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Show 362 ISLAND LIFE. (PART IT. and Of the hiO'her animals is, that they have been species b a great amount of submersion in recent times, subjected to l red,.1c1·nb0' their area, and causing, no doubt, the ex-g ·r eat.t y f " cons . . Th' · tmc ·wn o a 1'derable portwn of the. ir faun.3 .. IS IS not a mere h ypo thesi·s , but is supported by duect ev1.d ence; for I . am · c d b Mr E..,verett who has made extensive exploratiOns 1010rtne y · ' · tl · 1 l that almost everywhere are found large tracts of In 1e IS anc S, l' · · elevated coral-reefs, containing shells similar to those r:mg m the adjacent seas; an indisputable proof of rece~t elevatwn. Concluding -rema1·7cs on the JJ[alay Islands.-This completes ?ur k tnh f the O'reat Malay islands, the sea.t of the typwal s e ..., o b 1 1· · · M l f a It has been shown that t 1e pecu mnttes a~m wn. . presented by the individual islands may .be all ~uffiCiently w~ll explained by a very simple and ~ompar~t1vely ~n:mportant s_enes f geoO'raphical chanO'es, combmed with a hm1ted amount of :hanrre bof climate tow:r·ds the northern tropic. Beginning in b .te Mioc~ne times when the deposits on the south coast of J ava were upraised, we suppose a general elevation of the whole of the extremely shallow seas uniting what are ~o:V Sum~tra, Java, Borneo and the Philippines with the Asratw contment, and fonnin~ that extended equatorial area in which the typical Malay;n fauna was developed. After a long period of stabili~y, giving ample time for the specialisation of so many peculiar types, the Philippines were first sepn.rated; then at a considerably later period Java ; a little later Sumatra and Bo~·~e o ; and finally the islands south o£ SingapJre to Banca and B1hton. This one simple series of elevations and subsidences, combined with the changes of climate already referred to, and such local elevations and depressions as must undoubtedly have occurred, appears sufficient to have brought about the curious, and at ?~st sight puzzling, relations, of the faunas of Java and the Plnhppines, as compared with those of the larger islands. We will now pass on to the consideration of two other groups which offer features of special interest, and which will complete our illustrative survey of recent continental islands. CHAPTER X VIII. JAPAN AND FORMOSA. Japan, its position and Physical features~Zoological features of JapanMummalia- Bircis-Birds common to Great Britain and Japan -Birds peculiar to Japan-Japan birds recurring in distant areas- FormosaPhysical features of Formosa-Animal life of Formosa-MummaliaLand- birds peculiar to Formosa-Formosan birds recurring in India or Malaya-Comparison of faunas of Hainnn, Formosa, and JapanGeneral remarks on Hecent Continental Islands, JAPAN. THE Japanese Islands occupy a very similar position on the eastern shore of the great Euro-Asiatic continent to that of the British Islands on the western, except that they are about sixteen degrees further south, and having a greater extension in latitude, enjoy a more varied as well as a more temperate climate. Their outline is also much more irregular and their mountains loftier, the volcanic peak of Fusiyama being 14,177 feet high ; while their geological structure is very complex, their soil extremely fertile, and their veOeo 'etation in the hiOo 'hest deOb 'ree varied and beautiful. Like our own islands, too, they are con-nected with the continent by a marjne bank less than a hundred fathoms below the surface-at all events towards the north and south; but in the intervening space the Sea of Japan opens out to a width of six hundred miles, and in its central portion is very deep, and this may be an indication that the connection between the islands and the continent is of rather ancient date. At the Straits of Corea the distance from the main land is about 120 miles, while at the northern extremity of |
