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

;chap, xiil.] THE AUSTRALIAN REGION. 431only a single species ; and by the powerfdl Phasianidae, representedonly by the common Malay jungle fowl,perhaps introduced.The entire absence of Pycnonotidse is a very anomalousfact, since one of the largest genera, Criniger, is well representedin several islands of the Moluccas, and one has even been foundin the Togian islands in the great northern inlet of Celebesbut yet it passes over Celebes itself. Ceyx, a genus of smallkingfishers, is a parallel case, since it isfound everywhere fromIndia to New Guinea, leaving out only Celebes ; but this comesamong those curiosities of the Celebesian fauna which we shallnotice further on.In the list of genera derived from Borneo orJava, no less than 6 are represented by identical species (indicatedby sp. after the name) ; while in the Moluccan list 5are thus identical. These must be taken to indicate, either thatthe genus is a recent introduction, or that stragglers still occasionallyenter, crossing the breed, and thus preventing specificmodification. In either case they depend on the existing stateof things, and throw no light on the different distribution ofland and sea which aided or checked migration in former timesand they therefore to some extent diminish the weight of theIndo-Malay affinity, as measured by the relations of the peculiarspecies of Celebes.From our examination of the evidence thus far,—that is, takingaccount firstly,of the species, and, secondly, of the genera, whichare common to Celebes and the groups of islands between whichit is situated, we must admit that the connexion seems ratherwith the Oriental than with the Australian region; but when wetake into account the proportion of the genera and speciespresent,to those which are absent, and giving some weight togreater extent of coast line on the Indo-Malay side, we seemjustified in stating that the Austro-Malay element istherather themost fully represented. This result applies both to birds andmammals ; and it leads us to the belief, that during the epoch ofexisting species and genera, Celebes has never been united withany extensive tract of land either on the Indo-Malay or Austro-Malay side, but has received immigrants from both during a verylong period, the facilities for immigration having been rather the