366 ON THE PETRELS COLLECTED DURING 



Zool. Ohall. opportunity of acquiring specimens of them fit for dissection. By these 

 pt. xi. p. 2. means I have been enabled to examine several species and genera of these 

 birds not represented in the ' Challenger ' collection, though that collec- 

 tion has formed the groundwork of my investigations. 



I herewith give a complete list (p. 365) of those species that I have been 

 enabled to examine in the flesh. All not otherwise indicated were collected 

 by H.M.S. * Challenger.' And I must take this opportunity io thank my 

 friend Mr. Osbert Salvin, E.R.S., who reported on the collection of 

 Tubinares made in skins during the voyage*, for his kind assistance in 

 naming the spirit-specimens under my charge, as well as for much subse- 

 quent assistance in points of nomenclature, and for valuable material 

 that would not have otherwise been available. 



Zool. Chall. II. PREVIOUS LITERATURE ON THE ANATOMY AND 



Exp. vol. iiv. CLASSIFICATION OF THE TUBINARES. 



pt. xi. p. 4. 



I propose under this head to briefly notice the more important papers 

 or memoirs that have appeared dealing with the structure and classifica- 

 tion of these birds. Titles of several less important ones not mentioned 

 here may be found duly recorded in the third instalment of Dr. Coues's 

 'Ornithological Biography 'f, ProcellariidaB, pp. 1021-1033. 



1826. One of the very earliest contributions to the anatomy of the 

 Petrels we owe to the voyage of circumnavigation made by the ' Coquille.' 

 G-arnot, in the account of that expedition J, gives some brief anatomical 

 notices chiefly relating to the digestive organs of several Tubinares. The 

 species dissected are, unfortunately, not referred to by scientific names, 

 but they appear to be Phoebetria fuliginosa, Thalassoeca cjlacialoides, a 

 Prion, Fregetta melanogastra, and Pelecandides urinatrix, as well as another 

 species I cannot determine (" Petrel de la Mer Pacifique "). 



In 1827 L'Herminier described the general character of the sternum 

 of the Tubinares, which formed his twenty-eighth family of birds, and 

 proposed to divide the group up, on sternal characters, into three sections 

 (1) the smaller Petrels (Procellaria, Cymochorea, &c.) with the posterior 

 margin of the sternum more or less entire ; (2) the Albatrosses, with 

 the sternum with two large and shallow excavations posteriorly; and 

 (3) the Petrels proper, with four posterior sternal excavations. As regards 

 the general position of the group, he remarks : " Ces oiseaux . . . par la 



* Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. ' Challenger,' vol. ii. part viii. pp. 140-149 

 (Report on the Birds : XI. On the Procellariidae collected during the Expedition). 

 Also Proc. Zool. Soc. 1878, pp. 735-740. 



t Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv. vol. v. No. 4 (Washington, 1880). 



J Voyage autour de la Monde, Zool. torn. i. : Eecherches anatoiniques relatives a 

 divers oiseaux marins, pp. 603-612. 



Recherches sur 1'appareil sternal des Oiseaux, pp. 79-81, vol. iv. (Paris, 1827). 



