1889. ] RELATIONSHIPS OF PALAWAN ISLAND. 223 
up of soft decomposable rocks which are readily degraded by denu- 
dational agencies; and no one who has watched the larger rivers of 
the island incessantly discharging their yellow mud-laden floods 
seawards will be disposed to doubt that they must have done much 
towards shallowing of the Macassar strait. But this agency cannot 
be called in to explain the existence of the shallow bank connecting 
Borneo with the Palawan group ; for all the rivers discharging on to 
this bank are of quite insignificant size, and therefore it may be 
regarded as having formed for some time past a permanent feature 
in the local geography, whereas the Macassar bank is a recent feature 
still in process of construction. The Palawan bank may have been, 
and almost certainly has been, submerged far below its present level ; 
but the probability is equal that it has also been elevated into dry 
land and a temporary junction formed—perhaps more than once— 
with Borneo. 
Proceeding now to inquire what light is thrown upon the con- 
nexion of Palawan with Borneo on the one side or the Philippines 
on the other by the characteristics of the fauna of the Palawan 
group, we are met with the difficulty that the only classes of animals 
from these islands which are fairly well known are the mammals 
and the birds. On the other hand evidence derived from the distri- 
butional relationships of these two classes has admittedly a high 
value for the purpose in view. The mammals which are known to 
exist in the Palawan group are the following :— 
1. Macacus cynomolgus ... Common to Philippines and Indo-Malaya proper. 
2. Felis minutia ............... Indo-Malaya Proper and I. of Negros. 
3. Paradoxurus philippensis Common to Philippines and N. Borneo. 
4. Arctictis binturong ...... Nepal to Borneo. 
5. Herpestes brachyurus ... Malay Peninsnla and Borneo. 
6. Mydaus, sp. (?)1 ......... Sumatra, Java, and N. and E. Borneo. 
Up LET ORE ae errr rere Genus abundant in N. Borneo. 
8. Tragulus javanicus ...... Indo-Malaya Proper and I. of Balabac. 
9: 8as isp. seek tae Genus common to Philippines and Borneo. 
10. Scturopterus alboniger ... Nepal to Cambodja. 
DS SCLUIUS SLEETI. «swe cesease Allied to S. ferrugineus of Assam, Burmah, and 
Siam. 
Pe MMGSES re. aes ccsnene csaaae Genus common to Philippines and Borneo. 
13. Hystrix pumila ............ Genus abundant in N. Borneo. 
14. Tupaia javanica ......... Indo-Malaya Proper. Abundant in Borneo. 
15. SOTTUGINED.... 00000002 Indo-Malaya Proper. Abundant in Borneo. 
16. Péeropus hypomelanus ... Philippines, Borneo, Celebes, and N. Guinea. 
17. Kerivoula hardwickii ... India, Java, Borneo. 
18. Manis, aps ../-2-2.2.2. 6.43. Genus very abundant in N. Borneo. 
The above enumeration shows that the Palawan group possesses a 
mammalian fauna (exclusive of Bats) comparable in variety of species 
and genera with that of the entire Philippine Archipelago. Of the 
species composing this fauna only one, the Paradoxure, namely, can 
be regarded as a distinctively Philippine species, and even that one 
occurs also in Northern Borneo. The remaining mammals, after 
putting on one side those which are common to the Philippines and 
‘ This animal has never been actually obtained, I believe, by any collector, 
but it has frequently been described to me by Europeans as well as by natives. 
