SCLATER AND HOCHSTETTER, EEPORT ON APTERYX. 507 



" My friend, Julius Haart, a German, who was my travelling 

 " companion in New Zealand, and in the beginning of the year 1860 

 " undertook an exploring expedition to the southern and western 

 " parts of the province of Nelson, writes to me in a letter, dated 

 " July, 1860, dated from ten miles above the mouth of the river 

 " Buller, on the mountains of the Buller chain, which at a height of 

 " from 3000 to 4000 feet, were at that time, it being winter in New 

 " Zealand, slightly covered with snow, that the tracks of a large 

 " Kiwi of the size of a turkey were very common in the snow, and 

 " that at night he had often heard the singular cry of this bird, but 

 " that as he had no dog with him he had not succeeded in getting an 

 " example of it. He had, nevertheless, left with some natives in 

 " that district a tin case with spirit, and promised them a good 

 " reward if they would get him one of these birds in spirits, and send 

 " it to Nelson by one of the vessels which go from time to time to 

 " the west coast." 



In concluding this brief report, we wish to call attention to the 

 importance of obtaining further knowledge respecting the recent 

 species of this singular form of birds, whilst it is yet possible to do 

 so. We see that one of them — the Apteryx Mantelli — is already fast 

 disappearing, whilst its history, habits, mode of nidification, and 

 many other particulars respecting it are as yet altogether unknown. 

 We therefore trust that such members of this Association as have 

 friends or correspondents in any part of New Zealand will impress 

 upon them the benefits that they will confer on science, by endea- 

 vouring to procure more specimens of, and additional information 

 concerning, the different species of the genus Apteryx. 



LII. — Note upon the northern limit of the Quadrumana in 

 the New World. By P. L. Sclater, M.A., Ph. D., F.B.S. 



In looking through the plates and letterpress of Johnston's Phy- 

 sical Atlas and the works of other authorities who treat of the geogra- 

 phical distribution of the Mammalia, I have observed that the northern 

 limit of the range of the Quadrumana in the New World is altogether 

 incorrectly laid down, and that the species assigned to the countries 

 north of the isthmus of Panama are wrongly named. Although I 

 cannot pretend to be able to set this matter quite right, as the 

 correct determination of the species of Quadrumana which inhabit 

 the northern (or trans-panamanic) province of the Neotropical re- 

 gion must remain in abeyance, until more specimens of these animals 

 have been brought to Europe from Central America, and their 

 differential characters more carefully studied, yet I have been able to 

 acquire, through the kindness of some of my correspondents and 

 during visits to several Zoological Museums, some information upon 

 this point which I hope will be sufficient to rectify a not unimpor- 

 tant error in geographical distribution. 



