97. PRION VITTATUS (Gm.). 



(BROAD-BILLED BLUE FULMAR.) 

 (Plate 82.) 



Vitiated Petrel, Forster, Voyage L, p. 153. 



Blue Peter el, Cook, Voy. I., p. 30. 



Petrel bleu, Buff., Hist. Nat. Ois., X., p. 155 (1786). 



Broad-billed Petrel, Lath., Gen. Syn., III., pt. 2, p. 414 (1785). 



Procellaria vittata, Gm., Syst. Nat., I., p. 560 (1788). 



Procellaria jorsteri, Lath., Ind. Orn., II., p. 827 (1790). 



Prion vittatus, Lacep., Mem. Inst., 1801, p. 514 ; Gould, Birds Austr., VII., PI. 55 

 (1844) ; id., Handb. Birds Austr., II., p. 474 (1865) ; Giglioli, Faun. Vertebr. 

 Oceano, p. 44 (1870) ; Buller, Birds New Zeal., p. 312 (1873) ; Sharpe, 

 Phil. Trans., Vol. 168, p. 135 (1879) ; BuUer, Birds New Zeal., 2nd ed., II., 

 p. 212 (1888) ; Salvin, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XXV., p. 432 (1896). 



Pachyptila vittata, Ulig., Prodr., p. 275 (1811). 



Procellaria latirostris, Vieill., Enc. Meth., p. 81 (1823). 



Pachyptila jorsteri, Steph. in Shaw's Gen. Zool., XIII., pt. 1, p. 251 (1826). 



Prion jorsteri, Reichenb., Av. Syst. Nat. Natatores, PI. 15, fig. 777 (1850). 



Prion magnirostris, Gould, P. Z. S., 1862, p. 125. 



Prion australis, Potts, Tr. N. Zeal. Inst., V, p. 205 (1872) ; id., Ibis, 1873, p. 85. 



Ad. Cyanescenti-cinereus, pileo saturatiore : subtus albus : rostro lateraliter arcuato, 

 latissimo : rostri lamellis valde indicatis distinguenda. 



Of the genus Prion four species are recognised. They are alike in plumage and 

 markings. There is very little difference in the dimensions except in the bill, and in 

 the development of the lamellae at the base of the upper mandible, but with respect to 

 these characters great individual variation is displayed. 



Prion vittatus has the largest bill, its sides being distinctly bowed and graduating 

 towards the tip. P. banksi has the bill bowed on the sides, but it is smaller. I have, 

 however, examined some specimens which could not be referred with certainty either 

 to P. vittatus or P. banksi, but were intermediate between the two. 



P. arid and P. desolatus have the sides of the bill straighter, but as in the case of 

 P. vittatus and P. banksi, it is not always possible to separate the two species definitely. 



In 1879 Dr. Bowdler Sharpe gave a review of the genus Prion, and recognised 



285 



