HON. W. EOTHSCHILD ON THE GENUS CASUAEIUS. 117 



1881. (?) Casuarius galeatus (non Bonn.!) Scl., Zool. Voy. 'Challenger/ Birds, p. 64 (young, 



bought in Ternate — seem to be young o£ C. c. beccarii from the Aru Islands ; cf. Cat. 



B. Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 597). 

 1884. (?) Casuarius sp. A. B. Meyer, Zeitschr. ges. Om. i. p. 296 (egg from Aru — as there are, 



however, several Cassowaries inhabiting the Aru Islands, there is no certainty whatever 



about an egg without history !) . 



Adult. Plumage black ; casque very high, broad and massive, dark brown ; bill long 

 and not pointed. Head and occiput pale greenish blue. Upper part of hind-neck 

 deeper blue, followed by a space of mixed blue and red, producing a somewhat livid 

 pale purple effect. Lower part of hind-neck scarlet. Chin, throat, and fore-neck 

 dark blue. Wattles large, broad, and very conspicuously joined at base, of a deep 

 fleshy-red colour, which colour runs up in a narrow line nearly to below the ear. 

 Naked lower sides of neck mixed red and blue. A very large bird, but I have not 

 been able to measure a fully adult dead example. 



Young (three-fourths grown). Fore-neck indigo-blue, head and occiput pale blue ; 

 hind-neck orange-yellow, with a purple patch between blue and orange. Naked lower 

 sides of neck, anterior half dull blue, posterior half orange-yellow. Plumage brown. 



Young (about full-grown). Same as adult, only colours less bright and plumage 

 brown. 



Hah. Vokan, Aru Islands. 



Dr. Sclater (P. Z. S. 1875, p. 87) first recognized the Aru Cassowary as a distinct 

 species, and gave a woodcut, showing a side view of the head and the wattles from in 

 front, accompanied by the following diagnosis: — 



" Casuarius similis C. australi et crista pari moclo elevata : sed caruncula cervicis una 

 media, ad apicem divisa. 



" Hah. Wokan, inss. Aroensium [Beccari). 

 " Mus. civit. Genoensis." 



In the same volume our author also mentions a Cassowary from the south 

 coast of New Guinea, of which he believes that it " probably is of the same species 

 as that of the Aroo Islands," namely C. beccarii. This specimen was afterwards 

 described as C. sclateri, but later on reunited with C. beccarii, and so it has remained 

 also in the ' Catalogue of Birds.' However, I am fully convinced that the form from 

 Southern New Guinea can be separated from that from the Aru Islands, where it 

 inhabits, so far as we know, only the northern island of the Vokan group. 



I am not able to give descriptions of well authenticated eggs of Beccari's Cassowary, 

 but there is an enormous egg in the British Museum from the Aru Islands, which is 

 named C. bicarunculatus, which, however, from its large size I am more inclined to 

 believe is that of either C. c. beccarii or C. c. violicollis. It measures 140 : 98 mm. 

 Its granulations are low. 



Schalow (I. c.) describes an egg brought from the Aru Islands by C. Bibbe, measuring 

 vol. xv. — part v. No. 2. — December, 1900. t 



