WESTERN WEDGE-TAILED PETREL. 
For the San Benedicto breeding-bird I propose the name 
Pufjinus pacificus alleni, subsp. n. 
The dark form is nearest P. p. pacificus, but has a grey throat, a longer 
tail, and the bill horn-colour, tip black ; the light birds are darker than the 
type of P. cuneatus, and have the bill less stout. 
For the Laysan breeding birds I introduce 
Pufjinus pacificus laysani, subsp. n. 
These differ from the type of P. cuneatus in their lighter coloration, 
especially the Hght ashy-grey mantle and rump, while the head and back are 
lighter brown. 
What the Kauai bird is like I do not know, as I have not seen examples. 
It appears referable to the P. pacificus group. 
The Bonin Island birds represent a form of P. cuneatus. It should be 
noted that P. huUeri will probably become merged with the P. cuneatus group 
when the breeding-place is discovered. 
In and around Australia we have representatives of three distinct species 
of large, all dark Pufjinus breeding : Puffinus tenuirostris hrevicaudus Gould, 
Pufjinus carneipes carneipes Gould, Puffinus pacificus chlororTiynchus Lesson, 
and P. p. royanus Mathews. There is no large white-breasted form of 
Puffinus native to Australia. 
In New Zealand another large, all dark Puffinus is added, P. griseus griseus 
Gmelin. 
At the south of South America, forms of P. griseus occur which range up the 
Pacific side, and also the Atlantic Ocean. In the North Atlantic however, 
large white-breasted Puffinus, such as P. gravis O’Reilly and P. Tcuhli Boie, 
appear to take the place of the all dark forms, and in the North Pacific something 
of the same nature seems to be occurring. The exact status of the dark Australian 
species of Puffinus is not well known, though they occur in the North Pacific as 
separable subspecies, as Puffinus tenuirostris tenuirostris Temminck, P. carneipes 
hakodate Mathews. But the P. pacificus group seems to be represented by light- 
breasted forms, at present all called P. cuneatus. Some of the white-breasted 
North Atlantic species seem to recur in the North Pacific, and Puffinus leucomelas 
Temminck is a very distinct light-breasted North Pacific species. 
The present position of our knowledge of this species may be sumrharized 
thus : — 
Puffinus pacificus pacificus Gmelin Kermadec Is. All dark. 
„ „ royanus Mathews East Australia „ 
„ „ cTilororhynchus Lesson West Australia ,, 
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