DISTRIBUTION OF OPHIDIANS. 233 



selves with romarkin£,% tluit the Wild Peacock represents 

 the Argiis of Sumatra and of Borneo ; the Great Ilornbill 

 of that island, Bnceros lanatus, farms a different race from 

 the true Buceros Bhinoeeros of Sumatra and Borneo, &c. 

 Among reptiles, the Trionyx stellatus has never yet been 

 observed in any other of the Sunda Islands except Java, 

 where it lives equally Mith the Trionyx subplanatus, 

 whicii is the onlv Tortoise known in Borneo, Sumatra, and 



V 7 7 



Malacca. The Emys trijuga* appears peculiar to Java, 

 as also a small number of Reptiles, Saurians, and Ba- 

 trachians, but which all belong to species of small size. It 

 is a curious fact, that two of the most remarkable species 

 of Trigonocephalus, Trig, puniceus, and T, rhodostoma, 

 have hitherto never been observed except in Java ; while 

 the green Trigonocephalus, so common in the Indian Pen- 

 insula, in Bengal, in Sumatra, and in Timor, does not 

 oxist in Java. The Bungari, wdiicli inhabit Ceylon, India, 



on that of our domestic Ox. It is ascertained, that in demonstrating the 

 impossibility of identity between the Wolf and the Fox and our Dog, we 

 have at least arrived at the conclusion, that our Dog is not of European ori- 

 gin ; but we have searched in vain for the parent stock of this carnivo- 

 rous animal. I do not hesitate to adopt for such the Wild Dog of the lofty 

 mountains of the continent of Asia, of which specimens have been sent us 

 from Bengal, and which is also found in Sumatra, Java, and in Borneo ; 

 it is named Canis rutilans, Sumatranus, and Javimicus. In taking, for 

 comparison, the domestic Dog of Japan, or even our Shepherd's Dog 

 (races which have degenerated tlie least), we find that there exists a cer- 

 tain analogy between these animals and the wild dogs of India, so that 

 it is almost impossible to doubt their identity ; there do even not 

 exist sensible differences between the skeletons of those animals, and 

 their crania are so like, as to be mistaken for each other : the same ob- 

 servation may be applied to the cranium of the Esquimaux Dog. Our 

 poultry, lastly, come without doubt from India, if not from the "Wild 

 Cock of Java, or at least from an analogous race of Continental Asia. In 

 conclusion, I regret not to be able to develope the observations now made, 

 by publishing the extended researches which the numerous materials 

 collected in the galleries of the Museum of the Low Countries have af- 

 forded me, as I could confirm by dissection the views I here have ad- 

 vanced. 



* There is found at Pondichery an analogous species, but with a head 

 less thick, which M. Bibron takes for the true Trijuga of Schweigeb ; 

 BoiE deceived himself, then, in applying in the Herpetology of Java that 

 epithet to the Javanese species, which it is now necessary to consider 

 as new. 



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