424 ZOOLOGICAL GEOGRAPHY. [part iti 



Moluccas (with New Guinea and Celebes,) Australia, and Java. 

 The Moluccan forms may well have arrived as stragglers from 

 island to island, aided by whatever facilities have been afforded 

 by lands now submerged. Most of the remainder have been de- 

 rived either from Australia or from Java ; and as their relations 

 to these islands are very interesting, they must be discussed 

 with some detail. 



Origin of the Timorese Fauna. — We must first note, that 80 

 species, or exactly one-half of the land-birds of the islands, are 

 peculiar and mostly very distinct, intimating that the immigra- 

 tion commenced long enough back to allow of much specific 

 modification. There is also one pecuhar genus of kingfishers, 

 Caridonax, found only in Lombok and Flores, and more allied 

 to Australian than to Oriental types. The fine white-banded 

 pigeons (s. g. Leucotreron) are also almost peculiar ; one other 

 less typical species only being known, a native of N. Celebes. 

 In order to compare the species with regard to their origin, we 

 must first take away those of wide distribution from which no 

 special indications can be obtained. In this case 49 of the land- 

 birds must be deducted, leaving 111 species which afford good 

 materials for comparison. These, when traced to their origin, 

 show that 62 came fj'om some part of the Australian region, 49 

 from Java or the Oriental region. But if we divide them into 

 two groups, the one containing the species identical with those 

 of the Australian or Oriental regions, the other containing allied 

 or representative species peculiar to the islands, we have the fol- 

 lowing result : 



Species common to the Timorese Isljinds and the Oriental Region 30 

 Peculiar Timorese species allied to thdse of tiio Oriental Region 19 



Total 49 



Species common to the Timorese Islands and the Australian 



Region 18 



Peculiar Timorese species allied to those of the Australian Region 44 



Total ()2 



This tal)le is very important, as indicating that the connection 



