1880.] MR. W. POWELL ON THE MORROOP. 49^ 



millims. 



Length of the tail 163 



Length of the femur 19 



Length of the tibia 20 



Hah. Ecuador. The two adult specimens on which the above 

 description is founded were obtained from Mr. Buckley, and are in 

 the British-Museum collection. 



This species presents a striking similarity in appearance to Anolis 

 {Rhinosaurus) nasicus, the forms and proportions being the same. 

 The points of distinction between them are, however, numerous ; the 

 rostral and mental shields are quite different, the latter plate being 

 much shorter on each side in A. nasicus, in which also the head- 

 shields show a different arrangement, and the supraorbital semicircles 

 of plates are not in contact on the space between the eye. 



10. Field-notes on the INIorroop [Casaurius bennetti) of New 

 Britain. By Wilfred Powell. 



[Eeceived June 15, 1880.] 



The interior of the northern peninsula of New Britain is com- 

 posed of high tableland and grassy plains of considerable area. It 

 is on these plains that the Cassowary of this island (Casuarius ben- 

 netti) is mostly to be found. These birds are generally seen moving 

 slowly along in the high grass, with their heads just showing above 

 it. The plains appear to be their feeding-ground, as they are rarely 

 seen in the bush during the daytime. They are gregarious in their 

 habits, travelling in 6ocks of three or four ; I have sometimes 

 seen as many as seven in a flock together. When in motion 

 they always go in Indian file, with the cock bird leading. They 

 do not seem to advance over the ground very quickly unless 

 alarmed, when they travel with marvellous rapidity, having a 

 bounding motion, which is not, in my estimation, very graceful. 

 When they select a place for their nests, they do so usually in 

 an open glade that is well timbered, but without underscrub. Here 

 they scrape the earth together into a slight heap with a depression in 

 the centre. The nest is circular in form, about five feet in diameter, 

 the outside being raised about six inches from the ground-level. Here 

 they lay their eggs, which are left to hatch by the heat of the sun. 

 The natives who search for these nests, in order to obtain the eggs for 

 food (which they consider a great delicacy, though I cannot say I like 

 them myself, their flavour being too strong), assure me that they 

 seldom find more than three at a time in one nest, and that when 

 the bird has laid one egg, it leaves the nest for some days before 

 returning to lay another ; whether they lay eggs elsewhere, in the 

 meanwhile, I cannot say. The egg is about five inches long by 

 three inches wide at the broadest part, and is thickly mottled with 

 delicate light green spots. 



The Cassowary's food consists of lizards, frogs, fruit, nuts, and 



