1877.] ON RODENTS ETC. FROM DUKE-OF-YORK ISLAND. 123 
Family EMBALLONURIDE. 
EMBALLONURA NIGRESCENS. 
Mosia nigrescens, Gray, Voyage of the ‘Sulphur,’ Mammals, 
p. 23 (1844). 
A single specimen of this, the smallest species of the genus, which 
is at once distinguished from L. monticola from the adjoining parts 
of the Oriental region by the very differently shaped muzzle, by the 
widely separated nostrils, and by its conspicuously smaller size. 
E.. nigrescens has hitherto been recorded from Amboina and Ter- 
nate only. 
Besides the discovery of the new species described above, the fol- 
lowing generalizations are afforded by an examination of the species 
represented in this collection :— 
I. That New Britain and New Ireland agree very closely in their 
Chiropterous fauna with that of other lands within the Australian 
region (Austro-Malayan subregion), three species only out of twelve 
(Macroglossus minimus, Phyllorhina galerita, and Kerivoula hard- 
wickii) extending also into the Oriental region. 
II. That, to judge from the large proportion of frugivorous Bats 
in the collection (nearly two thirds of the whole), New Britain and 
New Ireland agree with the Oceanic Islands in this respect, rather 
than with the continental lands within the Australian region. 
3. On the Rodents and Marsupials collected by the Rev. G. 
Brown in Duke-of-York Island, New Britain, and New 
Ireland. By Epwarp R. Ausron, F.L.S., F.Z.8., &c. 
[Received February 14, 1877.] 
(Plates XVIII. & XIX.) 
Mr. Sclater has kindly intrusted me with the determination 
of the Rodents and Marsupials contained in Mr. Brown’s interesting 
collection. 
They are few in number, consisting of but six species. Three 
of these appear to be identical with animals known to inhabit New 
Guinea, while the remainder belong to hitherto undescribed species. 
The latter, however, find their nearest allies either in New Guinea 
or in Northern Australia, thus fully confirming the strictly Papuan 
character of the fauna of this group. The large proportion of new 
species in this small collection shows, nevertheless, that a perceptible 
amount of change has taken place, and leads us to hope that many 
novelties will yet reward the researches of Mr. Brown, after whom I 
propose to name the first of the new species :— 
1. Mus Brown, sp. n. 
Fur both above and below stiff and harsh, most of the hairs being 
developed into fine flattened and channelled spines; on the back a 
