AUSTRALIAN ANIMALS IN NEW" GUINEA 393 



mention the « Bandicoots » and ordinary Wallabies, which as far 

 as their dentition is concerned differ in nothing from the great 

 Genus Halmaturus whereof H. walabatus is the best known repre- 

 sentative. Some years ago I paid special attention to the Wallabies 

 of this country and after the examination of many thousand skulls 

 I arrived at the conclusion that such species as Halmaturus wala- 

 batus, H. Mastersij H. Bennettii and H. dorsalis differ little from 

 one another. Without referring to my Manuscript on the subject 

 (to which I have at present no access) it would of course be 

 impossible to go fully into the matter; but as M. r D' Albertis has 

 informed me that ordinary Wallabies not of the genus Dorcopsis 

 exist in New Guinea and as he was kind enough to leave with me 

 a low T er jaw which cannot be distinguished from the many va- 

 rieties of the ordinary Black Wallaby, I beg to state my con- 

 viction that this New Guinea representative is a true australian 

 form. I have not even a specimen of a Wallaby's skull nor a 

 book in which one is figured at hand , but the shape of the or- 

 dinary black Wallaby's jaw is so deeply impressed upon my 

 mind, that I submit a sketch of M. r D' Albertis discovery for 

 examination, believing that it will be found very much like it. 

 Naturalists will agree with me at all events that the form is 

 Australian and belongs to the ordinary Halmaturus kind. The 

 variation of the common Black Wallaby, the manner in which 

 the species interbreed and the way in which they adapt them- 

 selves to change of climate is not so well understood abroad as 

 it is in this country. — Halmaturus walabatus has a wide range, 

 inhabits chiefly the scrub of the coast district and in the sou- 

 thern part it is of a rather dark colour with long fur. Near the 

 borders of Queensland it is considerably lighter and on the Bur- 

 nett River (which is inhabited by fresh water tortoises of the 

 genus Euchelymys, and by the Ceratodus Forster i (Krefffc)) lias 

 assumed a greyish and much thinner fur in consequence of which 

 variation it has been described by me some years ago as Hal- 

 maturus Maslersi. I find howerer that it is but a variety of the 

 true Black Wallaby of the south. It is not impossible therefore 

 that the newly discovered New Guinea Wallaby may prove to 



