DISTKIBUTION OF OrillDIANS. 221 



Eryx, the Coroncllu Riisscli, and Cor. octolinccita, several 

 species of the genera Coluber and Lycodon, the Dipsas 

 trigonata, several Tropidonoti, the Elaps trimaculatus, 

 and several Vipers. The productions of the Indian Pen- 

 insula beyond the Ganges having been very little studied, 

 we pass on to Malayan Asia, which offers one of the most 

 curious regions of the globe for studying the geographic 

 distribution, not only of animals, but also of vegetables ; 

 and the results obtained by this study will greatly contri- 

 bute to confirm the ideas "which we have so often stated in 

 our work, on the innumerable modifications which animals 

 of the same stock present, in the diverse countries they in- 

 habit. The islands which compose the Great Indian Ar- 

 chipelago belong to islands of the first order, and are sur- 

 rounded with numerous reefs or islets, more or less con- 

 siderable. Situated under the tropics, covered with a 

 luxuriant vegetation, and peopled with a vast number of 

 animals of all classes, they are separated from each other 

 by arms of the sea, mostly very narrow, but which form 

 an insurmountable obstacle to the majority of animals.* 

 At once, then, on observing on several of those isles the 

 same species, we may be certain that the animals on dif- 

 ferent islands having no communication with each other, 

 would form on each of these isles an isolated family, the 

 individuals of which living since their creation, or at least 

 since those isles received their present form, in places 

 differing more or less in their nature, should exhibit mo- 

 difications more or less sensible. Experience, in fact, 

 proves the truth of what I state. It often happens that 

 the same species of animal has been discovered in Su- 

 matra, Java, Borneo, Timor, Celebes, and even in the 



* Besides the Archipelago of Malayan Asia, that of the Great Antilles 

 is the only other point on the globe which offers a favourable position 

 for the comparative study of individuals of the same species, inhabiting 

 at once several countries separated by the sea ; but these last islands 

 are almost all situated under the same pai'allels ; they are neither so 

 numerous, nor so large, nor so distant from each otlier, as those of 

 Malayan Asia ; besides, they ai"e much less rich in objects of natural his- 

 tory, and have been but little explored, in comparison with the Isles of 

 Malayan Asia, which have, for more tlian twenty years, been the object of 

 the assiduous researches of our travellers. 



