CASUARIUS CASUAUIUS BISTRIATUS. 205 



my osteological catalogue ^). Determiniug the bird in Roth- 

 schild's Monograph ^) with the key only, it must be C. c. 

 beccarii; comparing the bird with the descriptions of this 

 species, with that by Sclater ^) as well as with that by Roth- 

 schild, it shows some differences. But considering that the bird 

 is not quite adult and that it has lived in confinement, and 

 also that Salvadori '^) unites sdateri with heccarii^ so that, 

 according to this author, heccarii has a wide distribution 

 over southern New Guinea, I then thought our bird to 

 be C. c. heccarii. A careful re-examination of the matter 

 has convinced me however that, though our bird is a 

 very near ally of C. c. heccarii.^ it dijïers from this form 

 and from all other forms of the Casuarius casuarius- grou]) in 

 such points, that it is necessary to separate it. According to 

 two conspicuous streaks of a fleshy-red colour reaching from 

 the base of the lower mandible to the wattles I call this form : 



Casuarius casuarius histriatus. 



This specimen shows that we have on the northcoast of 

 New Guinea a Cassowary-form most nearly allied to a 

 form of the Aroe Islands, while it is less allied to forms, 

 which occur on the mainland of New Guinea. It seems 

 that our knowledge of the Cassowaries is either very in- 

 complete or the naked parts of these birds are subject to 

 an extraordinary individual variation. 



The total length of our bird, from the posterior edge 

 of the casque to the end of the tailfeathers, is 1340 mm., 

 the length of the tarsometatarsus is 270 mm. 



The casque is not high, about 50 mm., and laterally 

 not much compressed, The anterior surface is not convex 

 as in other members of this group, but a little knocked 

 in, very probably in consequence of the confinement; the 

 posterior edge is rounded. The whole is still in a state of 

 growing and scaling. The colour on the fore part and on 



1) Mus. Pays-Bas, X, le part. 1907, p. 326. 2) T. Z. S. XV, 1901, p. 109. 

 3) P. Z. S. 1875, p. 87. 4) Cat. B. B. M. XXVII, 1895, p. 596. 



Notes from the Leyden Museum, Vol. XXIX. 



