Order Tubinares. x 7 



separate forms apparently so closely akin as Wilson's Petrel and the Storm Petrel. 



Our chief authority on the Tubinares was the late Mr. O. Salvin, F.R.S., to whose 



British Museum Catalogue (Vol. XXV) I owe many helpful references. Mr. Salvin 



there supplies the following synopsis of the Tubinares. 



i. — Procellariid/E. Nostrils united externally above the oilmen ; margin 



of the sternum even ; no pterygoid processes ; manubrium of furcula long ; cora- 



coids long, comparatively narrow across the base, and slightly divergent; second 



primary the longest. 



2. — PuFFTNiDyE. Nostrils united externally, or nearly so, above the culmen; 



margin of the sternum uneven ; distinct pterygoid processes, manubrium of furcula 



very short ; coracoids short, wide at the base and divergent ; first primary the 



longest, or not shorter than the second. 



3. — DiomedEid^. Nostrils lateral, separated by the wide culmen, each in a 

 separate horny sheath opening forward ; the margin of the sternum uneven, the 

 sternum itself short, compared with its width ; no pterygoid processes ; manubrium 

 of furcula very short ; coracoids short, very wide at the base, and widely divergent ; 

 first primary the longest. 



I omit reference to Salvin's fourth family of Petrels — the Pelecanoididce, or 

 Diving Petrels of the Southern Ocean — as they are not known to wander to the 

 Palsearctic region. 



The late Mr. W. A. Forbes has left on record his opinion that the character 

 of the Tubinares, and the amount of specialisation exhibited by this great Order 

 of oceanic birds, indicate "not only a great antiquity for the whole group, but also 

 the great amount of extinction that has gone on amongst its members in the past, 

 in the process of which nearly all the intermediate and less specialised forms 

 have disappeared." Fossil bones of Petrels have been discovered in superficial 

 deposits in several parts of the world. Thus, remains of two species of Shearwater 

 (Puffinus) have been discovered on the Island of Tavolara, Italy ; a third in 

 France, and another in the United States. Lydekker records an Albatros (Diomcdca) 

 from the Red Crag of Suffolk. 



H. A. MACPHERSON. 



