XXIV 



incomplete, as the shell was characterized by an absence of 

 the green granulations usually seen in the egg of the Emu 

 [Dromaus novce-hollandice) . 



^Ir. Howard Saunders made some remarks upon the 

 geographical distribution of the members of the Herring- 

 Gull group of Laridte, viz. Larus argentatits and allied 

 species. His conclusions were as follows: — "Typical Larus 

 argeyitatus, with a pale grey mantle and flesh-coloured legs 

 and feet, inhabits the coasts of the Northern Atlantic from 

 Lapland to Iceland aud Greenland ; while in the Polar Sea 

 it is found as far north and west as the North Georgian 

 Islands, leaving a comparatively small gap in the direction 

 of Bering Straits, where it is apparently absent. South- 

 ward it is found on both sides of America, more sparingly 

 on the Pacific side, down to Mexico ; in Europe its range 

 extends down to mid-France. On the coast of France com- 

 mences the range of L. cachinnans, a species with a somewhat 

 darker mantle and bright yellow legs, and bright orange-red 

 ring round the eye. This form frequents the Peninsula, the 

 Azores, Madeira, Canaries, the Mediterranean and North 

 Africa, stretching eastward through the Caspian Steppes and 

 Southern Siberia to Lake Baikal, and visiting India in winter. 

 Between the White Sea and the Taimyr Peninsula (where 

 Cape Chelyuskin reaches about 77° N. lat.) there seems to 

 be a break of continuity as regards any grey-mantled species, 

 but thence to Bering Straits a form appears which differs 

 from the southern race in haying Jiesh-coloured legs and fee L 

 This species, named by Prof. Pal men L. argeatatus var. vegce, 

 ranges in winter to Japan and China, where it has been erro- 

 neously named L. occidentalis, and, more excusably, Z. cachin- 

 nans — excusably, because there was until lately no record 

 of the colour of the legs in life, and these had dried orange- 

 yellow in preserved specimens. All the above-mentioned 

 forms may be considered sub-species of L. argentatus. 

 Along Kamschatka, in the Sea of Okotsk, and through the 

 Kuril Islands to Hakodate in Northern Japan, another larger 

 and much darker-mantled Gull is met with, with purplish- 



