Genfs— B RUCHIGAVIA. 
Bruchigavia Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Av., 
VoL II., p. 228, 1857 . . . . . . . . Type B. novce-hollandice. 
Gulls are sea-birds with webbed feet and a hooked biU, but the nostrils are 
not tubular. As before noted they superficially resemble Petrels, but have 
had a different origin. At the present time no up-to-date classification exists, 
and a most incongruous assemblage of birds is classed under the genus 
Larus, and quite recognisable subspecies are at present also lumped under 
binomial names. 
It appears to have been quite overlooked by recent systematists that 
“ Sea-gulls ” are land-birds, and consequently subspecific distinction may be 
justifiably looked for. By a similar oversight most distinct generic types 
are confused under the genus Larus with no justification whatever. In the 
A.O.U. Checklist, 3rd ed., 1910, the genus Larus is accepted in a Linnean 
manner with no subgenera noted. This is quite strange, and shows how the 
conservative views of Saunders, who monographed the Family Laridce in 
the Gat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. XXV., as long ago as 1896, have prejudiced a 
scientific treatment of this group. As only two species enter into the Australian 
List, and as one of them was allowed generic distinction by Saunders, it is 
not my task to review the group. Without such review a correct appreciation 
of the generic affinities of the other species is not available. Under the cir- 
cumstances, pending the receipt of the desired monographic revision from an 
up-to-date standpoint, I take refuge in the generic name absolutely provided 
for the species. 
A review of the history of the genus is noteworthy, inasmuch as it shows 
the effects of revulsion through the inability of later workers to attain the 
standard set by their more able predecessors. 
For sixty years the Linnean genus Larus remained untouched : then 
Leach added a new genus Xema for a new species. The misuse of this generic 
name shows how some division seemed necessary. In 1829 Kaup, with his 
usual care, divided Larus into four, while Brehm two years later added another 
genus ; in 1836 Eyton introduced the iU-fated (as regards the spelling of the 
name — see Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 455, 1912) Ghroicocc'phalus. In the 
early fifties Reichenbach, Bruch, and Bonaparte all subdivided the genus, 
introducing names for most of the species, and thej^ all showed great care in 
examination of the forms and their generic characters. 
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