284 ON THE PETRELS OF THE * CHALLENGER/ 



removed thence to some other position, presumably in his suborder 

 " Schizognathse." But, in fact, as we now know from Prof. Garrod's 

 investigations*, the so-called Coccygoinorphse are an artificial group, 

 made up of at least three very distinct series of birds. Furthermore, the 

 fact that the Trogons are schizognathous, whereas their near allies, such as 

 the Bucconidae, Galbulidao, Coraciidae, Podargus, &c., are desmognathous, 

 shows that the structure of the palate has not that unique and peculiar 

 significance that has been claimed for it in the classification of birds. 



Rep.B.Assoc. 46. ON THE ANATOMY AND CLASSIFICATION OF THE 

 1881, P . 671. PETRELS, BASED UPON THOSE COLLECTED BY 



H.M.S. ' CHALLENGER/ f 



AFTER stating the reasons why hitherto the anatomy of this group of 

 birds had been hardly at all studied, the author, who has been enabled, 

 thanks mainly to the specimens collected by the ' Challenger,' and entrusted 

 to him for anatomical examination by Sir Wyville Thomson, to dissect 

 nearly all the chief genera of this group, proceeded to give an account of 

 the results as yet arrived at. 



After describing briefly some of the more remarkable peculiarities of 

 structure of the group of Petrels or Tubinares, of which about 150 species 

 are now known, the author proceeded to consider the questions of their 

 classification and affinities. 



The Tubinares form a very well-defined group, separated off from all 

 other birds by a combination of characters, external and internal, not 

 found elsewhere, as well as by some peculiar to the group itself. Two 

 well-marked families now exist : one, the Oceanic Petrels (Oceanitidas) 

 represented by four genera, and about eight species ; the other (Pro- 

 cellariidse) containing all the remainder of the group, and being divisible 

 again into three subfamilies, the Albatrosses (Diomedeinae), the' Diving 

 Petrels (Pelecanoidinae), and the true Petrels (Procellariinae), this last 

 division containing by far the greater number of the genera and species. 



As regards the affinities of the group, the author was of the opinion 

 that the Petrels are probably much modified descendants of some ancient 

 form, which was related to the Ciconiiform birds of Garrod, i. e. the 

 Storks, American Vultures, Accipitres, Steganopodes, and their allies. 

 Any relationship to the Gulls (Laridae) was not borne out by the anatomy 

 of the two groups in question. 



* ' Scientific Papers,' pp. 214, 215, &c. 

 t Rep. Brit. Assoc. 1881, p. 671. 



