Genus — P A R A S U L A . 
Para-SULA Mathews, Austral Avian Record, Vol. II., 
p. 55, 1913 Type P. dactyMra. 
Large Suline birds with long bill, medium thick neck, long wings, long tail, 
stout short legs and long toes, toti-palmate ; the base of the jaws and chin 
naked, but no naked strip down centre of throat. 
In general structural characters this genus agrees with the preceding, 
differing in the naked bases of the jaws and chin, different proportions of 
wings, tail, culmen, etc., different number of tail-feathers and the 
metatarsal and toe-covering. 
The culmen is longer than the head, more than half the length of the 
wing, but less than twice the length of the metatarsus. 
The tail is wedge-shaped, consisting of sixteen feathers, the central 
feathers broader, the outside ones not so short as in Sulita, and the length 
less than half that of the wing. 
The legs are short and stout and more than half the length of the culmen ; 
the metatarsus coarsely reticulate on the front and sides, smaller scales 
behind, but the scales not so fine as in the preceding genus ; the toe- 
covering consists of reticulations which can be traced in the juveniles as 
scutes irregularly broken up, but even in the downy young no regular scutes 
are preserved. The toes are long, the middle claw strongly pectinated. 
This genus has a tropical distribution and would probably claim nearer 
relationship to Sulita than either PiscMrix or Sula. This should demand the 
attention of future investigators. 
VOL. IV. 
225 
