

CHAPTER II 



THE AUSTRALIAN REGION 



(Plate II., p. 50) 

 Section I. — Boundaries of the Australian Region 



The Australian Region, as will be seen by the map (Plate 

 II.), includes Australia, New Guinea, and the Moluccas, 

 together with all the Pacific Islands and New Zealand. 

 It is divided from the Oriental, the next adjacent region, 

 by a line drawn between the two small islands of Bali and 

 Lombok (called Wallace's Line), and passing thence through 

 the Flores and Molucca Seas, between the islands of Celebes 

 on the one side, and Sumbawa, Flores, Bouru, Sula, and 

 Gilolo on the other. All the islands westwards of this line 

 (i.e. Bali, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, and the Philip- 

 pines) are included in the Oriental Region ; while all the 

 islands to the eastwards, from Lombok to Timor, the 

 Moluccas, and New Guinea, are referred to the Australian 

 Region. Besides this, the Australian Region includes all 

 the islands of the Pacific, from the Pelews and Ladrones 

 in the north-west, to the Sandwich Islands in the north- 

 east, the Marquesas in the south-east, and New Zealand 

 and its neighbouring islands in the south-west. 



The boundaries, as above given, correspond with those 

 laid down by Wallace in his work on Geographical Dis- 

 tribution, with the exception that the island of Celebes has 

 been transferred to the Oriental Region. 



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