224 
Letters , Announcements, fyc. 
“ The Loone is a waterfowl alike in shape to the wobble/’ 
Professor Baird remarks that “ the author resided for eight 
years at ‘ Scarborow 9 a hundred leagues to the east of Boston, 
and speaks of the White Mountains at that time being covered 
with snow all the year round.” 
The third extract we shall quote is from “ II Gazettiere 
Americano, continente un distinto ragguaglio di tutte le parti 
del nuovo mondo, etc. Tradotto dall’ inglese e arricchito di 
aggiunte note, carte, ermai. Livorno 1763.” 
Under the head of “ Terra nuova” occurs the following 
paragraph (vol. iii. p. 158) :— 
“ L’uccello, che si vede nelP annessa tavola [a very good figure 
of Alca impennis ] si trova piu frequentemente quivi, che 
altrove. Quantunque veuga comunemente chiamato il Penguino 
del Nord, e molto differente da quello detto il Penguino del 
Sud, col quale e stato da alcuni erroneamente confuso. La 
sua grossezza e simile a quella dell’ oca domestica, ed accio se ne 
possa meglio giudicare, si veddono appie della carta la testa ed 
il becco, nelle loro vere misure.” 
We may here add the information that very recently Mr. 
Plower, the Curator of the Museum of the Boyal College of 
Surgeons, has found among the stores of that establishment 
nearly all the remaining bones of a skeleton of Alca impennis, 
the existence of which had not been previously suspected, only a 
few of the more important bones having been exhibited in the 
Museum. This specimen is believed to have belonged to John 
Hunter. 
It seems very probable that our suggestion (Ibis, 1865, p. 530) 
as to the possibility of the Oxynotus of Mauritius being speci¬ 
fically distinct from that of Reunion will prove correct. M. 
Francois Pollen writes to us from St. Denis in the island last 
named that he has lately visited Mauritius, and on comparing 
after his return a specimen of Oxynotus ferruyineus, which he 
obtained while there, with examples of the Reunion bird, he is 
struck with the differences observable between them; but as he 
kindly promises us a further communication on the subject, we 
need not at present say more about it. 
