Two Marsupial genera, Halmaturus and Perameles, have species found in New Guinea, but most probably, when they have been more carefully examined, they will be found to form a peculiar genus, allied to the Australian animals, as is the case with the tree-kangaroos (Dendrolegus) and the Phalangers (Cuscus) of that country.

We have a specimen of the Halmaturus in the British Museum, from the Leyden collection, but like many of the specimens in that collection, where the zoological specimens are made subservient to the anatomical predilections of the conservator, it has no skull, and false claws, which renders it impossible for me to define its characters.

The tail has rings of scales under the hair, but this is also the case with most Halmaturi.
Before proceeding to the consideration of the distribution of the species, over the different districts of Australasia, it may be remarked that this is a subject surrounded with considerable difficulty, as different naturalists do not always apply the same test to determine the distinction of the species, some considering the differences found in the specimens from different localities, as merely local varieties, and others regarding them as distinct; and others again declaring that several specimens, which cabinet naturalists are in the habit of regarding as only accidental varieties from the examination of the skins, are quite distinct when they are observed alive in their native habitat.
In the preceding list, when all the specimens I have seen from a particular habitat have a similar and peculiar character, I have considered them as species; on the contrary when the specimens from the same locality offer variations among themselves, as in those of the genus Hepoona, where the extent of the whiteness on the tail, and the variation in the colour of the body appear to differ in the specimens from the same place, I have regarded them as belonging to the same species, believing it to be a variable species which has an extensive range.
From the Table already given it appears that, of the species found on the Australian Continent, 71 are confined to it, 12 common to it and Van Diemen's Land, and one common to it and Norfolk Island; while of the 24 species found on Van Diemen's Land, 11 are found in it alone.
The species common to the Australian Continent and Van Diemen's Land, are: 2.

Nyctophilus geoffroyii.
4.

Scotophilus gouldii.
5.