Mr. J. Y. Johnson on Alepisaurus ferox. 317 



scribing it as distinct ; and that ornithologists may more clearly 

 perceive the great difference alluded to, I annex an accurate admea- 

 surement of male examples from India and Europe. 



Fregilus himalayanus. 



Inches. 



Total length 15^ 



Bill 2\ 



Wing 12| 



Tail ^ 



Tarsi 2| 



Fregilus graculus. 



Inches. 



Total length 14 



Bill 1| 



Wing lOf 



Tail 5f 



Tarsi If 



I may add that specimens from Italy and from Wales are precisely 

 alike in all their admeasurements. 



Prion magnirostris, Gould. 



Head, all the upper surface and sides of the chest blue-grey ; 

 lesser wing-coverts and the edge of the shoulder brown ; the remainder 

 of the wing blue-grey, deepening into slate- grey at the tips of the 

 inner primaries ; the outer primaries slaty black, fading into white 

 on the inner edge ; scapularies deepening into slate-grey near the 

 end, and tipped with pale grey ; tail very light grey, the centre fea- 

 thers tipped with blackish- brown ; chin, throat, centre of the breast, 

 abdomen, and under surface of the wing creamy white ; a faint wash 

 of blue on the lower part of the flanks and the under tail-coverts ; 

 bill blue, deepening into black on the sides of the nostrils, at the tip 

 and along the side of the lower mandible ; irides brown, legs beau- 

 tiful light blue. 



Total length 1 1 inches ; bill, base to tip 2, breadth at base \^ ; 

 wing 8 ; tail 4| ; tarsi 1|. 



Hab. Unknown. 



Remark. — As the name I have assigned to it implies, this species 

 differs from every other member of the genus in the extraordinary 

 size of its bill. In form and colouring it is precisely similar to the 

 other Priones, all of which are remarkably alike in these respects — 

 not so, however, in their bills, which consequently present the best 

 specific characters. 



Remarks on a Specimen of Alepisaurus ferox recently 

 OBTAINED AT Madeira. By James Yate Johnson, Corr. 

 Mem. Z.S. 



Having lately procured a specimen of this rare and interesting fish 

 (which I have had the pleasure of presenting to the British Museum), 

 I beg leave to lay before the Society the result of my observations 

 upon it when in a fresh state. The remarks I shall make will be 

 for the most part supplementary to Mr. E. T. Bennett's long de- 

 scription of another specimen from this locality, printed in the first 

 volume of the * Transactions of the Zoological Society*;' but I hope 

 they will be found to have some bearing upon the question of the 

 * See Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. i. p. 395. 



