314 General Notes. at 
two eggs each, and four with three eggs each were observed. The above 
is the earliest date of arrival of the birds of which I have any knowledge. 
This island has now been posted, and the Terns are likely to have better 
protection than ever before. —GrorcE H. Mackay, Nantucket, Mass. 
Onychoprion, not Haliplana. — As I have remarked before (Pr. Philada. 
Acad., 1862, p. 555), “ Wagler’s Onychoprion is based upon the S|¢erna], 
serrata of Forster; while his Haliplana has as type S. fuliginosa, Gm. 
The former of these species . . . is in all probability identical with 
fuliginosa, and is at all events strictly congeneric with it. This being 
the case, perhaps Oxychoprion ought to be employed for the genus; as 
it is instituted several pages in advance of Haléplana” in Isis, 1832. I 
now find the case to be exactly as I surmised 35 yearsago. Thesynonymy 
of the Sooty Tern section of Sterna, so far as Wagler is concerned, is: 
Onychoprion, Isis, 1832, p. 277, type serrata Forst., = fuliginosa ; Planetzs, 
Isis, 1832, p. 1222, type guttata Forst., = fuliginosa; Haizplana, Isis, 
1832, p. 1224, type fuliginosa. All three names are thus based on one 
species, and all bear the same ostensible date; but of actual priority of 
Onychoprion there is no question, as reference to the dates of parts 
of Isis for 1832 shows. 
The specific name of another bird of the subgenus Oxychoprion must 
be changed from the misspelling ‘‘ az@thetus” of our Check-List, for we 
have absurdly adopted a mere misprint, besides failing to observe gram- 
matical gender. Our rules allow us the privilege of correcting a typo- 
graphical error, as dropping of the s in this case certainly is; and though 
Sterna was once of common gender, it is feminine now, both by analogy 
of form and by common consent. The full form of the word would be 
anesthetica, as in my ‘Key,’ etc.; but lest I be accused of wanton ‘ purism,’ 
I will compound that felony by accepting azestheta, (Gr. avats0yTos, 
stolid, unfeeling, apathetic). 
Our mistake regarding Onxychofrion is counterbalanced by a reverse 
error. Having ignored actual priority in this case, we turn around and 
bestow a fictitious priority upon Sterna tschegrava Lepechin, to avoid 
using the established name S. casfza. These two names are ostensibly 
of same date, 1770, in same part of same volume of the publication in 
which they both appear; and there is no evidence that the 82 pages 
concerned (p. 500 to p. 582) make a difference of a day or an hour in 
actual date of publication. Why then drop casfza for ¢tschegrava, except 
to show how great we can be in little things? I shall continue to use 
caspia; and so will all other ornithologists, when the flurry and hurry 
and worry of our Check-List is over. —- ELL1I0TT CouEs, Washington, D.C. 
Remarks on certain Procellariide.— On reviewing these objects of my 
early solicitude (1864-66), chiefly in the light of Salvin’s recent admirable 
Monograph, I observe that a number of classificatory and nomenclatural 
changes are required in the A. O. U. List, besides those which the Com- 
mittee adopted in ‘The Auk’ of last January, or then deferred. 
