390 ISLAND LIFE part ii 



sufficieDtly well explained by a very simple and com- 

 paratively unimjDortant series of geographical changes, com- 

 bined with a limited amount of change of climate towards 

 the northern tropic. Beginning in late Miocene times 

 when the deposits on the south coast of Java were 

 upraised, we suppose a general elevation of the whole of 

 the extremely shallow seas uniting what are now Sumatra, 

 Java, Borneo, and the Philippines with the Asiatic conti- 

 nent, and forming that extended equatorial area in which 

 the typical Malayan fauna was developed. After a long 

 period of stability, giving ample time for the specialisation 

 of so many peculiar tjq^es, the PhilijDpines were first separ- 

 ated ; then at a considerably later period Java ; a little 

 later Sumatra and Borneo ; and finally the islands south of 

 Singapore to Banca and Biliton. This one simple series 

 of elevations and subsidences, combined with the changes 

 of climate already referred to, and such local elevations 

 and depressions as must undoubtedly have occurred, 

 appears sufficient to have brought about the curious, and 

 at first sight puzzling, relations, of the faunas of Java and 

 the Philippines, as compared with those of the larger 

 islands. 



We will now pass on to the consideration of two other 

 groups which offer features of special interest, and which 

 will complete our illustrative survey of recent continental 

 islands. 



