Origin of the Fauna of Celebes. 135 



According to this, the so-called Australian element consists 

 of only three species, all belonging to the genus Phalanger 

 {Cuscus), as opposed to thirty-one non-flying land-mammals, 

 which unquestionably belong to the Oriental region. This 

 genus P/talanger, of which only five species are known, has 

 only one representative in Australia. The above conclusion 

 therefore holds good for the Celebes mammal-fauna, namely, 

 that it presents principally an impoverished Indian character. 

 This fact, and the preservation in Celebes of certain ancient 

 forms, indicate that the connexion with the Indian continent 

 was much earlier severed than was the case with the large 

 Sunda Islands. 



But also in the southern chain of islands of the Arcliipelago 

 the conditions are other than Hfeckel believed when he 

 maintained, probably relying on Wallace, that in passing 

 from Bali to Lombok one steps out of an Indian fauna into 

 Mesozoic times. One simply enters an impoverished Indian 

 fauna, which impoverishment has already begun in Bali, as I 

 have shown above, in dealing with the fishes. Since the 

 land-molluscs have been already mentioned, I may add some 

 remarks on the mammals. Some years ago Jentink * rightly 

 pointed out that Wallace's statement — " Bali and Lombok 

 differ far more from each other in their birds and quadrupeds 

 than do England and Japan " — is entirely incorrect as regards 

 mammals. Hardly anything is known of either island, 

 except that on Lombok occur Cercocehus cynomolgus, Schreb., 

 and Tarsius spectrum. In Flores, still further east, I have 

 proved the occurrence of Cercocehus cynomolgus, Schreb., 

 Paradoxurus musanga, Hodgs., Mus decumanus, Pall., Mas 

 d^Armandvillei, Jent., 3Pus Wichmanm^ Jent., Acanthion 

 javanicum, Cuv., Sus vittatus, Miill., Russa russa, MiilLf 



These are exclusively Indian forms. This Indian fauna is 

 enriched if we note that Tarsius fuscomanus, Fisch., is re- 

 corded from the island of Savu (between Timor and Sunda), 

 and a species of wild cat {Felis megalotis, Miill.) from Timor 

 and Rotti. Altogether the mammal-fauna of Timor contains 

 only one species which is not Indian, viz. a single species of 

 Phalanger^ all the rest belonging to the Oriental region. 



The original boundary-line, as drawn by Wallace, there- 

 fore divides island-groups from each other, of which the 

 western ones (Borneo, Sunda, and Java) have received a rich 

 Oriental fauna, and have been able to evolve specific forms 

 of an Indian character. This has arisen partly from their 



• Jentink, in Ti)d3chr. v. h. Kon. Nederl. Aardrijkskuudig Genoot- 

 schap, 18S9 (meer uitgebr. artikelen). 



t Zool. Ergebnisse, Hd. iii. 1893, p. 260 e^ seq. 



