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Show 420 ISLAND LIFE. (PART. 11. secured by their isolated those which have been more or less hicrhly-developed h · · of the more o position from t e mcurslOns . h · t · that the nearest forms of later times. This expla~sfl wr: a~e l~ow so often to be allies of the Madagasc~r faunAa ant r ~countries in which low £ d · South Amenca or us ra la . . · oun lll r db' ds still largely prevail ;-lt bemg on forms of mamma Ia an ~r d . lation of all these countries t f the loncr-contmue lSO accoun o o · t t es) are preserved that similar forms (descendants of anClen y~ t 1 t . · them Had the numerous suocroc rested contmen a . ex ensw. ns 1 n ti·n c r these remo t e con t'1n ents at various geological. penods connec .o. h It ld have been that all these mterest-been reahtles, t e resu wou ld 1 incr archaw. forms, a1 1 tb ese he·l pless insular ty. pes, wou ong 1 t 0 aero have been extermm· at e d' and one comparative y mono onous 1 . 0 fau·na have rei• gne d over the whole earth.. So far from .e xp al md- ing the anoma1 o us 1.!'a c t s, the allecor ed contmental exten.s wns, 1a t h ey ex1.s t ed , would have left no such facts to be explamed. CHAPTER XX. ANOMALOUS ISLANDS : CELEBES. Anomalous relations of Celebes-Physical features of the Island-Zoological character of the Islands around Celebes-The Malayan and Australian Banks-Zoology of Celebes : Mammalia-Probable derivation of the Mammals of Celebes- Birds of Celebes-Bird-types peculiar to Celebes-Celebes not strictly a Continental Island- Peculiarities of the Insects of Celebes-Himalayan types of Birds and Butterflies in Celebes-Peculiarities of shape and colour of Celebesian Butterflies·-· Concluding Remarks-Appendix on the Birds of Celebes. THE only other islands of the globe which can be classed as "ancient continental" are the larger Antilles (Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, and Porto Rico), Iceland, and perhaps Celebes. The Antilles have been so fully discussed and illustrated in my former work, and there is so little fresh information about them, that I do not propose to treat of them here, especia1ly as they fa11 short of Madagascar in all points of biological interest, and offer no problems of a different character from such as have already been sufficiently explained. Iceland, also, must apparently be classed as belonging to the "Ancient Continental Islands," for though usually described as wholly volcanic, it is, more probably, an island of varied geologicai structure buried under the lavas of its numerous volcanoes. But of late years extensive Tertiary deposits of Miocene a.ge have been discovered, showing that it is not a mere congeries of volcanoes; it is connected with the British Islands and with Greenland by seas less than 500 fathoms deep; and it possesses a few mammalia, one of which is peculiar, and at least three peculiar species of birds. It was therefore almost certainly |