306 THE ORIENTAL REGION. [CHAP. 



it is suggested that the animal in question is really a hybrid 

 between the latter and the Indian buffalo. The two species of 

 deer are small forms allied to the race of the sambar inhabiting 

 Java and Borneo ; the first in the list being uniformly coloured, 

 while the second is spotted with white at all ages. The so-called 

 Cervus marianus of Luzon appears to be inseparable from C. 

 philippinus. 



It is remarkable that the six genera peculiar to the group all 

 belong to the Muridce, and that five of these are known only from 

 the mountains of Luzon. Moreover it is quite probable that the 

 species from the latter locality referred to the Australian genus 

 Xeromys ought really to be generically distinguished. It is among 

 the Murtdce that evidences of Australian affinities are alone ex- 

 hibited. As these murines have already been noticed on page 277 

 it will be unnecessary to allude to them further in this place. 



Next to the peculiar rodents of the mountains, the most remark- 

 able feature about the fauna of the typical Philippines is the 

 absence of such a number of the most characteristic Malayan 

 genera of mammals. Among the Primates the deficiency of orangs 

 (Simia) is perhaps not very remarkable, but the total lack of 

 langurs (Semnopitkecus) and the presence of only a single species 

 of Macacus and Hylobates are most noteworthy. The macaque is, 

 however, distributed over all the islands of the group, and differs 

 from other forms of its species in its extremely light coloration, so 

 that it is scarcely likely to have been introduced by human agency. 

 Of Malayan genera which are absent, special note may be taken of 

 Linsanga, Arctogale, Arctictis, Cynogale, Herpestes, the wild dogs of 

 the sub-genus Cyon, Ursus, Tragulus 1 , and Elephas. Almost 

 equally well-marked peculiarities are exhibited by the bird fauna. 



Apart from the tamarao, which has yet to be proved entitled 

 to rank as a valid species, the lowland mammalian fauna of the 

 Philippines is such as might have well reached the group by means 

 of a narrow connection of limited duration with some portion of 

 the Malay countries ; say, for instance, with Borneo by way of 

 Palawan. That such a connection must have been comparatively 

 recent is indicated by the identity of several of the Philippine 



1 Represented by T. nigricans in Palawan. 



