144 W. Doherty — The Butterflies of Stimha and Sambawa, ^c- [No. 2, 



It is simply a long string of islands which has received waifs and strays 

 from various quarters, the eastern ones, Timor, Timor Laut and pre- 

 sumably "Wetter, chiefly from the Moluccas, New Guinea, and Australia, 

 the western chiefly from Java. As the stream of Javanese immigrants, 

 crossing narrow seas, is regular and unceasing, the species from that 

 quarter have had fewer opportunities of differentiation, while the visi- 

 tors from the eastward have for the opposite reason generally become 

 distinct. This renders the fauna of the eastern islands more interesting 

 to the naturalist, and Timor Laut, Wetter,* Sumba, and the high country 

 of Timor, offer a field of unusual interest. 



But Lombok Strait, now known in science as Wallace's Line, after 

 the great naturalist who discovered its faunal importance, is neverthe- 

 less an important frontier, cutting off a host of Indo-Malayan formsf 

 from Lombok and the islands eastward, and a few Austro-Malayau 

 forms, such as the cockatoos, from Bali and Java. However, it seems 

 hardly so deep as Mr. Wallace supposed,::^ and it is not impassable even 

 to mammals, seeing that the tiger has of late years crossed it, and is now, 



tioned as common to the Indian and Australian regions, passing through these 

 islands, but no doubt a few additional wide-ranging forms could be added. 



Timor. 



Peculiar species, ... ... ... ... 29 



Extending to P lores only, ... ... ... 5 



„ „ Lombok only, ... ... ... 2 



„ „ Bali, „ ... ... ... 2 



Indo-Malayan, ... ... ... ... 13 



Austro-Malayan, ... ... ... ... 3 



54 



Lombok, Sambawa and Flores. 

 Peculiar species, ... 15 (Flores 4, Lombok 4, in corn- 



Extending to Timor only,... 7 mon 7). 



Indo-Malayan, ... 28 



Austro-Malayan, ... 



50 



So that only seven species (or nine including the two extending to Bali) are 

 confined to the group, as a group, and no Austro-Malayan species extends west of 

 Timor, while the Indo-Malayan species are numerous. 



Nothing whatever is known of the birds of Sumba. 



* The island of Wetter seems to be wholly surrounded by deep sea, and merits 

 examination. 



f Such as the Cyprinidce. 



X The depth of Lombok Strait, as now given, seems hardly over fifty fathoms 

 at the deepest part of the shortest line across it. There are several islands in the 

 Strait. 



