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

'334 ZOOLOGICAL GEOGRAPHY. [part hi.possess, for passing over a considerable width of sea.We mustconclude, therefore, that these islands do not owe their existingfauna to an actual union with the mainland ; but it is probablethat they may have been formerly more extensive, andhave then been less distant from the continent than at thepresent time.The Nicobar Islands, usually associated with the Andamans,are less known, but present somewhat similar phenomena. Theyare, however, more Malayan in their fauna, and seem properlyto belong to the Indo-Malay sub-region.Formosa.—This island has been carefully examined by Mr.Swinhoe, who found 144 species of birds, of which 34 are peculiar.There is one peculiar genus, but the rest are all Indo-Chinese,though some of the species are more allied to Malayan than toChinese or Himalayan forms. About 30 species of mammaliawere found in Formosa, of which 11 are peculiar species, the restbeing either Chinese or Himalayan. The peculiar species belongto the genera Taipei, Helictis, Sciuropterus, Pteromys, Mus, Sus,Cervus, and Capricornis. A few lizards and snakes of continentalspecies have also been found.These facts clearly indicatethe former connection of Formosa with China and Malaya, aconnection which is rendered the more probable by the shallowsea which still connects all these countries.Hainan.—The island of Hainan, on the south coast of China,is not so well known in proportion, though Mr. Swinhoe collected172 species of birds, of which 130 were land-birds. Ofthese about 20 were peculiar species ;the remainder being eitherChinese, Himalayan, or Indo-Malayan. Mr. Swinhoe also obtained24 species of mammalia, all being Chinese, Himalayan,or Indo-Malayan species except a hare, which is peculiar. Thisassemblage of animals would imply that Hainan, as might beanticipated from its position,has been more recently separatedfrom the continent than the more distant island of Formosa.IV. Indo-Malaya, or the Malayan Sub-region.This sub-region, which is almost wholly insular (includingonly the Malayan peninsula on the continent of Asia), is equal, if