chap, xviii.] OF CELEBES. 443 



in those strong-winged groups which already possess great 

 strength and rapidity of flight. These were already suffi- 

 ciently protected from their enemies, and did not require 

 increased power of escaping from them. It is not at all 

 clear, what effect the peculiar curvature of the wings has, 

 in modifying flight. 



Another curious feature in the zoology of Celebes is 

 also worthy of attention. I allude to the absence of 

 several groups which are found on both sides of it, in the 

 Indo-Malay islands as well as in the Moluccas ; and which 

 thus seem to be unable, from some unknown cause, to 

 obtain a footing in the intervening island. In Birds we 

 have the two families of Podargidae and Laniadse, which 

 range over the whole Archipelago and into Australia, and 

 which yet have no representative in Celebes. The genera 

 Ceyx among Kingfishers, Criniger among Thrushes, Ehipi- 

 dura among Flycatchers, Calornis among Starlings, and 

 Erythrura among Finches, are all found in the Moluccas 

 as well as in Borneo and Java, — but not a single species 

 belouging to any one of them is found in Celebes. Among 

 insects, the large genus of Rose-chafers, Lomaptera, is found 

 in every country and island between India and New Guinea, 

 except Celebes. This unexpected absence of many groups, 

 from one limited district in the very centre of their area of 

 distribution, is a phenomenon not altogether unique, but, 

 I believe, nowhere so well marked as in this case ; and it 



