chap, xiii.] THE AUSTRALIAN REGION. 417 



the Oriental and Australian regions, has probably occurred during 

 the entire Tertiary and Post-tertiary periods. 



Insects. — The general character of the Papuan insects has 

 been sufficiently indicated in our sketch of the Entomology of 

 the region. We will here only add, that the metallic lustre so 

 prevalent among the birds, is also apparent in such insects as 

 Sphingnotus mirabilis,a most brilliant metallic Longicorn; Lomap- 

 tera wcdlacei and Anacamptorhina fulgida, Cetonii of intense 

 lustre ; Calodema wcdlacei among the Buprestidse ; and the ele- 

 gant blue Euplioli among the weevils. Even among moths 

 we "have Cocytia durvillii, remarkable for its brilliant metallic 

 colours. 



The Moluccas. — The islands of Gilolo, Bouru, and Ceram, with 

 several smaller islands adjacent, together with Sanguir, and 

 perhaps Tulour or Salibaboo to the north-west, and the islands 

 from Ke to Timor-Laut to the south-east, form the group of the 

 Moluccas or Spice-Islands, remarkable for the luxuriance of 

 their vegetation and the extreme beauty of their birds and 

 insects. Their Mammalia are of Papuan character, with some 

 foreign intermixture. Two genera of the New Guinea marsu- 

 pials, Bclidcus and Cuscus, abound ; and we have also the wide- 

 spread Sus. But besides these, we find no less than five genera 

 of placental Mammals quite foreign to the Papuan or Australian 

 faunas. These are 1. Cynopithecus nigrcscens, found only in the 

 small island of Batchian, and probably introduced from Celebes, 

 where the same ape occurs. 2. Viverra tangalunga, a common 

 Indo-Malayan species of civet, probably introduced. 3. Cervus 

 hippelaphus, var. Moluccensis, a deer abundant in all the islands, 

 very close to a Javan species and almost certainly introduced 

 by man, perhaps very long ago. 4. Babirusa alfurus, the 

 babirusa, found only in the island of Bouru, and perhaps origi- 

 nally introduced from Celebes. 5. Sorcx sp., small shrews. 

 With the exception of the last, all these species are animals 

 habitually domesticated and kept in confinement by the Malays ; 

 and when we consider that none of the smaller Mammalia of Java 

 and Borneo, numbering at least fifty different species, are found 



