108 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
Zealand breeding-places), does not differ essentially from that 
of the Ferédes. But even if the difference had been greater, 
a seabird that, in the Pacific, has been seen from lat. 19° to 
57° 8., would easily adapt itself to the changed conditions. 
The food of the Albatrosses consists of oceanic molluscs, 
crustacea, and meduse, and also of dead animals that happen 
to float on the surface of the water; the former being their 
essential food. We can hardly suppose the North Atlantic 
to be poorer in this respect than, for instance, the corre- 
sponding part of the Pacific, where Albatrosses abound 
(D. albatrus, nigripes).. There is abundant reason to believe 
that the sea around the Ferée Islands is especially rich in 
pelagic animal life. Mr Dickson’s latest researches? have 
proved that in the summer a wide current passes from the 
open Atlantic through the channel between the Feerdes and 
the Shetlands, turns around the latter group, and runs along 
the east coast of Scotland; this current certainly carries 
along an immense number of these pelagic organisms. 
It is worth noticing that D. melanophrys, also elsewhere, 
shows inclination to roam and settle north of its usual home. 
The above-mentioned closely allied species, D. ivrorata and 
D. immutabilis, may safely be considered as having sprung 
from the principal species of D. melanophrys, as comparatively 
new colonies, sent out from the original southern colony, one 
south of, the other far north of, the Equator, in the Pacific. 
About the distribution of the first species very little is 
known ; the latter has undoubtedly settled permanently in 
the northern part of the ocean. Suppose this assertion to 
be true, and it will be another proof of the capacity of the 
species to adapt itself to new surroundings and to a new 
climate, another evidence that the region where it finds 
sufficient food must extend very far, and only depend 
slightly on the geographical latitude. 
1 Gf. Ergebnisse der in dem Atlantischen Ocean von Mitte Juli bis Anfang 
Novbr. 1889 ausgef. Plankton-Expedition; herausgeg. v. V. Hensen, 
1892 sqq. 
? Twelfth Annual Report of the Fishery Board for Scotland, being for the 
year 1893, part iii, Edinburgh, 1894; Report of Physical Investigations 
carried out on board H.M.S. ‘“‘Jackal,” 1893-94, by H. M. Dickson, 
pp. 348-359. 
