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THE ANIMALS OF NEW GUINEA 



climbing to the top of mangrove-trees and palms fully 60 feet in height. What 

 they did when at the top was not ascertained, but from the aforesaid captive 

 specimens it was considered probable that they were engaged in opening young 

 cocoa-nuts and devouring their contents. Whether they have the power of opening 

 ripe cocoa-nuts could not be determined, the specimens under observation merely 

 fumbling such as were given them without attempting to penetrate the shell. 



SCHOENBERGIA PARADISEA. 



The last animal that can be noticed in this brief sketch of the Papuan area is 

 a member of a remarkable group of arthropods (that is to say, jointed animals, 

 such as insects, crustaceans, and spiders) typified by the genus Peripatus. These 

 creativres, which look somewhat like slugs furnished with a large number of very 

 short legs, and indeed were at first described as molluscs, are mainly a southern 

 type, and for some years have been known from South Africa, Queensland, South 

 America, and the West Indies, with possibly an outlying representative in 

 Sumatra. Eecently a species has been discovered in Dutch New Guinea, and is 



