188 REPORT— 1844. 



scientific examination of them had been made. The zoology of western Ma- 

 lasia was first investigated by Dr. Horsfield and Sir Stamford Raffles, the first 

 of whom described the birds of Java and the second those of Sumatra, in the 

 ' Linnasan Transactions,' vol. xiii. These are very valuable memoirs, though 

 it is to be regretted that from the brevity of the specific characters some of 

 the species are rendered difficult to recognise. A selection of Dr. Horsfield's 

 species is however more fully described and illustrated by figures in his 

 ' Zoological Researches in Java,' and the original specimens collected by him 

 are preserved in the museum of the East India Company. The species of 

 Horsfield and of Raffles were arranged into one series by Mr. Vigors in the 

 Appendix to the ' Life of Sir Stamford Raffles.' 



Between 1820 and 1830 several Dutch and German naturalists visited the 

 Malasian Islands, and enriched the continental museums with their collections. 

 A considerable number of the species thus obtained are figured in the 

 ' Planches Coloriees ' of M. Temminck, who however too frequently described 

 as new the species which had been long before characterized by Horsfield 

 and Raffles. 



For two centuries past the Dutch have been famed for their love of col- 

 lecting rarities, and the numerous settlements of that people in all parts of 

 the world have tended to the gratification of this taste. It is therefore not 

 to be wondered at that the national museum of Holland at Leyden should 

 have become one of the richest collections of natural objects in the world ; and 

 it is gratifying to find that the information which its treasures convey is in 

 the course of being diff'used abroad. The Dutch government are now pub- 

 lishing a complete zoology of their foreign colonies, under the title of ' Ver- 

 handelingen over de Natuurlijke Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche overzeesche 

 Bezittingen.' This superb work contains figures and descriptions of many 

 new species from the remoter islands of the Malay archipelago ; and it is 

 only to be regretted that so valuable a publication should be compiled in a 

 language with which few men of science out of Holland are acquainted. 



A considerable number of ornithological specimens have recently been sent 

 to Europe from the peninsula of Malacca, and indicate a fauna closely allied 

 to, though often specifically distinct from, th,at of the adjacent islands of Java 

 and Sumatra. Mi-. Eyton has described several of these Malacca birds in the 

 ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society,' 1839, and Mr. Blyth has characte- 

 rized others which had been sent to the Calcutta Museum. 



The great island of New Guinea presents features in its zoology which 

 entitle it to be considered a distinct region from the Malasian archipelago, 

 and connected rather with the Australian fauna. We here first meet with 

 that extraordinary group of birds the Paradiseidce, whose affinities it is im- 

 possible to assign with certainty until their anatomy and habits are better 

 known. In this group will probably be ultimately included (as they were 

 originally by the earlier writers) the genera Seleucides, Ptilorhis, Epimachus, 

 Phonygama and Astrapia, which are at present arranged, from conjecture 

 rather than induction, in many widely-separated families. These genera all 

 agree with the Paradiseidce in the very peculiar structure of their plumage, 

 and what is of no less importance as an indication of zoological affinity, they 

 all (with the exception of Ptilorhis, which is found in the adjacent Australian 

 continent) inhabit the same island of New Guinea ; and 1 think it not im- 

 2)robable that the anomalous Australian genera Ptilonorhynchus, Calodcra 

 and Sericulus, may be also referable to the Paradiseidcu. These questions 

 however must be resolved by the anatomist and not by the studier of dried 

 skins; and we may therefore regret that New Guinea has hitherto been so 

 inaccessible to naturalists. The specimens from thence are mostly obtained 



