ALLIED PETEEL. 
Nectris munda supra cinereo-nigricans, subtus nivea. 
Fig. pict. 
Hab. in Oceano australi.” (Solander MS.) 
and the conclusion: — 
I cannot fit the description and drawing to any known species with certainty. It may 
apply to P. gavia, Forst. (=P. opisthomelas Coues), but this is doubtful. The biU, as drawn, 
is too stout for P. assimilis or its near allies. 
In the Museum Godeffroy Catalogue, V., p. 15, 1874, appears: — 
Pufiinus optatus H. and F. 
P. opisthomelas Coues 
Mus. Godeffroy Cat. IV., Pelew Isles. 
This would appear to be a nude name unless we accept it as a substitute 
name for the Pujjp.nus opisthoynelas var. minor described by Hartlaub {Proc. Zool. 
Soc. (Lond.) 1867, p. 832). In the Mus, Godeffroy Gatal., Vol. IV., p. 7, 1869, 
no description is offered. 
Salvin, in Rowley’’ s Miscellany, Vol. I, p. 257, writes as follows regarding 
the type of Puffinus elegans Gigl. and Salvad. : — 
The single specimen yet known is a young bird that has Just thrown off its down, the 
remains of which are still visible ; moreover the white edgings to the feathers of the upper 
plumage in this specimen are so unusual in this genus that I am disposed to doubt their 
being characteristic of the adult bird. 
and on PI. 34 is a beautiful coloured plate drawn from the type. With this 
should be compared the inaccurate and bad figure given in the Monograph of 
the Petrels which purports to represent the supposed unique specimen. 
I have noted nothing much worthy of reproduction from then until the 
issue of the Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. XXV., when Salvin included the 
following species as recognisable : — 
p. 382] Pufiinus obscurus Gmehn, 
as synonyms of which he included — 
P. dichrous Finsch. 
opisthomelas var. minor Hartlaub. 
auduboni Finsch. 
tenebrosus Pelzeln. 
p. 384] Puffinus assimilis Gould, 
as synonyms being given — 
P. nugax Bonaparte, 
bailloni Bonaparte. 
H. and L., P.Z.S., p. 112, from Fiji. 
and 
p. 385] Puffinus elegans Giglioli and Salvador!. 
but noted — \ 
It may be referable to P. assimilis, the type being a young bird. 
The reference of the Fiji specimen, noted by Hartlaub and Finsch as above, 
to P. assimilis was obviously wrong. The most scientific review of this group 
is the one mentioned at the commencement of this article by Eothschild and 
Hartert {Nov. Zool., Vol. VI., pp. 194 et seq., 1899) ; their conclusions may be 
VOL. II. 
57 
