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Show 1875.J LETTER l< ROM Mi L. M. D'ALUERTIS. 0 ". ' 531 the name certainly, as I have not yet obtained specimens. Moreover, at early dawn and after sunset I have several times heard the notes of a Dacelo which might be D. leachi; and in this island for some time Scythrops australis was common, while on the opposite coast of New Guinea I obtained good examples of Chlamydodera cerviniventris. I could add the names of many other Australian species. On the other hand, on the mountains, besides Paradisea raggiana, there are to be found Cicinnurus regius, Pitta novce guinece, Eupetes ceerulescens, and Campephaga aurulenta. Of the last I obtained the female, which differs from the male in having the throat cinereous. But these are not the only species which give a Papuan tint to the mountain-birds ; for there is also to be met with Lophorina atra, of which I have seen many feathers used by the natives for ornament, as also of Seri-culus aureus, called by tbe natives " Horobora." Certainly along with the Sericulus and Lophorina would ba found the other Paradise-birds that in the north inhabit the same localities as these species. " Serpents I find much more numerous here than in the north of New Guinea, especially the venomous ones, and not only of Australian genera, but even of Australian species. Oi Acanthophis antarctica 1 have obtained two examples, which differ slightly from each other, and very much from the Australian form ; but I take it for t he same species. The Coleoptera and Lepidoptera are, like the birds, near the coast more Australian than Papuan ; and the reverse is the case in the interior. But Pieris aruna, which is so common at Cape York, I have found also on the mountains. " U p to the present time [ have not formed an exact idea as to the Mammals, but am inclined to believe that they are very scarce. I have only obtained a Cuscus (probably one of many varieties of C. maculatus), a Belideus, a few species of insectivorous Bats, a Pteropus, two Bats, and the so-called Sus papuensis, of which last I have not seen two alike amongst a hundred. The Halmaturus luctuosus is very common, inhabiting the mountains as well as the plain-but always where the forest is most dense. It abounds on the lower hills, and forms one of the principal sources of food for the natives, who capture it in numbers in strong nets. I have had the opportunity of examining a large number of this species, and find them identical with the individual described by me in the 'Proceedings' *, which, I hope, is still living in the Society's Gardens. But upon further examination I find that the canine teeth, which did not exist in the individual described by me at the time of my description and even subsequently, are, on the contrary, always present in examples of every age which I have recently examined here. Consequently, after considering its dentary system, I have come to the conclusion that this species is not correctly placed in the genus Halmaturus, but ought to be referred to the genus Dorcopsis, to which, as it appears to me, its principal generic characters assimilate it rather than to any other genus of Macropodidae. The Kangaroos which Dr. Beccari sent from the Aroo Islands to the Museo Civico of Genoa may also belong to the genus Dorcopsis, but are certainly distinct from I), luctuosa, as I think * P. Z. S. 1874, p. 110; see also P. Z. S. 1874, p. 247, pl. xiii. |