82 Capt. F. W. Hutton on the 



Starting from D. nigripes we have three groups : — The 

 first includes D. irrorata, D. immutabilis, and I), albatrus, of 

 the North Pacific, which have mottled under wing-coverts 

 and the culmicorn in contact with the latericorn for a con- 

 siderable distance behind the base of the nasal tube. The 

 second group consists of the three species of true Southern 

 Albatrosses' — D. exulans, D. regia, and D. chionoptera — clearly 

 linked together by their white under wing-coverts and the 

 shape of the culmicorn, which has a very short, almost 

 punctiform, contact with the latericorn behind the base of 

 the nasal tube. The third group contains D. melanophrys 

 alone, which has a bill resembling that of the northern 

 Albatrosses, but with different colouring. 



The genus Thalassogeron, which is entirely southern, is 

 connected through D. melanophrys with the northern Alba- 

 trosses, D. irrorata and D. immutabilis. It seems, therefore, 

 probable that Albatrosses originated in the Northern Hemi- 

 sphere and passed south through the Pacific Ocean. 



No two species of Albatross or Mollymawk are known to 

 breed in the same locality. Even when two different kinds 

 are found on the same island — as D. exulans and D. regia on 

 Adam's Island of the Auckland group — they occupy widely 

 separated sites. So far as I know, Thalassogeron salvini, of 

 the Bounty Islands, is the earliest species to breed, for it com- 

 mences at the end of August. D. melanophrys, on Campbell 

 Island, comes next, in the middle of September; then the 

 Sooty Albatross, Phcebetria Juliginosa, in the end of October 

 at the Antipodes and Auckland Islands, and a little later at 

 Kerguelen Island. D. regia commences at Campbell Island in 

 the middle of November; D. chionoptera at Kerguelen in 

 the middle or end of December ; D. exulans in the first week 

 of January at Adam's Island and the middle of January at 

 Antipodes Island ; and last comes T. culminatus at the Snares 

 Islands in the end of January. So that there is no less 

 than five months' difference between the first and the last. 



As these birds all live on the same food and have the 

 same simple habits when they are at sea, we cannot suppose 

 that their distinctive specific characters are due to natural 



