CH. II] MARSUPIALS. 117 



Marsupials get to thin out here considerably; but there 

 are peculiar genera ; in New Guinea itself we have 

 Dorcopsis ; the Tree Kangaroo Dendrolagus is confined to 

 New Guinea and North Queensland ; a genus of Pha- 

 langers Distcechurus is also peculiar, and there are several 

 species characteristic of these islands ; the recently dis- 

 covered Echidna, Proechidna bruijnii, is peculiar to New 

 Guinea. Among birds the most characteristic are the 

 Birds of Paradise belonging to the genera Paradisea, 

 Manucodia, Seleucides and many others. The cockatoo 

 Microglossus is a peculiar genus and the Cassowaries have 

 here their headquarters. 



II. Polynesian. This sub-region is largely dealt 

 with below ; it is characterised rather by the absence of 

 forms which ought, so to speak, to be there than by the 

 presence of peculiar forms. 



III. The Australian sub-region is of course the head- 

 quarters of the Marsupials and Monotremes, of which 

 latter group the Platypus is restricted to the sub-region. 

 Among Marsupials the Wombats, Thylacine and Koala 

 are confined to it. Another remarkable type of Marsupial 

 entirely confined to this sub-region is the small insect- 

 eating Myrmecobius ; the lately discovered " Marsupial 

 mole" is another type which marks out this from the 

 other sub-regions. This sub-region has according to Mr 

 Wallace a larger proportion of peculiar birds than any 

 other sub-region of any region. Nineteen-twentieths of 

 the birds are confined to it. The Emeu and the Cereopsis 

 goose are among the most characteristic forms. 



