No 438.] 



NOTES AND LITERATURE. 



433 



the other. This accounts for its oriental elements. It possesses 

 also an eastern (Australian) faunal element, and this is explained by 



islands, Buru and Ceram. 



9. New Guinea, Aru, and Ki islands once formed part of the 



this were the islands of Ceram. Misol. Waigeu. and Halmahera. 

 The Banda sea is a depression formed in Miocene times. 



The general conclusions of M* Weber are given by himself in the 

 following words (translated) (pp. 41-43) : 



were connected by a land mass. Eurasiatic types of animals popu- 

 ated this land, which subsided during the Eocene, and was dissolved, 

 into a southeastern portion : present Australia and New Guinea 

 where Monotremata, Marsupials, and ancient types of other groups 

 of animals were preserved. Cassowaries, birds of Paradise developed, 

 while groups or universal distribution, as for instance Woodpeckers 

 and Sparrows, were not able to reach these parts. Toward the 

 North, a shallow coral sea extended, in which a few elevated parts 

 were present as islands, and possibly offered a refuge to a few older 

 forms of life like Cuscus, primitive Rodents, Insectivors, and others. 



" Important changes took place in the Miocene : on the one hand 

 deep depressions were formed in the shallow sea, and on the other 

 hand stretches of land became dry. like Celebes, while in the western 

 parts continental conditions were formed, which offered opportunities 

 for the dispersal of Asiatic animals, such as we know from the 

 Siualik beds of India. Meanwhile new changes of level took place 



by the end of the Pleistocene, the present configuration of the 

 archipelago. These processes caused the local disappearance of that 

 old Tertiary fauna, with the exception of a few relicts, while the 



was the first to become isolated. The fauna of these islands, con- 

 sequently, resembles most that of Asia. Toward the East, a mixed 

 fauna prevails, and the Asiatic types disappear gradually in this 

 direction, while Australian types become more frequent. This mixed 



islands and the Philippines on the one side, and Australia, including 

 New Guinea, the Aru and Ki islands, on the other. The faunal 

 elements of this region are of different origin. Celebes preserved 



