558 THE 



JT [Vol. XLV 



lands are the ones which arc still only incompletely 

 known. With the exception perhaps of certain groups 

 of animals — birds, butterflies, etc. — which on account of 

 their value are specially sought for. there are great gaps 

 in our knowledge. Only during the last few years have 

 Halmaliera, Ternate and Batjan been systematically 

 studied by Kuckenthal. These islands then are the best 

 known. Obi, Buru, Ceram, the Sula Archipelago and 

 others are no more than zoologic blanks upon the map. 

 It is a fact that upon the Sula Islands a short time ago 

 19 species of land snails were collected, while only a 

 short time before only one single species was known 

 (Schepman). These last-mentioned islands are of im- 

 portance as having belonged to the Molucca bridge of 

 the Sarasins. 



Another question is whether the Moluccas have re- 

 ceived their Indian fauna along this Molucca bridge from 

 Celebes, as the Sarasins claim, or along still a different 

 way, as perhaps through the Talaut Islands from the 

 Philippines, as some cases tend to show. 



These questions must wait for a definite answer until 

 researches have brought more light to bear upon them. 

 Before this we can onlv go so far as to say with certainty 

 that the fauna of the Moluccas is a mixed one, as is that of 

 New Guinea; and that in large part on account of the 

 generally small size of the islands both the Indian and 

 Australian components are found impoverished in com- 

 parison with the neighboring greater islands. 



Hardly more complete is our knowledge of the Lesser 

 Sunda Islands. Weber (1902) placed them among the 

 very least known of any in the archipelago. Here remain 

 a number of knotty questions still to be explained, al- 



proved by the expedition of the Siboga; and that was 

 regarding the great depth of the Lombok Straits. Indeed, 

 this strait is somewhat deeper than that between the other 



though it has been r! 

 which Wallace drew 

 given up for good ai 

 most fundamental si 



