Of the Moluccas. 407 



general unifovmity of its climate and vegetation ; while on 

 the other hand the great susceptibility of the insect oi'gani- 

 zation to the action of external conditions has led to infinite 

 detailed modifications of form and color which have in many 

 cases given a considerable diversity to the productions of ad- 

 jacent islands. 



Owing to the great preponderance among the birds of 

 parrots, pigeons, kingfishers, and sunbirds, almost all of gay 

 or delicate colors, and many adorned with the most gorgeous 

 plumage, and to the numbers of very large and showy but- 

 terflies which are almost everywhere to be met with, the 

 forests of the Moluccas offer to the naturalist a very striking 

 example of the luxuriance and beauty of animal life in the 

 tropics. Yet the almost entire absence of Mammalia, and of 

 such wide-spread groups of birds as woodpeckers, thrushes, 

 jays, tits, and pheasants, must convince him that he is in a 

 part of the world which has in reality but little in common 

 with the great Asiatic continent, although an unbroken chain 

 of islands seems to link them to it. 



