278 Zoological Society. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



July 22, 1851.— John Edward Gray, Esq., F.R.S. &c., Vice-Presi- 

 dent, in the Chair. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. On the largest known species of Phaleridine Bird. 

 By Charles Lucien, Prince Bonaparte. 



Among the new additions lately made to the British Museum I was 

 Btruck by one of the Alcidce, which I had never seen before, and 

 which was very properly placed close by two beautiful specimens of 

 my singular Ceratorrhina, also lately added to the zoological treasures 

 of the English nation. The bird which is the subject of the present 

 note is evidently the Labrador Awk of Latham, so miscalled from 

 the erroneous impression that it came from those eastern shores of 

 America, but too well described not to be recognized. Gmelin com- 

 piled his Alca labradora from the description of Latham, and all 

 those who did not follow him blindly, have referred that indication 

 to an immature state of the Razor-bill (Mormon arcticd), a course in 

 which they were led by geographical consideration only. Although 

 our bird belongs to the family of the Alcidce, it is not even an Alcine, 

 as the Razor-bill, but, as is shovm by the nakedness of the cere, it 

 belongs to the other subfamily, or Phaleridine, of which it is at pre- 

 sent the largest known. 



In its family it is certainly alhed to Ceratorrhina, but well de- 

 serving to constitute a genus by itself. The bill still more com- 

 pressed, is in fact much more angulated beneath, and covered at the 

 base, not by a bony process or horn, but by a soft membrane or 

 saddle, which leaves a simple slit along the margins for the imper- 

 vious nostrils. 



Genus novum Phaleridinarum. 



Sacmatorrhina, Bp. Saddle-Bill. 



Rostrum duplo longius quam altum ; maxilla ad basin recta cerd 



maximd induta, apice incurva ; mandibula ultra medium statim 



adscendens, angulum obtusum constituens ; nares lineares, mar- 



ginales. 



As the bird has been so well described by Latham, Mr. G. R. Gray 



very properly suggests that its specific name should be taken from 



that author. 



Sagmatorrhina Lathami, Bp. Maxima; nigricans; subtus 

 albido-fuliginosa : rostro pedibusque rubris ; cerd palmisque 

 nigris. 



Long. 16 poll. ; rostr. 2 poll, long., 1 altum, f latum ad basin, f ad 

 med. ; alee 71^ poll.; cauda3|^; tars. 1^; digitorum longissimus 2f . 



