NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 140 



Procdlaria lugens, Forster, icon. 21, according to Kuhl. Banks, tcah. 21 and 



22, " ulii rostri forma optiiue est delineata " according to Kubl. 

 '■^ yEstrelatd inexpectata, Forster," of Bonaparte's Conspectus, ii. p. 189. But 

 not the true inexpertata of Forster wliioh is doubtless mollis, Grould. 



" Bill much compressed. Plumage uniform gray, darkest above, and be- 

 coming blackish on the wings. Generally similar to ni'llis of (iould, but with 

 a more compressed bill, different colors and proportions of some parts, and 

 the feet, including the webs, brownish in the dried state. Wing 9 l-12th 

 inches; central tail feathers 3 ll-12ths, external ones 2 ll-12ths. Bill 11^ 

 lines long : 4 high, 4J wide. Length of nasal tube rather more than 2 lines. 

 Tarsus l(ij lines. Middle toe 19 lines." 



The preceding description is compiled from the diagnosis of a species given 

 by Dr. Scdilegel (as above cited) from the Australian seas. That writer iden- 

 tifies it with the c/risca of Kulil, and gives SolciKcIri of Gould as a synonym. 

 I am unacquainted, autoptically, with any species differing from mollis Gould, 

 by the characters as given by Dr. Sohlegel. That gentleman, however, has a 

 specimen indicating such a species, and upon the competent authority of the 

 accomplished Director of the Pays-Bas Museum, I recognize the species as dis- 

 tinct from mollix. The color of the plumage I do not think can be regarded 

 as a constant and valid character, since some ages of mollis present exactly 

 the tints described as those of grisea. The species must therefore be separa- 

 ted, if at all, by the more compressed bill, different colors of the feet, and dif- 

 ferent proportions of some of the parts. Taking Dr. Schlegel's description and 

 specimen as the only tangible basis on which the supposed species I am now 

 treating of rests, there are presented for our consideration the following points 

 of synonymy. 



Attentive study of Kuhl's description of the bird he calls " grisea L.," and 

 examination of his figure (fig. 9) will show clearly that it is by no means the 

 species described by Latham under the name of "Gray Petrel, P. grisea/^ 

 Latham gives the bill as two inches long, while Kuhl's figure delineates a bill 

 measuring just one inch along the chord of the culmen. Other discrepancies 

 are palpable throughout. Latham's gritea appears to be a Nectris, while 

 Kuhl's is an ^Estrelata very near mollis. Kuhl himself takes occasion to note 

 some descrepancies between his bird and Latham'.-.* Kuhl's expressions 

 " rostro valde compresso ; * * corpore et tectricibus alarum inferiori- 

 bus cinerascente fuliginosis, pedibus pallidis " together with his measure- 

 ments, are entirely pertinent to the bird whose characters are given by Dr. 

 Schlegel ; so that the only question is the distinctness of the species from 

 mollis. 



While I thus entirely agree with Dr. Schlegel in this identification of Kuhl's 

 name, I can by no means assent to the referring of Mr. Gould's P. Solandri to 

 this species. P. Solandri is certainly radically distinct ; and so diflerent in 

 its proportions that I cannot understand how Dr. Schlegel could have recon- 

 ciled it with P. grisea. 



Dr. Kuhl (1. c.) says of the P. /(«//e;ii- of Forster (ic. 21) that he considers it the 

 same as grisea ; he also adduces P. lugens Banks, (tab. 21 and 22,) as a syno- 

 nym of the latter. My quotation of these names is entirely upon Dr. Kuhl's 

 authority. 



The yEstrelata inexpectata of Bonaparte's Conspectus evidently belongs here 

 rather than to the true mollis. The author quotes Kuhl's grisea as a synonym ; 

 and the diagnosis he gives presents nothing incompatible with the present 

 species. The true inexpectata of Forster is, I think, mollis, as I attempt else- 

 where to demonstrate. 



As a summary of the preceding remarks I may state that if there be a spe- 



* '■ In exeniplari mec haud observari quod Lath, de iufsrioribus alarum tectricibus dicit." — 

 Kuhl, p. 144. 



ISOC] 



