lately been discovered that a third species of the same genus occurs in Northern Queensland.21

Another strong link to connect New Guinea with Australia has been forged by the discovery in the Arfak Mountains of New Guinea of a gigantic representative of the order Monotremata, the lowest of all existing mammals, which are devoid of teeth and lay eggs like a bird. Until lately the Echidna and the Duckbill of Australia were the sole known forms of this peculiar group, and were believed to be entirely restricted to the Australian continent. But among the spoils from Mount Arfak obtained by Mr. Bruijn and his energetic hunters in 1876 were some bones of an animal that were subsequently proved to belong to a larger form of the Australian Echidna, recognisable not only by its great size, but by having only three toes on its fore limbs. Besides this a slightly modified form of the smaller Australian Echidna is also met with in the south of New Guinea,22 so that two Monotremes properly appertain to the Papuan fauna, although no traces of the still more extraordinary Duckbill (Ornithorhynchus) have as yet been met with outside the area of Australia.

The beauty and variety of the birds of New Guinea have greatly attracted the attention of travellers, and many of the explorers of its forests have devoted their energies specially to collecting specimens of this class. It has consequently come to pass that the birds of New Guinea are much better known to us than the mammals. Moreover, Count Salvadori's excellent monograph of the birds of Papua and the Moluccas 23 is one of the best ornithological works of recent days, and contains, it is hardly necessary to say, a complete account of all that was known of the birds of New Guinea up to the period of its completion. The subjoined table shows the numbers of species of each of the nine orders to which Count Salvadori assigns the 1,028 birds hitherto met with in Papua and the Moluccas.

Table of Birds of Papua and the Moluccas.

21 Dendrolagus Lumholdtzi, discovered by the Norwegian naturalist whose name it bears. See P.Z.S. 1884, p. 387.

22 Echidna aculeata Lawesi, Thomas, P.Z.S. 1885, p. 329.

23 Salvadori, Ornitologia della Papuasia e delle Molucche. 3 vols. 4to. Torino,

1880-82.

The Parrots of New Guinea are numerous, the greater number of the 102 species mentioned in Count Salvadori's work being met with within its area. As specially characteristic of the Papuan Avifauna I may mention the great Black Cockatoo (Microglossus) with its enormous bill, the dwarf Leaf Parrots (Nasiterna) with their curious spiny tails, and the extraordinary Dasyptilus with its naked head and harsh plumage. Brush-tongued Lories of the most brilliant colours abound, and are especially characteristic of the Papuan Avifauna, although by no means restricted to it. Count Salvadori includes no less than forty species of this group in his work. The Picarian order in New Guinea is composed mainly of Cuckoos and Kingfishers, both of which groups are well represented. There is but a single Hornbill and a single Bee-eater. On the other hand it should be remarked that, as in Australia, woodpeckers are altogether absent. We now come to the great array of Passeres, of which no less than 501 species are included in Count Salvadori's work. Amongst these Flycatchers, Caterpillar-eaters, and Shrikes play an important part, as might have been expected where insect life is so abundant. The Honey-eaters (Meliphagidae), a group specially characteristic of Australia, are likewise highly developed in New Guinea; Count Salvadori enumerates eighty-nine species. But the greatest glory of the Papuan Avifauna is the family of Paradise-birds. These are, in fact, a group of crows, in which the male sex is decked out in the most gaudy and varied plumage, and extraordinary ornamental feathers of the most remarkable forms are developed from different parts of the body. Taking the group of Paradise-birds as understood by Count Salvadori, that is to include the Bower-birds, we find about forty species attributed to Papua and the Moluccas, and one or two brilliant additions have been made to the group since Count Salvadori's work was finished.2 It is certain from the investigations of recent observers that some of the most brilliant kinds of Paradise-birds are confined to the more elevated mountains, and one of the reasons for predicating a continuous range of high land between Mount Arfak in the north and the Owen Stanleys in the south is that some of the Birds of Paradise previously only known to exist in the highlands of the Onin Peninsula have been lately obtained on the Owen Stanley Range.

The order of Pigeons (Columba) which succeeds the Passeres in Count Salvadori's volumes is likewise highly developed in New Guinea. Count Salvadori assigns no less than 108 species to Papua and the Moluccas, of which about half belong to the fruit-pigeons (Ptilopus and Carpophaga), and are of the most gorgeous and varied plumage.

24 A recent letter from Dr. Finsch informs me of the discovery, high on the Owen Stanley range, of a fine new form of Paradise-bird in which the prevailing colour is blue. This is quite a new tint among the Paradiseæ,

The remaining orders of the Papuan Avifauna may be passed over with little notice as not containing forms of special significance. I must, however, make an exception in favour of the Gallinaceous family of Megapodes, of which New Guinea and its islands may be considered as the metropolis. Count Salvadori includes fourteen species of Megapodes in his work. These birds have huge feet and lengthened toes which adapt them for an exclusively terrestrial life. They are remarkable for depositing their eggs in enormous mounds formed of vegetable matter, sand or earth, and leaving them to be hatched out (like those of tortoises and crocodiles) without incubation by either parent.

To the last constituent division of the Papuan Avifauna, called by Count Salvadori 'Struthiones,' special attention must be given. The Cassowaries form one of the most important and characteristic elements of the Papuan Avifauna. In New Guinea itself at least three different species have been met with; the other six recognised by Count Salvadori are distributed over the adjacent islands, whilst a tenth species of the genus is an inhabitant of the northern portion of Queensland. The Cassowaries, together with the Emu of Australia, form a most distinct group of the 'Ratite' sub-class of birds, quite different from the Ostriches of Africa and the Rheas of America, and entirely confined to the great Australian region. The Cassowaries and Paradise-birds may be appropriately selected as two of the leading ornithic types of the Papuan sub-region.

Before leaving the subject of the birds of New Guinea mention should be made of the splendid series of illustrations of the Avifauna of New Guinea and the adjacent islands contained in Gould's Birds of New Guinea. 25 This fine work commenced by the late Mr. Gould is now being continued by Mr. R. B. Sharpe, and has already reached its nineteenth number, supplying lifelike pictures of upwards of 200 species.

The Reptiles of New Guinea, although presenting many features of interest, need not detain us so long as the birds: the best account of them is that given by the late Dr. Peters and Marquis Doria in their catalogue of the specimens of this group collected by the travellers Beccari, D'Albertis and Bruijn. 26 From this we estimate that the known reptiles of New Guinea are already upwards of sixty in number, whilst it is certain that many more remain to be discovered.

The following table gives a summary of the principal group.

25 The Birds of New Guinea and the adjacent Papuan Islands. By John Gould. London, 1875-85.

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26 See their Catalogo dei Rettili e Batraci raccolti da O. Beccari, L. M. d'Albertis ed A. A. Bruijn nella Nuova Guinea propriamente detta.' Ann. Mus. Civ. di Genova, xiii. n. 323 (1878).

Crocodiles seem to be fortunately rare on the coasts of New Guinea, and but one species has yet been recorded from the northern shores, though it is highly probable that a second may exist on the southern shores adjacent to Australia. Of Tortoises also, exclusive of the Marine Turtles, only one species seems to have been yet discovered. The Lizards hitherto recognised have been referred to about forty species, and belong mostly to groups likewise prevalent in Australia. Finally, of serpents about twenty-one species are now known to occur in New Guinea, of which six belong to the venomous, and fifteen to the nonvenomous group of the order. When we consider the serpents of New Guinea more in detail, we shall be again struck with the resemblances which they present to the herpetology of Australia. Amongst the Boas, for example, we find in New Guinea nearly allied representatives of the Carpet-snake (Morelia) of Australia. Again, like Australia, New Guinea is entirely free from the true venomous serpents with perforated poison-fangs, the six venomous snakes hitherto met with within its area being all referable to Elapine genera with grooved poison teeth, which are also prevalent in Australia. It is thus evident that an examination of the reptiles of New Guinea induces conclusions like those derived from a study of its mammals and birds, that the fauna of New Guinea is essentially of the same type as that of Australia.

The Batrachians of New Guinea hitherto recognised are not numerous, consisting only of about twelve species of the tailless division, which contains our well-known toads, frogs, and tree-frogs. One of these may be noticed as constituting a very peculiar Papuan type (XENOBATRACHUS); of the remainder, the majority are of marked Australian character, although many of the species are peculiar.

The Fishes of New Guinea are not well known in this country, although our national collection contains, as might have been expected, numerous specimens from the adjoining seas. But the late Dr. Bleeker, a distinguished ichthyologist of Holland, has published many memoirs on Papuan ichthyology in various Dutch periodicals.27 And Mr. William Macleay, of Sydney, who, as already mentioned, carried out a special scientific expedition to Torres Straits and New Guinea in the Chevert' in 1875, made on this occasion, and subsequently, through his collectors, a considerable collection of fishes, and has contributed a series of articles on them to the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales.

The Land-Mollusks of New Guinea were likewise diligently collected during the 'Chevert Expedition,' and the results published by Mr. John Brazier, of Sydney, in the same journal, whilst in Europe Signor Tapparone-Canefri has examined the collection of Land-Shells made by M. Raffray on the northern coast.28 Signor Tapparone-Canefri has also recently issued an elaborate and important memoir on the Land-Mollusks of New Guinea and its adjoining islands,29 which takes up a whole part of the Annals of the Museo Civico of Genoa.

But, without descending further into the scale of animal life, I think that what has been above stated is quite sufficient to enable us to arrive at very reliable results concerning the general facies of the fauna of New Guinea.

Taking, first of all, the mammals as our guide, we observe that the leading feature of the Papuan Mammal-fauna consists in the almost entire absence of all the more highly organised forms of mammal life, and the prevalence of marsupials. This is likewise the case in Australia.

Again, in New Guinea the very low and abnormal forms of mammallife called 'Monotremes' occur. This is another clear proof of the intimate connection of New Guinea with Australia.

Passing on to the birds, it will be found that a study of the Papuan elements of this class will lead to exactly the same conclusion. The prevalence of lories, kingfishers, honey-eaters, fruit-pigeons, and megapodes is only paralleled in Australia, which also, like New Guinea, has no woodpeckers. At the same time there is a strong element of individuality in the Papuan Avifauna exhibited in the following three ways. (1) By the large number of species in New Guinea, which, although belonging to Australian genera, are themselves peculiar to Papua. (2) By the existence in New Guinea of such families as the Paradise-birds and Cassowaries, which, although feebly represented in

27 See list of his papers in Mr. E. C. Rye's Bibliography of New Guinea, p. 290. 29 M. Raffray visited Havre Dorey and Amberbaki in 1877, having been sent out on a scientific mission by the French Minister of Public Instruction. See his report in Bull. Soc. Géogr. p. 385. Paris, 1878.

29 Fauna Malacologica della Nuova Guinea e delle isole adiacenti. Parte I: Molluschi estramarini.' Ann. Mus. Civ. di Genova, vol. xix.