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

:424 ZOOLOGICAL GEOGRAPHY. [part hi.Moluccas (with New Guinea and Celebes,) Australia, and Java.The Moluccan forms may well have arrived as stragglers fromisland to island, aided by whatever facilitiesby lands now submerged.have been affordedMost of the remainder have been derivedeither from Australia or from Java ; and as their relationsto these islands are very interesting, they must be discussedwith some detail.Origin of the Timorese Fauna. — We must first note, that 80species, or exactly one-half of the land-birdsof the islands, arepeculiar and mostly very distinct, intimating that the immigrationcommenced long enough back to allow of much specificmodification. There is also one peculiar genus of kingfishers,Cariclonax, found only in Lombok and Flores, and more alliedto Australian than to Oriental types. The fine white-bandedpigeons (s. g. Leucotreron) are also almost peculiar ;one otherless typical species only being known, a native of N. Celebes.In order to compare thespecies with regard to their origin, wemust first take away those of wide distributionspecial indications can be obtained.from which noIn this case 49 of the landbirdsmust be deducted, leaving 111 species which affordgoodmaterials for comparison. These, when traced to their origin,show that 62 came from some part of the Australian region, 49from Java or the Oriental region. But if we divide them intotwo groups, the one containing the species identical with thoseof the Australian or Oriental regions, the other containing alliedor representative species peculiar to the islands, we have the followingresultSpecies common to the Timorese Islands and the Oriental Region 30Peculiar Timorese species allied to those of the. Oriental Region 19Total 49Species common to the Timorese Islands and the AustralianEegion 18Peculiar Timorese species allied to those of the Australian Region 44Total , 62This table is very important, as indicating that the connection