CELEBES 285 



singular animals should have been preserved in Celeljes 

 and nowhere else. And, lastly, we have the marsupial 

 cuscus, indicating that the island has received some of 

 its productions from the Moluccas or New Guinea, where 

 alone these animals abound ; and we have also two forest 

 rats of the sub-genus Gymnomys, which are allied to 

 Australian species. 



Turning to the birds, we lind facts of equal interest ; 

 and, considering how easy it is for this class to pass over 

 narrow seas, even more extraordinary. There are now 

 about 160 species of land-birds known from Celebes, 

 belonging to 124 generic groups. About 90 of these 

 species are peculiar to it and the small adjacent islands : 

 while, of the remainder, about 50 come from the Asiatic 

 and 20 from the Australian side. This is what we might 

 expect, looking at the great extent of the opposing coasts 

 of Borneo, which are much richer in birds than the 

 Moluccas. The peculiar species of Celebes are generally 

 related to birds characteristic of one side or the other, 

 and in this way also we find the Asiatic side preponderat- 

 ing in the proportion of 24 to 15. But if we look at the 

 number of genera of land-birds, abundant in Borneo or 

 the Moluccas, which are absent from Celebes, we find the 

 most striking deficiency on the Bornean or Asiatic side. 

 Thus, 8 important families, and 16 genera which are 

 highly characteristic of Borneo or Java are unknown in 

 Celebes ; while of the Moluccan groups of equal import- 

 ance there are only 1 family and 12 genera absent. 

 These remarkable deficiencies, quite as much as the 

 species it actually possesses, stamp the character of the 

 Celebesian fauna, and give a clue to its past history. 



Of the land mollusca we have as yet but scanty 

 knowledge. Such genera as are known are for the most 

 part found also in Borneo and Sumatra, but Planispira 



