WHITE-BELLIED STORM-PETBEL. 
Fregetta meianoleuca sp. n. Capite, coUo, pectore summo, dorso et dimidio apicali 
subcaudalium nigro-fuliginosis, fere unicoloribus ; mafginibus dorsi plumarum baud albidis : 
supracaudalibus, pectore imo, abdomine, guise macula vel plaga obtecta, dimidio basali sub- 
caudalium et subalaribus internis albis ; tibiis nigro-fuliginosis ; remigibus rectricibusque 
nigris, sed harum basi obtecta alba ; tectricibus alarum branneis ; rostro et pedibus nigris. 
Long. tot. circa 210 mm., culm. 14, alse 165, caudse 78, tarsi 40. Hab. Insula “ Tristan 
d’Acunha” dicta. 
This was quite correct, and the birds were distinct, but unfortunately his 
species came from the type-locality of Gould’s F. leucogaster, which is not a 
synonym of F. gmllaria. 
Through the courtesy of Mr. W. Eagle Clarke, I have been enabled to 
examine a specimen collected by the Scotch Antarctic Expedition off Gough 
Island. This can be accepted as typical F. leucogaster, and it agrees minutely 
with Salvadori’s F. meianoleuca. 
Its measurements are : wing 155, culmen (exp.) 15, tarsus 39, tail 77, 
middle toe without claw 23. The tarsus and toes are longer than in F. gr allaria, 
and the claws are not so flattened and broad ; the middle toe is subequal 
with the other. 
Though the differences are so difficult to describe, the scutellations on the 
tarsus will easily lead to their separation. As a matter of fact, to genus-splitters 
the birds belong to different genera, yet they have been specifically confused for 
sixty years. 
That there are subspecies of F. leucogaster also seems evident from the few 
specimens available. F. leucogaster typical has no white spot on the throat and 
no dark tips to the rump-feathers. It should be noticed that in the Monograph 
of the Petrels, Classification, p. xxxviii., when F. meianoleuca is introduced 
into the key to the species, it is stated to have “ Throat mottled with white, or 
almost entirely white,” which is incorrect. 
A specimen marked “ S. Australia, Capt. Grey,” but which never came 
from South Australia, agrees fairly well with typical specimens in coloration 
and size. 
A specimen from the South Indian Ocean, lat. 37^° S. long. 42° E., has 
the rump-feathers tipped with black and a distinct white spot showing on the 
throat, the toes longer, and the claws not very broad and flat. It may be that 
this form, which seems distinct, breeds on Kerguelen, St. Paul, or Amsterdam 
Island. ^ 
Altogether it would appear that we know very little about the sj^ecies and 
subspecies of Fregetta, and all accounts previous to this are drawn up with 
characters appertaining to the various forms, and therefore should be treated 
with great care. 
Thus when Forbes wrote up his account of the Anato^ny of the Petrels and 
gave figures of the heads and legs of the species of small Petrels on Plate I., 
43 
