Diagnoses of new mammals from the South-West Pacific
Abstract
During the past year various animal reservoir collections of rats and marsupials have been submitted for determination at the Australian Museum by several United States research units, especially the U.S.A. Typhus Commission, as represented in the South-West operational areas by Lieutenant-Colonel Cornelius B. Philip and Major Glen M. Kohls.
The complexity of the mammalian fauna of New Guinea and the adjacent islands has been strikingly emphasized by examination of these important collections, and more or less tentative identifications have had to be supplied for the better known groups. It has also become essential to provide new names for some outstanding forms in accordance with their physical and zoo-geographical relationships. It is hoped to provide a representative set of the animal reservoir collection for the U.S. National Museum at Washington. With this object in view, an effort will be made to amplify existing material during the period of service of the author with the Tropical Scientific Section of the A.I.F., under the direction of the Commonwealth Scientific Liaison Bureau.
