Solander as an OrnitJiolocjlst. 135 



have never been excelled, thougli probably Solander liiraself 

 Mould not have claimed to be an ornithologist. 



Again quoting from the same place (p. 64): — ''15th. 

 Went in the boat and ViWeA Procell aria velox, Nectris munda 

 and faliginosa, which two last are a new genus between 

 Procellaria and Diomedea : this we reckon a great acquisition 

 to our bird collection." 



It should be observed that here is mention of a "bird 

 collection/' but I still think that no collection was preserved 

 and brought home, but that the drawings and descriptions 

 represented the forms collected. It does not seem that skins 

 were prepared at that time, and the few birds brought home 

 by Forster on the Second Voyage were dried ami mummified^ 

 not skinned. 



The introduction of the genus Nectris ( = Piiffinifs) also 

 sugoests that though Solander was such a keen and accurate 

 observer when dealing with the southern Petrels, he had not 

 been a close student of ornithology previously. Solander had 

 collected specimens of the northern Pujfinus at the begin- 

 ning of the voyage and had carefully prepared descriptions 

 and differentiated the species, yet did not recognise that they 

 Avere congeneric with his southern Nectris, but included them 

 in Procellaria. Yet when he procured Puffimis carneipes he 

 placed it in Nectris, but added that it was somewhat 

 intermediate between Nectris and Procellaria. This com- 

 ment is delightfully accurate, and proves the exceeding care 

 with which he worked at these birds. 



The rediscovery of the manuscript, which had been 

 ''thrust into some corner'' for almost 140 years, has now 

 removed from the name of Solander that unpleasant flavour 

 which always surrounds the maker of numerous perplexing 

 manuscript names. We can now believe that the non- 

 publication of these names was due to Solander's premature 

 death, and that had he lived longer, his work would have 

 been published under his own supervision. In any case, 

 Mr. Mathews' publication of these diagnoses has placed 

 the Solander names in such a position that they can now be 

 fairly dealt with by every student of the Proccllariiformes 

 upon their own basis. 



