284 ME. B. A. EOLPE ON THE 



thousand fathoms. The deepest channel which traverses this 

 bank is near to Borneo, and connects the Sulu Sea with another 

 deep hasin of over two thousand fathoms — the Celebes Sea, north 

 of Celebes. The fourth and last bank is not quite so well marked 

 as the previous ones, though sufficiently distinct ; it extends from 

 the south-eastern point of Mindanao to the north-eastern point 

 of the curiously-shaped island of Celebes. The Philippines may, 

 indeed, be said to extend over sixteen degrees of longitude, poli- 

 tically at least ; for the archipelago as far as the Bashees on the 

 north and the Sulu archipelago on the south both now belong 

 to Spain, like the remainder of the group, with which they can 

 more easily be classed than with any other. 



From their position and surroundings we are led to infer that 

 the fauna and flora of these islands must reveal some curious and 

 interesting facts, and it is fortunate that sufficient materials are 

 now to hand to enable us to examine these features. Some 

 branches of the fauna have been pretty well worked out. Mr. 

 Wallace, in his ' Geographical Distribution of Animals ' (vol. i. 

 pp. 345-349), and later in his 'Island Life' (pp. 301-362), has 

 given a detailed account of what is known respecting the fauna. 

 From these sources we gather that eighteen genera and twenty-one 

 species of terrestrial Mammalia are known, of which nine tenths 

 of the species are peculiar to the islands. There are also seventeen 

 genera and twenty-four species of Bats. The Birds number 288 

 species, belonging to at least 117 genera. Of land birds six 

 genera are peculiar to the islands, and two thirds of the total 

 number of species ; while of water birds one tenth of the species 

 are peculiar. The proportion of peculiar species, as pointed out 

 by Mr. Wallace, is much larger than is found on any other Malay 

 island. Quoting from a paper read by Lord Walden before 

 the Zoological Society, Mr. Wallace points out that 31 of the 

 Philippine birds occur in the Papuan subregion, 47 in Celebes, 

 69 in India, and 75 in Java, while one species is confined to the 

 Philippines and Java. Of the genera 50 are of very wide range ; 

 40 are almost exclusively of the Oriental region ; 2 exclusively 

 Malayan ; 5 are typically Palsearctic, and have reached the islands 

 by way of North China, two of them extending southward to the 

 Moluccas ; and 12 belong to the Australian region, of which one 

 is chiefly confined to Australia, one to the Papuau group, and one 

 to Celebes. The Philippines are also peculiarly rich in terres- 

 trial Mollusca, about 400 species being known. Helix and Bulimus 



