376 MR. p. L. SCLATER ON THE AUSTRALIAN CASSOAVARY. [JuUC 1 1, 



June 11, 1868. 

 Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. 



Mr. P. L. Sclater exhibited a very fine and perfect skin of the 

 Austrahan Cassowary (Casuarius australis), which had been trans- 

 mitted to him by Mr. Charles J. Scott of Queensland, and was be- 

 lieved to be the first example of this species that had reached Europe. 



Mr. Sclater alluded to several former occasions on which notices 

 of this species had been brought before the Society*, and remarked 

 that its rediscovery in Australia was mainly due to the exertions of 

 the Messrs. Scott, who had so kindly interested themselves in the 

 matter, as already recorded in the Society's ' Proceedings ' (sec 

 P. Z. S. 1866, p. 557). 



The present specimen of the Australian Cassowary had been shot 

 in the beginning of November last by Mr. Henry Stone, overseer to 

 Messrs. Scott Brothers and Co., at their station in the Vale of 

 Herbert, in the same scrub from which the specimen described by 

 Mr. Krefft in the Society's 'Proceedings' for 1867 (p. 482) had 

 been procured. Alongjwith the specimen, Mr. Scott had forwarded 

 to Mr. Sclater a careful description of the head and naked parts of 

 the neck, which INIr. Sclater intended to place, along with the speci- 

 men, at the disposal of Mr. Gould, in order that the bird might be 

 properly illustrated in the Supplement to the Birds of Australia. 



Mr. Sclater further remarked that some naturalists had been in- 

 clined to doubt whether the Casuarius australis would prove to be 

 really distinct from the well-known Casuarius (jaleatus of Ceram, 

 but that he believed that no one who had examined the present 

 specimen could any longer doubt upon the matter. Mr. Sclater 

 had not yet had an opportunity of making a careful comparison 

 between the two birds ; but the following appeared to be noticeable 

 points of distinction between the two species : — 



1 . The different form of the vertical crest. 



It would be observed that in the Australian bird the crest was of 

 a different shape from that of C. yaleatus, rising much more erect 

 from the head and attaining a much greater development than even 

 in the largest examples of the latter species, of which there was at 

 the present moment a very fine specimen living in the Society's 

 Gardens. In C. australis <ilso the crest was extremely compressed 

 towards tlie edges, terminating in two thin laminae of horn united 

 in a medial line. 



2. The thicker and stouter tarsi, and the greater development and 

 straightness of the elongated claw on the inner toe of C. australis. 



3. In the fine cobalt-blue colour of the naked throat and front 

 part of the neck, the corresponding parts in C. (jaleatus being of 

 a dull purple. 



The following were stated to be the dimensions of the present 

 specimen of C. australis, which appeared to indicate that the species 

 * Cf. P. Z. S. 18G6, p. 557; 18G7, pp. 241, 473, 482. 



