404 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION B. 



is in some respects similar to that of the continent, the hills 

 near the shore being clothed with eucalypts, and there is a 

 close relation between its birds and those of North Australia, 

 sixteen Australian genera being found on the island, to which 

 further exploration of the lofty mountain range will pro- 

 bably add a few more allied Australian forms. I apprehend, 

 therefore, that the acquisition from an island closely related 

 to our continent of botanical, entomological, and zoological 

 collections for instalment in one or other of our great 

 museums is a matter of the highest importance to the 

 Australian biologist, inasmuch as it would be an important 

 beginning to that knowledge of adjacent territory which in 

 future years nmst of necessity be eagerly sought after by the 

 scientists of a great Australian empire. 



It may here be right to recapitulate what is perhaps 

 known to most of us, viz., the zoological features of the 

 Malayan chain of islands. Timor lies at the eastern end of 

 the great Malayan chain, which Wallace first demonstrated 

 to be divided in a remarkable manner into two very distinct 

 zoological groups by the deep and narrow Lombok Strait, 

 lying between the island of that name and Bali, which at 

 one time must have formed a portion of Java. This strait, 

 which is only 15 miles wide, is part of the eastern boundary 

 of the expanse of deep Vi^ater, exceeding 100 fathoms, which 

 encircles the eastern end of the chain, and contains also 

 within its expanse the island of Celebes, the Corean group, 

 the Molluccas, and the western end of New Guinea. The 

 great islands of Java, Sumatra, and Borneo lie in a shallow 

 sea of less than 50 fathoms deep, which exists again close to 

 the east end of Timor, and extends along the north coast of 

 Australia and across to New Guinea. We see, therefore, 

 that at present the whole of the chain from Timor to Lombok 

 lies in a deep depression, up to the eastern border of which 

 the continent of Australia at no very remote zoological 

 period probably approached. And now comes the singular 

 fact that the fauna of the eastern islands as far as the 

 Lombok Strait has a decided Austi-alian character, while on 

 the opposite side of this narrow strait it is altogether Lidian, 

 and as distinct from the former as if the Javan portion of 

 the archipelago were thousands of miles distant. It is not 

 within the province of this ]mper to discuss the probable 

 reasons for this similarity in the fauna of the Timor chain to 

 that of Australia, but Wallace's theory that these islands 

 have been upheaved from the deep sea between Java and 



