1^6 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



forms are quite distinct from any others found 

 throughout the East Indies, 1 hence it has been 

 thought that Celebes, as already stated in this Essay, 

 once formed part af a Miocene continent, of which 

 the greater portion has disappeared. The case is 

 strengthened by the occurrence there of several birds, 

 apparently actual reman ts of a Miocene fauna ; such 

 as the Meropogon bee-eater, the Ceycopsis kingfisher, 

 two curious species of magpie, and three genera of 

 starling. Thus the interest already attaching to the 

 babirusa, with its formidable tusks and its weird 

 appearance, is heightened by its blue-blood ancestry- 

 it is truly a living fossil, a survival as strange as 

 would be a living mastodon or deinotherium. 



The daily life of the babirusa probably differs but 

 little from that of its ancestors in antediluvian times. 

 The great forests of Celebes represent the woodlands 

 of Miocene days, as restored and figured by the 

 magic hand of Riou. Climbing strands of rattan 

 palm meander over the boles of forest giants, or trail 

 serpentwise among the thick layer of dead leaves 

 carpeting the ground ; Livistonia palms raise their 

 giant-columns mast high in Nature's hot-house. As 

 for the fauna, the curious black "ape," half monkey, 

 half baboon, inhabits the tree-tops ; the black anoa 

 feeds in the clearings, its little yellow calf at heel. 

 Tiny fruit-doves, grey-headed and green-backed, 



1. An attempt has been made to show that the Bos mindorensisa, 

 species of dwarf buffalo is allied to the anoa. 



