Extracts from Correspojidence, Announcements, i^c. 93 



" How many more species of Cassowary shall we have to recog- 

 nise ? Recollect that there is a recently extinct Emeu, Drommis 

 ater (Vieillot), from one of the islands, recognized by Prince 

 Bonaparte, of which a specimen is stated to be extant in the 

 Paris Museum. I have six distinct species of Oriole with the 

 black nape, viz. Orioli acrorhynchus (Philippines), chinensis 

 (China), maa'ourus (Nicobars), coronatus (Andamans), indicus 

 (chiefly east of the Bay of Bengal), and tenuirostris (Burma). 

 The 0. coronatus of the Andaman Islands requires to be com- 

 pared with the Javan bird." 



The following extract is from a letter addressed by Mr. J. J. 

 Munteiro to Dr. A. Gunther, dated "Cuio Mines, Province of 

 Benguela, 13° S. L., August 23, 1861 :— 



" I am now in 13° S. Lat., and my collection of Natural His- 

 tory already boasts of a dozen different sp<;cies of birds (all dif- 

 ferent from those I have noticed in other places), a tinful of 

 marine fish, several flat skins, a beautiful specimen of a hedgehog, 

 two live snakes, &c. &c. I have also arranged that freshwater 

 fish from a river and lagoon at about six miles distance from me 

 shall come to my hands for preservation. We have been visited 

 by zebras and a large species of tailed monkey, as well as nightly 

 by hyenas. There are also some curious guinea- piggy looking 

 animals in great numbers in holes and crevices in the rocks 

 [Hyrax ?) . 



" The rock of the country is gneiss, except near the sea-shore, 

 where limestone and gypsum rocks occur. The scenery is wild 

 and dull, nothing but bare rocks with scarcely any vegetation (a 

 few spiny and thorny bushes and a few roots of grass), and the 

 whole country is cut in all directions by great ravines, deep, dry, 

 and solitary : only a few springs of perfectly brackish water. 

 The climate is, however, very healthy, and at this season very 

 pleasant — 65° Fahr. at night to 75°-80° in the shade by day. 

 Near the beach and in the vicinity of the rivers, the scenery, of 

 course, is more varied and vegetation more luxui"iant. Insects are 

 scarce. 



" This character continues towards the interior, it is said, for 

 three days' journey (about fifty to sixty miles), when, towards 



