GEOGEAPHT OF THE MALAY ABCHIPELAGO. 177 



region proves notliing whatever as regards a transition to the 

 western islands, which, among their numerous monkeys and apes, 

 have nothing at all resembling them. The species of Celebes and 

 Batchian have the high superorbital ridge, the long nasal bone, 

 the dog-like figure, the minute erect tail, the predaceous habits and 

 the fearless disposition of the true Baboons, and find their allies 

 nowhere nearer than in tropical Africa. The Anoa seems also to 

 point towards the same region, so rich in varied forms of Antelopes. 

 In the class of birds, Celebes possesses a peculiar genus of Par- 

 rots (Prionifurus), said to occur also in the Philippines; Meropogoiiy 

 intermediate between an Indian and an African form of Bee-eaters ; 

 and the anomalous Scissirostrumf which Prince Bonaparte places 

 next to a Madagascar bird, and forms a distinct subfamily for the 

 reception of the two. Celebes also contains a species of Coracias, 

 which is here quite out of its normal area, the genus being other- 

 wise confined to Africa and continental India, not occurring in 

 any other part of the Archipelago. The Celebes bird is placed, in 

 Bonaparte's ' Conspectus,' between two African species, to which 

 therefore I presume it is more nearly allied than to those of India. 

 Having just received Mr. Smith's Catalogue of the Hymenoptera 

 collected during my first residence in Celebes, I find in it some 

 facts of an equally singular nature. Of 103 species, only 16 are 

 known to inhabit any of the western islands of the Archipelago, 

 while 18 are identical with species of continental India, China, 

 and the Philippine Islands, two are stated to be identical with 

 insects hitherto known only from tropical Africa, and another is 

 said to be most closely allied to one from the Cape. 



These phenomena of distribution are, I believe, the most anoma- 

 lous yet known, and in fact altogether unique. I am aware of no 

 other spot upon the earth which contains a number of species, in 

 several distinct classes of animals, the nearest allies to which do 

 not exist in any of the countries which on every side surround it, 

 but which are to be found only in another primary division of the 

 globe, separated from them all by a vast expanse of ocean. In no 

 other case are the species of a genus or the genera of a family dis- 

 tributed in tivo distinct areas separated by countries in which they 

 do not exist ; so that it has come to be considered a law in geo- 

 graphical distribution, " that both species and groups inhabit con- 

 tinuous areas." 



Pacts such as these can only be explained by a bold acceptance 

 of vast changes in the surface of the earth. They teach us that 

 this island of Celebes is more ancient than most of the islands 



LINI^. PKOC— ZOOLOaT. 12 



