426 DISTRIBUTION IN SPACE AND TIME 



Oriental Amphibians [A^nphibia). — Though tailed forms 

 { Urodela) are represented they are vastly outnumbered by the 

 tailless ones (Anura), but none of these call for special mention. 



Oriental Freshivater Fishes [Pisces). — Most of the Snake- 

 headed Fishes [Ophiocephalidce), which are able to live during 

 the dry season in liquid mud, are limited to the region, and the 

 same is true of the members of a small family [Mastacembelidtz) 

 of eel-like forms, which, however, have nothing to do with the 

 true eels. 



Oriental Insects (Insecta). — Regarding these Wallace remarks 

 (in Island Life): — "Among insects we may notice the magnificent 

 golden and green Papilionidce \i.e. Swallow-tail Butterflies] of 

 various genera as being unequalled in the world ; while the great 

 Atlas Moth is probably the most gigantic of Lepidoptera, being 

 sometimes lo inches across the wings, which are also very broad. 

 Among the beetles the strange flat-bodied Malayan Mormolyce 

 is the largest of all the Carabida; \i.e. predaceous ground-beetles], 

 while the Catoxantha is equally a giant among the Buprestidae. 

 [The beautiful wing-covers of various species of this family are 

 largely used in India for ornamental purposes.] On the whole, 

 the insects of this region probably surpass those of any other part 

 of the world, e.xcept -South America, in size, variety, and beauty." 



Fauna of the Australian Region. — "Wallace's line" (see 

 p. 413), which divides this region from that last considered, is not 

 the sharply-marked boundary that was at one time supposed, 

 for a considerable number of oriental forms range to the east of 

 it, and Australian forms to the west of it. Some authorities 

 consider that the line should be drawn to the east of Celebes, 

 which would then belong to the oriental region. Wallace's line, 

 if thus amended, would be a somewhat sharper boundary than it 

 is now. New Zealand, too, possesses such well-marked positive 

 and negative features that it should possibly be considered as a 

 distinct (Novo-Zelanian) region, instead of being ranked merely 

 as a sub-region. A few of its peculiarities will be indicated in 

 the following brief sketch. 



Australian Mammals (^Mammalia). — Among the animals 

 found in Celebes are three belonging to peculiar genera, i.e. a 

 Black Ape {Cynopithccns), a Dwarf Ox [Anoa), and the Babirussa 

 [Porcus or Babirussa, fig. 1291), a curious pig-like form with long 

 curled tusks in the upper jaw. It is also inhabited by a species 



