OCR Text |
Show 1878.] MR. D. G. ELLIOT ON THE GENUS PTILOPUS. 517 island of Jobie, eight species of this genus dwell, viz. Pt. superbus, Pt. coronulatus, Pt. geminus, Pt. aurantiifrons, Pt. perlatus, Pt. strophium, Pt. puella, and Pt. jobiensis. The small island of Ansus, to the south of Jobie, contains also one species, Pt. geminus, being the only one out of those found upon its great neighbour. Meosnoum or Misnomin, to the west of Jobie, also contains one species found on that island, Pt. strophium. On the island of Korido, or Sook, the most northern of those in this bay, two species have been procured, Pt. pectoralis and Pt. speciosus. Mansinam, the last island in this bay from which any species of Ptilopus is known to come, contains one species, the Pt. humeralis. It will thus be seen that, so far as we are able to determine from our material, in the Bay of Geelvinck, Jobie is the central or starting-point of the members of this genus. The two small islands lying near are only detached portions of Jobie, each containing one species found on the last, but none peculiar to themselves. On the other hand the islands of Korido and Mafor only have one species in common with Jobie, viz. Pt. superbus, found on Korido, while on Mafor Pt. pectoralis and Pt. geelvinkianus are met with, the last-named being also a native of Meosnoum. The relationship of these islands, so far as regards this genus, are nearer to the western shores of the bay than to Jobie. Turning now to the mainland, at Andai and Dorey five species are found-Pt. pulchellus, Pt. pectoralis, Pt. puella, Pt. geminus, and Pt. perlatus; while on Mount Arfak Pt. superbus, Pt. bellus, Pt. iozonus, Pt. aurantiifrons, and Pt. ornatus have been obtained. At Amberbaki, on the north coast, five species have been procured, viz. Pt. pulchellus, Pt. super-bus, Pt. perlatus, Pt. pectoralis, and Pt. bellus ; while at Sorong Pt. trigeminus, Pt. humeralis, Pt. coronulatus, and Pt. prasinorrhous have been met with. At Triton Bay Pt. nanus has been obtained; and at Mount Epa, in the south of New Guinea, the small race of Pt. magnificus, called puella, is found. These are all that are as yet known to come from the mainland of N e w Guinea ; but doubtless others of the described species, as well as those not yet discovered, remain to be obtained among the dense forests of this singular country. Passing now to the western islands of the Papuan group, the most northerly is Waigiou, which contains five species-Pt. superbus, Pt. pulchellus, Pt. prasinorrhous, Pt. puella, and Pt. pectoralis, this last being also found upon the near-lying small islands of Gagie and Giebeh, while Pt. puella is also met with on Ghemien. Batanta has four, viz. Pt. aurantiifrons, Pt. superbus, Pt. pectoralis, and Pt. prasinorrhous ; while Salwatty possesses all these (excepting Pt. pectoralis) and also Pt. coronulatus, Pt. trigeminus, Pt. humeralis, Pt. pulchellus, Pt. perlatus, and Pt. puella. Mysol, to the south-west of Salwatty, contains seven species, viz. Pt. prasinorrhous, Pt. superbus, Pt. aurantiifrons, Pt. pulchellus, Pt. puella, Pt. pectoralis, and Pt. nanus. All of these save the last two are found upon Salwatty. Far to the south of this last-named island we reach the most southern ones of the group, viz. Arou, with seven species (Pt. coronulatus, Pt. superbus, Pt. iozonus, |