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Show 1877.] ON RODENTS ETC. FROM DUKE-OF-YORK ISLAND. 123 Family EMBALLONURID^E. EMBALLONURA NIGRESCENS. Mosia nigrescens, Gray, Voyage of the ' Sulphur,' Mammals, p. 23 (1844). A single specimen of this, the smallest species of the genus, which is at once distinguished from E. monticola from the adjoining parts of the Oriental region by the very differently shaped muzzle, by the widely separated nostrils, and by its conspicuously smaller size. E. nigrescens has hitherto been recorded from Amboina and Ternate only. Besides the discovery of the new species described above, the following generalizations are afforded by an examination of the species represented in this collection :- 1. That N e w Britain and N e w Ireland agree very closely in their Chiropterous fauna with that of other lands within the Australian region (Austro-Malayan subregion), three species only out of twelve (Macroglossus minimus, Phyllorhina galerita, and Kerivoula hardwickii) extending also into the Oriental region. II. That, to judge from the large proportion of frugivorous Bats hi the collection (nearly two thirds of the whole), N e w Britain and New Ireland agree with the Oceanic Islands in this respect, rather than with the continental lands within the Australian region. 3. On the Rodents and Marsupials collected by the Rev. G. Brown in Duke-of-York Island, N e w Britain, and N e w Ireland. By E D W A R D R. A L S T O N , F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c. [Received February 14, 1877.] (Plates XVIII. & XIX.) Mr. Sclater has kindly intrusted me with the determination of the Rodents and Marsupials contained in Mr. Brown's interesting collection. They are few in number, consisting of but six species. Three of these appear to be identical with animals known to inhabit N e w Guinea, while the remainder belong to hitherto undescribed species. The latter, however, find their nearest allies either in N e w Guinea or in Northern Australia, thus fully confirming the strictly Papuan character of the fauna of this group. The large proportion of new species in this small collection shows, nevertheless, that a perceptible amount of change has taken place, and leads us to hope that many novelties will yet reward the researches of Mr. Brown, after whom I propose to name the first of the new species :- 1. Mus BROWNI, sp. n. Fur both above and below stiff and harsh, most of the hairs being developed into fine flattened and channelled spines; on the back a |