736 MR. W. A. FORBES ON THALASSIDROMA NEREIS. [JunC 21, 



as P. nereis. As regards the first-named species, there can be little 

 or no doubt that the bird really dissected by Prof. Garrod, and called 

 bjf him " Procellaria pelagica," was Wilson's Petrel (Oceanites 

 oceanicus), as in this bird there are no caeca', at the same time that 

 the accessory semitendinosus muscle is present. The true Procellaria 

 pelagica{oi vi\\ich. I have lately dissected two perfectly fresh examples) 

 agrees with the Fulmaridse, as defined by Prof. Garrod, in having 

 caeca ', but no accessory head to the semitendinosus ; and Cymochorea 

 leucorrhoa agrees in both these points with Procellaria pelagica. 



The so-called "Procellaria nereis" of Gould is therefore obviously 

 not a true Procellaria at all ; and this view is confirmed by other 

 characters, such as the shape of its nostrils, the elongated tarsi, which 

 are much longer than the mid toe^ and covered anteriorly with trans- 

 versely arranged scutellse^, the very minute hallux, and the lamellar, 

 concave form of the claws. It belongs, in fact, to the group of Ocea- 

 nites, Fregetta, and Pelar/odroma, but is not exactly congeneric with 

 any of them. I propose therefore to make it the type of a new genus, 

 to be called Garrodia, in memory of my lamented friend A. H. Garrod, 

 not only as a token of my personal esteem for, and indebtedness 

 to him, but also as some slight recognition of the thanks ornithologists 

 generally owe him for the additions he made to our knowledge of the 

 anatoni}' of birds. 



The genus Garrodia may be shortly defined as follows : — 



Garrodia. Genus ex ordine Tubinarium Oceanit^ maxime affine, 

 tarsis pro digitis longioribiis et anlice scutellatis, necnon margine 

 sterni posteriore integro distinguendum. 



Type Procellaria nereis, Gould. 



Garrodia is perhaps most closely allied to Oceanites, as already 

 stated, but dilTers from that genus in having the tarso-metatarsi 

 covered anteriorly with a series of transverse scutellse instead of 

 being "entire," in their slightly greater proportional length as 

 compared with the third toe^ in the even more minute hallux, and in 

 the more flattened and lamellar form of the claws. The sternum too 

 is posteriorly entire, whereas in Oceanites oceanicus it is slightly 

 notched. The coloration of the two genera is also quite different. 

 From Fregetta Garrodia may be easily distinguished by the very 

 different proportions and forms of the nails and feet in that genus, 

 and from Pelagodroma by its much shorter feet and entire tail. 



These four genera — Oceanites, Garrodia, Pelagodroma, and 



^ Cf. also Macgillivray, in Audubon's ' Ornitliological Biography,' v. p. 646. 



- Cf. Macgillivray, I. c. p. 31o ; also Wagner in Naumann's ' Vogel Deutsch- 

 lands,' X. p. 5.56. 



3 In Procellaria felagica and Cymochorea leuctyrrhoa the tarso-metatarse is not 

 longei% and may be shorter, than the 3rd toe. As against 21-5 and 21-5, and 23 

 and 26 millim. in the two first-mentioned genera, in the so-called Procellaria 

 nereis the lengths of the two are respectively 34 and 26 milUms. 



* In Procellaria fclagica the tarsi arc pretty uniformly covered with somewhat 

 irregular hexagonal scutes. 



'^ In a specimen of Oceanites oceanicus (in spirit) the middle toe measures 29 

 millim. ; in one of Garrodia. the length is 26 millim. The length of the meta- 

 tavse in both is 34 millim. 



