bo Loomis, Procellaria alba Gmelin. [jan. 



The species concerned are among our commonest everyday winter 

 birds. Verification of this explanation, or the refutation of it, 

 should be easy to secure on the part of persons who are interested 

 in the natural history of living birds; for there are many such 

 nowadays, in excellent position to make accurate observations, and 

 to make from these valid inductions. 

 Museum Vert. Zool., Berkeley, Calif. 



ON PROCELLARIA ALBA GMELIN. 



BY LEVERETT MILLS LOOMIS. 



The technical name Procellaria alba has long been a stumbling- 

 block in the way of nomenclators. It was proposed by Gmelin 

 in 1789 in Volume I, Part II (p. 565) of his edition of Linnoeus's 

 'Systema Natura?.' The following is Gmelin' s description: 



"Pr. ex fusco nigra, guise area, pectore, abdomine et crisso albis, rectrici- 

 bus [tectricibus] caudsc inferioribus ex cinereo et albo mistis. 



White-breasted Petrel. Lath. Syn. III. 2. p. 400. n. 6. 



Habitat in insults Turturum et nativitatis Christi, 16, pollices longa. 



Rostrum nigrum; cauda rotundata; pedes ex atro fusci; digiti anteriore 

 dimidia sui parte cum membrana connectente nigri." 



From the above, it is apparent that Gmelin based his Procellaria 

 alba upon Latham's White-breasted Petrel, the description of which 

 reads as follows: 



"Length sixteen inches. Bill an inch and a half long, hooked at the 

 tip, and black: the head, neck, and upper parts of the body, dusky brown, 

 nearly black: on the threat a whitish patch: breast, belly, and vent, white: 

 under tail coverts cinereous and white mixed: tail rounded at the end: 

 legs black brown: the fore part of the toes half way black; the outside of 

 the exterior tee the same for the whole length: webs black: spur behind 

 blunt. 



Inhabits Turtle and Christmas Islands. In the collection of Sir Joseph 

 Bayiks." 1 



1 General Synopsis of Birds, Vol. Ill, Pt. 2, 17S5, p. 400. 



