244 
Mr. P. L. Sclater on Recent 
just returned from New Guinea. Of this highly success¬ 
ful expedition a full account is given in the third volume 
of Cora's ‘ Cosmos/ from which we extract the following 
particulars*. Beccari left Amboyna in the schooner ‘Deli' 
on the 22nd January last year, and arrived at Salawatti 
on the 31st. The next day he crossed to Sorong on the 
opposite (western) coast of New Guinea, whence he made an 
excursion to Barnoi, and obtained a fine pair of Casuarius 
uniappendiculatus. From Sorong he proceeded along the 
north coast of New Guinea to Dorei Hum, where he as¬ 
cended the adjoining mountain-range “ Gunong Morait" 
to a height of about 1200 feet. On the top of the mountain 
he shot with his own gun two splendid specimens of Rasy - 
ptilus pecqueti, one of the rarest of the Parrots, of which the 
exact habitat was until recently quite uncertain. Not being 
sufficiently satisfied with the view into the interior from 
Gunong Morait, Beccari proceeded some miles further along 
the coast, to Has, and again ascended the mountain-range to 
the height of about 1000 feet. Thence he descended to the 
banks of a new and hitherto quite unknown river, the Wa- 
Samson, which appears to drain the south-western slope of 
the Arfak Mountains, and runs into the sea near Sorong. 
In this excursion the principal rarity obtained was Seleucides 
alba; but Sericulus aureus , Gymnophaps albertisi , and other 
scarce species were seen. Bejoining the schooner at Sorong, 
Beccari crossed to Wakkere, at the south-eastern point of 
Waigiou, and remained four days in search of Diphyllodes 
wilsoni , of which, on the last day, one of his hunters obtained 
a fine male bird. He also obtained information of the exist¬ 
ence here of an Epimachus , which will perhaps turn out to 
be E. ellioti, the habitat of which is unknown; and was told 
that the newly discovered Diphyllodes gulielmi III. is really 
from Sorong, and not from Waigiou, as is supposed by Dr. 
Meyer. Two days' voyage from Waigiou brought Beccari to 
Havre Dorey, whence, after an excursion to Andai, he again 
departed for a tour round the great Bay of Geelvink. From 
Dorey he first visited Momi and Warbusi, two places im- 
* “Becenti Spedizioni alia Nuova Guinea,” Cosmos, vol. iii. p. 73. 
