MALAYSIA AND THE PACIFIC ARCHIPELAGOES 11 



elephants, wild cattle, rhinoceros, and others ; all of which 

 in the Australian region are unknown. It belongs, 

 in fact, zoologically speaking, to tropical Asia, and pos- 

 sesses almost all the various forms of life found in Siam 

 and Burmah, although the actual species are to a large 

 extent peculiar. 



Plants are equally interesting. The flora of Malaysia 

 proper is a special development of that prevailing from 

 the Himalayas to the Malay Peninsula and South China. 

 Farther east this flora intermingles with that of Austraha. 

 The latter, it may be remarked incidentally, is very 

 peculiar and markedly rich in species, while that of New- 

 Zealand is poor, though perhaps even more highly differ- 

 entiated. 



7. Geological Relations and Past History. 



The western portion of the Australasian Archipelago, 

 as far as Java, Borneo, and perhaps the Philippines, has 

 undoubtedly, at a comparatively recent period, formed a 

 south-eastern extension of the Asiatic continent. This 

 is indicated by the exceedingly shallow sea separating 

 these islands from the mainland, but still more clearly 

 by the essential unity of their animals and plants of 

 which we have just spoken. But, as we go farther east 

 to the Moluccas, New Guinea, and Australia, we have to 

 pass over seas of enormous depth, and there find our- 

 selves among a set of animals for the most part totally 

 unlike those of the Asiatic continent, or of any other 

 part of the globe. Yet these have certain resemblances 

 to the fauna of Europe during the Secondary period of 

 geology, and it is very generally believed that the 

 countries they now inhabit have been almost completely 

 isolated since the time of the Oolitic formation. 



