34G ZOOLOGICAL GEOGRAPHY. [part hi. 



The foreo-oinsf list, altlionQh small, contains an assemblafre of 

 species which are wholly Oriental in character, and several of 

 which (Tarsins, Galcojyithccus, Tivpaia) are characteristic and 

 highly peculiar Malayan forms. At the same time these islands 

 are completely separated from the rest of Malaya by tlie total 

 absence of Semnopithccus, Hylohatcs, Fclis, Hclardos, Rhinoceros, 

 Manis, and other groups constantly found in the great Indo- 

 Malay islands and peninsula of Malacca. We find apparently 

 two sets of animals : a more ancient series, represented by the 

 deer, Gcdcopithecus, and squirrel, in which the species are distinct 

 from any others ; and a more recent series, represented by 

 Macacus cynomolgus, and Viverra iangalanga, identical with 

 common Malayan animals. The former indicate the earliest 

 period when these volcanic islands were connected with some 

 part of the INIalayan sub-region, and they show that tliis was 

 not geologically remote, since no peculiar generic types have 

 been preserved or differentiated. The latter may indicate either 

 the termination of the period of union, or merely the effects of 

 introdnction by man. The reason why a larger number of 

 mammalian forms were not introduced and established, was 

 probably because the union was effected only with some small 

 islands, and from these communicated to other parts of the 

 archipelago ; or it may well be that later subsidences extin- 

 guished some of the forms that had established themselves. 



Birds of the Philipinnc Islands. — These have been carefully 

 investigated by Viscount Walden, in a paper read before the 

 Zoological Society of London in 1873, and we are thus furnished 

 with ample information on the relations of this important 

 poi'tion of the fauna. 



The total number of birds known to inhabit the Philippines 

 is 219, of which 106 are peculiar. If, however, following our 

 usual plan, we take only the land-birds, we find the numbers 

 to be 150 species, of which 100 are peculiar ; an unusually large 

 proportion for a group of islands so comparatively near to 

 various parts of the Oriental and Australian regions. The 

 families of birds which are more especially characteristic of the 

 Indo-]\Ialay sub- region arc about 28 in nunil)er, and examples 



