The geographical distribution of animals, with a study of the relations ...

—chap, xiii.] THE AUSTRALIAN REGION. 415edges of the breast-feathers, brilliant green.An immense tuft ofdense plumes of a fine orange-buff colour, springs from each sideof the body, and six of these on each side terminate in a blackcurled rachis orshaft, which form a perfectly unique adornmentto this lovely bird. To appreciate this wonderful family (ofwhich no good mounted collection exists) the reader shouldexamine the series of plates in Mr. Elliot's great work on theParadiseidse, where every species is figured of the size of life,andwith a perfection of colouring that leaves little to be desired.Below the Seleucides is one of the elegant racquet-tailedking-hunters (Tanysiptera galatea) whose plumage of vivid blueand white, and coral-red bill,combined with the long spatulatetail, renders this bird one of the most attractive of the interestingfamily of kingfishers. On a high branch is seated the littlePapuan parroquet (Charmosyna papiiensis), one of the Trichoglossidse,or brush-tongued parrots,—richly adorned in red andyellow plumage, and with an unusually long and slender tail.the ground is the well-known crowned pigeon (Goura coronata,)a genus which is wholly confined to New Guinea and a few ofthe adjacent islands. One of the very few Papuan mammals, atree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus inustus), is seated on a high branch.It is interesting, as an arboreal modification of a family which inAustralia is purely terrestrial ; and as showing how very littlealteration of form or structure is needed to adapt an animal tosuch a different mode of life.OnReptiles and Amphibia.—Of these classes comparatively littleis at present known, but there is evidence that the same intermixtureof Oriental and Australian forms that occurs in birds andinsects, is also found here. Dr. A. B. Meyer, the translator of thiswork into German, and well known for his valuable discoveries inNew Guinea, has kindly furnished me with a manuscript list ofPapuan reptiles, from which most of the information I am ableto give is derived.Of Snakes, 24 genera are known, belonging to 11 families. Sixof the genera are Oriental, Calamaria, Cerberus, Clirysopelea,Lycodon, Chersydrus, and Ophiophagus. Four are Australian,