OF CELEBES. 



277 



use of tkese extraordinary horn-like teeth. Some of the 

 old writers supposed that they served as hooks, by >vhiL'h 

 the creature could rest its heatl on a bi-ancli. But the way 

 in which they ijsiially diverge just over and in front of 

 the eye has suggested the more probable idea, that tluy 

 serve to guard these organs from thorns and spines, while 

 hunting for fallen fruits among the tangled thickets of 

 rattans and other spiny plants. Even this, however, is not 

 satisfactory, for the female, who must seek her food in the 

 same way, does not possess them, I should he inclined to 

 btilieve rather, that tliese tusks were once u-scfid, and were 

 then worn down as fast as tliey grew ; but that changed 

 conditions of life have rendered them unnecessary, and 

 they now develop into a monstrous form, just aa the 

 incisors of the Beaver or Ivabljit will go on growing, if the 

 opposite teeth do not wear them away. In old animals 

 they reach an enormous size, and are genemlly broken 

 of!" as if by fighting. 



Here again we have a resemblance to the Wart-hogs 

 of Africa, whose upper canines grow outwai'ds and curve 

 np so as to form a transition from the usual mode of 

 growth to that of the Babirusa. In other respects tliere 

 seems no affinity between these animals, and the Babiiusa 

 stands completely isolated, ha^-ing no reserublance to the 

 pigs of any other part of the world It is found all over 

 Celebes and in the Sula islands, and also in liourn, the 

 only spot beyond the Celebes group to which it extends ; 

 and which island also shows some affinity to the Sula 

 islands in its birds, indicating perhaps, a closer connexion 

 between them at some fomier period than now exists. 



The other terrestrial mammals of Celebes are, hve species 

 of squirrels, whicli are all distinct from those of Java and 

 IJorneo, and mark the furthest eastward range of the genus 

 in the tropics; and two of Eastern opossums (Cuscus), 

 which are different from those of the Moluccas, and mark 

 the furthest westward extension of this genus an<i of the 

 Marsupial order. Thus we see that the IVIamraalia of 

 Celebes are no less individual and remarkalile than the 

 birds, since three of the largest and most interesting 

 species have no near allies in surrounding countries, but 

 seem vaguely to indicate a relation to the Alrican coutiuent 



