394 Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 



amount of reading of even the most minute descriptions 

 would be of much help to him. If this were not so, the 

 Geese would not have been such a puzzling group of birds 

 for naturalists, and then, probably, I should never have 

 undertaken the task of studying them. 



I am, Sirs, yours &c, 

 S. Petersburg, S. ALPHERAKY. 



November 1905. 



Our foreign member, Professor Giacinto Martorelli, writes 

 to Mr. Howard Saunders as follows : — 



Dear Sir, — I send you to-day the last-issued parts of my 

 book <Gli Uccelli d' Italia' (11, 12, 13), and at the same 

 time I have the pleasure of announcing that our Museum 

 now possesses a very fine specimen of the young of Rhodo- 

 stethia rosea (perfectly typical) killed in the beginning of 

 January last in the Sardinian Sea. 



The bird was not alone but had a companion, which was 

 not killed, though observed again on the succeeding day. 



The specimen was sent to me in the flesh, and has been 

 mounted with exact modelling, after my own method and 

 under my supervision. 



I have preserved the body in spirit for anatomical purposes. 

 The stomach contained some remains of small fishes and 

 marine invertebrates. 



I send you this notice of a rare little Gull that you may 

 judge whether it is worth recording in ' The Ibis.' 



Most faithfully yours, 

 Museo Civico di Prof. Giacinto Martorelli. 



Storia Naturale, Milano. 

 Marcb 1906. 



The Cruise of the 'Valhalla,' R.Y.S.— The following letter 

 from Mr. M. J. Nicoll, dated " Off Tristan d'Acunha, 

 Jan. 20th, 1906," and addressed to Sclater, was posted on 

 the arrival of the ' Valhalla ' at Cape Town : — 



" We are lying off Tristan d'Acunha on account of the 

 very strong wind, and have been doing so for the last three 



