300 THE ORIENTAL REGION. [CHAP. 



found in the Eastern Himalaya, the mountains north of Burma, 

 and Mount Kina Balu, in North Borneo ; a musk-shrew ( Croridura 

 fuliginosa\ common to the Eastern Himalaya and Borneo, being 

 likewise unknown elsewhere. These two instances alone are 

 sufficient to prove that Borneo must have been in immediate 

 connection with the lands to the north-west within the period 

 during which the living species of mammals have come into exist- 

 ence; while the restriction of the water-shrew to the mountains 

 seems likewise to imply a former lowering of the temperature of 

 the whole region sufficient to enable the creature to pass from the 

 one area to the other, or perhaps rather to have allowed of its 

 existence in the intermediate lowlands, whence it migrated to its 

 present isolated haunts. That Borneo was connected with the 

 mainland during the Pliocene epoch is proved by the occurrence 

 in that island of the Siwalik Mastodon latidens, the tooth figured 

 on page 173 being of Bornean origin. 



The large number of species common to Borneo, Sumatra, and 

 the Malay Peninsula also shows that these three areas must have 

 been very recently in connection ; but the excessive number of 

 peculiar Bornean forms seems to indicate that the former island, 

 with the adjacent islets, was the first to be isolated. Even so. 

 however, the extraordinarily large percentage of distinctive types 

 is most remarkable. Regarding the relationship of the Palawan 

 sub-group to Borneo, Mr Everett writes that "although the general 

 facies of the mammalian fauna of the sub-group is clearly Bornean, 

 it is to be noted that no species appears to be peculiar to the 

 group as a whole, a fact which suggests the inference that closely 

 connected as Borneo has undoubtedly been with Balabac and 

 Palawan, and isolated as they have been together from the main- 

 land of Asia, there has also been much isolation of Borneo and 

 Palawan inter se" 



From Sumatra and Borneo, which have so much in common, 

 and in a somewhat less degree from the Malay Peninsula, Java 

 differs very remarkably as regards its mammalian fauna ; a large 

 number of typically Malayan forms being absent, while others as 

 characteristically Indian are present. In the first place, the 

 orangs (Simia), common to Borneo and Sumatra, are absent : 

 and the elephant and tapir are likewise wanting, the former 



