114 MR. G. E. DOBSON ON BATS [ Feb. 20, 
another French discovery-vessel, the ‘ Astrolabe,’ passed several 
days in the adjoining port Havre Carteret ; and Messrs. Quoy and 
Gaimard, the naturalists on board, though embarrassed by bad weather, 
made several additions to Lesson’s ornithological discoveries. In 
the summer of 1841, Havre Carteret was again visited by the English 
vessel H.M.S. ‘Sulphur’ (under the command of Sir E. Belcher). 
Surgeon Hinds certainly made a collection of birds on the occasion, 
although Mr. Sharpe informs me that only three specimens are 
registered in the British Museum as having been obtained in New 
Ireland from the voyage of the ‘ Sulphur.’ 
From these sources we were acquainted, previously to the arrival of 
the present collection, with the existence of some 25 birds in New 
Ireland’. Mr. Brown has added at least six or seven species to the 
list; and it is only from the defective labelling of his specimens, 
as I believe, that we have not obtained from him a much more com- 
plete insight into the character of its ornis. 
Enough, however, is now known to show that New Ireland must 
be referred decidedly: to the Papuan Subregion” of the Australian avi- 
fauna. The presence of such torms as Gracula, Eclectus, Nasiterna, 
Lorius, and Calenasis quite sufficient to prove that it belongs strictly 
to the northern section of the Australian Region, rather than to 
Australia itself; and there can be little doubt that New Britain, New 
Hanover, and the whole of the Solomon groups belong strictly to the 
same subregion. Let us hope that Mr. Brown may-be induced to 
continue his collections, and to give us further opportunities of con- 
tinuing these interesting investigations, 
2. On a Collection of Chiroptera from Duke-of-York Island 
and the adjacent parts of New Ireland and New Britain, 
By G. E. Dosson, M.A., M.B., F.L.S., &c. 
[Received February 2, 1877.] 
(Plate XVII.) 
Mr. P. L. Sclater, Secretary of the Society, has most kindly 
placed in my hands for examination an exceedingly interesting col- 
lection of Chiroptera from Duke-of-York Island and andajcet coasts 
of New Ireland and New Britain, forwarded to him by the Rev. 
George Brown, C.M.Z.8. 
Although the collection consists of seventeen specimens only, twelve 
distinct species are represented, of which four are undescribed, one 
is the type of a new genus and species, and ten are new to the 
fauna of these little-known islands. 
1 J had intended to have given a complete list of the known birds of New 
Treland as an appendix to the present paper, but, not having had time to com- 
plete it satisfactorily, must reserve it for a future communication. 
2 For general remarks on the division of the Australian Region into subregions, 
see P, Z. 8. 1869, p. 125. 
