154 DODLET 
occasionally, as in the RATIT#, retains a small quantity of de- 
generated yolk, while in the NIDICOL& or ALTRICES it is generally 
absorbed before maturity. 
DODLET, Sir R. Owen’s name, intended to be a diminutive of 
Dopo (as its scientific appellation Didunculus is of Didus), for the 
Tooth-billed Pickon of the Samoan or Navigators’ Islands, the 
hooked bill of which presents an outward resemblance to that of the 
celebrated inhabitant of Mauritius; but Didunculus, though by 
many writers placed in the Family Dididz, differs remarkably from 
them, and is really much more allied to the true Columbidx (Dove, 
PrGEoN), though entitled to form a separate Family, Didunculidz 
(Phil. Trans. 1869, p. 349). 
The name given by Sir R. Owen has fortunately not been 
adopted, but for convenience sake this curious bird is here treated 
under it. ‘The species must have been first observed in October or 
November 1839, when the Samoan Islands were visited by the 
United States’ Exploring Expedition under Commander Wilkes 
(Narrative, ete. pp. 87-116. London: 1845), and Strickland seems 
to have first publicly announced the discovery at the meeting of the 
British Association held at York in September 1844, when he stated 
(Report, ete. p. 189) that “among other rarities” obtained on the 
voyage by Mr. Titian Peale, the naturalist of the expedition, was 
“a new bird allied to the Dodo, which he proposes to name Didun- 
culus.” The earliest description of it that appeared was accompanied 
by a figure, and was published by Jardine (Ann. Nat. Hist. xvi. p. 
175, pl. 9), just a year after, under the name of Gnathodon? strigi- 
rostris, from a specimen which had been sent home, probably by some 
missionary, and was bought in a sale at Edinburgh. This, and 
those brought by the American explorers, were for a long while the 
only specimens known to have reached any civilized country. In 
1847 Reichenbach conferred on this bird a new generic name, 
Pliodus, for an invalid reason (see his Vég. Neuholl, ii. p. 158, note), 
but courtesy required what custom has acceded, and the oldest 
generic name applied to it has been commonly adopted, though the 
full title of the Tooth-billed Pigeon, Didunculus strigirostris, was not 
bestowed until 1848, when Peale’s work on the zoology of the 
Expedition to which he was attached put matters so far straight 
enough. Of late many specimens have been brought to Europe, 
and they may be seen in many museums. Much has been written 
of the habits of Didunculus in its native condition, but little that is 
to the purpose, while some seem to have confounded it with the 
Carpophaga pacifica or oceanica, which also is peculiar to the Samoan 
Islands. The interest taken in this species, chiefly because of its 
1 J. E. Gray had already, in 1886, forestalled the use of this name for a genus 
of Mollusca, 
