CASSOWARIES. 563 



that in this group the females are larger than the males. Then, again, the wing is 

 extremely rudimentary, so much so, indeed, that it may be invisible externally ; 

 the humerus being very short. In addition to certain peculiarities connected with 

 the structure of the bones of the palate, the skeleton is further distinguished by 

 retention of rudiments of the furcula. In the presence of three toes to each foot, 

 both emeus and cassowaries resemble rheas. By many ornithologists the two 

 genera under consideration are regarded as the representatives of as many distinct 

 families, although in our opinion the amount of difference between them is suffi- 

 ciently expressed by referring them to two subfamilies of a single family. 



The cassowaries form an extensive genus containing at least nine 

 well-defined species, and confined to Australia, New Guinea, Ceram, 

 and some of the neighbouring islands. They are specially characterised by the 

 bare head being surmounted by a helmet-like prominence, formed by an upward 

 extension of the bones of the skull, and covered with naked skin, by the bare neck, 

 which may or may not be ornamented with pendent wattles, and likewise by the 

 great length of the claw of the second or inner toe. The body is covered with 

 dark-coloured feathers, of a peculiarly loose and coarse structure, which are glossy, 

 and appear more like hairs than the plumage of an ordinary bird ; while the wing 

 is represented externally merely by some four or five black quills devoid of barbs, 

 which thus presents the appearance of very coarse bristles. Although the whole 

 of the nine species of cassowaries are included by ornithologists in a single genus, 

 this may be subdivided into three minor groups, distinguished by the form of the 

 helmet, and the number of the wattles on the neck, or their absence. In the first 

 group, as typically represented by the Ceram cassowary (Casuarius galeatus), 

 which appears to be confined to the island from which it takes its name, and was 

 the first of these extraordinary birds made known to science, the helmet is flattened 

 from side to side, or compressed, while the wattles on the neck are either two or 

 double, the other representatives of this group are the Australian cassowary (C. 

 australis), of Northern Australia, of which the skull is represented in the figure 

 on p. 565 ; and Beccari's cassowary ((7. beccarii) and the two - wattled 

 cassowary (C. bicarunculatus) of the Am Islands. Of the second group, the sole 

 representative is the single-wattled cassowary (C. uniappendiculatus), from the 

 island of Salwatti and the adjacent coast of New Guinea, which, while agreeing 

 with the members of the preceding group in the form of the helmet, differs by 

 having but one undivided wattle. Lastly, we have the third group characterised 

 by the circumstance that the helmet is flattened from above, or depressed, while 

 wattles are absent ; this group being exclusively Papuan, and represented by the 

 Papuan cassowary (C. papuanus) of Northern New Guinea, Westermann's cassowary 

 (C. westermanni) from the island of Jobi, the painted cassowary (C. picticollis) 

 confined to the southern half of New Guinea, and Bennett's cassowary (C. bennetti) 

 from New Britain. Fossil remains of an extinct cassowary have been obtained 

 from the superficial deposits of Australia ; and, in its whole distribution, the genus 

 corresponds very closely with the Australasian pouched mammals, none of its 

 representatives occurring to the westward of the deep channel separating Celebes 

 and Lombok from Borneo and Java, and known as Wallace's line. 



In appearance, owing to the brilliant hues of blue, green, and red on the naked 



