chap, xiii.] THE AUSTRALIAN REGION. 415 



edges of the breast-feathers, brilliant green. An immense tuft of 

 dense plumes of a fine orange-buff colour, springs from each side 

 of the body, and six of these on each side terminate in a black 

 curled rachis or shaft, which form a perfectly unique adornment 

 to this lovely bird. To appreciate this wonderful family (of 

 which no good mounted collection exists) the reader should 

 examine the series of plates in Mr. Elliot's great work on the 

 Paradiseidse, where every species is figured of the size of life, and 

 with a perfection of colouring that leaves little to be desired. 



Below the Seleucides is one of the elegant racquet-tailed 

 king-hunters (Tanysiptera galatea) whose plumage of vivid blue 

 and white, and coral-red bill, combined with the long spatulate 

 tail, renders this bird one of the most attractive of the interest- 

 ing family of kingfishers. On a high branch is seated the little 

 Papuan parroquet (Charmosyna papiiensis), one of the Tricho- 

 glossidse, or brush-tongued parrots, — richly adorned in red and 

 yellow plumage, and with an unusually long and slender tail. On 

 the ground is the well-known crowned pigeon (Goura coronata,) 

 a genus which is wholly confined to New Guinea and a few of 

 the adjacent islands. One of the very few Papuan mammals, a 

 tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus inustus), is seated on a high branch. 

 It is interesting, as an arboreal modification of a family which in 

 Australia is purely terrestrial ; and as showing how very little 

 alteration of form or structure is needed to adapt an animal to 

 such a different mode of life. 



Reptiles and Amphibia. — Of these classes comparatively little 

 is at present known, but there is evidence that the same inter- 

 mixture of Oriental and Australian forms that occurs in birds and 

 insects, is also found here. Dr. A. B. Meyer, the translator of this 

 work into German, and well known for his valuable discoveries in 

 New Guinea, has kindly furnished me with a manuscript list of 

 Papuan reptiles, from which most of the information I am able 

 to give is derived. 



Of Snakes, 24 genera are known, belonging to 11 families. Six 

 of the genera are Oriental, — Calamaria, Cerberus, Clirysopelea, 

 Lycodon, Chersydrus, and Ophiophagus. Four are Australian, 



