8518 



Quadrupeds. 



Cuvier, more Equi, of the asinine type, have been added to the list, 

 and several species of swine. Among the bovine ruminants the three 

 species of flat-horned taurine cattle proper to south-eastern Asia have 

 only recently been properly distinguished ; also the Bubalus brachy- 

 ceros of intertropical Africa; and there are others, as I believe, not 

 yet sufficiently established, and more species also of large deer and 

 antelopes. Among the Carnivora, no animal worthy of much note, 

 unless Phocidae (as might have been expected), and the like with 

 Cetacea, my Balsenoptera indica, for example, which is perhaps the 

 largest of existing animals, but these latter are not four-limbed. 

 Among the Quadrumana, the grandest of all, the huge gorilla, has been 

 recently re-discovered, for its reputed existence was regarded as fabu- 

 lous by Baron Cuvier. Lastly, in the bird class, it is most remarkable 

 that the number of brevipennate species has quite recently been more 

 than quadrupled ;* still, however, no remarkable new genus, excepting 

 the New Zealand moa, and of this at least two species have just been 

 discovered lo maintain a lingering existence, as I have learned from a 

 letter recently received from Mr. E. L. Layard, who is at present in 

 New Zealand as private secretary to Governor Sir G. Grey. One of 

 these, of comparatively small size (about 3 J feet high), has actually 

 been killed and eaten by a famishing party of explorers, and fifteen 

 others seen. Of the other, one of the large moas, only the fresh foot- 

 steps, fifteen inches long, have been traced, as Mr. Layard states, by 

 a party who had lost themselves ; and therefore the instance does not 

 appear to be the same as that lately recorded in the ' Zoologist' (Zool. 

 7847). Both of these living species inhabit the little-explored Middle 

 Island. 



Edward Blyth. 



Calcutta, March 1, 1862. 



A further Note on Elephants and Rhinoceroses. — There is a notice 

 of the wild elephants of Borneo in Mr. Spencer St. John's 1 Life in the 

 Forests of the far East' (1862), vol. i. p. 95. This author writes, 

 " Among our Malays was one who had frequently traded with the 

 north-east coast of Borneo, and the mention of 'gading' (ivory) brought 

 to his recollection that elephants exist in the districts about the river 

 Kina Batangan. I have seen many tusks brought to Labuau for sale, 



* Even a sixth cassowary has since been added by the Baron von Rosenberg, of 

 Arnboyna. It is from the island of Salawatti, and has no wattles, as in all the others. 

 He terms it Casuarius Kaupi. The Balaeniceps Rex must be considered as a 

 remarkable discovery among large birds ; and this is quite a new genus. 



