SCLATEB ON THE ZOOLOGY OF NEW GUINEA. 153 



with Amadlna, Poephila and their allies, which are abundant on 

 the northern coasts of New Holland, will be~detected. 



Thus far I have spoken only of the Birds of New Guinea, as of 

 the Mammalia there is not much to say, except to call attention 

 to the fact of its close intimacy with Australia in this respect. 

 Out of the ten species of this class of beings hitherto observed 

 in New Guinea, all, with the exception of the Sus and the Dugong 

 of the coasts, belong to the Marswpialia, an order which is pre- 

 eminently Australian. Of the genera to which these Marsupials 

 are referred, two are peculiar to New Guinea, and one (Ouscus) 

 belongs rather to the Moluccas ; but the three others are charac- 

 teristic Australian forms. The tables given in the zoological 

 volume of the ' Verh. over de Nat. Gescb.' present us with a 

 most instructive view of the general geographical distribution of 

 the Mammalia in the great Eastern islands. In Sumatra, Borneo 

 and Java we find the most highly organized Quadrwnana, large 

 Carnivores (Fells and Ursus), Pachyderms ; in Sumatra even 

 a peculiar species of Elephant*, Rhinoceroses and a multitude of 

 the higher classes of Mammalia. "What a contrast to this, when 

 we cast our eye down the columns relating to Celebes, Amboyna, 

 Timor and New Guinea ! A single straggling Cercopitliecus (in 

 Celebes and Timor only) and two other Quadrumana (in Celebes), 

 a single Cervtts, an Antelope, a Viverra (sole representative of the 

 Carnivora), with two or three Suldce, constitute nearly the whole 

 of the Placental Mammals found in these great islands, with the 

 exception of Bats and Rodents. Here, as in Australia, the two 

 latter Orders are found in company with the Marsupials, an addi- 

 tional piece of evidence to my mind of the correctness of Professor 

 Owen's recent arrangement of these groups at the base of the 

 Placental Mammalia : for the student of the geographical distribu- 

 tion of animals soon learns to appreciate the value of the old maxim 

 " noscltur a soclls," quite as applicable in this sense to organized 

 existences generally, as, taken in its usual meaning, to mankind. 



The following is what I believe to be a tolerably perfect list of 

 the Mammifers and Birds which have hitherto been positively re- 

 cognized as having been met with in New Guinea and its adjacent 

 islets. In every case I have added the precise locality in which 

 each has been found, when that is ascertainable, and the authority 

 for such locality. I have likewise generally noted the Museums 

 in which examples of the species are contained, nearly all of 



* Elephas siimatranns, Temmihck, Coup d'ceil sur lc.^ poss. Nederl. i. p. 328, 

 et ii. p. 91 ; Bp. in P. Z. S. 1849, p. 144 (note). 



LINN. PEOC. — ZOOLOGY. 11 



