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Show 424 ISLAND LIFE. (PART II. within about forty miles of the western promontory of Celebe~ ; but farther north there is deep water close to the shore, and It seems probable that a deep channel extends quite through the straits, which have no doubt been much shallowed by the deposits from the great Eornean rivers as well as b.y ~hose of Celebes itself. Southward again, the chain of volcamc Islands from Baly to Timor appear to rise out of a deep ocean, the few soundings we possess showing depths of from 670 to ~,30_0 fathoms almo.st close to their northern shores. We seem JUStified, therefore, m concluding that Celebes is entirely surrounded by. a deep s?a, which has, however, become partially filled up by nver deposits, by volcanic upheaval, or by coral reefs .. s.uch sha~lows~ wh~re they exist, may therefore be due to antiqu~ty an~ IsolatiOn, mstead of being indications of a former umon With any of the surrounding islands. Zoological characteT of the I slands aro'u.nd Celebes.-In order to have a clear conception of the peculiar character of the Celcbesian fauna, we must take into account that of the surrounding countries from which we may suppose it to have received immigrants. These we may divide broadly into two groups, those on the west belonging to the Oriental region of our zoological geography, and those on the east belonging to the Australian region. Of the first group Borneo is a typical representative; and from its proximity and the extent of its opposing coasts it is the island which we should expect to show most resemblance to Celebes. We have already seen that the fauna of Borneo is essentially the same as that of Southern Asia, and that it is excessively rich in all the Malayan types of mammalia and birds. Java and Baly closely resemble Borneo in general character, though somewhat less rich and with several peculiar forms ; w bile the Philippine Islands, though very much poorer, and with a greater amount of speciality, yet exhibit essentially the same character. These islands, taken as a whole, may be described as having a fauna almost identical with that of Southern Asia; for no family of mammalia is found in the one which is absent from the other, and the same may be said, with very few and unimportant exceptions, of the birds; while hundreds of genera and of species are common to both. CHAP. XX.] CELEBES. 425 In the islands east and south of Celebes-the Moluccas, N cw Guinea, and the Timor group from Lombok eastward-we find, on the other hand, the most wonderful contrast in the forms of life. Of twenty-seven families of terrestrial mammals found in the great Malay islands, all have disappeared but four, and of these it is doubtful whether two have not been introduced by man. We also find here four families of Marsupials, a11 totally unknown in the western islands. Even birds, though usually more widely spread, show a corresponding difference, a bout eleven Malayan families being quite unknown east of Celebes, where six new families make their appearance which are equally unknown to the westward. 1 We have here a. radical difference between two sets of islands not very far removed from each other, the one set belonging zoologically to Asia, the other to Australia.. The Asiatic or Malayan group is found to be bounded strictly by the eastward limits of the great bank (for the most part less than fifty fathoms below the surface) which stretches out from the Siamese and Malayan peninsulas as far as Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Philippines. · To the east another bank unites New Guinea and the Papuan Islands as far as Aru, Mysol, and Waigiou, with Australia; while the Moluccas and Timor groups are surrounded by much deeper water, which forms, in the Banda and Celebes Seas and perhaps in other parts of this area, great basins of enormous depths (2,000 to 3,000 fathoms or even more) enclosed by tracts under a thousand fathoms, which separate the basins 1 Farnilies of Malayan Birds not found in islands East of Celebes. 'rroglodytidoo. Sittidoo. Paridro. Liotrichidoo. Phy llornithidoo. Eurylremidoo. Picidoo. Indicatoridre. Megalremidre . 'rrogonidoo. Phasianidre. Families of :Moluccan Birds not found in islands West of Celebes. Pa.radiseidro. Meliphagidoo. Oacatuida:>. Platycercidro. 'l'richoglossidre. N estoridre. |
