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Show 1878.] MR. H. SAUNDERS ON THE LARINiE. 209 into the possession of the Imperial Museum in 1818, when it received from Professor Schreibers the M S . and unpublished name of Larus collaris. In the interval between the publication of the 4to edition of Ross's 'Voyage to Baffin's Bay' and the later 8vo edition (both of which bear the date of 1819), Ross, or Leach (for, although under Ross's name, Leach was probably the real authority) heard of Schreibers's name, and, jumping at the conclusion that Schreibers's bird was L. sabini, inserted the synonym of X. collaris (Schr.) for that species in the 8vo edition. Had Schreibers's description been published, his name would have considerably antedated the present one. Genus XEMA, Leach. The real distinguishing character of this genus, as instituted by Leach, is the forked tail; but the name has been improperly employed by Boie and others for many other species. Leach, however, defined it most clearly; and a generic name should never be used in any other sense than that of the founder. 48. XEMA SABINII (Sabine). Larus sabini, J. Sabine, Tr. Linn. Soc. xii. p. 520, pl. 29 (1818); J. Wilson, 111. Ornith. pl. iii. (1831). "Xema sabini, Leach," J. Ross, App. ROSS'S Voy. Baff. Bay, p. 57 (1819), 4to ed.; Steph. in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. i. p. 1 77, pl. 20 (1826); Eyton, Rarer Brit. B. p. 54 (1836). "Xema collaris (Schreibers)," Ross in App. Ross's Voy. Baf. Bay, ii. p. 164 (1819), 8vo ed. (not in 4to ed.), nee Schreibers. Gavia sabini, Macgill. Man. Brit. Orn. ii. p. 241 (1842). Larus sabini, J. C. Ross, App. Ross's 2nd Voy. p. 37 (1835). Larus sabinii, Richardson, App. Parry's 2nd Voy. p. 360 (1825) ; Sw. & Richs. F. Bor.-Am., Birds, p. 428 (1831); Middendorff, Sib. Reis., Zool. ii. p. 244, pl. xxiv. fig. 5, xxv. fig. 1 (young and egg), (1853). Xema sabinii, Bruch, J. f. Orn. 1855, p. 292; Lawr. B. of N. Am. p. 856 (1860); Newton, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 57, pl. iv. fig. 5 (egg) ; Dresser, B. Europe, pt. xxxi. August 1874. Larus sabinei, Schl. M . P.-Bas, Lari, p. 44 (1863). Xema sabinei, Coues, B. of N.W. A m . p. 660 (1874-5) ; Reid, Zoologist, 1877, p. 490 (Bermudas). Hab. Arctic America, breeding to the north of Upernavik, in Greenland, and then across to the west, breeding in xAlaska (Dall); not rare in Plover Bay, Eastern Siberia (Dall), and breeding on the tundras of the Taimyr, north of 74° (Middendorff). In autumn it migrates southward ; and many specimens have from time to time been obtained on the British coasts and those of the continent, as far east as Holstein, and on the French coasts. Most of these are birds of the year; but Dr. L. Bureau has an adult, with full black hood, captured on the coast of Brittany on August 25th, 1872. In America its southern range, as until now recorded, was down to New York on the east, and to Great Salt Lake, Utah, on the west- PROC. ZOOL. Soc-1878, No. XIV. 14 |