1875. | LETTER FROM M. L. M. D ALBERTIS. d31 
the name certainly, as I have not yet obtained specimens. Moreover, 
at early dawn and after sunset I have several times heard the notes of 
a Dacelo which might be D. leachi; and in this island for some 
time Scythrops australis was common, while on the opposite coast of 
New Guinea I obtained good examples of Chlamydodera cerviniventris. 
I could add the names of many other Australian species. On the 
other hand, on the mountains, besides Paradisea raggiana, there are 
to be found Cicinnurus regius, Pitta nove guinee, Eupetes cerules- 
cens, and Campephaga aurulenta. Of the last I obtained the female, 
which ‘differs from the male in having the throat cinereous. But these 
are not the only species which give a Papuan tint to the mountain- 
birds ; for there is also to be met with Lophorina atra, of which I have 
seen many feathers used by the natives for ornament, as also of Serv- 
culus aureus, called by the natives ‘“‘ Horobora.” Certainly along 
with the Sericulus and Lophorina would be found the other Paradise- 
birds that in the north inhabit the same localities as these species. 
**Serpeats [ find much more numerous here than in the north of 
New Guinea, especially the venomous ones, and not only of Australian 
genera, but even of Australian species. Of dcanthophis antarctica 1 
have obtained two examples, which differ slightly from each other, and 
very much from the Australian forin ; but I take it for the same species. 
The Coleoptera and Lepidoptera are, like the birds, near the coast 
more Australian than Papuan ; and the reverse is the case in the in- 
terior. But Pieris aruna, which is so common at Cape York, I have 
found also on the mountains. 
“Up to the present time [ have not formed an exact idea as to the 
Mammals, but am inclined to believe that they are very scarce. I 
have only obtained a Cuscus (probably one of many varieties of 
C. maculatus), a Belideus, a few species of-insectivorous Bats, a Ptero- 
pus, two Bats, and the so-called Sus papuensis, of which last I have 
not seen two alike amongst a hundred. The Halmaturus luctuosus 
is very common, inhabiting the mountains as well as the plain—but 
always where the forest is most dense. It abounds on the lower hills, 
and forms one of the principal sources of food for the natives, who 
capture it in nuinbers in strong nets. I have had the opportunity of 
examining a large number of this species, and find them identical 
with the individual described by me in the ‘ Proceedings’ *, which, 
I hope, is still living in the Society’s Gardens. But upon further ex- 
amination I find thatthe canine teeth, which did not exist in the indivi- 
dual described by me at the time of my description and even subse- 
quently, are, on the contrary, always present in examples of every age 
which I have recently examined here. Consequently, after consider- 
ing its dentary system, I have come to the conclusion that this species 
is not correctly placed in the genus Ha/maturus, but ought to be re- 
ferred to the genus Dorcopsis, to which, as it appears to me, its prin- 
cipal generic characters assimilate it rather than to any other genus 
of Macropodidee. The Kangaroos which Dr. Beccari sent from the 
Aroo Islands to the Museo Civico of Genoa may also belong to the 
genus Dorcopsis, but are certainly distinct from D. /wetuosa, as I think 
* P.Z.S. 1874, p. 110; see also P. Z. 8. 1874, p. 247, pl. slii. 
