^Estrelata hcesitata ; as, indeed, Mr. Lawrence himself suspects may be the 

 case. (B. N. Amer., text of p. 827.) Any differences which may exist in 

 the specimen in question, from the figure given by Mr. Newton in the Zoolo- 

 gist, seem rather accidental than real. This same individual had been for- 

 merly called " brevirostris " by Mr. Lawrence — a name preoccupied by M. 

 Lesson for a fuliginous species of ^^ Pterodroma.^' Mr. Lawrence enumerates 

 with entire accuracy the synonyms of this species under head of Proc. meri- 

 dionalis, in the Birds of North America, p. 827. The name hcesitata, as em- 

 ployed by Mr. Lawrence, and also by Mr. Gould, refers to the Adamastor 

 cinereus, and not to the present species. 



I have not met with any names or descriptions published during the 

 eighteenth century whicli are definitely re'errible to this species ; and, if 

 tliere be any other synonyms than those above commented upon, they have 

 not been brought sufficiently into notice to r quire recognition in this con- 

 nection. The chief point is to be able to decide, without hesitation, to what 

 hcesitata, as used by different authors, really refers. f 



iEsTEELATA Lessoni (Gamot) Cassin. 



Procellaria Lessoni, Garnot, Ann. Sc. Nat., 1826, vii. p. 54, fig. 4, (mala.) 

 South Pacific, Cape Horn, lat. 52°, long. S5w. Lesson, Traite Orn., 

 1831, p. 611. Gould, B. Aust., pi. 49, (accuratissima et pulcher- 

 rima.) Reichenbach, Syst. av. tab. 24, fig. 2605 ; et tab. 20, fig. 339, 

 and of authors generally. 



^Estrelata Le-soni, Cassin, Cat. Bds. North Pac. U. S. Expl. Esped. in Pr. 

 A. N. S. Ph., 1862, p. 327. South Indian Ocean. 



Rhantistes Lessoni, Bonaparte, Comptes Rend. xlii. 1856, p. 768. 



Procellaria leucocephala, Forster, Ed. Licht. Descr. Anim., 1844, p. 206, sp. 



•T ) wit, the Acliimaslor cinereus, ex Proc. cincrea Gm. Lath. Compare carefully, In this con- 

 nection, my rt-iniirka, pp. 119, and 128, nf the I'hiladelpliia Academy Proceedings for 1864. 



f Kor couvenience of reference: P. hiesitata ot Knhl, Temminck, Lesson, Newton, Schlegel, 

 li pnaparte, and of some other authors, is the ^'Estrelata hiesiUtta of this paper. P. hwsitata of 

 Kor-<ter, Gould, Keichenbach, Lawrence, is tne Adamastor cincretis of Pr. A. N. i. Ph., 1862, 

 p. 119. 



[May, 



