Il6 LjiGGK, The Emus of Tasmania and King Island. 



List Jan. 



The Emus of Tasmania and King Island. 



Bv C(JL. W. V. Lkcge, C.M.B.O.U., &c., Tasmania. 



The interesting discovery of the bones of an extinct Emu, as 

 also those of marsupia!ls, in King Island,* and likewise the 

 subsequent exploration and further acquisition of osseous 

 remains by Messrs. Morton and Johnston in June last, mark a 

 noteworthy era in biological work in Tasmania, and open u^) the 

 important question of the former geographical distribution of 

 Droinceus in Australia. 



Before proceeding to a consideration of this matter, it will be 

 well to glance at the remarkable distribution of the allied form 

 Casiiarius in Papua. There we find that the range of some 

 of the species of that genus is extremely small, their 

 respective habitats being remarkably local. Such a condition is 

 doubtless to be expected in the case of Struthious birds ; but 

 nevertheless the restriction of range in the case of the Cassowary 

 is carried to excess in Dutch New Guinea. In the great Gulf 

 of Geelvink, which forms such a vast re-entering curve on the 

 littoral of north-west Papua, there are no less than 3 species of 

 Cassowary distributed round its extensive coast line, while a 

 fourth, C. accipitalis, inhabits the large island of Jobi, lying in 

 the entrance of the Gulf. The distance across the widest part of 

 this large bay is about 200 miles, and the deep curve which it 

 makes in the conformation of the coast forms the curious double 

 peninsula with which geographers are familiar. As we pass 

 round to the west coast of the peninsula we come to the island 

 of Salwatti, lying opposite a small indentation in the littoral of 

 the mainland, and here is another species of the genus, which 

 is also found in the country lying opposite the island, the strait 

 separating it from the latter being small and studded with 

 islets. 



Continuing further south, still another Cassowary is located on 

 the littoral, and extends to the Aru Islands, lying 90 miles off 

 the coast, and which also hold another species peculiar to 

 their area. Finally, to conclude with the western Papuasian 

 region, which properly takes in part of the Moluccan group, a 

 seventh species of Casuaidus inhabits the large island of Ceram, 

 situated about 100 miles from the peninsula of Onin, referred to 

 above. 



Thus there are four species of this remarkable bird contained 

 within the 420 miles of longitude between the east side of the 

 Gulf of Geelvink and the island of Salwatti ; two comprised in 

 the distance of 80 miles between the south coast and the Aru 

 Islands ; and finally the Ceram bird, 100 miles from the 

 Salwatti one. 



* The Emu, vol. iii., p. 113. 



