^920 J Correspondence. 507 



feathers is also of the same color. Their bills are much broader than any 

 I have seen of the same tribe, and their tongues are remarkably broad. 

 These blue petrels, as I shall call them, are seen nowhere but in the south- 

 ern hemisphere, from about the latitude of 28° and upwards." Under 

 date December 27, 1772 (p. 32) is written: "Some of the petrels (shot by 

 Mr. Forster) were of the blue sort, but differing from those before men- 

 tioned, in not having a broad bill; and the ends of their tail feathers were 

 tipped with white instead of dark blue. But whether these were only the 

 distinction betwixt the male and female was a matter disputed by our 

 naturalists." 



J. R. Forster apparently had no doubt on the matter as in his Manu- 

 script he named Procellaria vittata under date November 30-December 23, 

 and gave the range as 'Habitat a Tropico capricorni in Circulum Antarc- 

 ticum usque, volant celerrime.' He fully described thereunder the Prion, 

 describing his broad bill and the dark tips to the tail. On the date De- 

 cember 28, he added Procellaria similis, giving the character of the Halo- 

 baena and the range as 'Hab. in Oceano simillimum Proc. vittatae at 

 examin Antarctico circa gradum latitudinus 58° primam observata." The 

 former he called "The Banded Petrel" and the latter "The white-edged 

 silvery Petrel." 



This is not novel, as these descriptions were published in 1844 under 

 the editorship of Lichtenstein and consequently " There is no doubt" what 

 Forster called Procellaria vittata, but this assuredly was not the species 

 now known as Halobaena caerulea (Gmelin) which Forster also fully de- 

 scribed under the name Procellaria similis. It may interest Mr. Ober- 

 holser also to note that J. R. Forster's names were published, also as 

 nomina nuda, in the 'Tagebuch Reise Siidsee unter Cook,' 1781, p. 35, 

 where Procellaria similis and vittata both occur. 



Consequently if Procellaria vittata Forster were to be recognized as a 

 valid name, it would apply only to the species commonly known as Prion 

 vittatus (Gmelin) and no change save that of authorship would be neces- 

 sary. 



Gregory M. Mathews. 



Foulis Court, Fair Oak, Hants, England. 



February 24, 1920. 



