228 Letters, Announcements, S^c. 



that interbreeding ^'^is tlie great fact lying at the bottom of 

 it aW, and explaining it aXl," — that is, the origin of " inci- 

 pient " or ^^imperfectly segregated" species^ or of inter- 

 gradation between forms once supposed to be specifically 

 distinct. 



Yours &c., 



J. A. Allen. 



Norwich, March 12, 1883. 



Sirs, — As much confusion has hitherto existed between 

 the British specimens of Puffinus major and P. griseus, it 

 may be worth noting that a Shearwater which came alive 

 into my possession in July 1851, and which was recorded in 

 Morris's ' Naturalist ' for 1851, p. 189, also in the ' Zoologist ' 

 for the same year, pp. 3234 and 3279, under the name of 

 Greater Shearwater (P. cinereus) , has, upon a recent exami- 

 nation, proved to be an example of Pufflnus griseus (Gm.). 

 The bird, which measured in the flesh 17 inches in total 

 length, gape 2^, wing from anterior joint 12, tarsus 2, mid- 

 dle toe 2^, proved, on dissection, to be a male, probably 

 immature. 



I am not aware of P. major having been met with on the 

 Norfolk coast ; but it seems probable that in other localities 

 P. griseus, as in the present case, may have been mistaken 

 for the female or immature male of that species. 



Yours &c., 



T. Southwell. 



One of the Editors, being in foreign parts, has addressed 

 the following letter to his sorely pressed coadjutor: — 



St. Jeau de Luz, Basses Pyreuees, 

 4th March, 1883, 



Bear Colleague, — You invite me to give an account of 

 myself, and to make such amends as I can for deserting you^ 

 and this, too, at the very commencement of my career ! I 

 regret the unavoidable causes Avhich have necessitated my 

 absence, and also that circumstances have prevented me from 



