Chapter XXXII: Part III: Zoological Geography (12)

Species common to the Timorese Islands and the Australian Region 18
Peculiar Timorese species allied to those of the Australian Region 44
--
Total 62

This table is very important, as indicating that the connection {425}with Australia was probably earlier than that with Java; since the majority of the Australian species have become modified, while the majority of the Oriental species have remained unchanged. This is due, no doubt, in part to the continued immigration of fresh individuals from Java, after that from Australia, the Moluccas and New Guinea had almost wholly ceased. We must also notice the very small proportion of the genera, either of Australia or Java, that have found their way into these islands, many of the largest and most wide-spread groups in both countries being altogether absent. Taking these facts into consideration, it is pretty clear that there has been no close and long-continued approximation of these islands to any part of the Australian region; and it is also probable that they were fairly stocked with such Australian groups as they possess before the immigration from Java commenced, or a larger number of characteristic Oriental forms would have been able to have established themselves.

On looking at our map, we find that a shallow submerged bank extends from Australia to within about twenty miles of the coast of Timor; and this is probably an indication that the two countries were once only so far apart. This would have allowed the purely Australian types to enter, as they are not numerous; there being about 6 Australian species, and 10 or 12 representatives of Australian species, in Timor. All the rest may have been derived from the Moluccas or New Guinea, being mostly wide-spread genera of the Australian region; and the extension of Papua in a south-west direction towards Java (which was suggested as a means of providing New Guinea with peculiar Indo-Malay types not found in any other part of the region) may have probably served to supply Timor and Flores with the mass of their Austro-Malayan genera across a narrow strait or arm of the sea. Lombok, Baly, and Sumbawa were probably not then in existence, or nothing more than small volcanic cones rising out of the sea, thus leaving a distance of 300 miles between Flores and Java. Subsequently they grew into islands, which offered an easy passage for a number of Indo-Malay genera into such scantily stocked territories as Flores and Timor. The {426}north coast of Australia then sank, cutting off the supply from that country; and this left the Timorese group in the position it now occupies.

The reptiles and fishes of this group are too little known to enable us to make any useful comparison.

_Insects._--The insects, though not numerous, present many fine species, some quite unlike any others in the Archipelago. Such are--_Papilio liris_, _Pieris læta_, _Cirrochroa lamarckii_ and _C. leschenaultii_ among butterflies. The Coleoptera are comparatively little known, but in the insects generally the Indo-Malay element predominates. This may have arisen from the peculiar vegetation and arid climate not being suitable to the Papuan insects. Why Australian forms did not establish themselves we cannot conjecture; but the field appears to have been open to immigrants from Java, the climate and vegetation of which island at its eastern extremity approximates to that of the Timorese group. The insects are, however, so peculiarly modified as to imply a very great antiquity, and this is also indicated by a group of Sylviine birds here classed under _Oreicola_, but some of which probably form distinct genera. There may, perhaps, have been an earlier and a later approximation to Java, which, with the other changes indicated, would account for most of the facts presented by the fauna of these islands. One deduction is, at all events, clear: the extreme paucity of indigenous mammals along with the absence of so many groups of birds, renders it certain that the Timorese islands did not derive their animal life by means of an actual union with any of the large islands either of the Australian or the Oriental regions.

_Celebes Group._--We now come to the Island of Celebes, in many respects the most remarkable and interesting in the whole region, or perhaps on the globe, since no other island seems to present so many curious problems for solution. We shall therefore give a somewhat full account of its peculiar fauna, and endeavour to elucidate some of the causes to which its zoological isolation may be attributed.

_Mammalia._--The following is the list of the mammalia of {427}Celebes as far as at present known, though many small species may yet be discovered.

1. Cynopithecus nigrescens.
2. Tarsius spectrum.
3. Viverra tangalunga.
4. Cervus hippelaphus.
5. Anoa depressicornis.
6. Sus celebensis.
7. Barbirusa alfurus.
8. Sciurus (5 peculiar sp.)
9. Mus (2 peculiar sp.)
10. Cuscus (2 peculiar sp.)
Also 7 species of bats, of which 5 are peculiar.

The first--a large black ape--is itself an anomaly, since it is not closely allied to any other form of quadrumana. Its flat projecting muzzle, large superciliary crests and maxillary ridges, with the form and appearance of its teeth, separate it altogether from the genus _Macacus_, as represented in the Indo-Malay islands, and ally it closely to the baboons of Africa.[15] We have already seen reason to suppose that it has been carried to Batchian, and there is some doubt about the allied species or variety (_C. niger_) of the Philippines being really indigenous there; in which case this interesting form will remain absolutely confined to Celebes. (2.) The tarsier is a truly Malayan species, but it is said to occur in a small island at the northern extremity of Celebes and on some of the Philippine Islands. It might possibly have been introduced there. (3) and (4)--a civet and a deer--are, almost certainly, as in the Moluccas, introduced species. (5.) _Anoa depressicornis._ This is one of the peculiar Celebesian types; a small straight-horned wild-bull, anatomically allied to the buffaloes, and somewhat resembling the bovine antelopes of Africa, but having no near allies in the Oriental region. (6.) _Sus Celebensis_; a peculiar species of wild-pig. (7.) _Babirusa alfurus_; another remarkable type, having no near allies. It differs in its dentition from the typical Suidæ, and seems to approach the African Phacochoeridæ, The manner in which the canines of the upper jaw are reversed, and grow directly upwards in a spiral curve over the eyes, is unique among mammalia. (8.) Five squirrels inhabit Celebes, and all are peculiar species. (9.) These are forest rats of the sub-genus _Gymnomys_, allied to Australian species. 10. _Cuscus._ This typical {428}Australian form is represented in Celebes by two peculiar species.

Leaving out the Indo-Malay _species_, which may probably have been introduced by man, and are at all events comparatively recent immigrants, and the wild pig, a genus which ranges over the whole archipelago and which has therefore little significance, we find two genera which have come from the Australian side,--_Cuscus_ and _Mus_; and four from the Oriental side,--_Cynopithecus_, _Anoa_, _Babirusa_, and _Sciurus_. But _Sciurus_ alone corresponds to _Cuscus_, as a genus still inhabiting the adjacent islands; the other three being not only peculiar to Celebes, but incapable of being affiliated to any specially Oriental group. We seem, then, to have indications of two distinct periods; one very ancient, when the ancestors of the three peculiar genera roamed over some unknown continent of which Celebes formed, perhaps, an outlying portion;--another more recent, when from one side there entered _Sciurus_, and from the other _Cuscus_. But we must remember that the Moluccas to the east, possess scarcely any indigenous mammals except _Cuscus_; whereas Borneo and Java on the west, have nearly 50 distinct genera. It is evident then, that the facilities for immigration must have been much less with the Oriental than with the Australian region, and we may be pretty certain that at this later period there was no land connection with the Indo-Malay islands, or some other animals than squirrels would certainly have entered. Let us now see what light is thrown upon the subject by the birds.

_Birds._--The total number of birds known to inhabit Celebes is 205, belonging to about 150 genera. We may leave out of consideration the wading and aquatic birds, most of which are wide-ranging species. There remain 123 genera and 152 species of land-birds, of which 9 genera and 66 species are absolutely confined to the island, while 20 more are found also in the Sula or Sanguir Islands, so that we may take 86 to be the number of peculiar Celebes species. Lord Walden, from whose excellent paper on the birds of Celebes (_Trans. Zool. Soc._ vol. viii. p. 23) most of these figures are obtained, estimates, that of the species which are not peculiar to Celebes, 55 are of Oriental and 22 of {429}Australian origin, the remainder being common to both regions. This shows a preponderant recent immigration from the West and North, which is not to be wondered at when we look at the long coast line of Java, Borneo, and the Philippine islands, with an abundant and varied bird population, on the one side, and the small scattered islands of the Moluccas, with a comparatively scanty bird-fauna, on the other.

But, adopting the method here usually followed, let us look at the relations of the _genera_ found in Celebes, omitting for the present those which are peculiar to it. I divide these genera into two series:--those which are found in Borneo or Java but not in the Moluccas, and those which inhabit the Moluccas and not Borneo or Java; these being the respective sources from which, _primâ facie_, the species of these genera must have been derived. Genera which range widely into both these districts are rejected, as teaching us nothing of the origin of the Celebesian fauna. In a few cases, sub-genera which show a decided eastern or western origin, are given.

GENERA DERIVED FROM BORNEO AND JAVA.

1. Geocichla.
2. Pratincola (sp.)
3. Trichastoma.
4. Oriolus (sp.)
5. Cyornis.
6. Hypothymis.
7. Hylocharis.
8. Æthopyga.
9. Nectarophila.
10. Anthreptes (sp.)
11. Munia (sp.)
12. Acridotheres.
13. Yungipicus.
14. Mulleripicus.
15. Rhamphococcyx.
16. Hierococcyx.
17. Hydrocissa.
18. Cranorrhinus.
19. Lyncornis.
20. Treron (sp.)
21. Gallus (sp.)
22. Spilornis.
23. Butastur.
24. Pernis.

GENERA DERIVED FROM THE MOLUCCAS OR TIMOR.

1. Graucalus (sp.)
2. Chalcostetha.
3. Myzomela.
4. Munia (sp.)
5. Cacatua (sp.)
6. Tanygnathus.
7. Trichoglossus.
8. Scythrops (sp.)
9. Turacoena.
10. Reinwardtoenas (sp.)
11. Myristicivora (s. g.)
12. Ducula (s. g.)
13. Zonoenas (s. g.)
14. Lamproteron (s. g.)
15. Megapodius.

These tables show a decided preponderance of Oriental over Australian forms. But we must remember that the immediately adjacent lands from whence the supply was derived, is {430}very much richer in the one case than in the other. The 24 genera derived from Borneo and Java are only about _one fourth_ of the characteristic genera of those islands; while the 15 Moluccan and Timorese genera are fully _one third_ of their characteristic types. The _proportion_ derived from the Australian, is greater than that derived from the Oriental side.

We shall exhibit this perhaps more clearly, by giving a list of the important groups of each set of islands which are absent from Celebes.

Important Families of Java and Borneo absent from Celebes.

1. Eurylæmidæ.
2. Timaliidæ.
3. Phyllornithidæ.
4. Pycnonotidæ
5. Laniidæ.
6. Megalæmidæ.
7. Trogonidæ.
8. Phasianidæ.

Important Families of the Moluccas absent from Celebes.

1. Meliphagidæ.

Additional important genera of Java or Borneo absent from Celebes.

1. Orthotomus.
2. Copsychus.
3. Enicurus.
4. Tchitrea.
5. Pericrocotus.
6. Irena.
7. Platylophus.
8. Dendrocitta.
9. Eulabes.
10. Hemicercus.
11. Chrysocolaptes.
12. Tiga.
13. Micropternus.
14. Batrachostomus.
15. Palæornis.
16. Rollulus.

Important genera of the Moluccas absent from Celebes.

1. Mimeta.
2. Monarcha.
3. Rhipidura.
4. Pachycephala.
5. Lycocorax.
6. Alcyone.
7. Tanysiptera.
8. Geoffroyus.
9. Eclectus.
10. Platycercus.
11. Eos.
12. Lorius.

If we reckon the absent families to be each represented by only two important genera, we shall find the deficiency on the Oriental side much the greatest; yet those on the side of the Moluccas are sufficiently remarkable. The Meliphagidæ are not indeed absolutely wanting, since a _Myzomela_ has now been found in Celebes; but all its larger and more powerful forms which range over almost the entire region, are absent. This may be balanced by the absence of the excessively abundant Timaliidæ of the Indo-Malay islands, which are represented by {431}only a single species; and by the powerful Phasianidæ, represented only by the common Malay jungle fowl, perhaps introduced. The entire absence of Pycnonotidæ is a very anomalous fact, since one of the largest genera, _Criniger_, is well represented in several islands of the Moluccas, and one has even been found in the Togian islands in the great northern inlet of Celebes; but yet it passes over Celebes itself. _Ceyx_, a genus of small kingfishers, is a parallel case, since it is found everywhere from India to New Guinea, leaving out only Celebes; but this comes among those curiosities of the Celebesian fauna which we shall notice further on. In the list of genera derived from Borneo or Java, no less than 6 are represented by identical species (indicated by sp. after the name); while in the Moluccan list 5 are thus identical. These must be taken to indicate, either that the genus is a recent introduction, or that stragglers still occasionally enter, crossing the breed, and thus preventing specific modification. In either case they depend on the existing state of things, and throw no light on the different distribution of land and sea which aided or checked migration in former times; and they therefore to some extent diminish the weight of the Indo-Malay affinity, as measured by the relations of the peculiar species of Celebes.

From our examination of the evidence thus far,--that is, taking account firstly, of the _species_, and, secondly, of the _genera_, which are common to Celebes and the groups of islands between which it is situated, we must admit that the connexion seems rather with the Oriental than with the Australian region; but when we take into account the _proportion_ of the genera and species present, to those which are absent, and giving some weight to the greater extent of coast line on the Indo-Malay side, we seem justified in stating that the Austro-Malay element is rather the most fully represented. This result applies both to birds and mammals; and it leads us to the belief, that during the epoch of existing species and genera, Celebes has never been united with any extensive tract of land either on the Indo-Malay or Austro-Malay side, but has received immigrants from both during a very long period, the facilities for immigration having been rather the {432}greatest on the Austro-Malay or Australian side. We have now to consider what further light can be thrown on the subject by the consideration of the _peculiar genera_ of Celebes, and of those curiosities or anomalies of distribution to which we have referred.

Nine genera of birds are altogether peculiar to Celebes; three more are found only in one other island, and seem to be typically Celebesian; while one is found in the Sula islands (which belongs to the Celebes group) and probably exists in Celebes also. The following is a list of these 13 genera:

1. _Artamides_ (Campephagidæ)
2. _Streptocitta_ (Corvidæ)
3. _Charitornis_ "
4. _Gazzola_, (s. g.) "
5. _Basilornis_ (Sturnidæ)
6. _Enodes_ "
7. _Scissirostrum_ "
8. _Monachalcyon_ (Alcedinidæ)
9. _Cittura_ "
10. _Ceycopsis_ "
11. _Meropogon_ (Meropidæ)
12. _Prioniturus_ (Psittacidæ)
13. _Megacephalon_ (Megapodiidæ)

Of the above, _Artamides_, _Monachalcyon_, _Cittura_, and _Megacephalon_, are modifications of types characteristic of the Australian region. All are peculiar to Celebes except _Cittura_, found also in the Sanguir islands to the northward, but which seems to belong to the Moluccan group. _Streptocitta_, _Charitornis_, and _Gazzola_, are peculiar types of Corvidæ; the two former allied to the magpies, the latter to the jackdaws. _Charitornis_ is known only from the Sula islands east of Celebes, and is closely related to _Streptocitta_. There is nothing comparable to these three groups in any of the Malay islands, and they seem to have relations rather with the Corvidæ of the old-world northern continent. _Basilornis_, _Enodes_, and _Scissirostrum_, are remarkable forms of Sturnidæ. _Basilornis_ has a beautiful compressed crest, which in the allied species found in Ceram is elongated behind. _Enodes_ has remarkable red superciliary streaks, but seems allied to _Calornis_. _Scissirostrum_ seems also allied to _Calornis_ in general structure, but has a very peculiarly formed bill and nostrils. We can hardly say whether these three forms show more affinity to Oriental or to Australian types, but they add to the weight of evidence as to the great antiquity and isolation of the Celebesian fauna. _Scissirostrum_ has been classed with _Euryceros_, a {433}Madagascar bird, and with _Buphaga_, an African genus; but the peculiar beak and nostrils approximate more to _Cracticus_ and its allies, of the Australian region, which should probably form a distinct family. _Ceycopsis_ is undoubtedly intermediate between the Malayan _Ceyx_ and the African _Ispidina_, and is therefore especially interesting. _Meropogon_ is a remarkable form of bee-eater, allied to the Indo-Malayan _Nyctiornis_. _Prioniturus_ (the raquet-tailed parrots) of which two species inhabit Celebes, and one the Philippines, appears to be allied to the Austro-Malayan _Geoffroyus_.

We must finally notice a few genera found in Celebes, whose nearest allies are not in the surrounding islands, and which thus afford illustrations of discontinuous distribution. The most remarkable, perhaps, is _Coracias_, of which a fine species inhabits Celebes; while the genus is quite unknown in the Indo-Malay sub-region, and does not appear again till we reach Burmah and India; and the species has no closer affinity for Indian than for African forms. _Myialestes_, a small yellow flycatcher, is another exmple; its nearest ally (_M. cinereocapilla_) being a common Indian bird, but unknown in the Malay islands. The Celebesian bird described by me as _Prionochilus aureolimbatus_, is probably a third case of discontinuous distribution, if (as a more careful examination seems to show) it is not a _Prionochilus_, but congeneric with _Pachyglossa_, a bird only found in the Himalayas. The fine pigeon, _Carpophaga forsteni_, belongs to a group found in the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand; but the Celebes species is very distinct from all the others, and seems, if anything, more allied to that of New Zealand.

The Sula islands (Sula-mangola, Sula-taliabo, and Sula-besi) lie midway between Celebes and the Moluccas, being 80 miles from the nearest part of Celebes, with several intervening islands, and 40 miles from Bouru, all open sea. Their birds show, as might be expected, a blending of the two faunas, but with a decided preponderance of that of Celebes. Out of 43 land birds which have been collected in these islands, we may deduct 6 as of wide range and no significance. Of the 37 remaining, 21 are Celebesian species, and 4 are new species but {434}allied to those of Celebes; while there are 10 Moluccan species and 2 new species allied to those of the Moluccas. It is curious that no less than 3 Moluccan genera, quite unknown in Celebes itself, occur here,--_Monarcha_, _Pachycephala_, and _Criniger_; but all these, as well as several other of the Moluccan birds, are rather weak flyers, and such as are likely to have been carried across by strong winds. Of the _genera_, 23 are from Celebes, 10 from the Moluccas. These facts show, that the Sula islands form part of the Celebes group, although they have received an infusion of Moluccan forms, which will perhaps in time spread to the main island, and diminish the remarkable individuality that now characterises its fauna.

_Insects._--Of the reptiles and fishes of Celebes we have not sufficient information to draw any satisfactory conclusions. I therefore pass to the insects of which something more is known.

The Butterflies of Celebes are not very numerous, less than 200 species in all having been collected; but a very large proportion of them, probably three-fourths of the whole, are peculiar. There is only one peculiar genus, _Amechania_, allied to _Zethera_ (a group confined to the Philippine Islands), with which it should perhaps be united. Most of the genera are of wide distribution in the archipelago, or are especially Malayan, only two truly Australian genera, _Elodina_ and _Acropthalmia_, reaching Celebes. On the other hand, 7 peculiar Oriental genera are found in Celebes, but not further east, viz., _Clerome_, _Adolias_, _Euripus_, _Apatura_, _Limenitis_, _Iolaus_, and _Leptocircus_. There are also several indications of a direct affinity with the continent rather than with Malaya, as in the cases already enumerated among birds. A fine butterfly, yet unnamed, almost exactly resembles _Dichorragia nesimachus_, a Himalayan species. _Euripus robustus_ is closely allied to _E. halitherses_ of N. India; there are no less than 5 species of _Limenitis_, all quite unlike those found in other parts of the archipelago. The butterflies of Celebes are remarkably distinguished from all others in the East, by peculiarities of form, size, and colour, which run through groups of species belonging to different genera. Many Papilionidæ and Pieridæ, and some {435}Nymphalidæ, have the anterior wings elongated, with the apex often acute, and, what is especially remarkable, an abrupt bend or shoulder near the base of the wing. (See _Malay Archipelago_, 3rd Ed. p. 281, woodcut.) No less than 13 species of _Papilio_, 10 Pieridæ, and 4 or 5 Nymphalidæ, are thus distinguished from their nearest allies in the surrounding islands or in India. In size again, a large number of Celebesian butterflies stand preeminent over their allies. The fine Papilios--_adamantius_, _blumei_, and _gigon_--are perfect giants by the side of the closely-allied forms of Java; while _P. androcles_ is the largest and longest-tailed, of all the true swallow-tailed group of the Old World. Among Nymphalidæ, the species of _Rhinopalpa_ and _Euripus_, peculiar to Celebes, are immensely larger than their nearest allies; and several of the Pieridæ are also decidedly larger, though in a less marked degree. In colour, many of the Celebesian butterflies differ from the nearest allied species; so that they acquire a singularity of aspect which marks them off from the rest of the group. The most curious case is that of three butterflies, belonging to three distinct genera (_Cethosia myrina_, _Messaras mæonides_, and _Atella celebensis_) all having a delicate violet or lilac gloss in lines or patches, which is wholly wanting in every allied species of the surrounding islands. These numerous peculiarities of Celebesian butterflies are very extraordinary; and imply isolation from surrounding lands, almost as much as do the strange forms of mammals and birds, which more prominently characterise this interesting island.

Of the Coleoptera we know much less, but a few interesting facts may be noted. There are a number of fine species of _Cicindela_, some of peculiar forms; and one _Odontochila_, a South American genus; while _Collyris_ reaches Celebes from the Oriental region. In Carabidæ it has one peculiar genus, _Dicraspeda_; and a species of the fine Australian genus _Catadromus_. In Lucanidæ it has the Oriental genus, _Odontolabris_. In Cetoniidæ it has a peculiar genus, _Sternoplus_, and several fine _Cetoniæ_; but the characteristic Malayan genus, _Lomaptera_, found in every other island of the archipelago from Sumatra to New Guinea, is absent--an analogous fact to the case of _Ceyx_ among birds. {436}In Buprestidæ, the principal Austro-Malay genus, _Sambus_, is found here; while _Sponsor_, a genus 8 species of which inhabit Mauritius, has one species here and one in New Guinea. In Longicorns there are four peculiar genera, _Comusia_, _Pytholia_, _Bityle_, and _Ombrosaga_; but the most important features are the occurrence of the otherwise purely Indo-Malayan genera _Agelasta_, _Nyctimene_, and _Astathes_; and of the purely Austro-Malayan _Arrhenotus_, _Trysimia_, _Xenolea_, _Amblymora_, _Diallus_, and _Ægocidnus_. The remaining genera range over both portions of the archipelago. In the extensive family of Curculionidæ we can only notice the elegant genus, _Celebia_, allied to _Eupholus_, which, owing to its abundance and beauty, is a conspicuous feature in the entomology of the island.

_Origin of the fauna of Celebes._--We have now to consider, briefly, what past changes of physical geography are indicated by the curious assemblage of facts here adduced. We have evidently, in Celebes, a remnant of an exceedingly ancient land, which has undergone many and varied revolutions; and the stock of ancient forms which it contains must be taken account of, when we speculate on the causes that have so curiously limited more recent immigrations. Going back to the arrival of those genera which are represented in Celebes by peculiar species, and taking first the Austro-Malay genera, we find among them such groups as _Zonoenas_ (s.g.), _Phlogoenas_, _Leucotreron_ (s.g.), and _Turacoena_, which are not found in the Moluccas at all; and _Myzomela_, found in Timor and Banda, but not in Ceram or Bouru, which are nearest to Celebes. This, combined with the curious absence of so many of the commonest Moluccan genera, leads to the conclusion that the Austro-Malay immigration took place by way of Timor and the southern part of New Guinea. It will be remembered, that to account for the Indo-Malayan forms in New Guinea, we suggested an extension of that country in a westerly direction just north of Timor. Now this is exactly what we require, to account for the stocking of Celebes with the Australian forms it possesses. At this time Borneo did not approach so near, and it was at a somewhat later period that the last great Indo-Malay migration set in; but {437}finding the country already fairly stocked, comparatively few groups were able to establish themselves.

Going back a little farther, we come to the entrance of those few birds and insects which belong to India or Indo-China; and this probably occurred at the same time as that continental extension southward, which we found was required to account for a similar phenomenon in Java. Celebes, being more remote, received only a few stragglers. We have now to go much farther back, to the time when the ancestors of the peculiar Celebesian genera entered the country, and here our conjectures must necessarily be less defined.

On the Australian side we have to account for _Megacephalon_, and the other genera of purely Papuan type. It may perhaps be sufficient to say, that we do not yet know that these genera, or some very close allies, do not still exist in New Guinea; in which case they may well have entered at the same time with the species, already referred to. If, on the other hand, they are really as isolated as they appear to be, they represent an earlier communication, either by an approximation of the two islands over the space now occupied by the Moluccas; or, what is perhaps more probable, through a former extension of the Moluccas, which have since undergone so much subsidence, as to lead to the extinction of a large proportion of their ancient fauna. The wide-spread volcanic action, and especially the prevalence of raised coral-reefs in almost all the islands, render this last supposition very probable.

On the Oriental side the difficulty is greater; for here we find, what seem to be clear indications of a connection with Africa, as well as with Continental Asia, at some immensely remote epoch. _Cynopithecus_, _Babirusa_, and _Anoa_; _Ceycopsis_, _Streptocitta_, and _Gazzola_ (s. g.), and perhaps _Scissirostrum_, may be well explained as descendants of ancestral types in their respective groups, which also gave rise to the special forms of Africa on the one hand, and of Asia on the other. For this immigration we must suppose, that at a period before the formation of the present Indo-Malay Islands, a great tract of land extended in a north-westerly direction, till it met the old Asiatic continent. This may have been before {438}the Himalayas had risen to any great height, and when a large part of what are now the cold plateaus of Central Asia may have teemed with life, some forms of which are preserved in Africa, some in Malaya, and a few in Celebes. Here may have lived the common ancestor of _Sus_, _Babirusa_, and _Phacochoerus_; as well as of _Cynopithecus_, _Cynocephalus_, and _Macacus_; of _Anoa_ and _Bubalus_; of _Scissirostrum_ and _Euryceros_; of _Ceyx_, _Ceycopsis_, and _Ispidina_. Such an origin accounts, too, for the presence of the North-Indian forms in Celebes; and it offers less difficulties than a direct connection with continental Africa, which once appeared to be the only solution of the problem. If this south-eastward extension of Asia occurred at the same time as the north-eastward extension of South Africa and Madagascar, the two early continents may have approached each other sufficiently to have allowed of some interchange of forms: _Tarsius_ may be the descendant of some Lemurine animal that then entered the Malayan area, while the progenitors of _Cryptoprocta_ may then have passed from Asia to Madagascar.

It is true that we here reach the extremest limits of speculation; but when we have before us such singular phenomena as are presented by the fauna of the island of Celebes, we can hardly help endeavouring to picture to our imaginations by what past changes of land and sea (in themselves not improbable) the actual condition of things may have been brought about.

_II. Australia and Tasmania, or the Australian Sub-region._

A general sketch of Australian zoology having been given in the earlier part of this chapter, it will not be necessary to occupy much time on this sub-region, which is as remarkably homogeneous as the one we have just left is heterogeneous. Although much of the northern part of Australia is within the tropics, while Victoria and Tasmania are situated from 36° to 43° south latitude, there is no striking change in the character of the fauna throughout the continent; a number of important genera extending over the whole country, and giving a very uniform character to its zoology. The eastern parts, including the colonies of New South Wales and Queensland, are undoubtedly the richest, several peculiar types being found only here. The southern portion is somewhat poorer, and has very few peculiar forms; and Tasmania being isolated is poorer still, yet its zoology has much resemblance to that of Victoria, from which country it has evidently not been very long separated. The north, as far as yet known, is characterised by hardly any peculiar forms, but by the occurrence of a number of Papuan types, which have evidently been derived from New Guinea.

Plate XI.

A SCENE IN TASMANIA, WITH CHARACTERISTIC MAMMALIA.

{439}_Mammalia._--The Australian sub-region contains about 160 species of Mammalia, of which 3 are Monotremata, 102 Marsupials, 23 Chiroptera, 1 Carnivora (the native dog, probably not indigenous), and 31 Muridæ. The north is characterised by a species of the Austro-Malayan genus _Cuscus_. _Phascolarctos_ (the koala, or native bear) is found only in the eastern districts; _Phascolomys_ (the wombat) in the south-east and Tasmania; _Petaurista_ (a peculiar form of flying opossum) in the east. _Thylacinus_ (the zebra-wolf), and _Sarcophilus_ (the "native devil"), two carnivorous marsupials, are confined to Tasmania. West Australia, the most isolated and peculiar region botanically, alone possesses the curious little honey-eating _Tarsipes_, and the _Peragalea_, or native rabbit. The remarkable _Myrmecobius_, a small ant-eating marsupial, is found in the west and south; and _Onychogalea_, a genus of kangaroos, in West and Central Australia. All the other genera have a wider distribution, as will be seen by a reference to the list at the end of this chapter.

_Plate XI. A Scene in Tasmania, with Characteristic Mammalia._--As some of the most remarkable Mammalia of the Australian region are now found only in Tasmania, we have chosen this island for the scene of our first illustration of the fauna of the Australian sub-region. The pair of large striped animals are zebra-wolves (_Thylacinus cynocephalus_), the largest and most destructive of the carnivorous marsupials. These creatures used to be tolerably plentiful in Tasmania, where they are alone found. They are also called "native tigers," or "native hyænas;" and being destructive to sheep, they have been destroyed by the farmers and will doubtless soon be exterminated. In the foreground on {440}the left is a bandicoot (_Perameles gunnii_). These are delicate little animals allied to the kangaroos; and they are found in all parts of Australia, and Tasmania, to which latter country this species is confined. On the right is the wombat (_Phascolomys wombat_), a root-eating marsupial, with large incisor teeth like those of our rodents. They inhabit south-east Australia and Tasmania. In the foreground is the porcupine ant-eater (_Echidna setosa_), belonging to a distinct order of mammalia, Monotremata, of which the only other member is the duck-billed _Ornithorhynchus_. These animals are, however, more nearly allied to the marsupials, than to the insectivora or edentata of the rest of the world, which in some respects they resemble. An allied species (_Echidna hystrix_) inhabits south-east Australia.

_Birds._--Australia (with Tasmania) possesses about 630 species of birds, of which 485 are land-birds. Not more than about one-twentieth of these are found elsewhere, so that it has a larger proportion of endemic species than any other sub-region on the globe. These birds are divided among the several orders as follows:

Passeres 306
Picariæ 41
Psittaci 60
Columbæ 24
Gallinæ 15
Accipitres 36
Grallæ 77
Anseres 65
Struthiones 3

The Psittaci, we see, are very richly represented, while the Picariæ are comparatively few; and the Columbæ are scarce as compared with their abundance in the Austro-Malay sub-region.

Birds seem to be very evenly distributed over all Australia; comparatively few genera of importance being locally restricted. In the eastern districts alone, we find _Origma_, and _Orthonyx_ (Sylviidæ); _Sericulus_ and _Ptilorhynchus_ (Paradiseidæ); _Leucosarcia_ (Columbidæ); and _Talegalla_ (Megapodiidæ). _Nectarinia_, _Pitta_, _Ptilorhis_, _Chlamydodera_, and _Sphecotheres_, range from the north down the east coasts. _Nanodes_ (Psittacidæ), and _Lipoa_ (Megapodiidæ), are southern forms, the first extending {441}to Tasmania; which island appears to possess no peculiar genus of birds except _Eudyptes_, one of the penguins. West Australia has no wholly peculiar genus except _Geopsittacus_, a curious form of ground parroquet; the singular _Atrichia_, first found here, having been discovered in the east. In North Australia, _Emblema_ (Ploceidæ) is the only peculiar Australian genus, but several Austro-Malayan and Papuan genera enter,--as, _Syma_ and _Tanysiptera_ (Alcedinidæ); _Machærihynchus_ (Muscicapidæ); _Calornis_ (Sturnidæ); _Manucodia_, _Ptilorhis_, and _Æluroedus_ (Paradiseidæ); _Megapodius_; and _Casuarius_. The presence of a species of bustard (_Eupodotis_) in Australia, is very curious, its nearest allies being in the plains of India and Africa. Among waders the genus _Tribonyx_, a thick-legged bird somewhat resembling the _Notornis_ of New Zealand, though not closely allied to it, is the most remarkable. The district where the typical Australian forms most abound is undoubtedly the eastern side of the island. The north and south are both somewhat poorer, the west much poorer, although it possesses a few very peculiar forms, especially among Mammalia. Tasmania is the poorest of all, a considerable number of genera being here wanting; but, except the two peculiar carnivorous marsupials, it possesses nothing to mark it off zoologically from the adjacent parts of the main land. It is probable that its insular climate, more moist and less variable than that of Australia, may not be suitable to some of the absent forms; while others may require more space and more varied conditions, than are offered by a comparatively small island.

The remaining classes of animals have been already discussed in our sketch of the region as a whole (p. 396).

_Plate XII. Illustrating the Fauna of Australia._--In this plate we take New South Wales as our locality, and represent chiefly, the more remarkable Australian types of birds. The most conspicuous figure is the wonderful lyre-bird (_Menura superba_), the elegant plumage of whose tail is altogether unique in the whole class of birds. The unadorned bird is the female. In the centre is the emu (_Dromæus novæ-hollandiæ_), the representative in Australia, of the ostrich in Africa and America, but {442}belonging to a different family, the Casurariidæ. To the right are a pair of crested pigeons (_Ocyphaps lophotes_), one of the many singular forms of the pigeon family to which the Australian region gives birth. In every other part of the globe pigeons are smooth-headed birds, but here they have developed three distinct forms of crest, as seen in this bird, the crowned pigeon figured in Plate X., and the double-crested pigeon (_Lopholæmus antarcticus_). The large bird on the tree is one of the Australian frog-mouthed goat-suckers (_Podargus strigoides_), which are called in the colony "More-pork," from their peculiar cry. They do not capture their prey on the wing like true goat-suckers, but hunt about the branches of trees at dusk, for large insects, and also for unfledged birds. A large kangaroo (_Macropus giganteus_) is seen in the distance; and passing through the air, a flying opossum (_Petaurus sciureus_), a beautiful modification of a marsupial, so as to resemble in form and habits the flying squirrels of the northern hemisphere.

_III. The Pacific Islands, or Polynesian Sub-region._

Although the area of this sub-region is so vast, and the number of islands it contains almost innumerable, there is a considerable amount of uniformity in its forms of animal life. From the Ladrone islands on the west, to the Marquesas on the east, a distance of more than 5,000 miles, the same characteristic genera of birds prevail; and this is the only class of animals on which we can depend, mammalia being quite absent, and reptiles very scarce. The Sandwich Islands, however, form an exception to this uniformity; and, as far as we yet know, they are so peculiar that they ought, perhaps, to form a separate sub-region. They are, however, geographically a part of Polynesia; and a more careful investigation of their natural history may show more points of agreement with the other islands. It is therefore a matter of convenience, at present, to keep them in the Polynesian sub-region, which may be divided into Polynesia proper and the Sandwich Islands.

Plate XII.

THE PLAINS OF NEW SOUTH WALES, WITH CHARACTERISTIC ANIMALS.

{443}Polynesia proper consists of a number of groups of islands of some importance, and a host of smaller intermediate islets. For the purpose of zoological comparison, we may class them in four main divisions. 1. The Ladrone and Caroline Islands; 2. New Caledonia and the New Hebrides; 3. The Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa Islands; 4. The Society, and Marquesas Islands. The typical Polynesian fauna is most developed in the third division; and it will be well to describe this first, and then show how the other islands diverge from it, and approximate other sub-regions.

_Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa Islands._--The land-birds inhabiting these islands belong to 41 genera, of which 17 are characteristic of the Australian region, and 9 more peculiarly Polynesian. The characteristic Australian genera are the following: _Petroica_ (Sylviidæ); _Lalage_ (Campephagidæ); _Monarcha_, _Myiagra_, _Rhipidura_ (Muscicapidæ); _Pachycephala_ (Pachycephalidæ); _Rectes_ (Laniidæ); _Myzomela_, _Ptilotis_, _Anthochæra_ (Meliphagidæ); _Amadina_, _Eythrura_, (Ploceidæ); _Artamus_ (Artamidæ); _Lorius_ (Trichoglossidæ); _Ptilopus_, _Phlogænas_ (Columbidæ); _Megapodius_ (Megapodiidæ).

The peculiar Polynesian genera are:--_Tatare_, _Lamprolia_ (Sylviidæ); _Aplonis_, _Sturnodes_ (Sturnidæ); _Todiramphus_ (Alcedinidæ); _Pyrhulopsis_, _Cyanoramphus_, (Platycercidæ); _Coriphilus_ (Trichoglossidæ); _Didunculus_ (Didunculidæ).

The wide-spread genera are _Turdus_, _Zosterops_, _Hirundo_, _Halcyon_, _Collocalia_, _Eudynamis_, _Cuculus_, _Ianthoenas_, _Carpophaga_, _Turtur_, _Haliæetus_, _Astur_, _Circus_, _Strix_, _Asio_. The aquatic birds are fifteen in number, all wide-spread species except one--a form of moor-hen (Gallinulidæ), which has been constituted a new genus _Pareudiastes_.

_Society, and Marquesas Islands._--Here, the number of genera of land-birds has considerably diminished, amounting only to 16 in all. The characteristic Australian genera are 5;--_Monarcha_, _Anthochæra_, _Trichoglossus_, _Ptilopus_, and _Phlogoenas_. The Polynesian genera are 4;--_Tatare_, _Todiramphus_, _Cyanoramphus_, _Coriphilus_, and one recently described genus, _Serresius_, an extraordinary form of large fruit pigeon, here classed under _Carpophaga_. These remote groups have thus all the character of Oceanic islands, even as regards the rest of Polynesia, since they {444}possess hardly anything, but what they might have received by immigration over a wide extent of ocean.

_Ladrone, and Caroline Islands._--These extensive groups of small islands are very imperfectly known, yet a considerable number of birds have been obtained. They possess two peculiar Polynesian genera, _Tatare_ and _Sturnodes_; one peculiar sub-genus, _Psammathia_ (here included under _Acrocephalus_); and ten of the typical Australian genera found in Polynesia,--_Lalage_, _Monarcha_, _Myiagra_, _Rhipidura_, _Myzomela_, _Erythrura_, _Artamus_, _Phlogoenas_, _Ptilopus_, and _Megapodius_, as well as the Papuan genus _Rectes_, and the Malayan _Calornis_;--so that they can be certainly placed in the sub-region. Genera which do not occur in the other Polynesian islands are, _Acrocephalus_, (s.g. _Psammathia_) originally derived perhaps from the Philippines; and _Caprimulgus_, a peculiar species, allied to one from Japan.

_New Caledonia, and the New Hebrides._--Although these islands seem best placed with Polynesia, yet they form a transition to Australia proper, and to the Papuan group. They possess 30 genera of land-birds, 18 of which are typical of the Australian region; but while 13 are also Polynesian, there are 5 which do not pass further east. These are _Acanthiza_, _Eopsaltria_, _Gliciphila_, _Philemon_, and _Ianthoenas_. The peculiar Polynesian genus, _Aplonis_, of which three species inhabit New Caledonia, link it to the other portions of the sub-region. The following are the genera at present known from New Caledonia:--_Turdus_, _Acanthiza_, _Campephaga_, _Lalage_, _Myiagra_, _Rhipidura_, _Pachycephala_, _Eopsaltria_, _Corvus_, _Physocorax_ (s.g. of _Corvus_, allied to the jackdaws), _Glicphila_, _Anthochæra_, _Philemon_, _Zosterops_, _Erythrura_, _Aplonis_, _Artamus_, _Cuculus_, _Halcyon_, _Collocalia_, _Cyanoramphus_, _Trichoglossus_, _Ptilopus_, _Carpophaga_, _Macropygia_, _Ianthoenas_, _Chalcophaps_, _Haliastur_, _Accipiter_. The curious _Rhinochetus jubatus_, forming the type of a distinct family of birds (Rhinochetidæ), allied to the herons, is only known from New Caledonia.

It thus appears, that not more than about 50 genera and 150 species of land-birds, are known from the vast number of islands that are scattered over the Central Pacific, and it is not probable {445}that the number will be very largely increased. Some of the species, as the _Eudynamis taitensis_ and _Tatare longirostris_, range over 40° of longitude, from the Fiji Islands to the Marquesas. In other genera, as _Cyanoramphus_ and _Ptilopus_, each important island or group of islands, has its peculiar species. The connection of all these islands with each other, on the one hand, and their close relation to the Australian region, on the other, are equally apparent; but we have no sufficient materials for speculating with any success, on the long series of changes that have brought about their existing condition, as regards their peculiar forms of animal life.

_Sandwich Islands._--This somewhat extensive group of large islands, is only known to contain 11 genera and 18 species of indigenous land-birds; and even of this small number, two birds of prey are wide ranging species, which may well have reached the islands during their present isolated condition. These latter are, _Strix delicatula_, an owl spread over Australia and the Pacific; and _Asio accipitrinus_, a species which has reached the Galapagos from S. America, and thence perhaps the Sandwich Islands. Of the remaining 8 genera, one is a crow (_Corvus hawaiensis_), and another a fishing eagle (_Pandion solitarius_), of peculiar species; leaving 7 genera, which are all (according to Mr. Sclater) peculiar. First we have _Chasiempis_, a genus of Muscicapidæ, containing two species (which may however belong to distinct genera); and as the entire family is unknown on the American continent these birds must almost certainly be allied to some of the numerous Muscicapine forms of the Australian region. Next we have the purely Australian family Meliphagidæ, represented by two genera,--_Moho_, an isolated form, and _Chætoptila_, a genus established by Mr. Sclater for a bird before classed in _Entomyza_, an Australian group. The four remaining genera are believed by Mr. Sclater to belong to one group, the Drepanididæ, altogether confined to the Sandwich Islands. Two of them, _Drepanis_ and _Hemignathus_, with three species each, are undoubtedly allied; the other two, _Loxops_ and _Psittirostra_, have usually been classed as finches. The former seem to approach the Dicæidæ; and all resemble this group in their coloration,

{446}The aquatic birds and waders all belong to wide-spread genera, and only one or two are peculiar species.

The Sandwich Islands thus possess a larger proportion of peculiar genera and species of land-birds than any other group of islands, and they are even more strikingly characterised by what seems to be a peculiar family. The only other class of terrestrial animals at all adequately represented on these islands, are the land shells; and here too we find a peculiar family, sub-family, or genus (Achatinella or Achatinellidæ) consisting of a number of genera, or sub-genera,--according to the divergent views of modern conchologists,--and nearly 300 species. The Rev. J. T. Gulick, who has made a special study of these shells on the spot, considers that there are 10 genera, some of which are confined to single islands. The species are so restricted that their average range is not more than five or six square miles, while some are confined to a tract of only two square miles in extent, and very few range over an entire island. Some species are confined to the mountain ridges, others to the valleys; and each ridge or valley possesses its peculiar species. Considerably more than half the species occur in the island of Oahu, where there is a good deal of forest. Very few shells belonging to other groups occur, and they are all small and obscure; the Achatinellæ almost monopolising the entire archipelago.

_Remarks on the probable past history of the Sandwich Islands._--The existence of these peculiar groups of birds and land-shells in so remote a group of volcanic islands, clearly indicates that they are but the relics of a more extensive land; and the reefs and islets that stretch for more than 1,000 miles in a west-north-west direction, may be the remains of a country once sufficiently extensive to develope these and many other, now extinct, forms of life.[16]

Some light may perhaps be thrown on the past history of the {447}Sandwich Islands, by the peculiar plants which are found on their mountains. The peak of Teneriffe produces no Alpine plants of European type, and this has been considered to prove that it has been always isolated; whereas the occurrence of North Temperate forms on the mountains of Java, accords with other evidence of this island having once formed part of the Asiatic continent. Now on the higher summits of the Sandwich Islands, nearly 30 genera of Arctic and North Temperate flowering plants have been found. Many of these occur also in the South Temperate zone, in Australia or New Zealand; but there are others which seem plainly to point to a former connection with some North Temperate land, probably California, as a number of islets are scattered in the ocean between the two countries. The most interesting genera are the following:--_Silene_, which is wholly North Temperate, except that it occurs in S. Africa; _Vicia_, also North Temperate, and in South Temperate America; _Fragaria_, with a similar distribution; _Aster_, widely spread in America, otherwise North Temperate only; _Vaccinium_, wholly confined to the northern hemisphere, in cold and temperate climates. None of these are found in Australia or New Zealand; and their presence in the Sandwich Islands seems clearly to indicate a former approximation to North Temperate America, although the absence of any American forms of vertebrata renders it certain that no actual land connection ever took place.

Recent soundings have shown, that the Sandwich Islands rise from a sea which is 3,000 fathoms or 18,000 feet deep; while there is a depth of at least 2,000 fathoms all across to California on one side, and to Japan on the other. Between the Fiji Islands, New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, and Australia, the depth is about 1,300 fathoms, and between Sydney and New Zealand 2,600 fathoms; showing, in every case, a general accordance between the depth of sea and the approximation of the several faunas. In a few more years, when it is to be hoped we shall know the contour of the sea-bottom better than that of the continents, we shall be able to arrive at more definite and trustworthy conclusions as to the probable changes {448}of land and sea by which the phenomena of animal distribution in the Pacific have been brought about.

_Reptiles of the Polynesian Sub-region._--The researches of Mr. Darwin on Coral Islands, proved, that large areas in the Pacific Ocean have been recently subsiding; but the peculiar forms of life which they present, no less clearly indicate the former existence of some extensive lands. The total absence of Mammalia, however, shows either that these lands never formed part of the Australian or Papuan continents, or if they did, that they have been since subjected to such an amount of subsidence as to exterminate most of their higher terrestrial forms of life. It is a remarkable circumstance, that although Mammalia (except bats) are wanting, there are a considerable number of reptiles ranging over the whole sub-region. Lizards are the most numerous, five families and fourteen genera being represented, as follows:--

1. Cryptoblepharus (Gymnopthalmidæ ) Fiji Islands.
2. Ablepharus " All the islands.
3. Lygosoma (Scincidæ) Pelew Islands, New Caledonia.
4. Mabouya " Samoa Islands.
5. Euprepes " Pacific Islands.
6. _Dactyloperus_ (Geckotidæ) Sandwich Islands.
7. _Doryura_ (Geckotidæ) Pacific Islands.
8. Gehyra " Fiji Islands.
9. _Amydosaurus_ " Tahiti.
10. Heteronota " Fiji Islands.
11. _Correlophus_ " New Caledonia.
12. _Brachylophus_ (Iguanidæ) Fiji Islands.
13. Lophura (Agamidæ) Pelew Islands.
14. _Chloroscartes_ " Fiji Islands.

The first five are wide-spread genera, represented mostly by peculiar species; but sometimes the species themselves have a wide range, as in the case of _Ablepharus poecilopleurus_, which (according to Dr. Günther) is found in Timor, Australia, New Caledonia, Savage Island (one of the Samoa group), and the Sandwich Islands! _Gehyra_ and _Heteronota_ are Australian genera; while _Lophura_ has reached the Pelew Islands from the Moluccas. The remainder (printed in italics), are peculiar genera; _Brachylophus_ being especially interesting as an example of an {449}otherwise peculiar American family, occurring so far across the Pacific.

Snakes are much less abundant, only four genera being represented, one of them marine. They are, _Anoplodipsas_, a peculiar genus of Amblycephalidæ from New Caledonia; _Enygrus_, a genus of Pythonidæ from the Fiji Islands; _Ogmodon_, a peculiar genus of Elapidæ, also from the Fiji Islands, but ranging to Papua and the Moluccas; and _Platurus_, a wide-spread genus of sea-snakes (Hydrophidæ). In the more remote Sandwich and Society Islands there appear to be no snakes. This accords with our conclusion that lizards have some special means of dispersal over the ocean which detracts from their value as indicating zoo-geographical affinities; which is further proved by the marvellous range of a single species (referred to above) from Australia to the Sandwich Islands.

A species of _Hyla_ is said to inhabit the New Hebrides, and several species of _Platymantis_ (tree-frogs) are found in the Fiji Islands; but otherwise the Amphibians appear to be unrepresented in the sub-region, though they will most likely be found in so large an island as New Caledonia.

From the foregoing sketch, it appears, that although the reptiles present some special features, they agree on the whole with the birds, in showing, that the islands of Polynesia all belong to the Australian region, and that in the Fiji Islands is to be found the fullest development of their peculiar fauna.

_IV. New Zealand Sub-region._

The islands of New Zealand are more completely oceanic than any other extensive tract of land, being about 1,200 miles from Australia and nearly the same distance from New Caledonia and the Friendly Isles. There are, however, several islets scattered around, whose productions show that they belong to the same sub-region;--the principal being, Norfolk Island, Lord Howe's Island, and the Kermadec Isles, on the north; Chatham Island on the east; the Auckland and Macquarie Isles on the south;--and if these were once joined to {450}New Zealand, there would have been formed an island-continent not much inferior in extent to Australia itself.

New Zealand is wholly situated in the warmer portion of the Temperate zone, and enjoys an exceptionally mild and equable climate. It has abundant moisture, and thus comes within the limits of the South-Temperate forest zone; and this leads to its productions often resembling those of the tropical, but moist and wooded, islands of the Pacific, rather than those of the temperate, but arid and scantily wooded plains of Australia. The two islands of New Zealand are about the same extent (approximately) as the British Isles, but the difference in the general features of their natural history is very great. There are, in the former, no mammalia, less than half as many birds, very few reptiles and fresh-water fishes, and an excessive and most unintelligible poverty of insects; yet, considering the situation of the islands and their evidently long-continued isolation, the wonder rather is that their fauna is so varied and interesting as it is found to be. Our knowledge of this fauna, though no doubt far from complete, is sufficiently ample; and it will be well to give a pretty full account of it, in order to see what conclusions may be drawn as to its origin.

_Mammalia._--The only mammals positively known as indigenous to New Zealand are two bats, both peculiar to it,--_Scotophilus tuberculatus_ and _Mystacina tuberculata_. The former is allied to Australian forms; the latter is more interesting, as being a peculiar genus of the family Noctilionidæ, which does not exist in Australia; and in having decided resemblances to the Phyllostomidæ of South America, so that it may almost be considered to be a connecting link between the two families. A forest rat is said to have once abounded on the islands, and to have been used for food by the natives; but there is much doubt as to what it really was, and whether it was not an introduced species. The seals are wide-spread antarctic forms which have no geographical significance.